"Livin' The Dream!"

 Danny Paisley and Southern Grass at Port Deposit, Maryland, May 2013

17 August 2013

"I have my dreams, Mr. Starbuck, they may be little dreams, but they're my dreams!"
                                                                                  Lizzie, from The Rain-Maker

       Anyone who thinks the bluegrass life is easy needs to talk to Danny Paisley. He's popularized a  well-worn, tongue-in-cheek life-phrase here in our neck of the woods. The first time I heard it I fell out of my chair with laughter. One of his band members made a comment about an uncomfortable situation and Danny responded with "You're livin' The Dream now, Buddy!" In other words, suck it up and like the fact you're able to get up in front of people and entertain them. Danny's got a sense of humor I can appreciate. He's always got that smile on his face that lights up when all his musicians are running full-bore on synchronized pistons. I've written previously that he may have one of the best configurations in bluegrass music. Danny's "Livin' the Dream" attitude has a lot to do with it. Every time I hear him say it I have some deep thinking to do about how hard it is for a few of the better entertainers to work a room - and then get maybe just enough money to cover their gasoline expenses for the day.  The life of hard work and little recompense goes way beyond the guy up on stage or the band cranking out old time music just to bring a little enjoyment to a room-full of beer-drinking dancers. Recently, at Jumbo Jimmy's (Port Deposit, Maryland) I watched for the umpteenth Sunday afternoon, as the manager handled a big crowd of people who had come out to enjoy AcrosstheTrack Bluegrass. The beer flowed and so did the steamed crabs and sandwiches, she got people seated, and took care of the usual customer whinings. What I didn't know, is this person also does all the entertainment bookings and handles all the relations with the entertainers. Her sense of modesty prohibits me from mentioning her name. She's a hard-worker and she's "Livin' the Dream" of running (single-handedly) a clean, well-lighted place that takes people away from the hum-drum for a few hours out of their work-week. She makes sure the bands get paid. She's part of the process that keeps musicians employed.
       I talked to Rick Miller last night. Much recognized in Maryland for his life spent in the music business, he's busy trying to establish another new group. Actually, up to this point, they're doing well as far as new bands go. The gigs are steadily building. What I like about Rick is his honesty in dealing with a new situation and his total honesty in dealing with a strange, obscure part of the music world - bluegrass. You almost have to be crazy to think that it will make you rich someday. Our conversation was like a dream sequence flipping from (Father) John Michael Talbot to Molly Hatchet to Pope John Paul, II. I studied this kind of literary form in college - it's called Stream of Consciousness. We laughed a lot about Danny's turn of phrase because Rick realizes what he's up against in trying to make it in the bluegrass music business. It's OK to dream, Rick.
       Without dreams you're a dead entity in a dead world of non-creativity. I've been fortunate in my life to be around dreamers. They want something a little more out of life than struggling with an  8 to 5 job and paying a mortgage. I'm happy when I see a Dreamer get his or her just-due. Their dreams bolster our dreams, they become the stuff of novels and movies and pop-culture. Watching PBS one night, I heard a scientist make the remark that the only thing that separates humans from the rest of the animal world is our ability to dream, and thus create from that process. Here's to the Dreamers. Here's to all those practitioners of the bluegrass trade who are out there trying to get better at what they do by steadily working, steadily practicing, and steadily growing. If you hang around long enough, you see the good ones fulfilling their dreams, reaching at least some level of their perceived goals. But it's that way in any art-form, propelled of course by a huge shot of luck and making the right connections. At the basis of it though, is "Livin' the Dream." Success is hard work.

