Of Fresh Folkies and Aging Rockers

Hey There, Hi there,

Local (adopted) native son Neil Young made good on his "I've got a headache like you wouldn't believe" promise to play a concert for the hometown crowd with all lobes intact - at least the lobes belonging to Mr. Young. We are grateful for the continuing good health of Sir Neil of the Flannel, Canada's expat elder statesman of Truth, Justice and the Way. Unfortunately for his fellow Canadians, his way is to live in California, and rail against the Republican Right, when we really need him to come home and rail against the lobe-less Reforming Regressive Neo-Cons on our own Parliamentary doorstep. But enough about politics (for this small moment.) Reading the announcement of the impending concert by Messrs Townsend and Daltry "and friends", and following my most joyous weekend at the 33rd Annual Winnipeg Folk Festival - I want to talk about music and the industry.


I, like most music lovers I know, couldn't afford to buy a ticket to hear CSNY - even by justifying the ticket price by dividing the value by 4 stars made it beyond my means. Who wants to sit in the nosebleed section and watch the show on the big screen - if I'm going to be in the presence of Giants, I want to be able to count the stitches on Steven Still's recent hand injury, or his chins, whichever is greater. If I wanted to "watch,” I could rent a DVD.


The Rolling Stones are supposedly playing Regina - and tickets are between $100 and $300 - that makes it between $20 - $60 per Stone - not a bad deal if you're buying them dinner (they have to cover their own bar tab), but to sit in an arena and share them with 25,000 other suckers who paid the same amount? I can buy a fair chunk of their back CD catalogue for $300. Given that I bought their High Tides and Green Grass album at a Kelly's ROCKtober Record sale for $2.99 back in the 80's - I just can't bring myself to put down $300.00 plus tax and agency fees for a distant seat to watch people I've been listening to all my life. For most of us working poor, that's half a mortgage payment.


I've been referring to the upcoming Pete and Roger show as the Semi-Hemi-Who - without the Madman Moon on drums and Boris the Spider on bass, (and with all due respect to Kenny Jones, who can keep time with the best of them), its a half a Who concert. Don't mean to Grinch out on any of you - but all has not been "well" in Who-Ville for quite some time. Their last top ten hit was .... Anybody? I'd have to go look it up. This is a nostalgia tour a very few cuts above a gig at Club Regent by other Rock Legends of Another Era. If they lose one more original member, it will be a Tribute to the Who, featuring The Last Man Standing (or windmilling, if it’s Pete).


At least the Stones have continued to roll; Mick's mouthy logo continues to eat the world at large, with fans into the third generation. The Stones still party - poor Ronny Wood knows when to throw in the towel. They inspire Pirates to Academy Award Nominated Performances, and get cast in Supporting Roles. They marry beautiful women, have supermodel children, and make the papers with their wit, wisdom and fashion sense (or arrest/pardon records). The last time we heard from Uncle Pete, he was defending his honor about his internet browsing habits. Mr. Daltry, a would-be thespian, has not had any Academy Award Nominated Performances on the silver screen Kenny Jones continues to keep time with the best of them, and I don't even know who the new bassist is. (Apparently he's from Jools' Holland's "Millionaires")


In comparison, the "Y" of CSNY continues to be a strident and nasal voice for sober second thought in the Excited States of America, and inspires others to use their magical musical powers for Good (like Farm Aid) instead of Evil. I'm sure he sent the Dixie Chicks a nice note, and maybe an autographed copy of "Let's Impeach the President" the Valerie Plame remix. You GO, GIRLS!

Bruce Springsteen records an album of protest songs, The Grand Dragon of all Folkways, Pete Seeger himself turns 80-something, and there is a covert Woody Guthrie revival happening, carefully nurtured by players like Ellis Paul, Billy Bragg, and Wilco - the Coal Holders. Why is it in times of turmoil, the music of the folk rises up to meet the tension of the times with such alacrity? Woody wrote of his own observations and experiences, and spoke for many who shared those observations, but who were silent. (Know that no one is silent though many are not heard. Work to change this).


