odd sound

[420Sugaree]

re: Spring Months / odd sounds

Mocking Bird - Vassar & Doug, mp3, 3:03



Vassar's bowing licks are timeless

[landshark]

The way that words fit to music is a lot like the way that wood fits to wood, like the finish work in a window sill, or making a frame for a picture without using mitre saws, or expensive tools.  if the fit is right, we see it or hear it and we accept it as the way it is.  If the frame is not true, or the lyrics and music sound cliched or the emotional tones don't fit, it is like trying to level a house when the foundation isn't level, it doesn't seem right, no matter how you look at it.
Trying to find a tune that fits some slightly eerie lyrics and trying to fit a window sill in a window frame that is not square requires more than one attempt in each case.  I know neither are right, so I try again.  I get closer, but I need to make another cut, I need to change the chord structure and pattern.
Is it "Out of true?"

OK Dan then how do you explain Bob Dylan? Way in the day Bob sounded sort of off to me. But now he sounds , well  perfectly off.

[bouzouki]

OK Dan then how do you explain Bob Dylan? Way in the day Bob sounded sort of off to me. But now he sounds , well  perfectly off.
[/quote]
I know lots of people that can't pound a nail or play any more music than a radio.  They can tell me they like a house in a subdivision because it fits so nicely with every other house on the block.  They don't like Bob Dylan because of his voice.  I think of all the songs I have heard and how they are put together.  When it is seamless, vibrant, alive, and all the pieces fit like the smell of bacon early in the morning of one of the magical days of TBF, I don't have to bite it to tell if its gold.  I think of the Beatles and the Grateful Dead as two sides of a thin coin, tight and perfectly crafted, and loose so that anything can happen.  When those two sides flow, I can feel it.  Today I have been working on a song with ghosts in it.  Today I have been fitting a window sill as well.  As these two projects move closer to being finished, I can see my lack of skill as a wood butcher, and I don't hear the eerie sound of the ghosts that I want.  Tomorrow, they might be just right, or you may not hear or see the imperfections, but like the outtakes of Bob Dylan, the Beatles, or The Grateful Dead, there was something that kept them from keeping that sound.  That reminds me of Michelle Shocked asking that her show not be recorded so that she could give us something to remember.  It is something I remember from Vassar. John Hartford, Jerry Garcia, and lots of others that a recording will never hold, the way it is played out of the "Odd Sound"

[Cindy Lou]

re: landshark, Cindy Lou, bouzouki... Wood cutting, heating, etc.

Can I dispell this myth: Heating with wood is so much 'cheaper'?

That's bull. Like you all, I lived in Colo Mtns (WonderVu) for years, gathered wood, hauled wood, bucked up wood, split wood, stacked wood, and heated with wood. When ALL the costs are added up, including your time, it's more expensive. In my case, yes, heating with wood "was a better way to go."

You're the only one who said anything about heating with wood being cheaper, and I didn't mention using it at all, so not sure where you're coming from.  The post was mostly about music he listens to when he drives to get wood, and very good music too!

I don't gather or cut wood any more for my own use, but my old man does, and in the winter I cook on and in that stove WAY more than using his propane stove/oven.  It is much more efficient than the old heater in his trailer ever was. And, he actually only has to go a short distance to a wood yard where they strip logs for boards and fencing materials, and the pieces are perfect for stacking and for the size of the stove, so no cutting involved and it's not as expensive as natural gas or propane, down here anyway.  The wood guy is a friend of his, so that helps get a nice discount. He went today (finally) to get wood, and got almost 2 cords for $50.  Most folks would have to pay $100, but that is still a good deal. 

Plus the cats and dogs sure like to cozy up to it, so for us, and many others, it is a better option, or at least preferred.  Like Miki said, when the power goes off, I've got a warm home and a hot meal, a way to heat water that has been stored, and no worries about how long before the power will be back on.  We have ice chests to put food in, in case the electric is off for more than a few days, and have never lost anything due to power outages.  In fact, last winter when we had epic storms, we turned off one old energy hog refrigerator, put the food into coolers and set them in a shaded area buried in a big ol' snowbank, and didn't turn that sucker back on for 5 months!  I did the same at my house too, and my electric bill sure did go down. I just wish I could afford one of those new energy efficient ones, but until then, coolers in the snowbank will have to do.  Reminds me of my college days!   

