John Fahey obituary
Library Guy
I don't know the death of John Fahey has to do with old-time music,
but somehow it seems a lot more relevant than some of the junk that
has been posted here recently.
Here's the NYT obit. It sure as hell doesn't say much; it's not like
John Fahey was as culturally important as M&M (or whatever the hell
his name isn't), or even Garth!
Apparently Fahey's heart surgery was two *days* ago, not two weeks, as
I previously reported.
The poor syntax in the first sentence is the New York Times', not
mine.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) --
John Fahey, an acoustic guitarist whose polished steel-string
variations in the 1960s and 1970s, died Thursday. He was 61. Fahey
slipped into a coma after open-heart surgery Monday and was taken off
life support Thursday.
Rolling Stone magazine called Fahey's self-published 1959 debut, ``The
Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death,'' the ``most famous obscure album
of recent times.'' It had a pressing of 95 copies but was picked up by
underground radio stations.
On the album, Fahey invented the black musician Blind Joe Death, whose
work filled one side of the LP, to give his own music authenticity.
Fahey made about 40 albums, including ``The Dance of Death and Other
Plantation Favorites'' in 1964 and ``Fare Forward Voyagers'' in 1973.
He shared a Grammy Award in 1997 for writing album liner notes for
``Anthology of American Folk Music.''
Someone on a John Fahey newsgroup said that John and Harry Smith are
throwing 78s at one another right now. I can see that!
Later,
LG
Kerry Blech
>
> I don't know the death of John Fahey has to do with old-time music,
> but somehow it seems a lot more relevant than some of the junk that
> has been posted here recently.
I'd say he has a decent connection to OTM, Frank. He started up
the Revenant label, for one, that has a bunch of OT music on it.
And his old Takoma label had, as one of its early issues, a nice
little old time fiddle obscurity by a (Oklahoma?) fiddler named
Tony Thomas. The music that he put out of himself on guitar
certainly was not that close to OT music, but he also was
an authority on country Blues, much of which is very closely
linked to Old Time Music. I never got to meet him or see
him perform, but I bet we coulda had a fine conversation about
music that would have, at least, kept me interested.
Like you say, there is a marginal connection to this newsgroup,
but more relevant that a lot that has appeared here.
Bye,
Kerry
--
Blec...@WolfeNet.com
"When you get above the clouds, you can do just as you choose."
- The Rector Trio, Asheville, NC 1930
Library Guy
wrote
:> I never got to meet him or see
>him perform, but I bet we coulda had a fine conversation about
>music that would have, at least, kept me interested.
From what I hear, he probably wouldn't have talked to you anyway.
Unless you bought him a drink, that is.
LG
Paul Mitchell
> And his old Takoma label had, as one of its early issues, a nice
> little old time fiddle obscurity by a (Oklahoma?) fiddler named
> Tony Thomas.
I owned that record (sadly lost in the shuffles of life). It was one of
the first fiddle LP's I ever bought. On the cover, under Tony's name, it
read something like:
"One of the few fiddlers who can make a hungry chicken forget his corn"
I thought that was great, though Tonys fiddling didn't turn me on too
much (I bet I'd like it better now).
Takoma also put out a band called "The Possum Hunters" (I think the album
was entitled "Crash on the Highway"). THis was confusing to me, since, at
the time, I couldn't figure out how there could be two groups with the
same name. (Back then, I was challenged to find matching socks).
John also featured a good fiddler on his album Voice of the Turtle,
(playing Bill Cheatum and one other tune).
Paul
==============================================================================
Paul Mitchell
email: pmit...@email.unc.edu
phone: (919) 962-9778
office: I have an office, room 28, Phillips Hall
==============================================================================
Kerry Blech
Well, I've been known to hug a bottle at festivals so people
would come and "talk" to me...
Remember the Grappa last summer?
--Kerry
ted samsel
There's a John Fahey newsgroup? Or is it a list?
--
TBSa...@infi.net
http://home.infi.net/~tbsamsel/
'Do the boogie woogie in the South American way'
Hank Snow (1914-1999)
THE RHUMBA BOOGIE
Library Guy
>There's a John Fahey newsgroup? Or is it a list?
Actually, it's an "interactive visitors' forum" to be found at
johnfahey.com, which I believe is 'down' right now as they update
their page with the recent sad news.
Regards,
LG
Mike Schway
dal...@vet.upenn.edu (Library Guy) wrote:
...or a turtle. In '68 (or maybe '69?), he did a concert for the
Physics dept at UCSD and his fee was ...a turtle!
(Disclaimer: this happened the year before I started school down there,
but one of my buddies was a Physics grad student and he was there.
Urban legend? prob'ly not.)
I did get to see him perform about 3-4 times. Once at the Ash Grove in
LA he said he was running a 103 fever. Looked every bit like it
too...sweat pouring down and a looking thoroughly uncomfortable (even
for him). Still, he did 2 sets of inspired music.
RIP.