Understanding Poland - After 1939

 Police Officer Marcelli Konieczny - 1897-1940  Murdered at Katyn

With only a few remaining relatives in Poland, my wife and I have been traveling to Poland in an attempt to put together her family history. On this latest trip we discovered that Marcelli Konieczny, a ranking Police Officer, and one of her family members, was abducted by the Soviets and murdered along with thousands of others at a place called Katyn (1940). The name of the place, let alone the name of this horrific event is known today to few Americans. The mass executions were first blamed on the Nazis by the Soviets.  The Russian government finally,  fully admitted through release of documented records that Stalin ordered the mass-executions. Most of the Polish Army Officer corps, Naval Officer corps, and just about every policeman vanished into mass graves. Read the full account:


       "Both occupying powers focused their terror on the educated and ruling elite of the country, and, in the Nazi case, also on the Jews. The eastern half of Poland, except for the region of Wilno which was handed over by the Soviets to the Lithuanians, was formally annexed by the USSR after bogus local plebiscites. Mass arrests took place of key figures in the Polish military, political and economic establishment, of civil servants and trade union leaders. All private and public enterprises were taken over; the press was shut down; all Polish political, cultural and social organizations were dissolved. At first the soviets made strenuous efforts to win over the local non-Polish populations by promoting the Belarussian and Ukrainian languages, by distributing confiscated landed estates among the peasants, and by extending the welfare system. Once effective control had been established, the Soviets launched an attack on all religions, dissolved all local autonomous organizations, including the highly developed Ukrainian co-operative movement, and arrested all local Ukrainian and Zionist leaders. Conscription into the Red Army was introduced, and in April 1940 Soviet-style collectivization was imposed. The entire population was now terrorized into obedience.
       In 1940 and 1941 up to half a million people from all social classes and all ethnic groups, but mostly Poles and Jews, were deported from the Soviet-occupied territories to Siberia and Soviet Central Asia. Entire families, deemed in any way 'unreliable' by the Soviets, suffered this ordeal; scores of thousands were to perish in the inhospitable conditions of their places of exile or from forced labour in the Gulag. By mid-1941 many small towns of pre-war eastern Poland had lost much of their Polish character. The NKVD meted out special attention to captured Polish officers (regulars and reservists), civil servants, policemen and border guards. On orders signed on 5 March 1940 by Stalin and the Politburo, over 21,000 such prisoners were shot in April 1940; of these 4,000 perished in Katyn near Smolensk. For half a century, until Gorbachev's admission in April 1990, Soviet governments were to deny their responsibility for these atrocities. Yet while merciless to those he considered enemies of Soviet power, Stalin sought to recruit Poles, especially left-wing intellectuals, willing to co-operate with the USSR. This policy gained momentum after the unexpected defeat of France in June 1940, which left the USSR alone facing a Nazi dominated European continent. In any confrontation with Germany, the Poles could be useful. In the autumn of 1940 the 85th anniversary of Mickiewicz's death was publicly celebrated in Lwow (L'viv) and in early 1941 the Comintern revived its Polish section.
       Soviet terror was soon outstripped by its Nazi counterpart. The Nazi occupation lasted longer, it effected the majority of the Polish population (indeed, between 1941 and 1944 Nazi control extended to the entire area of pre-war Poland) and it took a heavier toll of life. A vast track of western Poland, including Poznan and Lodz (renamed Litzmannstadt) was incorporated directly into the Third Reich, and its populations classified according to crude and inconsistent 'racial' criteria. To affirm the German character of Upper Silesia and especially of Pomerania, two-fifths of their population were registered wholesale as "German" (and therefore subject to military sevice) as opposed to 2 percent carefully screened in the Wartheland. Those classified as Poles were reduced to the status of a helot underclass, deprived of all property and of access to all but the most basic schooling, and subject to compulsory labour or deportation. In the Wartheland virtually all Polish Catholic churches, monasteries and charitable institutions were closed; in Upper Silesia and Pomerania German was enforced as the language of religious life. Patriotic Polish priests were expelled, arrested, or shot. The central part of Poland, administered separately by the so-called Central Government (to which Galicia was added in 1941), was subject to a regime of terror, semi-starvation and ruthless economic exploitation. It became a dumping ground for all unwanted Poles and Jews from the lands annexed by the Reich. Most Catholic parishes were allowed to function in the Central Government but under many restrictions. Polish Protestants were especially victimized by the Nazis. A policy of  "Spiritual Sterilization" brought with it an attack on Polish high culture; museums, libraries, universities, most secondary schools, and theatres were closed down, and the public playing of Chopin's music was forbidden. Only some primary schooling and limited technical training was permitted  . . . The incarceration in concentration camps in September 1939 of the staff of Krakow University was a foretaste of the fate awaiting the entire Polish educated class under Nazi rule."

