NNAOPP Update
September 2014
Book Club
Last week I was the guest speaker
at a men's book club. Each month a
member selects a book, and my friend Phil Love, graciously introduced NNAOPP to
his colleagues. The club consists
of a dozen professional men of varying ages. The attendees were kind with their comments and asked
thoughtful questions about the book.
The discussion quickly turned to the idea that everyone has interesting
stories, and I listened with enthusiasm.
Many of the stories shared a musical theme. Here are a few snippets:
"I felt like I was reading a
story about my own life. I
attended Indian Hills Junior High, Shawnee Mission East HS, delivered the KC
Kansan, and I play the banjo. The
only thing I'm missing is the Mardi Gras trip. Got any openings?"
"My father-in-law, Judge
Andrew Jackson Higgins, played in your Dad's swing band in 1938. When he died two years ago his obituary
referred to your Dad as one of the people who shaped his life. I made the connection after reading
your book." Small world
indeed.
"After selling my business,
I took up the harmonica. A few
weeks ago I had my inaugural performance at the Phoenix Jazz Club. I worked hard on one song, had a good
backup group, and it went pretty well."
"After college I went out to
LA to try to make it as a stand-up comic.
I took acting and voice lessons and received my Screen Actor's Guild
card. I was struggling to survive
when one of my instructors took me aside and said, 'there are over 30,000 SAG
members, but only a few hundred make over $20,000 per year.' I packed it in and got my MBA."
One of the participants holds a
PhD in organ and told of his experience playing the new organ at the Helzberg
Hall in the Kauffman Performing Arts Center. "The sounds are intense in the theatre, but even more
so sitting at the keyboard. It
almost blows your hair back."
And my favorite came from Phil,
who, among other things, plays standup bass fiddle and is a brilliant lyricist.
He crafted this little ditty with friends over drinks.
Puff, the magic maggot,
Lived in the trash.
Frolicked in the banana peels,
And in the cigarette ash.
Little Teddy Tapeworm,
loved that maggot, Puff.
Brought him dead dogs two weeks old,
And scabs still moist with pus!
A maggot lives forever,
But a tapeworm's not as tough.
Teddy ate the banana peels,
But he croaked on the scabs with pus!
Puff was broken-hearted.
Losing Teddy really hurt.
But not as much as hunger did,
So he ate him for dessert!
*****
Walnut Valley Festival (aka Winfield, KS Bluegrass Festival)
"Banjo will get you through times with no money, but money will
not get you through times with no banjo"
"My next husband will be normal"
Tee shirt wisdom
It was a beautiful fall day as I
journeyed through Flint Hills of southeast Kansas. Leaving the interstate, I headed south on Highway 77 from El
Dorado. My route closely followed
the meandering Walnut River to the handsome city of Winfield. The river forms a levied crossbow
encircling the Crowley County Fairgrounds, home to the 43rd annual and aptly
named Walnut Valley Festival.
Three years ago I purchased my
Ome Trilogy Tubaphone II open back banjo from Jim Baggett, the owner of Mass
Street Music in Lawrence. He told
me he bought the banjo at the Walnut Valley Festival, and he suggested I attend
a future event, as it was a Mecca for acoustic music fans. But I procrastinated. Then I met a fellow banjo player at the
aforementioned book club. He
reminded me that this was the weekend for the Winfield bluegrass event and
added, "I'll be there for the
entire four days. You'll have more
fun than a banjo player is allowed to have." And so I went.
I arrived at noon on Friday and
was amazed at the huge crowd (estimated at 15,000) and the thousands of RV's
assembled. The attendees were friendly, eclectic, and attractive. During a quick walk around, I observed
an abundance of young families with little ones, farmers and cowboys, old and
young hippies, boomers, knitters, and even hipsters. There was a noticeable dearth of tattoos. Instead of pigs and sheep, the
exhibition barns were full of vendors of serious musical instruments, food
stands, and arts and crafts. The
sounds of music echoed from every direction.