Would that there was more singer songwriters like Jeremy Fisher, who puts 2 and 2 together to make the observations of everyday life into a political manifesto of conscious awareness. Subtle, like mallet, music of the heart and mind. Lulls you into a complacent state of toe tapping harmonizing, and then moves in slowly for the "Big Thought" - but never so big a thought that there isn't room to turn it over in your head, and maybe change your mind. And you might not even know that it needed changing.
http://www.jeremyfishermusic.com/home_hi.cgi


Folk Festival was not "the best fest ever" - it was good, but not great. Saturday night was a great disappointment, but I'd do it all over again for the main stage power packed punch of Steve Earl (Thursday) and Fred Eaglesmith (Friday). Ah, Steve - you were so right about us missing our chance to revoke The Evil PM's Steve's passport while he was down on the farm visiting Uncle W Bushie. In spite of the crowd's insistent shout outs for Copperhead Road (and Steve said "if you don't think that its a political song, then you're not listening") you held fast to your own agenda, played more songs that mattered, gave us a cold splash of clear thinking on a hot summer night, and finally tossed the crowd their bone with a revved up acoustic version of one of the most political songs ever written.
http://www.steveearle.com/blog.html


Fred - you make me proud to be Canadian. You must be from South Ontario, with that drawl of yours. Tell me, do you wear that white Stetson so there is at least the smallest hope in hell that the Powers that Be, with their torches and pitchforks, might think that you are a Good Guy - until you open your mouth and tell it like it is and prove that yes - folk heroes tell the truth to real folk - and while you may not be popular with the Establishment, I can tell you that the rank and file love you - all they need to do is hear you. Fredheads, unite.
http://www.fredeaglesmith.com/about.html


One concern about the Folk Fest - for the first time, I wish that there had been Security on Site. Not the happy sunburnt Volunteer Site Security folksters, but someone who made sure that people were not crossing the line of good folk festival behavior. But who is causing the problem of non-compliance with the unspoken rules of successful Festing? It certainly is not the 2nd or 3rd generation Folkies, who learned the protocols at their Granola-munching parent's knees, who wore tie-dyed diapers and who happily dreadlock the baby's hair "just like momma used to do". It’s the "new arrivals" - those who don't understand that the reason that they are the only two dweebs dancing in the front of the main stage all alone what good fortune! in from of 20,000 people who are all shouting "Down in Front" - - is that the dance area is roped off on the right side, and the rest of the dancers, a half a million strong, are infused by the muse, and are dancing with joy and celebration.


I understand that we cannot police people for good manners, but I am losing hope that we, when out for a day in the sun with 20,000 of our closest friends, can all stay on our best behavior. Especially with the booming business of the beer tent. That's one thing that irks me - every bag, box, cooler, bottle, and backpack that enters the festival site is hand checked with TLC and extreme politeness by happy volunteer Door Wardens, with big signs posted that anyone caught with Alcohol (and other contraband) will be Rejected from the Bosom of Mother Folk, and sent on the Pariah's path of the Unfolklike. However, it isn't about minimizing intoxication - the spirit of Hank Williams knows that I was jostled, stepped on, bumped into by many an inebriated fellow Folkie over those few days. It is about the Folk Festival Inc being the recipient of the revenues of our sinful behavior. For a family friendly festival, with children running about, it makes me wonder. I like a cold beer just as much as the next overheated sunburned music lover. And I understand the need to generate revenue to balance the books.


How do I talk about something that I observed without sounding paranoid, or alarmist - but if someone doesn't mention it, then it may never be looked at as a potential issue. The following will sound like guilt by implication, by proximity, by assumption - and because there are many children in my life whom I love dearly, I'm going to speak to what I observed.


Did anyone else, in their repeated wanderings through the folk festival site, notice that there were a number of adult to middle aged men, who never seemed to be "with" anyone, but who were always lying in the shade, near the children's designated play areas, or the areas that were a bit distant from the music stages where families seemed to congregate to let their children play freely? I have a good memory for faces, and I swear, some of these men were in essentially the same places for the entire weekend - no matter when or how often I wandered by, when enroute to the next stage, or to the nearest bathroom. Or perhaps I'm just imagining things - but I don't think so.


I hate to cast fear, doubt or blame on innocent music lovers. I'd like to believe in the intrinsic good of all people. I'd like to believe that music can change the world, and that we can live in perfect harmony, the real thing. And I look around, and see, and know, and it makes me wonder. Oohh, it makes me wonder.

Incognito Ergo Sum,
Jane Doe, Citizen

Green Transit Blues

Hey There, Hi There,

So, do the people who work for Public Transit actually "take" public transit to work? I think that it should be mandatory for them to do so. In fact, I think that everyone who works for the City of Winnipeg should have to take Public Transit to work to prove that they are indeed WORKING FOR the betterment of the City. Doesn't this makes sense? What a wonderful role model we would be to other cities. Just like London England - which simultaneously taxed cars that used their downtown core, and greatly reinvested in their transit system - with the result of fewer cars downtown, and increased transit use - this makes sense to me. Draw a 2 km perimeter circle around City Hall and say that if you work "here" (city employee or not) - you should be taking the bus to work. BUT IF you get a civic paycheque - you take the bus to work. Be a responsible city employee - we the people are your employer.


