November 1996(D) Bloodlines Mailing List archive
Nov 23-Nov 27, 1996
Posts here discussing "the Box",November 22, 1963, songs A to Z, Trio reissues,
John & America, Jerry Brown, and filling in those word gaps in songs... -REB
_________________________________________________________________
Subj: Update on TBTAMC
Date: 96-11-23
From: Ddumail@aol.com
The message below was posted on the aol board, and I repeat it here for the
benefit of those of you not imprisoned in aolhell. (Sorry)
"The Box That Ate Mount Clemens" is a project to release some previously
unreleased work of John's onto CD, coordinated by and for his fans. We
eagerly await ANY news and this little nosh has been served up to keep you
informed.
MIchelle, webmistress and mailing list manager
*******************************************************************
Subj: TBTAMC
Date: 11/22/96 8:35:34 PM
From: Lordfrench
Say hey...
Things are progressing on the TBTAMC front. Hope to have something to
announce soon.
Secretary of State Warren Christopher, as his last official function, is
being brought in to work out final arrangements.
Also, DID find the elusive "Virginia" cut (the fourth version of this classic
with changed lyrics) from Secret Tapes II on a mislabeled tape in the Box,
along with two unheard and unreleased beauties--funky, slower, and more
intense versions of "Summer Sun" and "Jenny At The Wheel," serving to remind
us how good both of these songs are.
Stay tuned.
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: November 22
Date: 96-11-23
From: ClackClack@aol.com
Several months ago on a Mary Chapin Carpenter list we were discussing a song
of hers called Stones In The Road. This song was first recorded by Joan Baez
and later it became the title track for what some people consider MCC's most
personal and best album. In this song MCC remembers when she was 10. The
lyrics go, in part:
Whe I was ten my father held me on his shoulders above the crowd/
To see a train draped in mourning pass slowly through our town/
His widow kneeled with all their children at the sacred burial ground/
And the TV glowed that long hot summer with all the cities burning down/
And the stones in the road, flew out beneath our bicycle tires/
Worlds removed from all those fires as we raced each other home.
And now we drink our coffee on the run/
We climb that ladder rung by rung/
We are the daughters and the sons/
and here's the line that's missing.....
This was about Bobby Kennedy because Chapin was 10 in '68. This provoked a
discussion of where we were when we were ten. In November 1963 I was ten and
the New Frontier came crashing down. America would never be the same. This is
what I wrote:
When I was ten I was in the fifth grade in Catholic school. My teacher was a
nun, Sister Gregory Mary, who in retrospect I see was one of the most
influential people in my young life. But I knew she was special then. The
folk music revival was in full swing then. Sister was not the singing nun,
but she should have been. She had a lovely voice and would bring in her
guitar and folk music albums. Of course we learned Puff the Magic Dragon, but
also Lemon Tree, If I had a Hammer, 500 Miles, and many songs by Peter Paul
and Mary, the Brothers Four and the Kingston Trio. (In sixth grade we learned
about the Weavers and others). But when I was ten, in the fifth grade, the
year was 1963, and that November we sat in stunned silence and then we cried
and then we prayed when John Kennedy was assassinated. And part of our
innocence was taken away from us.
Ron Beffa - Once I was a Dreamer On The Rise
Vallejo, Calif
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Subj: Re: November 22
Date: 96-11-23
From: PFARNAM@aol.com
just had to respond - when I was ten, McCarthy held the country in the gripe
of the "Red Scare". I had read the Declaration Of Independence, Common
Sense, and the Constitution and nobody could explain to me why it was illegal
to say what you thought, or believe what you wanted to believe. I believed
what I read in the Constitution. Those beliefs have gotten me in a lot of
trouble ever since.
On November 22, 1963, I was a sophmore at Marquette University in Wisconsin,
and I was amazed at the degree of hatred I saw directed towards JFK. I saw
people cheering his death! For me, it was the death rattle of the promise of
America. I thinks the shots that took down Bob Kennedy were the nails that
closed the coffin for good. And yet, I still think there is hope for better
things in this country. We are a pretty amazing group of people. Since
1960, it seems that the person most likely to renew that hope for me has been
John Stewart. His music has rescued me from many hopeless periods, and gives
me reason to hope again, and hoping, take action.
