Maryland Bluegrass - One of the Finer Things in Life

Why Are We Here?

25 November 2013

     It's almost strange to be continuing this conversation. It's a rare thing indeed to be sharing this kind of conversation with a companion such as you. For one thing, we've barely met. We hardly know each other. Our lives and our backgrounds are so dissimilar. And then there's the huge age difference. Sometimes I'm really feeling my age and then other times I barely think about it. I'm watching everybody go to communion at 10:00 mass on a Sunday morning and I'm thinking about you - and all the people making their way down to the Priest who's handing out a wafer made of flour and water. Our parish is filled with the world; people from Africa, South America, Europe, Asia, even Indonesia and the Philippines. There are old people and young people, and lots of babies crying. I love to hear the babies crying while others can't stand it. They're the future. I'm not. They are the Church of tomorrow.

     Today is really special because Bishop Justs is visiting from Jelgava, Latvia. His story is unique. He's a special man for our cause. His family fled Latvia in the late 40's and he was called to become a Priest. He eventually became the Pastor of our Parish. Then late in life he was called to Rome where Pope John Paul made him a Bishop and encouraged him to go back to Latvia and build up a Church that was destroyed by communist-thinking. He was torn between leading a pretty good life in a big, Washington suburbs parish, to returning to a country reeling in the poverty of post-communism. He returns every year to our parish to see old friends and collect money for Jelgava. We give generously and freely because our parish is wealthy and a lot of people love Bishop (Father) Justs. To me and a lot of people he will always be a priest we dearly love. The hat and regalia may be different, Father Justs is not. It strikes me on this special morning that Bishop Justs is talking about the thing he's always talked about - and the message never gets boring - Jesus Christ came upon this messed-up Earth to spread the message of unconditional love. An inspiring priest such as Bishop Justs always has the uncanny ability to continually make that central message sound fresh and new as if you're hearing it for the first time.

     The central message captured me when I converted in the early 80's - and the message has never changed. It's taken a lot of sifting, and thinking, and reading, to try and be a good Catholic. It's withstood a lot of argument and doubt and negativism thrown at me by those who find themselves either broken away from their faith completely or what I refer to as The Fringe-People. I love them all, because they're struggling too, to find what they're looking for. I saw a lot of them today walking down the path to receive Communion from a loving priest and a loving Bishop. For me, it's always has been the subject of unconditional love,  and keeping a free mind in order to ask yourself the important questions.

"I am The Resurrection and the Life." - James King

 James King - a special appearance at Jumbo Jimmy's ( Port Deposit, Md.) 24 November 2013

24 November 2013

     It's not often I pull double duty on a bluegrass weekend. Especially on such a cold, nasty weekend here in the DC area. But I'm driven on by the urge not to miss anything, and apparently there are a lot of other Maryland bluegrass fans who feel the same way. Come hell or high water, when good bluegrass is offered the crowds will show. Blue Train made its second appearance at the Williamsburg Inn on November 23rd, and surprise, surprise, reservations had to called in at the last minute if you wanted a table. There was a lot of last-minute confusion and one would think that's a bad omen until you realize that any local band would want that kind of situation to occur. There's nothing more satisfying than a full-house. And the Williamsburg Inn Pavilion is a rather unique playing space. It's a huge, attached event tent with a beautiful dance floor and stage, and it's cozily warmed against the cold with a heating system. We got there early to enjoy a meal and we were lucky to get a table in the main dining room. The Inn was filled with Saturday night diners.

     I think back to June 17th, 2013 when Blue Train made its first appearance up in Spring Grove, Pa. They were good then, today they're even better and improving with each show. The dance floor was busy all evening. The wind howled outside and no one cared. Dave Propst never sounded better on mandolin and vocals. As a matter of fact, the whole band sounded better. It's tough to single out any particular band member because these guys work so well as a unit. I gave up on my usual picture-taking and note-taking early on and joined everybody on the dance floor. The whole room was busy with inter-action between old bluegrass friends. Herb Martin and Aaron Martin were there and Herb was handing out some of his home-raised eggs to friends. (I copped a dozen - Thank You Herb!) The Martin Brothers & Aspen Run, in tandem with Blue Train have a big show coming up on December 7th at the Eureka Fire Hall in Stewartstown, Pa. Connie and I danced the night away - we all did - especially the Baltimore Fan club of Kerry, Clarice, Brenda and young Ronnie, who had never experienced bluegrass music. He may never experience anything like that again.

