Most of the songs are composed by young people who are seeking supernatural powers, and have gone off wandering in solitary places for hours and days, their flute at their lips; thus one has to take into consideration the influence that the musical scale peculiar to such and such a flute will exercise on the tunes that are made up. When a young man wishes to acquire supernatural power, be it for hunting, for gambling, or for shamanism, etc...,he runs away from everyone, he wanders aimlessly through wild lonely places, where he lets himself fall into endless daydreams, more or less accompanied by hallucinations. Finally he sets himself to composing a song which will be for him the total expression of that particular experience. This song "belongs" to him; that is to say that everyone calls it his song, the song of so-and-so. But he never keeps it to himself along, like a secret; he will sing it openly in front of others. And if it pleases them musically, they'll learn it and it can even become very popular and go through quite a few variations. But its supernatural effectiveness is limited only to him who found it, whose voice and special way of singing the spirits will of course know how to recognize.

-Jaime de Angulo

[I SAW MYSELF]

I saw myself
a ring of bone
in the clear stream
of all of it

and vowed,
always to be open to it
that all of it might flow through

and then heard
"ring of bone" where
ring is what a

bell does

-Lew Welch

The Fiddler of Dooney

When I play on my fiddle in Dooney,
Folk dance like a wave of the sea;
My cousin is priest in Kilvarnet,
My brother in Mocharabuiee.

I passed my brother and cousin:
They read in their books of prayer;
I read in my book of songs
I bought at the Sligo fair.

When we come at the end of time
To Peter sitting in state,
He will smile on the three old spirits,
But call me first through the gate;

For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle,
And the merry love to dance:

And when the folk there spy me,
They will all come up to me,
With 'Here is the fiddler of Dooney!'
And dance like a wave of the sea.

-W.B. Yeats 1899

Loose Salute

As autumn creeps in to the Southeast, I offer up these albums as a way to spread the gospel of Ronnie Lane. He brought some light into this world. I encourage everyone to check out "The Passing Show," a documentary about his life and times (mainly post-Faces). Ronnie knew some stuff.


Anymore for Anymore (Part 1)
Anymore for Anymore (Part 2)


Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance
(This combine's Ronnie's 1974 Slim Chance album and One For The Road, from 1976, with a few omissions.)


Mahoney's Last Stand
(Soundtrack for the 1972 film known as Mahoney's Last Stand or, alternately, Mahoney's Estate; does anyone have a copy of this?)


You Never Can Tell: The BBC Sessions (Part 1)
You Never Can Tell: The BBC Sessions (Part 2)


How Come
(A compilation; mainly included here for the glorious "Kuschty Rye.")

21
I must launch out my boat. The languid hours pass by on the shore- Alas for me!
The spring has done its flowering and taken leave. And now with the burden of faded futile flowers I wait and linger.
The waves have become clamorous, and upon the bank in the shady lane the yellow leaves flutter and fall.

What emptiness do you gaze upon! Do you not feel a thrill passing through the air with the notes of the far away song floating from the other shore?

-Rabindranath Tagore


*If any of Ronnie's people are out there and would like these links taken down, just say the word.

Holy Smoke

Groover's Two was a success. I thank all the great people who showed up to play and hang out. I drank too much and now I'm on the wagon. But I'm concocting an Autumn Groove that I think will be a lot of FUN. Maybe in October or November??

Over the last couple days I got a few electronic notes from Trad Gras och Stenar saying they liked Hiss Golden Messenger's music. Imagine that. Perhaps they send this sort of thing to everyone that "friends" them on MySpace, but it was pretty sweet nevertheless, and I was on cloud nine. I love Trad Gras, International Harvester, Parson Sound...all that stuff. It's all so good. Awesome breaking dirt on the commune vibe. Thanks for the kind words dudes, you have no idea how hard you stoked this guy (meaning me) out.

I wrote about The Hag's "Rainbow Stew" LP the other day. Amazingly, incredibly, footage exists of this awesome concert. Check some of this shit out, it's on a whole other level.
I'm thinking right now that "Misery and Gin" may be my favorite country song ever.:::

Heads::

Saturday, September 6th will mark the occasion of the second Groover's Paradise at Eaglewing Farm. Call it Groover's Two. Just for you.

