HISTORY OF THE HOUSTON FOLKLORE
SOCIETY
We don’t have a lot of
information on the founding of our folklore and folk music
club. Our written
history consists of two pages from the June, 1966 issue of the
‘News Bulletin of the Society’ and several photocopies of
newspaper articles about a 1952 concert.
Link to John
Lomax Jr's Article
MANDELL PARK
MUSIC AT TWILIGHT (from Nov 2015)
By Carl Brainerd
During
September and October, the
Friends of Mandell Park sponsored a weekly "Music at
Twilight" concert
series on Wednesday evenings in Mandell Park in Montrose.
Our Houston Folklore
and Music Society was asked to provide a folk music concert
on Wednesday 10,
14, so we did! The target time available was one hour, so we
went with four
performers at 15 minutes each- Carl Brainerd, Gayle Fallon,
Jorge Palomarez,
and a duet of Paul Cooper and Chris Hartman. The music
started about sundown,
and it turned out to be a fine, comfortable evening. We got
to showcase folk music
a little, and also introduced the audience of about 50
people to our
organization. Paul brought
When
I first looked at a guitar, I wondered why the frets were
unequally spaced. Alas
I was very young, and there were no personal computers or
googling. While
researching the building of ‘cigar box’ instruments, I noticed
that some of the makers of these were putting frets on their
simple one and two strings instruments. I looked out on
the web and found the ‘Rule of 18’. While called ‘18’ the
divisor constant is actually 17.817. I will not
attempt to comment on the derivation, but the computation is
straight forward. For
a given scale length (nut to bridge), divide it by 17.817 for
the distance to the first fret.
Next, subtract this distance from the scale length and
repeat the division by 17.817 for the distance, nut to fret, of
the second fret. I
have placed an excel file on our website that will do these
calculations for you. Also,
I found a table of constants published by the experts so you can
check my method. Note, in the excel file, the scale length,
entry in cell ‘C2’ is the only input parameter. All other values will
vary in accordance with this value.
See: FRET
CALCULATOR and go to the bottom
of the page for the ‘Fret Spacing’ link.
HCAMP'S WINTER ACOUSTIC MUSIC CAMP (from Jan 2014
CPR)
A three-day acoustic music school and jam session for guitar, banjo, mountain dulcimer, fiddle, mandolin, bass, and voice will be held in Kerrville from Friday, January 10 (10 AM) to Sunday, January 12 (3:30 PM). The Camp is taught by professional musicians who are also outstanding teachers. This year the Hard Road Trio of Steve Smith, Chris Sanders and Ann Luna will also be leading jam sessions that allow students to work and play with the Hard Road band. The morning sessions are devoted to instrument specific classes and the afternoon classes are formal jam classes (different instruments, similar skill levels) led by the instructors where one can work on the techniques of playing with other instruments. The evenings are filled with informal playing and jams on campus. Lodging and RV spaces are available on campus. Kerrville has motels within 1 mile of campus. For more information and registration see www.hcamp.org. Phone: 830-895-5700. Email: rbm@hcamp.org.
Location:
Mt.Wesley
Conference Center, 610 Methodist Encampment Rd., Kerrville,
Texas 78028. Phone: 830-459-2120.
THE MINSTREL AND THE TROUBADOUR
By
Andy Longo
We all
have a notion of the minstrel
and the troubadour. Recently, I
saw a reference as to the origin minstrel. The name literally
means ‘little servant’. In medieval times,
there were many among the staff of a castle. Their jobs included
playing an instrument, singing, reciting poems and juggling,
but were not limited to these roles. They were not
well educated. As more educated individuals took over the
roles of court musicians and poets, the minstrels were force
out into the community. Once
on the street, their role would go through many changes. They continued
with the songs, poems and juggling, and they became involved
in the community life. They
wrote songs and poem about those things of interest to the
community. These
wandering poets spread through
STANDARD
SONGS FOR AVERAGE PEOPLE:
JOHN PRINE & MAC WISEMAN
Review
by
John
Prine has shown in recent years that he's not only a good
songwriter, but a great duet partner and interpreter of
contemporary country and pop standards. His latest CD, a
collaboration with bluegrass and country legend Mac
Wiseman, is a testament to this.
Scientists
in Germany have published details of flutes dating back to
the time that modern humans began colonizing Europe, 35,000
years ago.
The
flutes are the oldest musical instruments found to date. The
researchers say in the Journal Nature that music was
widespread in pre-historic times. Music, they suggest, may
have been one of a suite of behaviours
displayed by our own species which helped give them an edge
over the Neanderthals.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8117915.stm
Legends
Never Die, They Get Shot. The Legend of Blaze Foley
By Judy Ortiz
Photo: Niles Fuller
Blaze Foley was a unique character - a
transient, homeless musician who frequented the 70s & 80s
Austin Folk/Country scene as a fan of the music and as a self
taught musician. His adulthood consisted of living in a tree
house at one point as well as couch surfing and lots of
traveling to Atlanta, Alabama, but mostly Texas. He was
jobless and homeless, free spirit whose lyrics were earnest
and with good reason, stood up for the underdog and
disenfranchised. Blaze was known for his heartfelt songs and
brazen attitude toward political issues, personal
relationships and his views on fame and the music industry. He
had brushes with fame and success in his career. This was all
a part of a life which consisted of many ups and downs and
which ended when Blaze was shot in a friend's living room on
February of 1989. Although he is virtually unknown he managed
to capture the attention of musicians who respected his
songwriting skills and the heart and sentiment behind them.
Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, Merle Haggard, John Prine,
Kings of Leon and Lyle Lovett have all sang a Blaze Foley tune
in their career. Longtime friend, Lucinda Williams wrote her
song, "Drunken Angel" in his memory.
Clay pigeons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB_2CUj3y6Y
If I could only fly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMT76_mYDV0
Duct Tape Messiah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C81CinZgDx0