--Mike Schway
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Schway | [Picture your favorite quote here]
msc...@nas.com |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Jack Aldrich
good, and he had a wonderful hand-painted Uncle Dave Macon sweatshirt -
played like him, too. Fahey was very strange - back in the late 60's he
spent a lot of time thinking that, and behaving like he was a turtle.
At that time, Takoma was next door to McCabes, and there was a good deal
of cross-fertilization. It's too bad he's passed, though. He, Mayne
Smith and Barry Hansen (aka Dr. Dimento) were the first 3 to get their
Master's in Folklore from D.K. Wilgus at UCLA.
Nancy Martin
"Kerry Blech" <Blec...@Wolfenet.com> wrote in message
news:3A96C658...@Wolfenet.com...
> Well, I've been known to hug a bottle at festivals so people
> would come and "talk" to me...
Yes, when exhaustion sets in and the rain at the Seattle Folklife Festival
runs down my neck and I need some cheering up I look for Old Marse Blech
sitting with bulging jacket, presiding over an audience of other weaklings
like myself. We have quite a "discussion" at that time.
I'm real sorry to see John Fahey die. I saw him play once in the late
sixties in Portland. I found his music at that time to be inspiring and it
motivated me to play. He sat on stage and took alternate swigs from a bottle
of Coke and a jug of hooch between tunes, to medicate the flu, he said. I
had a copy of that rare Blind Joe Death LP, but I gave it away when I got
over my infatuation with his music in later years. I've got a copy of that
Tony Thomas fiddle LP. I'm wondering who plays backup guitar with him? We
thought it might by Fahey himself.
Bill Martin
Peter Feldmann
wrote:
>
>I don't know the death of John Fahey has to do with old-time music,
>but somehow it seems a lot more relevant than some of the junk that
>has been posted here recently.
>
>Here's the NYT obit. It sure as hell doesn't say much; it's not like
>John Fahey was as culturally important as M&M (or whatever the hell
>his name isn't), or even Garth!
The LA Timnes has a fairly lengthy obit today:
http://www.latimes.com/news/metro/20010224/t000016703.html
Goodbye John, sorry to see you go.
-----------------------------------------
Peter Feldmann
Bluegrass and Neo Classic Country Music
www.BluegrassWest.com
------------------------------------------------
Allin Cottrell
> John also featured a good fiddler on his album Voice of the Turtle,
> (playing Bill Cheatum and one other tune).
Yeah, that was Hubert Thomas fiddling Bill Cheatum and Virgil Willis
Johnston playing Lonesome Valley, in each case with a beautiful
finger-picked backup by Fahey.
I heard him play a couple of times, spoke to him briefly once, but
his music really got to me. I feel the loss.
Allin Cottrell.
ted samsel
>
> The Possum Hunters had a banjo player named Dave Policheck, who was very
> good, and he had a wonderful hand-painted Uncle Dave Macon sweatshirt -
> played like him, too.
Is this the same Dave Polacheck/Policheck who lived in Austin in the
'70s
and had a brother John who played guitar (and I think) mandolin? He
(John)
used to play with our band, John Clay and the Lost Austin Band.
Fahey was very strange - back in the late 60's he
> spent a lot of time thinking that, and behaving like he was a turtle.
> At that time, Takoma was next door to McCabes, and there was a good deal
> of cross-fertilization. It's too bad he's passed, though. He, Mayne
> Smith and Barry Hansen (aka Dr. Dimento) were the first 3 to get their
> Master's in Folklore from D.K. Wilgus at UCLA.
--
Lyle Lofgren
<john.w....@boeing.com> wrote:
>The Possum Hunters had a banjo player named Dave Policheck, who was very
>good, and he had a wonderful hand-painted Uncle Dave Macon sweatshirt -
>played like him, too. Fahey was very strange - back in the late 60's he
>spent a lot of time thinking that, and behaving like he was a turtle.
>At that time, Takoma was next door to McCabes, and there was a good deal
>of cross-fertilization. It's too bad he's passed, though. He, Mayne
>Smith and Barry Hansen (aka Dr. Dimento) were the first 3 to get their
>Master's in Folklore from D.K. Wilgus at UCLA.
>
I must have met him once, then, unless he literally thought he was a
turtle. Sometime in the middle 60's, I was in L.A. on business, and
had some time off, so I called D.K., who had stayed with us a few days
in 1963 while in Minneapolis for an academic lecture on folk music.
He graciously showed me around the folklore department of UCLA, and
invited the graduate students to his place for a party that night. I
remember Barry Hansen was there, because I'd met him before in
Minneapolis, which was his city of origin. I remember Mayne Smith's
and Norm Cohen's names, the first because of the odd first name, the
second because I associated it in my mind with John Cohen. There were
several others there, but I've forgotten the names of all of them; in
fact, true to form, I'd forgotten the names within 5 minutes. So John
Fahey might have been one of them. The conversation was about music,
but not much about the academic side -- mostly enthusiasms and gossip
about Seamus Ennis, who had played the Ash Grove the night before. I
had been to hear him, too, my first experience watching someone play
Uillean Pipes. I thought he was great, but the consensus among the
cognoscenti was that he had been drunk. I don't know why one can't be
both.