     We go to mass at 10:00 every Sunday. We had a tough time dragging ourselves out of bed. The price you pay for having fun with friends and then driving all the way back to Virginia in strong winds very late at night.
James King was playing in the afternoon at Jumbo Jimmy's in Port Deposit. I should have taken the day off but I'm an addict for hillbilly music and had this gut-feeling that I didn't want to miss an opportunity to see James King. I'd heard so much about him. He's one of the local legends in Maryland bluegrass circles. I had just purchased his latest CD "Three Chords and The Truth." I play it over and over again. Then everybody started telling me stories about James King. It's often hard to dismiss hearsay from fact, especially in this crazy realm of the bluegrass community. The music is what matters and this is the central statement in "Three Chords and the Truth." When I try to document this music I approach it with one thing in mind: is Ed Henry being entertained or not? This style of music will not entertain or even begin to enlighten everybody. Especially when it's being so basically delivered to a listener. I left the pavilion on Saturday night (no one wanted to leave due to the energy, and besides, the wind was blowing so badly!) and Rex Smith, Yvonne Smith, and Jerry Riecke hounded me with questions as to whether I would show up for James King the next day. "I don't know," I said, "Let's wait and see."

     The wind hadn't abated one bit. I made it to mass and checked my Christmas lights before I left for Port Deposit. I'm glad I got them up on the house while the weather was still balmy. I got to Jumbo Jimmy's and it looked like old home-week. The place was packed. The warnings were correct. Get there early if you want a seat. Joyce Miller and the Lundy's were taking up a couple of tables. Old musician friends of James' had come down from Pennsylvania. There was a buzz in the air. It was a family reunion of a lot of people who had played together since the early 80's. There was a lot of talk about Danny Paisley's health situation - if you're reading this Danny, know there are a lot of your fans and friends pulling for you. The music started at 4:00 and the dance floor quickly filled and stayed that way through 7:30. Working without a play-list James King was shooting from the hip with old country standards, songs from his latest CD, and Stanley tunes. It got wild. The band had to pull back their equipment a couple times to give more room to the dance crowd.
I'm a bluegrass hillbilly music junkie. I thought I was going to over-dose. Good music, good times, wonderful people to be with and enjoy yourself. It's about as simple a combination as you can get. James King is in the end, wonderful entertainment.

Blue Train:  Rick Miller, Dave Propst, Tom Reeves, George Osing, and Tom Lyons.

James King's players:  Barry Crabtree, Merl Johnson, Jesse Smathers, and John Marquess.

The Tuesday Sermonette

19 November 2013

     What a pleasure to see you again. I knew we would continue the conversation, even though I find myself always at a loss for words. So much of the music I've been listening to this week is about getting back, or returning, or trying to re-establish family ties. Maybe because we're coming up on Thanksgiving and along with the circus-atmosphere of football games, we also have visions of baked turkeys shoved down our throat. It's nice to have a decent conversation about something entirely different than that. I'm considering this week's questions which were posed to me. I don't have to repeat them. They'll become self-evident. I'll mention again that I'm a convert. I had to learn everything from the beginning. The Book of John begins, "In the beginning  was the word . ."  I had to go back and read the Bible. I'd read it in college for literary purposes and scholastic background and I found it unbelievably dry and boring - and mostly just unbelievable. But I could still appreciate Milton, Donne, and a number of Jacobean Protestant poets. I got good grades for regurgitating 'Academic Speak.' Then,  in 1983 when I decided to convert, I wanted to go back and read it for my own purposes. I had also been introduced to the documents of the Second Vatican Council and those changed my whole outlook on the path I was choosing in converting to the Catholic faith. I read them through and through, page after page, and soon learned (because I wanted an explanation for everything,) that the majority of Catholics had never read them! They're revolutionary. Maybe the most revolutionary set of documents to come out of the 20th Century, especially when compared to the old Baltimore Catechism. I read that on my own too, so I would have some semblance of knowledge and background on the path I was choosing..