For anybody who has access to Pacifica Radio stations, I recommend
listening to Jerry Brown weekdays, between 4 & 5pm. I can see a real
connection between some of the things I hear on his show, and what I hear
John singing about. In So. California, he is on KPFK, 90.7FM. It is
refreshing to hear people talking about things that are important, things
that matter, telling the truth as they see it, rather than trying to sell
something.
Keep it flyin'
Patrick Farnam
Huntington Beach, California
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: Re: November 22
Date: 96-11-23
From: Angelbravo@aol.com
Dear bloodlines@world.std.com,
It was the beginning of the American breakdown.
It is images burned into brain cells as vivid as the day we first heard and
saw them. Names that carry the weight of thirty three years of after shocks.
School Book Depository, Grassy Knoll, Oswald, Connoly, Dallas, Dealey Plaza,
Exit wound, Arlington, Bethseda, Black Jack, Rotunda, Evelyn Lincoln,
Ruby, A.Hidell,Tibbet, Motorcade, Shots rang out,
we interupt this broadcast, Parkland, Stemmons Parkway, Elm Street,
Zappruder, Lone gunmam,
Eternal Flame, Rufus Youngblood, Pill box hat, Magic bullet, Andrews Airforce
Base, Airforce One, Muffled drums, just in from Associated Press, President
Kennedy is dead.
As if it were yesterday.
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: Re: Describing Stewart
Date: 96-11-23
From: PeterB1103@aol.com
I've been listening to John Stewart music continually for the past 28 years,
and agree that through all the changes and experimentation, the Super Chief
still travels through farmland dotted by the same row of sycamores. I hadn't
realized how seamless "Airdream Believer" is, but whoever made that
observation, you're right. That's part of the mystical appeal, isn't it?--as
great as the new material is ("Rough Sketches" blows me away every time I
listen to it), "Cody" and "Roll Away the Stone" and "Wolves in the Kitchen"
are still fresh and vital. I can't think of another artist in the "folk" bin
-- except perhaps Gordon Lightfoot -- whose work from the '60s and '70s
doesn't sound tired and dated today.
I also wanted to echo others' comments on "Phoenix Concerts". Before even
reading my mail this week, I have been listening to "Phoenix Concerts" for
the past several days and am as spellbound as the day I bought it in
nineteen-seventy-whenever at Records Limited in Van Nuys, California. "This
is a great album", the clerk said at the time. To me it's the best live
recording ever made, bar none, better than "Live at Leeds", better than
Lightfoot's "Sunday Concert" (now out on CD, by the way).
The dreams are still as clean as silver.
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: Re: November 22
Date: 96-11-23
From: PeterB1103@aol.com
November twenty-second, sixty-three, when they blew the dreams away . . .
I visited the School Book Depository--now a museum--last year, and after what
was then 32 years felt it all over again. Last night my wife (who is not a
JS fan) and I were recalling the minute details of where were on that day --
which we all can do -- and almost reflexively I spoke some of the lyrics from
"I Remember America" and "Super Chief" -- she may not have been converted
into a Stewartista by this experience but it was a moving time for both of
us.
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: Re: November 22
Date: 96-11-23
From: MFinleyCS@aol.com
Y'all,
Just re-entering after four days without electricity due to a massive ice
storm on 11/19, here in Spokane, Washington. The obvious: didn't have a
gut-level appreciation for how dependent we are on electric power until now.
As long as the batteries lasted, with no lights, after dark I listened to JS
CD's on a portable CD player. Clear through the Phoenix concert, Bandera,
Airdream Believer, a few others. California Bloodlines. What an
experience. Stoking the fireplace with presto logs, making runs to the
supermarket for more presto logs. Just back, and found John's moving
reflection on anniversary of JFK assassination. I was a senior in a Catholic
high school in Walla Walla, Wash. Talk about having the wind knocked out of
you permanently. Not permanently. Still got the spirit back for RFK. After
his death it was permanent. Something gone that has yet to return. Still
have hope that it will return. Someday. Somehow.