Like they say on "Western Union", I'd rather be half-shot twice than
shot once.
John W. Aldrich
Bill Coleman
> .... He started up
> the Revenant label, for one, that has a bunch of OT music on it.
I wonder what effect this will have on the continuation of the
label. I remember reading that there were plans to issue a
CD of Harmonica Frank Floyd's 1950's recordings, but
perhaps that will not happen now...
Tribe
"Bill Coleman" wrote:
> "Kerry Blech" wrote:
> > .... He started up
> > the Revenant label, for one, that has a bunch of OT music on it.
>
> I wonder what effect this will have on the continuation of the
> label. I remember reading that there were plans to issue a
> CD of Harmonica Frank Floyd's 1950's recordings, but
> perhaps that will not happen now...
Whether its on Revenant or some other label, I really hope that someone
keeps putting out such eclectic compilations as what Fahey was issuing on
Revenant. Some of my very favorite CDs are those Revenant collections:
American Primitive, The Stanley Brothers, Dock Boggs (even though it is sort
of a reissue of the Folkways compilation). Maybe it just takes someone with
the insane imagination of Fahey to come up with those ideas for it. Hell,
maybe somebody should just hire some of the regulars from this
list.....plenty of imagination for wonderful compilations right here.
Tribe
LukeHiNite
> "Kerry Blech" wrote:
> > .... He started up
> > the Revenant label, for one, that has a bunch of OT music on it.
>
> I wonder what effect this will have on the continuation of the
> label
The next project, alas as a memorial, will
be a box set of Charlie Patton, with friends,
commercial & non-commercial sides, plus
extracts of interviews of principles. Plus
notes from Fahey's old classic dissertation. Should be a classy set.
Tribe
"LukeHiNite" wrote:
> The next project, alas as a memorial, will
> be a box set of Charlie Patton, with friends,
> commercial & non-commercial sides, plus
> extracts of interviews of principles. Plus
> notes from Fahey's old classic dissertation. Should be a classy set.
I take it that this will be the definitive Charley Patton? Probably the two
Yazoo compilations (with the four or five missing cuts) as well as the cuts
on Yazoo's "Masters of the Delta Blues?" Any other infor you can give us
Patton aficionados on this?
Tribe
Bill Coleman
the Harmonica Frank recordings?
Bill Coleman
"LukeHiNite" <lukeh...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010227191052...@ng-fc1.aol.com...
Tim
working on a Buell Kazee release as well. Any word on that?
Tim
"Bill Coleman" <malt...@nospammindspring.com> wrote in message
news:97hm7h$e5u$1...@slb6.atl.mindspring.net...
Steve Goldfield
Allin Cottrell <cott...@ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu> wrote:
#>Paul Mitchell wrote:
#>
#>> John also featured a good fiddler on his album Voice of the Turtle,
#>> (playing Bill Cheatum and one other tune).
#>
#>Yeah, that was Hubert Thomas fiddling Bill Cheatum and Virgil Willis
#>Johnston playing Lonesome Valley, in each case with a beautiful
#>finger-picked backup by Fahey.
#>
#>I heard him play a couple of times, spoke to him briefly once, but
#>his music really got to me. I feel the loss.
#>
#>Allin Cottrell.
Mary Katherine Aldin asked John Fahey about Hubert Thomas
on my behalf. As I recall, he said he was passing through
(I think it was Bastrop, Mississippi) and met Thomas, who
was a barber, I think. Fahey didn't know anything else about
him.
Steve
(8<})>(8<})>(8<})>(8<})>(8<})>(8<})>(8<})>(8<})>(8<})>(8<})>
-------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Goldfield <stev...@best.com> * Oakland, California
* Home Page--<http://www.best.com/~stevesag/stevesag.html> *
I'm not over the hill. I am the hill.
Jpjm206
Mawr, PA. He came out on stage and played for at least a half hour with out
stopping, changing tunes, tempos and grooves. He was clearly in command. After
he finished, he just stopped to take a break. He sat on the stage smoking a
cigarette looking at the audience. He asked a staffer for a cup of tea and just
sat looking at the audience some more. A couple of people approached him, and I
figured I'd do the same. I was having trouble figuring out "The Last Steam
Engine Train". I had one part worked out in standard tuning and the other in
open E tuning. So I asked him what was the correct tuning. He turned to me
looking about as stoned as anyone could be and mumbled something like "E, its
in E". I still wasn't sure if he meant the tuning or the key. (BTW, its the
key, standard tuning). After his break, he played brilliantly for another half
hour, at least. It was a real pleasure so see someone as creative and close to
traditional as he was.
Just my 5 cents (hey, inflation hits everybody.)
John