John Fahey Info
Warren Brown
It's time once again for the "Semi-Annual John Fahey Update" if anyone has
any current info to provide re: whereabouts, health status, performance
locations, performance critiques, etc.
I would also be interested in any info re: planned visits to the SF Bay Area.
TIA.
Warren in Fremont, CA
Jim Smith
>: It's time once again for the "Semi-Annual John Fahey Update" if anyone has
>: any current info to provide re: whereabouts, health status, performance
>: locations, performance critiques, etc.
>
>Guitar, that placed Fahey in Oregon, living in a Salvation Army hotel,
>and pawning his guitar for cash?
I guess this would be a good time to also pose the semi-annual question
as to the whereabouts of Peter Lang. After his 1986 "American Stock" he
seems to have vanished from the guitar playing ranks. I had once heard
he had quit the business and got a "real job" in an electronics firm. Anyone
have any other info.
BTW if John Fahy is truly living in poverty, we the acoustic guitarists of the
90s should take up a collection to help one of the founding fathers of the
genre.
Jim Smith
smit...@atc.alcoa.com
R.Manes
less charming dive in Eugene, where I live. John is currently living in Salem,
OR, under what conditions I know not.
John seemed more than a little burnt out and addled, and at the end of the
concert commented that he was sorry to see it over, because it meant that he
had to "go back out there and face the world".
Longtime Eugene observers say that John plays here at least once a year,
usually around Christmas. If and when that happens, I'll post info to the
newsgroup.
Rick
In article <warrenbD...@netcom.com> war...@netcom.com (Warren Brown)
writes:>From: war...@netcom.com (Warren Brown)
>Subject: John Fahey Info
>Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 00:59:03 GMT
>Hi, All
>It's time once again for the "Semi-Annual John Fahey Update" if anyone has
>any current info to provide re: whereabouts, health status, performance
>locations, performance critiques, etc.
>I would also be interested in any info re: planned visits to the SF Bay Area.
>TIA.
>Warren in Fremont, CA
____________________________________________________
R.Manes <ma...@gladstone.uoregon.edu>
____________________________________________________
Lindstrom James
: Hi, All
: It's time once again for the "Semi-Annual John Fahey Update" if anyone has
: any current info to provide re: whereabouts, health status, performance
: locations, performance critiques, etc.
: I would also be interested in any info re: planned visits to the SF Bay Area.
: TIA.
: Warren in Fremont, CA
Wasn't there an article in a recent Dirty Linen, or was it Acoustic
Guitar, that placed Fahey in Oregon, living in a Salvation Army hotel,
and pawning his guitar for cash?
James Lindstrom
linds...@duq3.cc.duq.edu
Thomas F Brown
>
> BTW if John Fahy is truly living in poverty, we the acoustic guitarists of the
>90s should take up a collection to help one of the founding fathers of the
>genre.
Fahey's problems stem from his alcoholism. I don't think sending him
money is really what he needs. If he could get sober he should be able
to get back on his feet, I would think. If not, *then* I would donate.
Robert Minato
John Fahey played here at Willamette last Saturday night. Willamette is
in Salem, Oregon. He lives in the area.
I couldn't make the show, but I heard it went well. He plays
occasionally at the coffee house here on campus.
If hear any other news, I'll post something.
--
Robert Minato
Willamette University
rmi...@willamette.edu
George Seifert
>
>
> I guess this would be a good time to also pose the semi-annual question
>as to the whereabouts of Peter Lang. After his 1986 "American Stock" he
>seems to have vanished from the guitar playing ranks. I had once heard
>he had quit the business and got a "real job" in an electronics firm. Anyone
>have any other info.
>
Last I heard Peter was a janitor in a Minneapolis school (there was a feature
article in the Minneapolis Star and Trib a couple years back. What a shame.
I loved his music.
George Seifert
Pete Olson
You might, on RMMGAs behalf, make an effort to let John know that there
are another 2 generations of guitar players that are still interested in his
music and would love to see him play!
Despite his drinking and depression, something must be keeping him alive-
and I bet it's the guitar.
PETER D. OLSON pdo9...@uconnvm.uconn.edu
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology TEL: (203) 486-3947
U-43, 75 No. Eagleville Road -1882
University of Connecticut -4060
Storrs, Connecticut 06269-3043 FAX: (203) 486-6364
-Pete
Don Steiny
>> You might, on RMMGAs behalf, make an effort to let John know that there
>>are another 2 generations of guitar players that are still interested in his
>>music and would love to see him play!
>I would say unreservedly that John Fahey and Doc Watson were the 2 MOST
>important pickers for me when I was starting to play.
John turned on a lot of people to Blind Blake, Mississippi John
Hirt, and others because we got into the finger style playing because of
him. Two artist that appeared first on his label were George Winston and
Leo Kottke.
Unfortuantely, John has had serious problems with alcohol and other
drugs. I think that it robbed him of the kind of personal growth he would
have had if he were not zonked all the time. I produced a concert with
him and it was not too well attended. Other producers have had similar
problems. He often puts on a rather boring show. Realistically, he has
a zillion albums and only a few of them are brilliant. If you learn to
play the fingerstyle, Fahey is not one of the main people you would try
and emulate.