Suffice it to say, I read a lot. That's what converts do. Early on it was suggested to me that I should seek out a "spiritual Counselor" to help with the thousands of questions I had about the Church. An old missionary priest took me on and we met solidly for a year every week. It was a god-send. The first thing he told me was to stop reading for six weeks, stop watching television, listening to radio, don't go to movies, stop reading anything about religion or the Church. What a shock to hear this kind of advice. But there was a method to his seeming madness. And the message was, clear your stupid brain of everything - all excess - all intrusion. I learned much from that experience. It also helped me get over a lot of my combat-inflicted feelings about the war and my time spent in Viet Nam. It was time to prepare to get rid of all past "baggage."

We all carry baggage from our past. I think about this all the time because I've spent a life in the travel business. I think about it every time I pick up my bag to go to another destination. Our Church is a portable device we carry with us at all times and everywhere - if we truly believe in it. I have a habit of packing a rosary (first thing) into my luggage or back-pack when I'm bound for some place. Stripped of all accoutrements our faith is the Eucharist. A piece of bread and a cup of wine and a man who came to us to tell a story. The past, and past matters, are of no earthly importance. What matters is what we do with today, and how much we have loved and cared about another human being. 

I Always Go Back To Westminster

 Clayton Martin, Aaron Martin, Herb Martin III, Steve Unkart, and Guy Herbert.  The Martin Brothers & Aspen Run at Stables Restaurant in Westminster, Md. 14 November 2013.

16 November 2013

     For some weird reason the stars were aligned in Westminster, Maryland Thursday evening on the 14th of November. Ordinarily, anyone in show-biz knows that money is made on the weekend. Theatres, restaurants, clubs wait for the weekend to count their receipts. We live in a frenetic area where people want to go home and go to bed after work or sit in recliners and ponder where the money is going to come from to pay for the fast approaching holidays. I took a chance and left Vienna, Virginia at 4:00 to get to a 6:00 show in Westminster. I felt the need to get up there because I had a gut feeling it was going to be good. Once I got into our notoriously heinous traffic I knew I had made a mistake and I was going to have to pay the price for my stupidity. To make matters worse I realized I should have gotten gas before I left Virginia. It wasn't just northern Virginia traffic, but four other disaster areas of grid-lock I would have to sit through before I reached the outskirts of Baltimore. I finally got off the Baltimore Beltway when my gas tank warning light came on. I was an hour and half late already and still 32 miles away from my target. But at least I wasn't going to run out of gas to add insult to injury. Those of you who live in this area know this story. You don't want to hear it. Those of you who don't live in the Washington/Baltimore corridor and are planning to move here, DON'T. We don't need you to add your two or three more SUV's to the situation. Our road systems can't handle it and you'll only die from early strokes and heart conditions facing our traffic stress. Move to Loudoun County, Virginia. I'm sure they'd love to have you.

     There's always that pot of gold at the end. The Martin Brothers and Aspen Run was playing a four-hour show at The Stables Restaurant on Main Street in Westminster. Aspen Run changed their name this year to The Martin Brothers and Aspen Run right before they released their latest CD in late spring. I'd seen them before at this particular venue and I've written about it. The last show was good (it's never bad,) but the House was only slightly over half-filled, and people drifted away early because the following day was another work-day. This is a killer assignment for any working band that needs audience energy to sustain performance level. Another surprise factor for any band working the restaurant is, it's a huge space with lots of long tables and a big dance floor. You can put lots of customers in it and it still looks big and open. I finally pulled into the parking lot (which is also gargantuan) and was shocked when I had a hard time finding a parking spot. I walked into the place and saw the dance floor filled. I looked around and the numerous tables were filled with people eating dinner (the food is good, by the way. Any restaurant that serves home-made meatloaf and mashed potatoes is 'Jimmy Martin Approved' in my book). The first folks I ran into were Tina Tippett and her family, Joey Longwell, and Steve Unkart. Then Rob Miller. Pretty soon it was a who's who of bluegrass fans from Goofy's and Jumbo Jimmy's, and in the back of the room it looked like a bluegrass "Board Meeting" of musicians and fans from other bands. I was overwhelmed to say the least that so many good people had come out to support The Martin Brothers and particularly Maryland bluegrass music. That's the bottom line. When there's a good thing going on, people will come out on a week-night and support it.

