I posted a blog summary http://lzfys.blogspot.com/2006/10/blog-summary.html. Go read it. Or not.

Committee assignments for 3pm folks

The Jamboree committee assignments for the 3pm section:
* Film Crew: Jeffrey and Steph
* Dance: Laura (convener), Steph, Michael, Megan
* Junk band: Tyler (convener), Joe, Andrew, Jeffrey, Keli, Megan
* Food: Steph (convener), Jennifer, Keli, Kelly
* Lyrics: Jennifer (convener), Kelly, Lindsey, Jessica
* Radio: Emily (convener), Michael, Lindsey, Jessica

Noon folks: Remember to bring instruments Tuesday!

A reminder that the noon section is going to try out the swing dance band thing next Tuesday (7 Nov). People who are interested can also meet at TMC tomorrow (1 Nov) at 8:30pm to go to the library to look for sheet music for the band to play.

Where does Swing Dancing happen?

I need to finalize the space/equipment request today, and it's not obvious to me where the noon section wants to do this Swing Dancing thing? Do you want to perform in Edson? Teach people in some other space? I doubt we could get enough space in Oyate. Louie's Lower Level (that strange space right below Oyate) would probably work, but they have a big rug there and I don't know if that would be a problem. (We could probably roll it up, but we'd have to put things back.) This needs to sent in today, so discuss and suggest in the comments to this post and I'll send something in at the last minute :-).

I'll get space in Oyate for two tables for the sections to share, and space for the 3pm section to project their movie (screen, projector, couch). Does that group want to use a computer for the projection, or a DVD player?

Thanks!

Blog Summary for 10/25

I've posted the blog summary for October 25th. Have a grand day all. -Mary Beth

JWeb's blog summary

JWeb posted his blog summary and asked me to post the link: http://jwebfys.blogspot.com/2006/10/blog-summary.html

Listening assignment for next week

We were originally scheduled to read an article this week, but I think I'm going to have us listen to some podcasts instead. I would like everyone to listen to episodes 3, 4, and 5 of the The Folkways Collection. This is a very cool 24 episode podcast covering the strange and wonderful history of Moses Asch's great Folkways label, which was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution upon Asch's death. The Folkways label recorded and released an enormous variety of music, poetry, and spoken word material, all of which are discussed in various ways in these podcasts.

The particular episodes I want you to listen to are about Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music [Smithsonian pages about the anthology, with info on each song][Wikipedia article][AllMusic review] that Eagan talked about when he visited our classes last week. This is a truly remarkable collection, and had a profound influence on me both musically and in how I've always thought about this course. It's a sign of its importance that they devoted a full 1/8 of their podcasts to a discussion of this one release.

Each episode is just under an hour long. I'd like everyone to listen to at least the first two by Tuesday (24 Oct), and then the third by Thursday (26 Oct). For each episode, write a blog post with a specific quote or bit of music from that episode that you found important. Indicate why you think it's important and how it connects to our course. (So I'm expecting three separate posts on each of your blogs to result from this.)

This is very cool stuff - enjoy!

Blog Summary for Oct. 20th

I posted my blog summary. Here is the link. http://greenstar419.blogspot.com/2006/10/blog-summary-for-oct-20th.html

They want our Jamboree plans by 30 Oct!

They want us to answer the following questions by 30 Oct. That's a Monday, so we really only have three class days (today, and Tuesday and Thursday of next week) to discuss Jamboree ideas. Everyone should spend some time thinking on their blog (or in comments on this post) about what we might do. Also, please take some time to read what other people have written and respond to it.

One idea that seemed to appeal in both sections is the idea of a junk band. I can bring up the junk band instruments this week or next so we can play with that if you'd like, but there needs to be some sort of idea, plan, or leadership, or it's just a bunch of people aimlessly banging on stuff.

I'll just make stuff up for this first item, but if you folks help come up with something cool then it will probably bring more people to your booth(s).

Please give a brief overview of what your class is planning to do for the Jamboree—this is information that will be used for publicity purposes and other press-related needs for the event. This does not have to be longer than a paragraph.

They say "Check one" here, but we can mix certain things. We can, for example, perform in Edson, and still have a table in Oyate with other materials.

3. Do you want to be featured in: Oyate Hall _____ Louie’s Lower Level_____ Edson Auditorium_______
Hallway in Student Center_________or Outside**_________? (Check one)

I've had groups do the basic "Two tables against the wall" approach, and I've had groups take a big space for projectors, screens, couches, and cardboard boxcars.

4. If you are working in Oyate, approximately how much space in feets do you think you will need (think table lengths, one rectangular table is 6/8 feet, round tables are 5/6 feet)? Do you need space on the edges or in the center? Describe how you will use the space.

Some groups have repeated their performances and some haven't.