Mitch
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: All Those Years Ago
Date: 96-11-23
From: tae69@dial.pipex.com (Mark M Austin)
As much as I love John's music, I always feel that there's some
aspect that I'm missing. I put this down to two reasons:
1) I'm not American and don't live in the states, thereby there
are always going to be some references which I don't understand
clearly.
2) I've had to rummage through second hand stores to build up a
collection of his albums, therefore they've been accumulated out of
sequence and some years after the actual release, thereby missing
out on the "timeliness" of the release. After all, I'm sure we'd all
agree that many records are imprinted on our minds along with a
certain era.
Reading all your recent postings certainly make me think. I would
have been too young to remember anything of all this, and in any
event, it doesn't carry the importance here in England, but to hear
how it has affected you all, even after such a long period of time
has elapsed is certainly moving, and will send me back to certain
songs with a renewed interest.
Mark
"And if three wishes, came into my life..."
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: Re: Describing Stewart
Date: 96-11-24
From: lnhfbo@polaristel.net (Luke Havumaki)
How about an alphabetical Stewart
A]rmstrong
B]ringing Down the Moon
C]alifornia Bloodlines
D]aydream Believer
E]arth Rider
F]riend of Jesus
G]old
H]ero From the War
I]rresistible targets
J]usticeville
K]ansas Rain
L]ost Her in the Sun
M]other Country
N]ever Goin'Back
O]ldest Living Son
P]irates of Stone County Road
Q]ueen of Hollywood High
R]unaway Train
S]hadows of the Angels Wings
T]icket to the Stars
U]????
V]???
W]olves in the Kitchen
X]???
Y]ou Can't Look Back
Z]???
Well 22 out of 26 isn't bad..
I'm going where them chilly winds don't blow...
Luke
Oh once we were dreamers on the rise. John Stewart
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: Re: Where is everyone??
Date: 96-11-24
From: delausa@mailbox.syr.edu (Del Lausa)
Michelle wrote:
> all I remember is sitting crosslegged in front of the hotel TV (my
>family was being transferred once again) asking my parents why there was
>nothing on TV except for that horse pulling a cart with a flag draped over
>it. (I was 3)
I'm in the habit of asking college freshmen about their first "tv
memories." Do you know what college students these days carry as their
first "public" memory? The assasination attempt on Reagan. For the college
students of the 80's, it was Sesame Street (maybe that explains something).
For me, it was frantic tearful news reporters on B&W tvs, scuffling in the
hallway, shots fired, solemn silence. I was not quite two, but I eventually
put together that a little boy's father had been shot, and that everyone
had loved him. But dreams don't die; they only become more necessary in the
face of our worst fears.
John, you said everything when you said "So it's up to you and I to beat
our arms against the sky and keep it flyin."
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: Re: All Those Years Ago
Date: 96-11-25
From: M.J.Mooney@Bradford.ac.uk (Mike Mooney)
At 19:37 23/11/96 GMT, Mark Austin wrote:
>As much as I love John's music, I always feel that there's some
>aspect that I'm missing. I put this down to two reasons:
>
>1) I'm not American and don't live in the states, thereby there
>are always going to be some references which I don't understand
>clearly.
>
>2) I've had to rummage through second hand stores to build up a
>collection of his albums, therefore they've been accumulated out of
>sequence and some years after the actual release, thereby missing
>out on the "timeliness" of the release. After all, I'm sure we'd all
>agree that many records are imprinted on our minds along with a
>certain era.
>
>Reading all your recent postings certainly make me think. I would
>have been too young to remember anything of all this, and in any
>event, it doesn't carry the importance here in England, but to hear
>how it has affected you all, even after such a long period of time
>has elapsed is certainly moving, and will send me back to certain
>songs with a renewed interest.
