26 August 2009
Wading in Shallow water. The young, the uninitiated, take baby steps when they approach the stream. Their reflection and the reflection of the sun belies what lays beneath the surface, so they want to stick their feet in badly. They can't resist it, yet that little voice inside them (that was imbedded in them when humans still slunk around in primordial slime) says 'don't do it.' The temptation is too much. Just gotta experiment. Then the resulting infantile anguish when little Johnny or little Betty ends up with wet shoes all day. And Mom says 'live with it . . .we've got four more hours before we reach home.' Dad says 'stop your whining . . .quit being a cry-baby!' (What he really wants to say to you is 'hey - you did it to yourself so live with it!' ) But wait. Just wait. The water is going to get deeper and the temptations are going to ante up right alongside the swiftness of the current. It's called life - or better yet - living life on life's terms. John Milton said it best - We can make a Hell of Heaven or a Heaven of Hell - the choice is yours. So whatever you choose to do, stop your whining and quit being a cry-baby. I'm really glad to see that last hyphenated description come back into our everyday vocabulary. It had been lost for a couple of decades after the U.S. had been feminized, sensitized, and put into proper political correctness. There are still a lot of adults out there wading in shallow water. I try to avoid them and get on with my life. I just don't have the time to listen to their whining.
25 August 2009:
Buy this CD. It should be in any serious Bluegrass collector's list of favorites . . .seriously! This is old-time stuff done by old-timers, (with the exception of "Mr. Peabody's Coal Train") but somehow the John Prine hit fits right in. "I Just Don't Look Good Naked Anymore" is a comedy/novelty throw-away but even that song will have you rolling around on the floor laughing. Skystone appeared this past weekend at the venerable Lucketts Fair (Old Lucketts School house). Good stuff! These guys need to be included in the national registry of historical treasures. They'll be back at the regular fall concert series at the Lucketts School House this Autumn.
Skystone at 'The Gazebo' at Lucketts Fair, 23 August 2009
23 August 09 - Lucketts, Virginia Event
"The Practitioners" arrived at Lucketts again for the 37th Annual Lucketts Fair. A yearly meeting of the true-believer Alchemists of the Bluegrass profession who come out of the hills of the region (and the Washington/Baltimore city suburbs) to brew up special concoctions of old-time string-band magic. There are Practitioners and then there are wannabees. Lucketts rarely fails in delivering two full days of strong chemistry from the Practitioners - those groups that have foresaken modernity, the easy way out, the cheap thrill, to deliver up real music without the baggage of slick packaging, stage gags, mechanical bulls, or having to swing out into the audience on ropes to make yourself known. This is entertainment the way it's supposed to be seen and heard. It's even more incredible to think that for Five bucks a day, you can listen to some of the best nationally known bluegrass Practitioners in the business of Bluegrass today.
I'm partial to Ernie Bradley and Grassy Ridge - I'll make that admission right now. This is one of the hardest working bands around. But right behind them is every other band that appeared on this year's roster. Each band was different in its own way, with different levels of talent, but you don't attend the Lucketts events to see shooting stars or inducted members of the Bluegrass Hall of Fame (believe me, they were there - talk about being shocked) you attend this event to immerse yourself in musical purity at the gut-level. Unadulterated vocals around one microphone. This is about the power of the voice, the words to the story, and the accompaniment of simple stringed intruments. Leave all the flowery and complicated stuff to people who wrote 19th Century Ballet music. The true believer Practitioner is born out of that simplicity of the Appalachians and mounts the stage knowing that he isn't there to hoodwink anybody out of their hard-earned pocket change - unless it's to buy a CD. Every act ends with, "Be sure and drop by our CD table and pick up our latest." Even with that I never feel cheated - it costs money to produce these things and we all know everyone is out to rape the artist who just might have the potential to make it big someday.
You know these guys are never going to get rich - the best they can hope for is deserved fame and recognition that somehow they'll be remembered long after they're gone, for carrying on a tradition that hopefully will never be forgotten by music lovers. At the root of it, the Practitioner delivers up his or her talents with the most amount of humility and honesty they can muster. That, my friends, is an appalachian tradition.
Members of Grassy Ridge tune up at the Lucketts Fair
Tom Gray of "Eastern Tradition" and bass-player Gary Cole of "Dirty River Band."