5. If you are planning a performance, how long will it be and will it be repeated? Be as specific as possible. (Please be aware that other groups will want to use the auditorium, scheduling will be done to maximize everyone’s access of the space during typical high traffic times. Do not request specific time periods yet.)

This is really important - there's no guarantee that we can get things late, so we need to be thinking seriously about this early. This includes things like projectors, VCR/DVD players, and screens.

6. Equipment requests: Please check the following items that you will need to complete your project. Fill in the number of if you need more than one of these items. You MUST be specific, as this is our only chance to submit a complete group request—we will not be able to do any last minute searches for anything forgotten. If you have especially hard-to-find items, you may be asked to find this on your own.
Please, be very thorough.

•Tables______ How many:_____ •Chairs_____ How many:______

•Computer_____ How many:_______ Mac_____ or PC______

•Other items accessible via UMM:
<br>•Other material requests:

Put on your thinking caps and get creative!

A few thoughts on the class performances so far

I'd like to make some comments about some of the very impressive performances that people have shared in the class so far. While there has been some unevenness, a number of performances were really top notch and I definitely want to thank everyone for their hard work. I realize that it can be a bit nerve wracking to get up in front of a bunch of people you only met a month or two ago and perform/speak on a subject that is also new to you.

Some highlights (for me):

• Machelle's song and info on hobo life. I loved the song, and that she took the time to find it, make up music for it, and have the courage to sing it. The background info and the bits from her grandfather's memoirs were really informative and gave me a much better sense of what that life was like. I didn't know much about the hobo life beforehand, and I learned a lot of great stuff here.
  
• The two food events were good (and tasty!). Both groups provided some cool and useful background information, but in both cases the connections between the food and the music were perhaps a little more tenuous than optimal.
  
• Joe's connections from Africa through blues to rap was really cool. My main recommendation here would be to have the courage of your convictions. I think Joe had a great idea and pulled together some excellent evidence, but hedged a lot in his presentation when I think he could have been firmer. The kazoo performance was very cool, but he again he lost his nerve and stopped when (I think) he should have kept rocking! I also thought that he could have done more (gone longer) with the idea of doing beats over Muddy Waters - it was a cool idea and had a lot of potential, but he cut it off almost immediately so we never got a feel for what he was doing. I forgot to ask what he learned from working up that kazoo part. Joe?
• Megan's "Wade in the water" and (especially) the discussion that followed. It would have been cool to have sung some of the verses that were more specifically coding messages, however.
• Tyler's performance of the Skip James tune. It was neat seeing/hearing about him learning some new guitar styles and learning some things about tunings and styles.
  

One general comment I'd make is that there is a certain leaning towards things that resemble book reports more than performances, and I'm really much more interested in performance. One way to think about it is whether you'd ever do that for people outside of the course. You're almost certainly not going to read a report outside of class, but you might perform a song or read a poem. One thing I'm trying to get at here is a sense of the way that the people we're listening to/reading about approached the music as performers and not just consumers. They certainly didn't write book reports about the music - they sang it; we should try to do the same.

Keep up the good work!

Discussion summary for Oct. 10-13

Well we haven't really been having long class discussions in class this week and last due to performances and a trip to the library... so I just thought I could replay the performances we've had these past few weeks.
I think all of our performances have been really interesting and diversified. I learned something new with each one so they definately haven't been boring! I really liked watching sign language being performed and it made me want to learn it. The food that has been served in three of the performances (including my own) has been really good, and much appreciated since I rarely eat before class! I think all of the performances have really touched base on our roots music class with what this class is all about. I especially enjoyed today's performances as well. I didn't realize that the 'cotton-eyed-joe' song was actually really old. The only version I've ever heard is that techno one they played at middle school dances! And I really liked hearing about the meaning of what the lyrics stood for, because I've never really thought about what they meant. It kind of makes me think of other music I listen to now and look for other meanings that I may have never thought of. And Dan's trumpet playing was amazing! I really liked having the live music in class today. The banjo was also amazing! There's just something about hearing music live and seeing it being created that makes it all that much better! I definately plan on takin' a trip to Richfield to check out that store, maybe pick up a banjo... maybe!
Overall I think that our performances have been really different but tie into Roots Music really well. That just goes to show how one era of music can come from so many different backgrounds with so many spin offs!

Dates for the rest of the Open Mic Nights

I saw a poster today that (finally) had all the dates for the remaining Open Mic Nights. The next one is 26 Oct, followed by 30 Nov (the same day as FYS Jamboree), 25 Jan, 22 Feb, 22 Mar, and 26 Apr. All are scheduled from 9:30-11pm (although I bet some run longer than 11) in Oyate. Looking forward to seeing some of you there!

How are people using Pandora?