But, as Dale Miller once pointed out, the whole ragtime movement,
Stephan Grossman, Duck Baker, Dale and others got their first taste of
fingerstyle playing from Fahey.
-don
--
Don Steiny - ste...@infopoint.com - http://www.infopoint.com
InfoPoint - voice 1+(408) 425-5343 - fax: 1+(408) 425-1919
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Mike Sechelski
>sel...@telsci.arc.nasa.gov (Rennie Selkirk) writes:
>
>>> You might, on RMMGAs behalf, make an effort to let John know that there
>>>are another 2 generations of guitar players that are still interested in his
>>>music and would love to see him play!
>
>>I would say unreservedly that John Fahey and Doc Watson were the 2 MOST
>>important pickers for me when I was starting to play.
>
> John turned on a lot of people to Blind Blake, Mississippi John
>Hirt, and others because we got into the finger style playing because of
>him. Two artist that appeared first on his label were George Winston and
>Leo Kottke.
>
> Unfortuantely, John has had serious problems with alcohol and other
>drugs. I think that it robbed him of the kind of personal growth he would
>have had if he were not zonked all the time. I produced a concert with
>him and it was not too well attended. Other producers have had similar
>problems. He often puts on a rather boring show. Realistically, he has
So Don, which are the few that are brilliant??
Mike
Thomas F Brown
>So Don, which are the few that are brilliant??
He had a greatest hits album that was pretty awesome. There was a book of
transcriptions of everything on it. My mom really digs his christmas
albums. So do I.
Rennie Selkirk
>......If you learn to play the fingerstyle, Fahey is not one of the
>
> But, as Dale Miller once pointed out, the whole ragtime movement,
>Stephan Grossman, Duck Baker, Dale and others got their first taste of
>fingerstyle playing from Fahey.
Indeed. And I think for me that John's compositions, especially the ones
from the early years, have an intentionally cinematic (I'll avoid using
the word psychedelic!) quality which grabbed me immediately, even before
I started playing guitar. I think the visual POWER of his stuff has a
lot to do with the simplicity of the picking, which is to say "the modality's
the thing". But then again, he did write a Ph.D. thesis on Charley Patten.
And of course, it goes without saying that simpler picking patterns are
easier to learn and adapt for your own purposes!
Rennie
Thomas F Brown
>
>> problems. He often puts on a rather boring show. Realistically, he has
>> and emulate.
I think he's a good model for beginners.
A lot of his stuff is not that hard to play.
Fred Scholl
>Don Steiny (ste...@steiny.com) wrote:
>> problems. He often puts on a rather boring show. Realistically, he has
>> a zillion albums and only a few of them are brilliant. If you learn to
>> play the fingerstyle, Fahey is not one of the main people you would try
>> and emulate.
>I really do strongly disagree here. I've found at least 20 of his albums
>to be stunningly brilliant.
>--
I must disagree as well - John Fahey has always captured the "essence"
of the American acoustic guitar, as well being an exceptional
improvisor/composer. IMHO, one of the great musicians of the 20th
century.
Don Steiny
>>Don Steiny (ste...@steiny.com) wrote:
>>
>>> problems. He often puts on a rather boring show. Realistically, he has
>>> a zillion albums and only a few of them are brilliant. If you learn to
>>> play the fingerstyle, Fahey is not one of the main people you would try
>>> and emulate.
>I think he's a good model for beginners.
>A lot of his stuff is not that hard to play.
True, and some of it is catchy. Love those Blind Joe Death ablums
early on.
Melissa Davis
: >> and emulate.
: >I really do strongly disagree here. I've found at least 20 of his albums
: >to be stunningly brilliant.
: >--
: I must disagree as well - John Fahey has always captured the "essence"
: of the American acoustic guitar, as well being an exceptional
: improvisor/composer. IMHO, one of the great musicians of the 20th
: century.
I have to agree strongly with those who see him as a brilliant sensuous
guitarist. He, in my opinion, is a true master of the guitar as unique
musical instrument with a voice of its own. I know that I for one tried
emulating Watson, Kottke and always have come back to Fahey as the finest
guitar picking style I have ever heard. His authenticity is truly
astounding to me. If it's true that he is burned out and living in a
Salvation Army shelter may God bless him.
Robert W. Van Sickel
kind of surprising to me. I believe that Fahey is in the same class as
Charlie Parker, Hank Williams, Hendrix, et.al. when it comes to musical
innovation and being the progenitor of a whole style of music. Many of
his albums are monumentally important to the history of steel string
guitar. I guess it's too bad that his eccentricities cause some to
devalue his genius -- how dare he not simply die young like those
mentioned above?
JKellyD28
John is living still here in Salem. His health is fairly good and he is
not doing alcohol or other drugs. The story about a year ago in Spin
magazine fairly accurately depicted his life to that point. John's
performances may suffer somewhat because collecting and researching many,
many different kinds of music seem to be as important to him as
performing.