>
I'm glad Mark brought this up; I was planning something similar from the
point of view of a British Stewart fan. Yes, it's true that we probably
don't 'get' a lot of the references in John's songs. Nonetheless, for me at
least, the 'American-ness' holds a major appeal, and I believe ties in with
many a Brit's ideas of a 'mythical America'.
Unlike Mark, I'm *not* too young to remember the Kennedy assassinations;
like Ron Beffa I was 10 in 1963 and believe me the events *did* carry a lot
of importance, even in the UK. I can remember very clearly the stunned
atmosphere in our house, and I was aware that something *seriously* bad had
happened. So I think I have some idea of what it all meant to John and
people like him.
What I find fascinating however is the fact that much of John's appeal to me
is due the fact of it's being somehow 'exotic', whereas to many Americans it
may be completely the opposite, i.e. the familiarity of recognition.
I've only been in the US once (round the mid-Atlantic states about 7 years
ago), and most of my images of it are gleaned from TV, films and songs.
Strangely enough, among my earliest inspirations were during the early-60s
period mentioned above, in the form of the Warner Brothers TV western
series, things like 'Cheyenne', 'Bronco' and 'Sugarfoot' (anybody remember
those?) As an adult, John's albums somehow carry a similar resonance -
American place names just sound so romantic, and fit so well into songs,
even if they may in reality be mundane places.
So those of you who regularly cruise Route 66, or the the San Fernando
Valley, just remember there are John Stewart fans over here who have very
little idea (or maybe a radically *wrong* idea of just what that is like). I
suspect there are US fans of British folk music (particularly) who
experience the same phenomenon 'in reverse'.
Mike, driving through mythical Yorkshire
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: John & America
Date: 96-11-25
From: tae69@dial.pipex.com (Mark Austin)
Mike Mooney wrote:
>I'm glad Mark brought this up; I was planning something similar from the
>point of view of a British Stewart fan. Yes, it's true that we probably
>don't 'get' a lot of the references in John's songs. Nonetheless, for me
>at least, the 'American-ness' holds a major appeal, and I believe ties in
>with many a Brit's ideas of a 'mythical America'.
>What I find fascinating however is the fact that much of John's appeal to
>me is due the fact of it's being somehow 'exotic', whereas to many
>Americans it may be completely the opposite, i.e. the familiarity of
>recognition.
I totally agree. Although living in thr UK, most of the music I listened
to was American (and TV) and it has influenced me moreso than local music.
I've been lucky enough to get to the States three times, and would go
every year if my bank manager agreed. Mind you, I thought Jimmy and
those Dolphins would be doing a bit better than they are, but thats
another story!
Mark
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: Re: All Those Years Ago
Date: 96-11-26
From: delausa@mailbox.syr.edu (Del Lausa)
>At 19:37 23/11/96 GMT, Mark Austin wrote:
>I've only been in the US once (round the mid-Atlantic states about 7 years
>ago), and most of my images of it are gleaned from TV, films and songs.
>Strangely enough, among my earliest inspirations were during the early-60s
>period mentioned above, in the form of the Warner Brothers TV western
>series, things like 'Cheyenne', 'Bronco' and 'Sugarfoot' (anybody remember
>those?) As an adult, John's albums somehow carry a similar resonance -
>American place names just sound so romantic, and fit so well into songs,
>even if they may in reality be mundane places.
>
I know what you mean, but it occurs to me that this is in fact largely the
way we Americans know "America" too. This comes out strongly in much of
John's work . _Rocket Roy_ is an obvious example; one reason why this
clicked so well with my college students is that they recognized the long
lists of pop culture references, current and past. Personally, I've never
been west of St. Louis, so i only know Route 66 through books, "tv, films
and songs". In many ways, these *are* "America".
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: Re: November 22
Date: 96-11-26
From: lcfoster@sdcoe.k12.ca.us (Katie Foster)
PFARNAM@aol.com wrote:
>
> just had to respond - when I was ten, McCarthy held the country in the grip
> of the "Red Scare". I had read the Declaration Of Independence, Common
> Sense, and the Constitution and nobody could explain to me why it was illegal
> to say what you thought, or believe what you wanted to believe. I believed
> what I read in the Constitution. Those beliefs have gotten me in a lot of
> trouble ever since.
