From: Pete Dashwood on
Howard Brazee wrote:
> On Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:00:00 +1200, "Pete Dashwood"
> <dashwood(a)removethis.enternet.co.nz> wrote:
>
>> I spent a couple of years in Madrid and lived within half a mile of
>> the Plaza de Toros.
>
> I spent a couple of years in Mexico City and lived within half a mile
> of the Plaza de Toros. (Early 1960s)
>
>
>> I play with a local band here sometimes, and occasionally
>> participate in Folk fests and concerts for charity. I find that
>> "Goodnight Irene" is a firm favourite across most age groups. Most
>> people don't know it was written by Ledbetter.
>
> I have three copies on my iTunes, one sung by Ledbetter. I have the
> composer listed as Gussie Lord Davis & Huddie William Ledbetter.
>
> Checking Wikipedia, I see the following:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodnight_Irene

Interesting link, Howard, Thanks.

Oddly, I never knew he played 12 string guitar. For about 15 years in my
youth that was my favoured instrument. Not so popular nowadays.

A few weeks back I treated myself to a hand made (in Southern California)
Taylor acoustic/electric and it is a great delight to me. Possibly the best
guitar I have ever owned (and I've had some good ones, including a Fender
stratocaster back in the 60s, a Gibson Les Paul in the 80s, and George
Washburn acoustic (which I still treasure) in the 90s.) Taylor guitars are
making a name for themselves and it is well deserved, in my opinion.

Pete.
--
"I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."


From: SkippyPB on
On Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:35:51 +1200, "Pete Dashwood"
<dashwood(a)removethis.enternet.co.nz> wrote:

>Howard Brazee wrote:
>> On Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:00:00 +1200, "Pete Dashwood"
>> <dashwood(a)removethis.enternet.co.nz> wrote:
>>
>>> I spent a couple of years in Madrid and lived within half a mile of
>>> the Plaza de Toros.
>>
>> I spent a couple of years in Mexico City and lived within half a mile
>> of the Plaza de Toros. (Early 1960s)
>>
>>
>>> I play with a local band here sometimes, and occasionally
>>> participate in Folk fests and concerts for charity. I find that
>>> "Goodnight Irene" is a firm favourite across most age groups. Most
>>> people don't know it was written by Ledbetter.
>>
>> I have three copies on my iTunes, one sung by Ledbetter. I have the
>> composer listed as Gussie Lord Davis & Huddie William Ledbetter.
>>
>> Checking Wikipedia, I see the following:
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodnight_Irene
>
>Interesting link, Howard, Thanks.
>
>Oddly, I never knew he played 12 string guitar. For about 15 years in my
>youth that was my favoured instrument. Not so popular nowadays.
>
>A few weeks back I treated myself to a hand made (in Southern California)
>Taylor acoustic/electric and it is a great delight to me. Possibly the best
>guitar I have ever owned (and I've had some good ones, including a Fender
>stratocaster back in the 60s, a Gibson Les Paul in the 80s, and George
>Washburn acoustic (which I still treasure) in the 90s.) Taylor guitars are
>making a name for themselves and it is well deserved, in my opinion.
>
>Pete.

Taylor's are nice but you should check out Yamaha acoustics. You
might be surprised.

Regards,
--

////
(o o)
-oOO--(_)--OOo-


"There are two types of people in this world, good and bad.
The good sleep better, but the bad seem to enjoy the waking
hours much more."
-- Woody Allen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remove nospam to email me.

Steve
From: Pete Dashwood on
SkippyPB wrote:
> On Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:35:51 +1200, "Pete Dashwood"
> <dashwood(a)removethis.enternet.co.nz> wrote:
>
>> Howard Brazee wrote:
>>> On Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:00:00 +1200, "Pete Dashwood"
>>> <dashwood(a)removethis.enternet.co.nz> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I spent a couple of years in Madrid and lived within half a mile of
>>>> the Plaza de Toros.
>>>
>>> I spent a couple of years in Mexico City and lived within half a
>>> mile of the Plaza de Toros. (Early 1960s)
>>>
>>>
>>>> I play with a local band here sometimes, and occasionally
>>>> participate in Folk fests and concerts for charity. I find that
>>>> "Goodnight Irene" is a firm favourite across most age groups. Most
>>>> people don't know it was written by Ledbetter.
>>>
>>> I have three copies on my iTunes, one sung by Ledbetter. I have
>>> the composer listed as Gussie Lord Davis & Huddie William Ledbetter.
>>>
>>> Checking Wikipedia, I see the following:
>>>
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodnight_Irene
>>
>> Interesting link, Howard, Thanks.
>>
>> Oddly, I never knew he played 12 string guitar. For about 15 years
>> in my youth that was my favoured instrument. Not so popular nowadays.
>>
>> A few weeks back I treated myself to a hand made (in Southern
>> California) Taylor acoustic/electric and it is a great delight to
>> me. Possibly the best guitar I have ever owned (and I've had some
>> good ones, including a Fender stratocaster back in the 60s, a Gibson
>> Les Paul in the 80s, and George Washburn acoustic (which I still
>> treasure) in the 90s.) Taylor guitars are making a name for
>> themselves and it is well deserved, in my opinion.
>>
>> Pete.
>
> Taylor's are nice but you should check out Yamaha acoustics. You
> might be surprised.