I will pass along everyone's best wishes and accolades John the next time
I see him. Often, those messages of appreciation for what he has
accomplished in the area of acoustic guitar music leave John somewhat
taken aback. He seems to be really quite suprised that so many are so fond
of his work. I'll try to get some kind of address where people can send
mail for him and will post it when he agrees to that. Thanks to all.
Jim
JKellyD28
"Fahey's problems stem from his alcoholism. I don't think sending him
money is what he really needs. If he could get sober he should be able to
get back on his feet, I would think."
Tom, my friend, John has been sober for several years and doing quite
nicely. Many of his problems stem from several diseases, only one of which
may be alcoholism. Your attitude toward disease seems to be "if the
person would only get well, they'd feel and do much better". I hope that
you were just shooting from the hip and didn't really think that one over
first.
Jim
Thomas F Brown
>Speaking of Blind Joe Death, does anybody know if the series is out on CD
>yet? What ever happened to the Tacoma label? I know Kottke recorded his
>Armadillo album on the Tacoma label and he still records a new rendition
>of "Poor Boy" every now and then. I sometimes wonder if it's to support
>poor old John in some little way.
It's Takoma with a K, named after Fahey's home town of Takoma Park MD.
It was his company. Don't know if or how he disposed of it.
John Boston
>
>Speaking of Blind Joe Death, does anybody know if the series is out on CD
>yet? What ever happened to the Tacoma label? I know Kottke recorded his
>Armadillo album on the Tacoma label and he still records a new rendition
>of "Poor Boy" every now and then. I sometimes wonder if it's to support
>poor old John in some little way.
>
The series is not on CD and I doubt that it will be. Rhino
recently issued a 2-CD retrospective, RETURN OF THE REPRESSED, which
includes eleven tracks from the two Blind Joe Death Takoma albums (and
a total of about two dozen from all the 1960s Takoma albums). It is
an excellent selection, beautifully remastered, with a first-rate booklet
including complete discography--in short, the kind of thing that musicians
and record companies do instead of reissuing the original albums in CD.
(I hope I'm wrong.)
There was also a CD of THE BEST OF JOHN FAHEY 1959-77, issued
by Takoma in collaboration with Allegiance Records in the 1980s, and
now as far as I know out of print. It had some material from the
Takoma records that is not on the Rhino collection. I believe I have
seen this listed in the catalog from Guitar Records, P.O. Box 422,
New Ellenton, S.C. 29809, which has a large selection of out-of-print
guitar recordings, both second-hand and cut-out. This CD does not have
particularly good fidelity--in fact, a couple of the cuts sound worse
than the old LPs to me.
As you are probably aware, several of the later Takoma Fahey albums
were reissued in CD by Shanachie: RAILROAD, FARE FORWARD VOYAGER, and
OLD FASHIONED LOVE. Also, Takoma in collaboration with Allegiance
reissued JOHN FAHEY VISITS WASHINGTON, D.C. and LEO KOTTKE/JOHN FAHEY/
PETER LANG during the 1980s. (Maybe also LIVE IN TASMANIA--I think
I have seen this, but didn't buy it.) His Takoma Christmas albums have
also been issued in CD in a couple of configurations--I have the Rhino
CD that includes both of them under the title of the first one, THE
NEW POSSIBILITY.
That's what I know about the CD fate of the Fahey Takoma albums.
As for Takoma itself, to my knowledge its last new material--certainly
the last new Fahey material--was RAILROADS, issued in 1983. After that,
all I am aware of are the several reissues with Allegiance listed above.
John Boston
Robert W. Van Sickel
Takoma LPs by Norman Blake and the one by Bukka White have been
rereleased on CD. The Fahey anthology (highly recommended!) came out on
Rhino though, and haven't seen any of the Blind Joe Death LPs
rereleased.
Don Steiny
>In article <45q04u$8...@crl6.crl.com> mda...@crl.com (Melissa Davis) writes:
>>Speaking of Blind Joe Death, does anybody know if the series is out on CD
>>yet? What ever happened to the Tacoma label? I know Kottke recorded his
>>Armadillo album on the Tacoma label and he still records a new rendition
>>of "Poor Boy" every now and then. I sometimes wonder if it's to support
>>poor old John in some little way.
>It's Takoma with a K, named after Fahey's home town of Takoma Park MD.
>It was his company. Don't know if or how he disposed of it.
Actually, it was a partnership between him and Ed Denson. Ed went
on to form Kicking Mule Records, where a number of great fingerpickers
released their fist albums: Duck Baker, Dale Miller, Del Rey, Bob Brozman,
to name a few.
Ragtime fingerstyle never got popluar enough for the company to
really make it. The albums were great, they always had tab with them.
Ed was the business guy for Takoma, after the split it never really
did much.
John told me that when he is in Santa Cruz he likes to go to Logos
records and look for his old recordings, so evidently, there is no Takoma
archive.
Thomas F Brown
Yes, I thought it over. I don't think sending addicts money is really
very helpful, since they will generally just blow it. I'm very happy
to hear that fahey is better these days. Thanks for the good news.
Robert Patelke
Does anybody know where these may be purchased via mail order
Rob