( excerpt: A Concise History of Poland. 2nd Edition. Lukowski and Zawadzki, eds. Cambridge University Press. 2006. )

Birkenau Death Camp - May 2013 - Photo by Ed Henry - On a recent visit to Poland

The Age of Mediocrity

August 10th, 2013

       I've just been accused of being a Purist and I think it's hilarious. I may even be feeling a small sense of pride in the accusation. It means my level of expectation is higher than the accuser's level of expectation. That this whole small battle is about musicianship makes it even funnier. Some people would think it's a useless argument. When it comes to music and entertainment it IS useless, because every individual has his or her own expectations and choices as to what they like or dislike. It used to be judged in ticket and recorded music sales but the digital world changed all that. The music teacher (the first one to get fired in any discussion about school budgets,) would probably understand the point I'm attempting to make. The fledgling opera-singer, the struggling professional classical dancer, the jazz saxophone-player searching for just the right groove knows exactly what I'm talking about. My accuser hasn't a clue. The accuser (or accusers - there is an army of them) have accepted that mediocrity is OK in any form of entertainment, and at my age, I feel it is a great sadness.
       The Age of Mediocrity should replace the current title of "Age of Information" for the time-frame we're experiencing.  There is a huge swath of the Great Unwashed who will always accept mediocrity as the norm. I think it reached its zenith with the advent of Obama and our current government. I don't blame them for their mediocre leadership. That's what happens when popularity and the cult of personality replaces the values we expect in solid leadership qualities. It takes on a downright sinister facade when you count up all the money involved to "get someone elected." The mediocrity is in place because we, the voter put it there. What we should have voted in were public servants who we trusted enough to fulfill their campaign promises - and then kept them. The electorate voted for mediocrity instead of strong leadership. It's not enough to just accept that all politicians are liars and bamboozlers.
       My accuser doesn't know me that well and the fact doesn't bother me. After all, this whole argument started over music and entertainment, but I begin to see in it a whole pattern of how mediocrity has become the new American norm. Remember the old saw, "We can send a man to the Moon, but . . ."  What my accuser doesn't know is I constantly see promise in those who, given half the chance, can better themselves because there is an innate talent involved. The accepted level of mediocrity keeps them off the stage, off the concert tour, out of the recording studio, out of the film studio, because their talent is a threat to the status quo. Instead of artists working together and supporting each other the dividers want it done their way. Or, one person's level of mediocrity soon becomes the copied norm. It creeps in like a disease to hamper the growth of any human endeavor, whether it's the arts or universities, community organizations, even governments. My hackles go up when I hear, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." "We've always done it this way." "Too bad the kid doesn't have any talent." I'm amused by the current demise of national television networks, who wonder in awe at why all national television ratings are down, advertising sales have slipped, and ask why they're in trouble after several decades of copy-cat and cookie-cutter programming relying heavily on script-writers who seem to have come out of the National Smarm School of Wit and Comedy. Like voting for the lowest common denominator, again it's our fault for turning on the television set in the first place. It is our fault for paying for a few sheets of newsprint that no longer serves the purpose as a source of news. Shock waves went through our community recently with the sale of the venerable Washington Post. Why does anyone even think that's newsworthy, when it's a trend happening in every big city in our country? We've come to expect instant gratification when we want the 'latest' and the internet is there to give it to us. Commentary and opinion? Now everyone has an opinion and can comment on any subject they want. But mediocrity again doesn't like, will not stand for, fresh opinion or an enlightened opinion.
       I like a person with guts. Male or female. Doesn't matter. The ones who quietly take charge matter more to me than the loud-mouthed Prussians. I'm even objective enough to listen to a loud-mouthed Prussian if he or she indeed has the capability to admit a mistake, admit a wrong-headed judgement. Some of the simplest working-guys I know right now have shown me more leadership in their little finger than has ever been shown to me by our current president. They just carry on with life. They're surrounded with lots of genuine friends. They never had to con, flim-flam, or bamboozle their way through life. They actually worked for all the good things they have in their lives. The first symptom of mediocrity is not having to work very hard for a lifestyle of mediocrity.