> On November 22, 1963, I was a sophmore at Marquette University in Wisconsin,
> and I was amazed at the degree of hatred I saw directed towards JFK. I saw
> people cheering his death! For me, it was the death rattle of the promise of
> America. I thinks the shots that took down Bob Kennedy were the nails that
> closed the coffin for good. And yet, I still think there is hope for better
> things in this country. We are a pretty amazing group of people. Since
> 1960, it seems that the person most likely to renew that hope for me has been
> John Stewart. His music has rescued me from many hopeless periods, and gives
> me reason to hope again, and hoping, take action.
> For anybody who has access to Pacifica Radio stations, I recommend
> listening to Jerry Brown weekdays, between 4 & 5pm. I can see a real
> connection between some of the things I hear on his show, and what I hear
> John singing about. In So. California, he is on KPFK, 90.7FM. It is
> refreshing to hear people talking about things that are important, things
> that matter, telling the truth as they see it, rather than trying to sell
> something.
> Keep it flyin'
> Patrick Farnam
> Huntington Beach, California
A connection between ex-Govenor Moonbeam and John??? I worked under
Moonbeam's administration. Don't kid yourself-it wasn't idealistic--it
wasn't special--it was politics as usual (just at a different part of the
spectrum)
JPB
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: hello, Stewart Trio Reissues, JST A-Z, & Upcoming CD's
Date: 96-11-26
From: folkera@loopback.com (Ian)
Hi All,
>Regarding re-releases of the Stewart Trio, our last hope is Bear
>Family records of Germany, I think, who have reportedly bought the
>entire KT collection from Capitol and are expected to release the
>whole shebang in one monster multi-CD package, which I can't wait
>for.
> Expected fairly soon, late '96 or early '97.
Bear Family in Germany HAVE licensed the entire KT collection. As to
whether they're going to do a 2 box set (1 box Guard, 1 Box Stewart)
or put the whole thing into 1 mega-box . . . We've heard both. And
are they the last hope? Well, if they were to not reissue the stuff,
some Record Label might. :>)
At this point, Bear Family has said nothing will be released this
year, but they are promising sometime in 97. This actually makes
sense, since 1997 is the 40th anniversary of those striped shirts.
Also - Luke H came up with songs from John, A-Z, but missed U,V,X, and
Z. I think John has an older song with a chorus that goes something
like "Under heavy fire." That might be the title. Wasn't there also
a song called "Virginia?" that was different from the "Eyes Of Sweet
Virginia." There also was a song written in the mid 70's sets called
"Zappata" or "Zappata's Own Commandos," or something like that. The
only recorded version I know of is on a White Mountain Singer's LP.
We've got about 8 left of the LP if anybody really wants to hear the
song, but the group's namesake is a bit of a misnomer, as they can't
really sing. I don't think I can help with an X John song though
Finally, as a huge fan (I think I saw my first John show when I was
about 10), I've been enjoying everything on the list & look forward to
contributing. What I wanted to acknowledge up front is that since I
work for Folk Era Records & our sister company Rediscover Music -there
is a business interest involved. I'm looking forward to sharing label
related stuff (if there's anything you'd like to know, feel free to
ask & I'll answer what I can), but I don't want anybody to think I'm
just here to "sell you something." I am just so proud to be able to
work with John and work towards helping him reach the wider audience I
suspect we all believe he deserves. I think I also speak for my
father Allan (who some of you I suspect know as Rediscover & Folk
Era's owner) when I say how proud we are to be able to work with John.
Anyway, I wanted to let everybody know I'm here (and that Folk Era
is). We've just re-released "Live At The Turf" for American
distribution. We've included Tom DeLisle's liner notes, all the
lyrics to the songs on the album, and some new art picked out by John
himself. I'll share the press release information with everybody in a
separate post. Also - I think you'll all be excited to know that we
have an agreement with John to release both Bandera (for US
distribution) and Rough Sketches on CD in 1997. We're going to be
putting a bunch of time & energy into promoting all these albums &
I'll let you know more about things like release dates as we nail them
down.