There have been a few blog posts about Pandora (esp. early in the semester) and comments in class, but I really don't have a very good sense of how people are using it and how helpful you are (or aren't) finding it. So, how are people using Pandora? What are you finding that's useful/cool/interesting (and hopefully relevant to the course :->)? What have been the pros and cons of Pandora vs. having a fixed list to listen to using iTunes in the classroom (like we did in the first week)? Would you rather we do more fixed lists so we are all listening to the same thing, or are you finding what you want/need via Pandora?

Feel free to post comments on this article, or write about it on your blog, or bring it up in class.

Thanks!

Belated plug for Performing Arts Series

I had meant to put in a plug for UMM's wonderful Performing Arts Series sometime before their first event, but that didn't happen. So I'll put in a belated plug for a really great opportunity. For a whopping $16 you can get a student season ticket for all five events, which is about the cost of a single movie and snacks out in the "real world".

Saturday they brought the National Players, who did a fine job with Shakespeare's Othello. I really liked what they did with their lighting and very simple set components that they were able to use and re-use in nifty ways. I saw several of you there, despite my lack of promotion (good!) - what did others think about the performance? Feel free to throw a comment on this post, or write about it on your blog.

The second event of this year's series is coming up a week for Saturday (the Saturday after fall break), with the Jawaahir Dance Company. They will also be doing workshops (as is true for many Performing Arts events) on Friday and Saturday, so you have a chance to meet with the performers and get involved. Our son, for example, thoroughly enjoyed the National Players' workshop on Stage Combat :-).

Again, I apologize for not being very active on-line in the last two weeks. My application for Full Professor (about 1.5 inches of paper :-( ) was due yesterday, and that really overtook way too much of my life. That's now done, however, and I can return to the much more interesting parts of the world such as this course!

Discussion Summary

I just finished the discussion summary for this week. You can find it at http://rootsfys.blogspot.com/

Blog Summary

I've posted my blog summary for october 3rd- october10th.
http://krivershanson.blogspot.com
-Keli

Thoughts on the library sessions

In sitting through the library sessions last week I had a couple of thoughts:

• There are a lot of books on music and other musical materials in our library. While most are not on roots music, I'm always pleasantly surprised by how much good roots material there is in our library. Don't overlook the library's resources when exploring this material.
• Two major resources that came up at least indirectly are the Smithsonian, which collects and publishes large bodies of roots music. Probably the most useful thing is their Folkways section at http://www.folkways.si.edu which includes lots of recordings and a cool podcast. Check it out! Another major source is the Library of Congress (which sponsored tons of field recordings, including those by the Lomaxes) and has an enormous collection of great music that's directly relevant to the course. The main link is http://www.loc.gov/ with the Folklife section likely to be the most useful.
  

I highly recommend the Smithsonian/Folkways podcast. I'm still working through it (it's 24 episodes, each of which is a full hour!), but what I have listened to has been really good. Lots of good music, as well as excellent history of the (very important) Folkways label.

Remember that we'll have a second library session on 10 October. We can guide/structure that quite a bit if we want, so let me know (for example, here in a comment) if you have particular questions/issues that you'd like to address in that session.

Discussion Summary

I've posted the discussion summary for the noon class on my blog. If the link doesn't work, my blogroll name is MBK Roots. -Mary Beth
http://mbkroots.blogspot.com/

Some crazy grungy modern blues

Sorry for not posting much last week. I'm knee deep in getting a bunch of stuff ready for a big deadline next Monday, and an opportunity came up at the last minute to go present science stuff at a big event in St. Paul on Saturday, and those two demands pretty much ate the week.

In and amongst all that, though, I discovered some really cool (modern) blues. I have a great collection of everything that Charley Patton ever recorded, plus an entire disc of related work by other artists, and another disc that's just interviews with other people talking about Patton's life and influence. The packaging is totally amazing, and it includes at least two or three books of information on Patton, his life and music (including transcriptions, modalities, and lyrics). Oh, yeah, I like it...

The aforementioned marvel is on Revanent Records, and I was looking at other stuff in their catalogue, and recognized several covers from Pandora. One thing led to another, and pretty soon I was buying the album Blue roots by the Bassholes (hoo-dee-hoo) from eMusic. This
is a totally noisy duo (drummer and guitar/vocals) doing a deeply grungy version of the blues. Think of those old guys from the video we watched, but young, angry, and with electricity. You listen to this stuff, and you can definitely feel (somewhere near your liver) the connections between punk and blues. "Titanic blues", for example, is yet another telling of the souls on that tragic voyage (this was a popular story in songs in the early 1900's), but with the volume knob turned up to 11 and more than a few bulls loose in the china shop. When he screams

First mate said look at this
"You see that great big iceberg?
WE AIN'T GONNA MISS!"

you know something bad is going down. And you gotta love an album with a song entitled "Bald headed woman blues"...

If you dig this sort of thing, it's absolutely great. If you don't, I'd look elsewhere :-).