(In case you're wondering, I didn't vote for Obama - or the other guy, either!)    

Poland Revisited - To a Historian Friend:

 Officer Marcelli Konieczny, family member and Policeman murdered during the Katyn Massacres

4 August 2013:
(a friend writes that Poland has been described 'like a Canary caught between two huge Cats.' My reply:)

       I wanted to provide you with another take on the Canary Analogy. I think it's too easy a trap for the historian to fall into when discussing Poland. It's probably due to Poland's geography more than anything, and of course it's always the first thing mentioned in any work on Poland - "a land bridge for many invading, outside forces." At the core of it though, there was always this entity of the culture of language, and even slavonic customs and traditions that held together this odd idea of a free and liberty-loving place called Poland. You can sense it among the Poles. You can read about it in popular fiction. It's wrapped into their music, arts, writing, poetry, and film-making. The question becomes how serious is it as a force to weld together an idea and move it into the realm of  progressive nationalistic aspirations? You asked me about my interest in such matters, when strangely enough my background is in Asian History.

       I travel a lot in Asia, concentrating my linguistic and historical interests for the past twenty-five years in Viet Nam. My first trip to Poland was a real eye-opener to say the least, because in a very weird way I felt like I was traveling in Viet Nam. I could see the same growth pangs of moving from one economic system to another, the personal yearnings in the people for a better life, and mainly, the realization that Poland had a lot of catching up to do with the 20th century. (at that time we were on the verge of entering the 21st century!). There was in the citizens too, this longing for freedom and liberty, and a release from the chains of somebody else's rules and system. Poland always was central Europe's "Ireland." just as Viet Nam is often referred to as Asia's "Ireland." Poland may be nothing more than a romantic dream in the minds of millions of Poles residing in and outside of Poland. The Dream becomes a fertile garden for the demographer, statistician, historian, economist, or even artist. All have the task of explaining Poland to the rest of the world.  The Chronicler may have the most important task. The Chronicles rest on one important fact: no matter how much Poland has been trampled on, torn apart, sub-divided so many times, and changed hands, it remains as a nation of people bound by a language and a "Polish Way" of sorting out their destiny.

       It was never so much about two cats wanting to eat the canary, but two cats constantly debating issues of what to do with the canary. The Polish Question at the Potsdam Summit wasn't new. The fall of the Soviet Bloc proved that. And the question had come up again previous to the end of World War II. Also it was more about Lithuania, the Hapsburgs, Ukrainia, the Holy Roman Empire, and what to do about Silesia. It was always about having to deal with the Poles if we should one day decide to attempt to conquer them. All of this geographical debating led right up to the political breakdowns in 1987. In simpler terms, the Canary doesn't care one bit about any cats on it's borders, maybe never cared, except to give the cats a warning every once in a while that it's probably best to leave the Canary alone.