Looking forward to being part of bloodlines! (Sorry about the earlier
AOL post with no info in it. We're in the process of using a new ISP
& still switching some things over - I just lost track of that
message).
Sincerely,
Ian
________________________________________________
Ian Shaw Folk Era Records
Publicity & Promotion 705 South Washington
FolkEra@loopback.com Naperville, IL 60540
ph (630) 637-2303 fx (630) 416-7213
Now on the web! http://www.folkera.com
_______________________________________________
please note our new area code (630)
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: Re: hello, Stewart Trio Reissues, JST A-Z, & Upcoming CD's
Date: 96-11-26
From: DMotley@aol.com
"Fanfrickingtastic!" I can't wait to get my hands on the ROUGH SKETCHES CD.
This is one of John's best recordings ever, and I believe it has great
commercial appeal. I hope you guys will give it the promotion that it
deserves. Keep up the good work, and........ "Keep it flyin" " DMotley,
Crestline, Ca.
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: Re: November 22
Date: 96-11-26
From: PFARNAM@aol.com
Hey JPB,
Are you saying that no one can change, grow, expand their mind, have a
different perspective? I've been in California for almost twenty five years,
and, to me, it appears pretty evident that what Jerry Brown is saying and
doing today, is world's apart from what he was doing and saying as "Governor
Moonbeam". Before you dismiss it, check it out. I look back on what I was
thinking twenty five years ago, and I can see some pretty major changes I've
gone through. If you think you know who Jerry Brown is today, because you
worked in his administration twenty years ago, I suggest you check it out.
You may be very surprised. I was. And I do see a lot of similarities
between John's music and what Jerry is talking about today. You may not
agree with me on that - that's fine, but if you are telling me Jerry Brown's
political philosophy is the same now as it was twenty years ago, you haven't
heard him recently.
Patrick
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: Re: JS A-Z & TBTAMC
Date: 96-11-27
From: Lordfrench@aol.com
Ian and all,
Initially, yeah, "V" is for Virginia, and "Z" for Zapata, though "Under Heavy
Fire" is actually "Heavy Fire" so we're back to square one with the U's,
though it seems there ought to be a song starting with "U," doesn't it...?
The staff of The Finger has been working to issue a Stewart anthology CD
currently referred to as TBTAMC, the first of what is hoped will be 2 or 3
CDs of unheard JS music from his personal collection of the past quarter
century. We will be issuing this with John's full permission but not his
direct involvement, as sort of a Fan Club or collector's item special CD.
The songs are all unreleased JS--studio demos, live performances, home
tapes, alternate takes etc. We're still trying to work out production and
financing on the deal.
Interestingly, the classic 1975 studio demo "Virginia" is on the first CD, as
is 1982's
"Heavy Fire." "Zapata," from 1976, is slated for later release.
LF
-------------------------------------------------------
Subj: myths
Date: 96-11-27
From: ClackClack@aol.com
Mike Mooney's mention of how his view of America has been shaped by TV
westerns and John's music prompts me to write.
I think mythical views of America are created by all forms of art, whether it
be the paintings of Bierstadt, Remington or Russell, the photographs of
Matthew Brady or Ansel Adams, or novels, television and film. As Del noted,
americans too perceive a mythical view of America that has been created.
American film and television particularily shaped our present imaginary view
of the west, I believe. Shows like Rawhide, The Rifleman, Bonanza, Wagon
Train, Maverick, Cheyenne, Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel (Pallidan) and
countless others created in my mind and I am sure many an image of the west
that probably never was. Although the TV (and movie) western fell from favor,
later shows such as Little House on the Prairie still worked at creating this
mythical western America.
This is not to imply that myths are bad. I happen to find them quite
interesting, and they are certainly not a modern invention. Myths seem quite
adept at creating nostalgic, perhaps romantic views of a time and place. They
are also quite good at portraying things as black and white, right vs wrong.