    After I got my bearings and said all my howdies, I ambled toward the back because I heard the distinctive voice of Rick Miller (how can you miss it?) who was sitting with Dempsey Price and Herb Martin. Rick Miller is the driving force behind "Blue Train." Blue Train and The Martin Brothers and Aspen Run will be sharing the stage at the Eureka Fire Hall in Stewartstown, Pa. on December 7th. It will prove to be a great evening of entertainment if you like hardcore, traditional bluegrass. In between being interrupted constantly by the "Westminster Board of Bluegrass" members I was sitting with, I tried to concentrate on the music. The Martin boys never sounded better and I've seen them a lot. They were throwing in new numbers (the gospel selections are outstanding) and rehashing old territory that always puts a lot of people on the big dance-floor. This is a band with rough edges that may never go away, but that's the beauty of who they are. Their unified stage presence and entertainment value is real and that's what their audience and fans have come to expect. Since I really couldn't concentrate on the music and play critic, I figured what the hell and decided to join all the Westministerians who were out to have a night of fun on the dance surface. The crowd stayed there for three sets and an encore. I always think about the friends who weren't there and will hear about it the next day.
     It was a hooten'-and-hollerin' party in the full sense of the word. You never know what to expect when the best face of the Maryland bluegrass community shows up. The Martin Brothers and Aspen Run is the Energizer Bunny factor to get the fun going - and that's a wonderful thing! The owners of the restaurant must have been real happy when they counted the evening's receipts.

Note: Herb Martin wanted me to mention that The Stables has a colorful history of being an old Colts hang-out in the days of Johnny Unitas. Back then it was called "The Pit." The Colts training area was nearby and The Pit witnessed some wild times. We all know what happened to the Colts. Baltimore has never been the same. The Colts are gone. Baltimore's love of traditional bluegrass is still alive and kicking.

Available!  The Martin Brothers and Aspen Run's new CD  Memories Passed Away. A must for anyone's collection of traditional bluegrass.

The Band: Herb Martin, III, Clayton Martin, Aaron Martin, Steve Unkart, and Guy Herbert.

Unraveling the Complications

 Life in the Mekong Delta - Viet Nam - September 2013

13 November 2013

Let's talk about the simplicity of bluegrass and its therapeutic values. Let's talk about how it's great art, say, somewhere right up there with the minimalism of Japanese Noh Theatre, or the bombast of the paintings of Fra Lippo Lippi in the Cathedral at Orvieto. I hear the disagreements coming in on my digital airwaves now. The naysayers, the non-believers, the great unwashed who have yet to experience the artistry of Bill Monroe, Pete Goble, Tony Rice, or Mike Munford. They wouldn't understand the emotional heartache of Edith Piaf, either. Or understand that the simplicity of this music comes out of the human struggle to survive; tries to paint a picture of the human landscape about them. The music is produced as unadorned as possible, and performed as unadorned as possible, with the voice and acoustical stringed instruments. Nothing more. No stage-sets, light shows, or smoke-machines. I'm reminded of this once again as I sit here and listen to James King's latest album Three Chords and The Truth.