Heat Lightning - Blue Train's Second Official Performance

 Mike Hartnett - David Propst - Tom Reeves - Rick Miller - George Osing     Blue Train

21 July 2013  Spring Grove, Pa.

       The best part of the day was talking to three couples who had never been to Goofy's Eatery and Spirits out on York Road in Spring Grove. I like to do the detective work: Why are you here? Do you follow the music? Do you know who these guys are? What possessed you on a hot, July afternoon to come and listen to bluegrass? I'm that way. I can do it in a nice way so the strangers never suspect I'm grilling them. In the background, and beyond Whitey Runkle's custom-made pavilion sidings, heat lightning is crackling on the horizon. Storm clouds are building. I feel like the Grand Inquisitor. Rick Miller is up on stage belting out Hank's "Your Cheatin' Heart." I had to stop the questioning and listen. I don't believe Rick Miller and Blue Train is doing that song. The audience goes nuts. It ain't bluegrass and never was, but it fits the mood. It's about entertainment on a Sunday afternoon with Heat Lightning in the background and a large crowd of patrons having a good time in the big pavilion attached to the back of Goofy's restaurant and tavern.
       This is heaven. The last bastion of traditional bluegrass music outside of  Jumbo Jimmy's Crab Shack and the Arcadia Bluegrass Festival. There are one or two other places, but to me they're like good fishing holes or the best Vietnamese restaurants. I'm very cautious as to who I give away their locations. Today at Goofy's it's a pretty special occasion and a lot of people who aren't at Goofy's normally, are there to see Blue Train perform for only the second officially-scheduled performance. Word of mouth is huge in the bluegrass community, and word got around when Blue Train performed there for the first time on June 16th, 2013 (Father's Day). I didn't want to miss this second outing. I knew they would stir up the pot and try some different songs, different arrangements. This band is bottled magic and highly skilled. The wonder of it, as I sat and thought about it, is they haven't even found or hit their stride yet as a working unit. They're that good. The specialness of the occasion could also be felt in who was in the room to have a good time right along with all the rest of the folks. There was a sprinkling of fellow-musician friends who were there to check out the band too. They were there to hear music and talk bluegrass, talk about gigs and old connections.
      More people are coming in and the dance floor is getting more crowded as Rick Miller, Mike Hartnett, David Propst, Tom Reeves, and George Osing heat up the music. Goofy's owner and Proprietor 'Whitey' Runkle and his staff are having a field day with the customers. I got a chance to talk to him. "My wife and I took a trip to Key West and we ran into the neatest biker bar. It was a neighborhood place. Clean and safe, where people could feel at home. I got the idea to have a place like that here in Spring Grove." says Whitey.
Seven years ago he took a chance on bluegrass music (he was already offering rock and roll and country/western). Some locals convinced him that it would draw in customers and sell food and drinks. "It's not always been easy," said Whitey, "It's a delicate balancing act to get the right bands.  Here's Sarah Shock. She was a big help in building up the good entertainment." There were others who stood by the music: Ed Tillman, Donny and Kathy, Kathy and Woody, the Herb Martin Family out of Westminster, the local band Long Ryde, just to name a very few.  It helps to serve up good food right along with the good music. Nothing fancy here. Just stick-to-the-ribs eats tending more toward seafood. The most popular platter-style meal is "The Big Fish" and that's exactly what it is.
       The lightning stopped and it looks like we're going to dodge a bullet. Blue Train is launching into another surprise: "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive" by Merle Haggard. I love it. And the crowd is hooting and hollering and wants to dance. Old folks, young folks, people who are dear old friends, and people who hardly know each other. That's what I've come to expect among the bluegrass community. They want to have a good time and enjoy the company of others who like the same music. Whether you got here on a mule or a Harley isn't a consideration. I have to hand it to Whitey Runkle. He's offering a rare commodity and taking a chance on it. Trying to make a buck on bluegrass in today's economy is a risk not too many bars and restaurants are willing to make. He knows the cash-flow totally depends on getting Entertainment Value, and not just anybody off the street who thinks they know something about music. This is what makes Goofy's a different kind of establishment.
       Blue Train will be back September 1st, 2013, and the music begins at 4:00 and ends at 8:00. In the meantime other great bands are there every weekend - some of the most recognizable names in Maryland and southern Pennsylvania music circles. Blue Train is traditional bluegrass, very tight, very professional, and consists of  Rick Miller (Guitar and vocals) David Propst (Mandolin and vocals) Mike Hartnett (Fiddle) George Osing (Banjo) and Tom Reeves (Bass). The vocal-work is spectacular along with the instrumental structure and unity - rare to find a band that can handle both.