Hey, let's extend this to the Province as well - Big Daddy Doer can be an example of environmental responsibility and governmental partnership - Promoting the Transit corridors. Maybe if we called the curb lanes "Transit hallways" - and said that these hallways we want to fill (unlike the hallways in our hospitals - which are supposedly empty, but have more citizens in them some days than in our Transit corridors)... - but I'm getting off topic here.


If the increased use of the public transit service is vital to our city's Green Health, and if it offers such great service that they can raise our one-way bus fare to $2.00, shouldn't the Mayor be able to take the bus to work?. We can even put a bush shelter (standard non-heated, open on one side shelter) at the stop closest to his house. He might enjoy the ride, and the view - and he can "Take Pride" that he is using the mode of transportation that will help our city be greener, cleaner, less congested with traffic, and increase the "Cool Factor" of a public service that the city invests millions to promote. He may have to stand with the rest of us at rush hour (sorry, no reserved seating - but you do have a driver, just like a limo) and he will actually get to rub elbows with the unwashed masses - but if we're good enough to be asked to vote for him - aren't we good enough to stand with? Hey, Mayor Katz - "Standing With Winnipeg" - there's a campaign slogan for you.


Do the people that schedule the bus routes and times take the bus? It might help determine the issues of "route fit" that occur so often - they can share our daily triumphs (ah - MADE IT!) and our frustrations (JUST missed it) and their bosses will be with them on the same buses - so they will understand why their employees are just a little bit late some mornings. Making connections between bus routes is both an art and a science. Some drivers are great - considerate, compassionate, and they get to know their regulars, and make sure that they make their connections. Others seem to think that the transit route time schedules are "guidelines" and that it doesn't really matter if they make their connections to get their passengers to work on time.


Its kind of like transit roulette. Some days, my commute is very wet, or very cold. I have to strategically plan when I take "extra stuff" to work - and hope I make my connections. Makes me want to buy a Smart Car - except that I take the bus to avoid putting another car on the road - but I'm starting to feel backed into the corner of an unheated open-on-one-side bus shelter here. Maybe if the Smart Car came in Purple.... but I digress.


Then there's the Segway. I see that there is a "dealership" at the Forks. I've been a fan of these things since their very first introduction, back when they were still "Project Ginger". In today's Sun - http://www.winnipegsun.com/Business/2006/07/05/1668789-sun.html there is an article where the Manitoba Safety Council opposes their use on roads or sidewalks because they do not have straps or belts or buckles - JUST LIKE A BICYCLE - so they are considered too dangerous. Give your heads a shake, people. I am allowed to walk, skip, run, jog, sprint, and jump without a safety helmet. The skateboard brats certainly don't have a seat belt. Neither do those twerps on the scooter boards. Maybe we need to give the Mounted Police-People a seat belt on their saddles, helmets under their headgear and knee and elbow pads. Never know when that horse could get out of control .... safety first......


Here we have a safe sane sensible human transportation option that is so fool proof that the Shrub only fell off it once during his White House Test Drive. Does it get much better than this? Doesn't the San Francisco Postal Service use it for all their routes? I'd take a Segway to work in the spring/summer/fall - tell me that it is more of a road hazard than those crazy all-weather-all-winter cyclists?


Winnipeg needs to embrace and explore green options - not play the "danger danger Will Robinson" card every time there is a new idea that challenges the "norm" (by the way - normal is just a setting on the dryer - nothing more). Licence the Segways for urban use. Make me wear a helmet. Guaranteed I'll be given more respect in the curb lane than the skateboarders, and the cyclists can eat my dust.


Maybe there's something in our beloved Muddy Water Supply that squashes innovative thinking. Forward Planning. Trend Setting. Something for the CDC North to take a look at. But hey - I'm immune, I've got a reverse osmosis filter on my home water system - so I can "see clear". I'm sure that the water supply is also the source of all the Spirited Energy that is flowing through our province these days, but that's a potential topic for another day


Got to dig out a bus ticket and get to work. Check the schedule, check the clock, check the weather - its the Transit Three Step.

And the beat goes one................

Incognito Ergo Sum
Jane Doe, Citizen