     I'm also reflecting on a performance I saw just a few years ago. In the middle of nowhere; along the Mekong River, I had stopped to have some iced tea at a place called The Tiger Man's Farm. It was bloody hot and I was tired. We had been on boats all day long and then trudged along muddy dikes and over bamboo bridges to get there. The Tiger Man himself greeted us. He was a healthy, very strong, 80 year-old, wiry little guy with a smile you couldn't resist. He ran a 'fruit farm' which by Vietnamese standards meant he was fairly wealthy. These are not farms in our sense of the word. The farms are really long stretches of what appear to be impenetrable jungle until you realize they are regulated stands of hundreds of different varieties of tropical fruit. All kinds. When compared to our tasteless, two or three or four fruits grown in the U.S. it makes your head spin. I could go on and on about life in the Mekong Delta, but I'll save it for another time. Suffice it to say, I was in for a real treat at the Tiger Man's place. After some fruit and tea and talk about the old days, he ushered me and my friends to the rear of the house where I could hear some instruments being tuned. They were traditional instruments (I could name them for you, but it would only confuse the point of the story) plus a very out-of-tune guitar. There was a simply-built veranda fashioned out of bamboo and palm fronds near a fish pond. The back wall of the veranda was closed off with split-bamboo screening. There were two women who greeted us with tea. Three men were smiling and continuing to 'tune up.' We took a seat and were offered more tea and small cups of honey. Tiger Man took a seat, too, and continued to gaze at us with a goofy smile.

     The music started. I recognized the format of how this was going to unfold. There were patterns being played that announced the intent. First some poetry. Then some sung-poetry, and who knows what would happen next. The older lady, very beautiful (sans make-up and simply dressed,) started singing. After a few verses the younger woman joined in. After a few poems they stopped. We applauded. Not out of habit, but because we were really enjoying it. More music and some silence. The older woman announced in broken English the intent of the next selection: a song about loss. A young daughter is leaving her mother to join her new husband's family. The bulk of Vietnamese music is played in a minor key and that sets the stage for an emotional experience for the listener. All attention was upon the two women. The song, the accompanying movements of the women, the movements of the embracing arms, the steadfastness of certain gazes, evoked everything in the human experience of sadness. It was so simple, yet spoke a thousand complexities in the human condition. It brought tears. Even though I had seen this story before in other locales in Viet Nam, I had never seen it done this way by two singer/actors who could produce that afternoon's affect on strangers.

     We applauded wildly, there was a lot of hooting and hollering. The singers and musicians ambled away down a back-path into the trees. I asked Tiger Man who they were, and he told me they were just some of his laborers. We tried to offer him money. He wouldn't take it. It was time for us to be on our way. No one wanted to leave. The afternoon blaze of heat didn't seem to affect us any more.

     I have to keep these sorts of memories uppermost in my mind when I'm approaching any art-form, especially music, theatre, or dance. They can take you to experiences and places where you may go once and then never have the opportunity to return. This was pointed out to me in the late 80's when I hosted an Afgantsi soldier in my home. The Afgantsi are the Russian veterans who served in Russia's own war with Afghanistan. It was a bitter, heart-wrenching experience not unlike our own Vietnam experience. I asked him what was the one thing he wanted to do while he stayed here. "I want to go to the Phillips Gallery and see a painting," he replied. He had studied art before the Russian Army threw him into a war.. The Phillips Gallery? OK, easy for me. I can go down there any day of the week. Alexei and I went the following day. I watched him as he studied every painting and made a lot of comments. He stood in front of one painting by Monet and tears welled up in his eyes. I asked him why he was crying. He said he'd studied this painting, had knock-offs of it, and knew it was in this collection and he knew he'd have an opportunity to see it. He then made a statement that registered for life: "I've wanted to see this my whole life. I might never see it again." Alexei had been badly wounded. He was blind in one eye and he was losing sight in the other. He was still a young man. His passion for the love of art was keeping him going. He thanked me again and again for the afternoon.

     Whether it's unadorned Vietnamese music, unadorned bluegrass music, or the paintings sans adornment of the Impressionists, the lesson learned always for me is less is better. I love the folly of youth. The folly of youth also tracks in its own consistency of repetitious folly. The need to adorn, replicate, duplicate, and copy the folly of other artists and entertainers. We older folks complain that the reason for this is a lack of life experience. Period. End of discussion. I think it goes deeper than that - because once in a blue moon I'm shocked with an encounter of youthful and genuine talent. In a while, maybe not for years, that seed of  talent will develop and mature into something more if allowed, (with a lot of persistence) to grow into great art. Bluegrass has become my form of therapy to explore the boundaries of my own appreciation of art, artists, musicians, and the entertainment professions. Sounds wild, I know. But when you think about it, it's basically the most grounded, most original, American art-form we've inherited. I'm having a lot of fun starting at that point. But I had to return to that point, too. I had to go back to it time and again. The message is there - if you listen closely enough.