Whitey Runkle and Sarah Shock - Sticking with musical tradition

He's Holding a Banjo, So It Must Be Bluegrass . . .

15 July 2013:  From the Field:

      I love You Tube. I can generally find a band, performer, or musical act and check them out before I ever invest my gas money to go see them. Most of the stuff up on You Tube is so badly produced that it doesn't do any performer any marketing favors. A camera on a mobile phone in a noisy bar full of drunken, screaming, 21-year olds will never capture the artistic intent. It won't help to 'sell' a band, either. A few weeks ago somebody recommended I take a look at a band that was coming to the DC area. They were being hailed as a young, up and coming, bluegrass act. As suspected, it was four young people playing a collection of percussive devices, one kid strumming a banjo, and one kid strumming a cheap guitar. He strummed the basic blues chords - Ad nauseam - Every song. I kept shuffling the videos hoping I would hear some bluegrass. I'm glad I could rely on You Tube to help me save some ticket money. Interestingly, this page led me to hundreds of other pages where young people were extolling great street bands they'd seen on their latest vacation in New Orleans. Now granted, I've never been to New Orleans so this fascinated me. What didn't fascinate me was the tag on every one of these videos that said, "Real Delta Blues Band Plays in New Orleans." You have to check this out. Every one of the dreadfully produced videos usually show a bunch of kids who look like run-aways. They all look dirty. Like somehow personal hygiene problems are definitely connected to what might be suspected substance abuse problems. There might be 6 or seven of them in the 'band,' but usually only one person is playing a guitar, banjo, or fiddle. The rest are beating on things picked up out of the city trash. Wash-boards and big whiskey jugs (a la 1960's) are there too, to give it that Zydeco touch.  That's the sum total of any musical knowledge. The guitar-player is ALWAYS in an E-chord. Pan-handling the tourists is usually a part of the act, too. After watching these, and seeing how many there were, any thoughts of taking a vacation in New Orleans faded out of my brain-housing group. Sort of like dreaming of that vacation in San Francisco, until you get there and are greeted by San Francisco's out-of-control homeless problem.
      You Tube thus serves as a good resource for checking something out before you unwittingly pay your hard-earned money and sit down in an auditorium seat. Lately I've noticed that this same 'style' of band is creeping into bluegrass festivals, known and lesser known, and showing up at places that cater to trying to please the general public's musical tastes. The travesty is when they are promoted or packaged as bluegrass bands, either by people who don't know the difference, or by people who hired them on hear-say, or the misdirected recommendation of a friend in the business. What really hurts, and I hear this all the time while I'm out in the field is somebody from the general public saying "well I see a banjo and a fiddle, so they must be bluegrass." Watching the annual Mummers' Parade in Philadelphia with its thousands of people strumming thousands of banjos, all playing "Happy Days Are Here Again," isn't bluegrass, either. The only saving grace is the good people of Philadelphia know it has nothing to do with bluegrass, and don't promote it as such.  

Public Disclaimer

Public Disclaimer from Ed Henry:

The "Approved by Jimmy Martin" Logo displaying a photo of  'Marvin' (a beagle owned by Douglas Ross) was designed by me and has no official connection to Jimmy Martin, the Jimmy Martin Estate, or to Jimmy Martin's descendants or family members. The use of the Logo is to bring serious attention to those bands, musicians, or individuals who uphold and perpetuate the style and quality of Jimmy Martin's music, or, continue to play Jimmy's songs as part of their repertoire. The design and use of the "Approval" is meant in serious good faith and is in no way an attempt to discredit or draw humor from the good name of Jimmy Martin. He was and forever will be, The King of Bluegrass. (7 July 2013)

Marvin the Beagle, owned by Douglas Ross (Dry Mill Road Band, Winchester, Va.)