[bouzouki]

I like the sound of an axe over the sound of a chainsaw, but sometimes the chainsaw will do.
I like the crackle of a wood fire, but the natural gas flue doesn't need a chimney sweep.
I like my chickens eating my kitchen waste, and I give them light in the winter.
I heard a truck go over the rumble strip on the interstate, it reminded me of a foghorn.
I watched clouds roll up the canyon in Telluride looking a lot like the rising tide on the ocean.
I'll never chop wood with the speed that Sam Bush chops his mandolin, we all move to our own rhythm.
I can feel the rhythm of the solstice coming, each day being squeezed a bit more by the night.
In six months, if my house was this temperature, I wouldn't think it was warm, I would be glad it is cool.
In six months, I will be looking for someone to water the garden while we are setting up our tents, I'll be walking around the community, saying hello to old friends, listening to the odd sound of the  sound system bouncing off the cliffs, wandering in wonder, waiting to be filled with sound.
I like the sound of "How many of you have been here all four days?" over a loudspeaker and a roar of thousands of voices, the tickle of a bell at the beer booth, and two people meeting and greeting each other as if they hadn't seen each other for a year.

 Listening to: Buffalo Springfield

[annpete]

Thanks bouzouki...gave me my smile for the day!
           

 Listening to: Someone practicing vocal exercises...

[swander99]

  Thanks for this writing today, quite refreshing. 

"wandering in wonder, waiting to be filled with sound."

I especially like this line...another TBF song lyric started, maybe? 

 Listening to: J.Cow Christmas. (hope he's in for 2011)

[Auntie Hope]

"J.Cow Christmas. (hope he's in for 2011)"

He IS? 

Ferg, Dustin, Brian.. ANYBODY!!!!

Can we get a confirmation???

 


Auntie Hope 

 Listening to: The clothes dryer

[bouzouki]

There are times when it is all an odd sound, every song held in check by instruments that dance with vocals, daring the universe to let this sound go free.  I remember hearing NGR playing rock and roll songs that I loved,  on the Telluride stage, and there is proof of that with J. Cowan singing a Beatles song on a Buegrass album...., Telluride Bluegrass of course.  To think of all the voices I have heard over the years, another new voice is all i can ask.  I wonder if Robert Plant will be wowed by Telluride?
I was reminded tonight by a PBS show about folk music, part of my musical roots, and how much music means to me, every kind of music, and I love hearing bits and pieces of the wide variety of TBF performers over the years. 
I'll put another log on the fire, coming one day closer to the solstice. 

[swander99]

  AMEN!
   

[Cindy Lou]

To think of all the voices I have heard over the years, another new voice is all i can ask.  I wonder if Robert Plant will be wowed by Telluride?

I would venture to say that will be a YES!

[bouzouki]

I wonder how many bottles of oxygen are used at TBF?

 Listening to: Leon Russell and Elton John

[bouzouki]

I like the odd sound, especially if it has a musical touch. 
I like the list of performers.
I could hear the solid thump of my axe on a block of wood.  I need the solid sound of my other axe, being bouzouki.

I have five or six partial watercolors of the view of mountains to the east and the south that I need to finish this year, and I have a story that I need to continue, as it has taken ten years to write very little of the story so far.

Somewhere I have a song about the Galloping Goose, If I can find it.  My father told me once that he rode the Galloping Goose, and it wasn't as much fun as it looked.

I have been thinking that it would be nice to trade bodies with some twentysomething that is really tired of life and hasn't caused any serious damage/  If we trade, I am sure that you can eat as much processed food as you want and in five years, time will be up.  In the meantime, I promise to be as good to your body as I was to mine.

A friend of ours is coming to TBF this year after not being here for over thirty years.  The last time we were together,my daughter was an infant and we had to shield her from the sun during the festival.  We camped at Trout Lake and it was cold.  We drove a Volkswagen bug and had to park at the edge of town and walk in.
I suppose I can see why everyone gets glassy-eyed when listening to images from the past.  But, then again, it doesn't get to be a tradition, unless someone has done it once or more times before.

[bouzouki]

I am sitting inside on a cloudy Sunday, listening to Jake Shimabukuro on my stereo.  the first time I saw him play was in Honolulu at an award presentation for the best arts and music teachers in their state.  The second time was in Telluride.
I have a number of different Hawaiian performers and I have seen many live performances while there.  The thing that amazes me is the way their music embraces their traditions and adds to it, either by original songs, or songs that seem to fit, straying from genre to genre.
One afternoon, i went to a performance at a golf club restaurant where a guy set up the P.A. and another guy arrived and they played two traditional songs, then they jammed and improvised very well, and slowly other musicians arrived.  I realized that the usual musicians were not there and this was a pick up band of members that some had never played together and others hadn't played together for years.  The rich tradition of music allowed natives and newcomers to share.  I hope that the Hawaiian music tradition never dies.

 Listening to: Jake Shimabukuro

[zack_adcock]

lately, i have been discovering that the constellation record label promotes a widespread array of very interesting things done with odd sounds. it reminded me of this forum.

check out the new release from colin stetson for recent proof--  new history of warfare, vol ii: judges .

their label rebsite is here:
http://cstrecords.com/

also check out bands like godspeed, you black emperor! while you're there!