In general in the TV/movie westerns, the cowboys were the good guys and the
indians were the bad boys (although there have always been plenty of romantic
images of indians as noble warriors, etc.). We seem to have swung about near
full circle now, perhaps as some strange cultural catharsis. In films of
recent years, cowboys and soldiers are not necessarily the good guys. In a
film like Dances With Wolves, for example, the indians are near saint-like,
and the soldiers are presented as the villians.Undoubtedly there were good
people on both sides and bad people on both sides, although I find it hard to
come down against a people defending themselves and their homeland from an
invasion.
My ancestors fled economic conditions in the late 1800's. From the research
I've done on the Beffa's, they lived a simple yet very hard life. One might
have this romantic view of Switzerland and living in the shadow of the
Matterhorn, but the reality of it must have been quite different for them to
have to leave and look for a better life. The other half of my family left
Ireland in the late 1800's looking for a better life in America. It is hard
for me, in modern times, to imagine the desperation they must have felt to
leave what I view as a "mythical magical place", County Cork Ireland, to
board an immigrant ship for New York and then to sail around the Cape to come
to another mythical place, San Francisco, "The Barbary Coast" of the late
1800's. Ah, "but these are the things that dreams are made of". When I was
young growing up on the coast I'd hear tales of various places such as this
place was where the rumrunners came in during prohibition, and it wasn't too
far of a drive down the coast to Monterey where the novels of Steinbeck came
to life, Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat, Sweet Thursday,... I devoured these
stories in high school.
Although the Civil War era has been the piece of American history that has
long fascinated me, and I guess John amply covered that territory with the
Cumberland Three, I've also read with interest stories of the settling of the
west, and this "Manifest Destiny" ideology that seemed to obsess America.
Growing up in California and being "surrounded" with gold rush history
probably helps pique my interest in history. In the town of Benicia, just
down the road from my house, there is an early capitol of the State of
California as well as an arsenal where Ulysses S. Grant served (allegedly in
a drunken state) and the Camel Barns. At the camel barn museum you can learn
about the US's failed attempt in the 1800's to create some sort of mounted
infantry for desert warfare. My son participated in an archeological class
there this summer and was thrilled to uncover Winchester bullet casings and
the like. Of course in Virginia, that "mythical" land of many bloody battles
of the Civil War, Michelle can probably dig bullets up in her backyard.
This Manifest Destiny drive of America undoubtedly was transferred to the
space race. This drive to expand, explore, conquer. So that a man named
Armstrong could walk upon the moon. And when we reached the moon, the new
frontier was dead, two of the Kennedy's were gone, Nixon, a veteran of the
communist witch-hunts and blacklists of the 50's, was President. Vietnam, a
country torn apart, was tearing America apart. I see I've digressed.
I'm eager to hear a Brit's view of America as shaped by John's music. In
truth, for me, John's songs may conjure up mythlike pictures and stories, but
they strike me much more so as capturing the real feeling of a place. I think
this is a large part of the attraction of John's music. Take a drive through
middle America, the so-called Heartland. Drive through places like Kansas,
Colorado, Montana, Wyoming. When you see the huge rolling fields of wheat it
is almost a surreal image and somehow a song like Wheatfield Lady seems right
and it fits and "I can taste her on my tongue", as do songs like Kansas Rain
or Cheyenne. "You can't go back to Kansas, it up and blew away" works on
several levels. Somehow John has a gift to capture and distill essences of
America and give them to us in song.
I've never been to Texas or the southwest, but the songs off of Rough
Sketches fill my mind with images and visions, and somehow I know they are
right because John has gotten it so right on other songs. I hear the barking
of the dogs of San Jon and I am there. The town of Bolinas, for example, is
perhaps an hour's drive away. John captured a bit of this quirky town in song
long ago and it still rings true.
And you know, part of the magic is more than the lyrics. It is the music- the
hidden language in John's guitar- that helps define the places he takes us.
Ron Beffa
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end of Bloodlines archive Nov 23-27, 1996
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