Four stages were set up offering
live music running on the hour from 9 am to 12:30 am. Thirty different professional acts were featured along with
several hundred amateurs. A fifth
stage consisted of dozens of jam sessions held in the campground area.
I rotated from stage to stage to
try to see and hear as much as possible.
I also sat in on a few of the contests for amateurs. Friday's contests featured hammer
dulcimer, mandolin, and old-time fiddle.
I listened to four contestants,
out of 45, in the amateur mandolin contest. A large lady ambled up to the microphone and announced
without enthusiasm, "That was
contestant number 9. Next will be
contestant number 10." Out walked a high school age boy wearing a Dekalb
seed ball cap who proceeded to play an intricate Bach Contata with remarkable
skill. Then came a youngish man in
a ponytail who played so skillfully he reminded me of Ricky Skaggs. Then came a man in his 50's who played
"Buffalo Gals" at near-tyro level mindful of my banjo plucking. This made me contemplate the formerly
unimaginable, "What's the worst that could happen? 46th out of 45 in the banjo
contest?"
It was easy to see why the crowds
were so large and appreciative.
The musicianship and showmanship of the professional groups, none of
whom possessed familiar names, were nonpareil. In addition to standard bluegrass bands, I listened to
cowboy western, western swing, Celtic, solo instrumentalists, and folk. A local Winfield man accompanied two of
the groups on the bones. (Bones
players use two slightly convex shaped, 7 3/8" pine splints in each
hand. When properly applied, they
snap together to create a delightful rhythmic, percussive sound.) I've been
working sporadically trying to gain a modicum of competence on this particular
instrument, thus far with little success.
One folk performer, John
McCutcheon, demonstrated virtuosity in clawhammer banjo, bluegrass banjo, flat
pick guitar, hammer dulcimer, mountain dulcimer, and piano, all in a one hour
show. Interestingly, he was
accompanied by a signer. I
couldn't figure that out. Can the
deaf sense and enjoy music?
Performers came from Australia,
Ireland, North Carolina, Montana, Michigan, New York, and of course,
Kansas. One of the very best
groups hailed from nearby Wichita, started by twin brothers, who first attended
the festival as infants. In their
formative years as a band, they added their banjo and lead guitar members from
musicians they heard at earlier WVF jam sessions.
Like many of you I'm sure, my
iTunes collection features a playlist devoted to yodeling, but never before had
I heard a song featuring two-part harmonic yodeling, until WVF.
Between 5 and 5:30 pm Stage one
featured the top three finishers in the previous day's finger style guitar
contest. All were great, but the
most memorable was the second place contestant, a young man who came from
Osaka, Japan. He won an earlier
contest in Japan, and his first place prize was a trip to Winfield, KS for the
festival. He should have won first
place in my humble opinion.
It's hard to pick a favorite
performer, but my choice goes to Jacob Johnson, a solo, spikey-haired, hipster,
guitar plucker from NC. He
attained the most unique and agreeable sounds from his instrument that I have
ever heard. I later encountered
him on the midway, introduced myself, and told him how much I enjoyed his
music. I asked him how he achieved
the harmonic sounds solely with his left hand. He was appreciative and said kindly, "The key is a good pickup so the
audience can hear the subtleties, brand new strings, and 20 years of dedicated
practice." "Oh!
That."
Next year, I'm taking camping
gear and will stay for the duration.
*****
A few days ago I was bitten on
the tip of my nose by a wasp. The
bad news was that it hurt, it made my face swell up, and my appearance scared
my granddaughter. My upper lip was
roughly the size of my thigh. The good new came from amusing consolations,
"Good thing you don't play the trumpet" and "It makes your
wrinkles disappear." Better
than botox.
*****
I'm pleased to report that my
blog http://www.nudenuns.blogspot.com
has now eclipsed 5,100 hits.
Lamentably, the audience originating in the United States represents
less than 60% of the total.
The others are, in descending order, Germany, UK, Russia, India, China,
and Yemen. France and Romania are
coming on strong. Given the lack
of known sales to these regions, I can only surmise these are disappointed porn
seekers.
That's the news from here.