Members of Dark Hollow enlist the help of Bassist Jerry McCoury at the Lucketts Fair
22 August 2009 Lucketts, Virginia
It was going gangbusters at the Fair until somebody pulled the plug! Well not really. In the midst of a great day of Bluegrass a major transformer blew out across Route 15 and shut down all the electricity going into the fairgrounds. Dark Hollow and the Patuxent Partners rose to the occasion and delivered music the way it's supposed to be heard - up close and intimate with an appreciative audience! Dark Hollow came down from the (Gazebo) stage, took everything in stride, and continued playing. Unhindered by all the electrical gadgetry, they actually sounded better. The vocals were tighter - the acoustical instruments rang out true to form. Like having them in front of you for your own private party. The performances continue through tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned for a full wrap up after the Lucketts Fair closes.
The Patuxent Partners go totally acoustic at ground level after the electricity goes out
By Ron Keene 19 August 2009
The Woodstock Generation . .a lost generation of narcissistic, lazy, hedonistic fools. They squandered their legacy as the sons and daughters of the Greatest Generation. With the possible exception of those who served in Viet Nam, they've contributed practically nothing to society and soon will be the largest portion of Americans who in their old age, will demand that we continue to take care of them as others have always done.
They were spoiled, rude, and dirty. They are cowards. They used deferments and ran to Canada rather than face the remote possibility they would end up in Viet Nam. They pretended they were bravely facing police and standing up to society, but in reality were afraid as they had always been, that they may have to do something that would require courage, moral fortitude, and discomfort. When those who served in Viet Nam were (decades later) recognized for their sacrifices, the Woodstock 'baby-boomers' responded by saying they really had wanted to serve, but were married with too many kids, or doing important things for the government, or really sympathized with the Veterans all along. Those who served hold them and their words in contempt and probably always will.
Nothing worth remembering happened at Woodstock. The performers are all mostly dead from their own excesses and few really remember them. Those who attended risked various STD's, drunkeness and drug overdoses, and hepatitis. Now at age 60 a lot of them are still doing drugs. They have always been and always will be the generation that refused to face reality. They still pretend that they made a difference.
History and the world has almost forgotten them.
Ron Keene, Master Gunnery Sergeant, USMC, Retired.
Never underestimate the Naivete or outright stupidity of the civilian population when it comes to the understanding of the military services, military service in general, or let alone war-fighting and what it means to wear a uniform and be part of an elite unit of men bound together by codes that are totally undecipherable to those who never had an opportunity to suit up and show up at any of our nation's boot camps. So I was once told by a Marine Corps Colonel friend of mine after we had attended a particularly nasty hearing on Capitol Hill in which Veterans Affairs were being discussed, and every veteran in the room wanted to go out into the hallway and either laugh or get sick and vomit at what had just transpired within those 'hallowed' halls. I've been trying to understand the naivete ever since I served more than forty years ago. The only enlightened, privileged few are veterans, immediate family members of veterans, and family members of those who are serving now or family members of those who have offered up the ultimate sacrifice. God bless you one and all.
I comtemplated this naivete deeply last Friday night when for maybe the third or fourth time I was lucky enough to get tickets for the Sunset Parade at the Marine Barracks in D.C. The seats are not easy to get since it's one of the most popular summer events here in the city, but we were assisted by Captain Michael Deal, USMC, the Commanding Officer of Bravo Company at the Barracks. "The evening parade is one of the best recruiting tools we've got," a Marine Corps general once told me. "Any young kid seeing this wants to be a Marine. It's that simple." For precision, drilling-prowess, pageantry, and emotional pull, no other unit in the U.S. Military can provide this kind of parade. It's not about the entertainment - it's about how the Marine Corps fashions civilians into unified war-fighting machines and the key word here is Unity. The icing on the cake is experiencing two really famous units here in the Capital, The Marine Corps Band and the Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corps, who each augment the drilling skills of Alpha and Bravo Companies of the Marine Corps Barracks. This ain't no disco - this ain't no party - this is about the Spirit of the Bayonet and if you have no understanding or connection to the Spirit of the Bayonet you should just waste away your time at the local Mall or maybe enroll in a monastery somewhere.
British Royal Marines in attendance at the Sunset Parade, Marine Barracks, Washington.