As well as Yamaha (I have an FG400A which I've had 15 years and now lend to
people I'm teaching) there are a number of great Japanese acoustics, and new
ones coming out all the time. I played Takamine, Ibanez, and Yamaha, while
shopping, but came home with the Taylor. There were a couple of others I had
not heard of, but they were all fine instruments. (we are talking 3 - 5
thousand NZ dollars, here, so they should be... :-)) It was a very full day
with hours of testing.

Today I was shopping for a decent amplifier for practising at home. I ended
up with a Roland Street Cube which faithfully reproduces the Taylor's bright
sound. Now I'm trying to learn some NZ folk songs for a Kiwiana night next
month :-). The person throwing the party has requested some songs from the
goldfields in the 1860s and the ones I have found sound dreadful. They are
like dirges, strongly influenced by Irish music (at it's worst; at its best,
Irish music can be excellent). I can understand why many people hate folk
music. Someone nasally whining about death and destruction is not really
entertainment and I am struggling to re-arrange some of these songs so I can
do them without the desire to slit my wrists in the middle of it :-) So far
I have found one which I can play without shuddering. "Farewell to the
Gold". Apparently Bob Dylan did a version of it that was dreadful at some
concert; the only time he's ever done a NZ written song. The words are
really poor and don't scan properly to the melody, so I'm making a few
changes. The song is about a guy getting swept away by a flash flood during
the floods on the Shotover river in 1863, where many people were sluicing
for gold. There is another one written by James K. Baxter, who was a Kiwi
icon. Changing that would be like altering Holy Writ. Although it is much
better written, the melody is boring and lugubrious...

Looks like being a fun night :-)

Pete.
--
"I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."


From: Anonymous on
In article <83qhpsFdeuU1(a)mid.individual.net>,
Pete Dashwood <dashwood(a)removethis.enternet.co.nz> wrote:

[snip]

>The person throwing the party has requested some songs from the
>goldfields in the 1860s and the ones I have found sound dreadful. They are
>like dirges, strongly influenced by Irish music (at it's worst; at its best,
>Irish music can be excellent). I can understand why many people hate folk
>music. Someone nasally whining about death and destruction is not really
>entertainment and I am struggling to re-arrange some of these songs so I can
>do them without the desire to slit my wrists in the middle of it :-)

This reminds me of a snippet of television I saw, decades on back during
an insomniac night, where a Scottish comedian was - what else? - carrying
on and whining about something-or-other. He was in the 'an' then I did
*this* ta earrrn a shilling an' foun' dout thet th' lassies seemed ta love
folksingers' stage; he commented that folksongs were the easiest to do and
the most ridiculous to listen to 'were ye sober... which th' audience,
a'carse, werrrren't'... and he let loose with a typical

'Therrre war... *ten* thousand sailors, *dead* a-pon th' flooorrrr...'

(pause for laughter)

'... *thrrree* thousand babies, trrrapped i'side th' mine.'

(more laughte5)

'... an' th' ladies looved it, I dinna ken why.'

I picked up a set of the Bristol Sessions a while back (that's Bristol,
Tennessee, USA) and got reacquainted with some 'old friends'... might be
time to break down and get Smith's Anthology. I gave up playing decades
on back (Guild F-112, Martin Silk-and-Steel strings) when I realised that
I didn't have the drive to be Leo Kottke or the madness to be John Fahey.

DD

From: Alistair on
On Apr 26, 5:04 pm, Howard Brazee <how...(a)brazee.net> wrote:
> On Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:58:14 -0700 (PDT), Alistair
>
> <alist...(a)ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> >And we Highlanders still do.
>
> Why is it that in the U.S., I hear lots of people identifying
> themselves as or with Highlanders, but hardly anybody self-identifying
> as Lowlanders?
>
> --
> "In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found,
> than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace
> to the legislature, and not to the executive department."
>
> - James Madison

Highlanders looked scornfully down upon the lowland Scots (glasgow/
Edinburgh and further south) who wore trews and not kilts. My clan was
based on Mull and to the west of the great glen. I was born in
Inverness (hence the broad Scots accent that I type with).

As an aside: I am reading a book written by a Rhodesian and find that
the words float through my mind with a distinct southern african
accent.
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