Helping us out at this evening sing with supper-on-the-grounds are some serious folks that are gonna take us to the ZONE:: Secret Boyfriend (featuring Ryan Martin, of Boyzone fame), Felt Battery, Matt Bauer (from NYC), and Kurt Weisman and Raub Roy (aka Horaflora),who are currently sojourning southward (and presumably, at some point, westward) on a music bike tour. Yes, you read right- they are touring by bicycle. They call it the Cycledelic Music Trip. Tuff stuff.

Thee performers, gentlepersons all, are of the highest musical pedigree. Check some of those linkss and you will agree, Eaglewing Farm is where you need to be.

We'll stoke the grills up about 5 PM, and we will attempt to have music cracking by 7 PM. Please bring vittles and beer/wine/likker. Weather permitting, we'll do this thing outside. ALL ARE WELCOME. Please feel free to send this message to any folks that might be interested. This show is free, but a donation plate will make the rounds.

As usual, there will be no tipsy driving. If you've had too much to drink, you'll sleep in the yard.

To reiterate::

Saturday, September 6th
Groover's Paradise Two featuring...

Kurt & Horaflora
Matt Bauer
Felt Battery
Secret Boyfriend

Grills at 5 PM
Music at 7 PM
Donations encouraged!

Directions to Eaglewing Farm:

Take the 15/501 South towards Pittsboro.
Go left on Mt. Carmel Church Road immediately after crossing the James Taylor Bridge.
Go roughly two miles, and make a right on Clearwater Lake Road.
Make your first right down the gravel driveway; Eaglewing Farm is the first house on the left.


P.S. Many thanks to Jenks Miller, The Curtains of Night, Hem of His Garment, and The Sparrow Family for making Groover's Paradise One a smashing success.

P.P.S. Danny Kortchmar's "Kootch" pumping loud and proud down here on the farm right now. Get it.

It's been a Rainbow Stew kind of morning. John Hofer turned me on to that Hag record- Rainbow Stew- and told me that it was one of his favorites. It's a wonderful album, recorded live at Anaheim Stadium in 1980; the Hag is not giving a shit and the drummer is on quaaludes. It's the perfect album for reminiscing.

So this morning, I'm reminiscing about the recent sojourn that the Hiss Golden Messenger family took northwards. I'm a horrible documentarian: There were virtually no usable pictures of friends or family. But you'll get the general idea.

Much love and many thanks to Julian and Juliette, Linda, Scott and Emily, Terry, Michael Talbott, Abby, Meg, Pat, Nadia, the Endless Boogie crew, Brendan and Samantha, Chris, Lex and Will, the Bovina Connexion, Max at the Brickbat, the Golden West Cafe, Television Hill, and The Agrarians in Baltimore, and everyone else we encountered along the way.

I love Suicidal Tendencies; this is my bid to get Mike Muir out here.

Welch beshirted juggler.

Brendan and Samantha size things up.

Jay and June Sparrow; June brought down a big jar of moonshine, and the low country boil (below), and instantly became the most popular guy at the party. He was walking around like he owned the place. Actually, he does own the place.


Hem of His Garment. All natural.

The end of the beginning of the end of the road.

Philadelphia Turnaround, 4 AM, following a heavy session of Gary Stewart, Hillbilly Martinis (Bacardi over ice with a slice of lemon), and tokes with soul brother Chris Smith. We almost cried.

HGM via Brooklyn; Lathan Hardy pulls a Chris Wood. Yair Evnine was in the band too. Killing it.

Eamon Ore-Giron on the rise.

Talbott

Garden gnome

Alexa and Will's Bushwick greenspace

Juliette in the kitchen, Bovina, NY. Lulu on the left.

Julian and Juliette

We got our music festival started in the barn, and it was grand. Tandy, the Family Band, The Disciples of Agriculture, Michael Talbott & The Wolfkings, Meg Baird, Hiss Golden Messenger, P.G. Six, and Endless Boogie played. It went all day and through the night.

The Heavenly Chorus.

P.G. Six on fire.

At a certain point, it didn't matter if we used the flash or not. Endless Boogie took us to the zone. Paul Major proposed to his girlfriend over the mic during the first song. She went apeshit, and we all lost control. Jesper Eklow took off his guitar and watched his own band for a while. Meta. Hirsch dubbed the vocals Tubby-style. Then we went for a swim and had a bonfire.

Then we drove home.