   

Thanks for Asking - A Letter to A Friend

12 November 2013

     Thanks for asking. In deep gratitude I accept the challenge. I'm reminded of a story I heard a man tell at a conference a few years ago. He had been away from the Church for 12 years. He knew in his gut that to get back into the fold he would have to go to confession sooner or later. He had slipped in and out of regular Sunday masses a few times in preparation for facing up to it and had been turned off by either the fire and brimstone of guilt infliction, or maybe worse, homilies that were to him, boring and lifeless and having nothing to do with that Sunday's Gospel reading. Any way, he finally faced up to it and decided to go to confession. He entered the room in face-to-face confession and there was an old priest sitting there who reminded him of Yoda. His first fear was the age of the priest. He began by telling the priest "Father, I confess that I've been away for 12 years from Communion and I need to get back, so forgive me Father for I have sinned." He was shocked with the next thing that happened. The old priest looked up, held up his hand, and asked, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. How long have you been away from the Church?"
"Twelve years." he said.
The old man smiled, stuck out his hand and said, "First, let me welcome you back! Then we'll work on the confession!"
     It's a true story. If there were ever a Prodigal Son story, that's it. One kindly person made a difference in someone coming back into the fold or turning away from it. If Frank Marsden had never stuck out his hand and said hello to me and welcomed me (a stranger, and non-Catholic,) at St. Mark Parish in Vienna, Virginia, I may never have converted to the Catholic Faith. The beautiful trick was, that started an enduring friendship with a strong Catholic (and really interesting man) who constantly guided me in my own regard for the Church. Thank God for beautiful tricks.

     He was the only one who said hello to me on that day.  I'll never forget it. Frank's gone now, but I think of him everyday and ask myself where I'm at with my Faith.  Just like the person in the above story will never forget the kindly old priest.
     I've always tried to have an open-door policy about my Catholicism. Because, we are all supposed to have an open-door policy with our lives. It's an ideal. I know that. It's total perfection. I know that. It's the Impossible Dream to love everyone. That's why our Church has saints. We're supposed to try to live up to their experiences in loving God and one another. Being a convert you can understand my mystification with all this. I had to start from zero in learning about the Church, its history, its changes, its expectations for what I'm supposed to be as a Catholic. I can never, ever thank all those good priests, teachers, and parishioners sitting next to me who have helped me along the way.  They all exemplified the open-door policy of Jesus Christ and the Eucharist. The Eucharist is our center - the center of our being as Catholics. I may never understand the full implications of that, and that's perfectly OK for this Catholic. I love the jovial priest who can laugh about it and say it's a mystery! I'm suspicious of the priest who feels the need to give me a three-hour academic dissertation on the theological basis of the Eucharist. I can also appreciate that my calling as a Christian is no light or simple matter. The beauty of the Eucharist for me is the requested challenge to better myself through questioning myself and my relationship with Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit. If that isn't the direct center for a person's existence then I have no answer for what is.
     I love my Church and sometimes I'm disillusioned with it. I'm frustrated with the pomp, or in direct opposition of that - oversimplification, the scandals, boring and seemingly non-caring clergy, or questioning that has my brain going down dark alleys. I'm always drawn back to the center of who I'm supposed to be: A Roman Catholic in communion with Christ and the Church through the Eucharist. One of my worst Catholic "experiences" was a visit to the Vatican. One of my best was the recent conversation you and I had about why I love my wife. I'm not afraid to tell people I'm Catholic. I'm not afraid to tell people I deeply love her and my family. I'm not afraid as a male to tell my male friends I love them. After all, we're all walking down that road to Emmaus or Damascus. If we don't share our struggles, we're not really men. The real man in this story is the old priest who wasn't afraid to break ranks and welcome back a lost soul. I wish I could be more like him in my daily dealings with earthlings. But I'm only human, asking for Christ's continual help to show me the right road.