Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

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The last time I saw Spud and Mary…

Monday, September 11th, 2023

Spud Siegel and Mary Flower

Yesterday’s House Concert with Mary Flower, Spud Siegel and Doc Stein was perfect in every single way.  Mary, described by Hipfish as a “Finger Picking Artist” and Spud, mandolin (and pocket trumpet!) player extraordinaire, were everything the audience expected and more.

Doc, came as a complete surprise.  He apparently often plays with them and, as Spud said, “Mary wanted him to join us.”  It didn’t take long for the audience to understand why.  The three not only speak the same language musically.  The byplay among them kept us all laughing and wanting more! more! more!

Spud, Mary, and Doc September 10, 2023

Spud and Mary have done a House Concert here before which, I am chagrinned to say I do not remember at all, though at least two audience members assured me that they were here for it.  And since they came from Yakima and from Vancouver this time, specifically to see them again, I could only conclude that I am, indeed, losing it.

Today I spent a bit of time going back in our guest books to see if I could track down that concert. Yes!!   Spud and Mary were here on April 26, 2009 but I’m not at all sure Nyel and I were.  My usual House Concert heading naming artists and date  is not there — only signatures indicating a full house with a note from Brigid saying:  We are headed for New Orleans this Thursday.  This was the PERFECT warm up – Thanks to Mary F.

I can only think that I was in the hospital with Nyel on that occasion and that someone else hosted in our place.  Or… more likely, my mind has finally gone into overload mode.  I did count and found that there have been 106 House Concerts here since the first one Nyel and I hosted on January 28, 2001 with Irish Fiddler Randal Bays.

Spud

And, I did count and found that Spud has done six concerts here (counting that one with Mary that I’ve spaced) — most of them with David “Crabbo” Crabtree who used to play with him at the Ark and, before that, at the Shelburne when Nanci and Jimella had the restaurant there in 1981.  We remember one another from way back then…

How lucky I am to have so many fine musicians in my life.  And for so long, too!  I am rich beyond measure that I can count so many as friends.

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“Sing me a song…”

Saturday, September 2nd, 2023

Marais and Miranda

I was so pleased that my friend Mary followed my blog suggestion yesterday and looked up Josef Marais’ song, “Pity the Poor Patat.”  She made no comment about it, but I was happy to know that someone “out there” had connected, perhaps for a first time, with Joseph Pesssach (1905-1978), a folk-singer from South Africa whose stage name was Joseph Marais.  For many years he sang with a partner and they were known as “Marais and Miranda” — and if you don’t remember them, you may be old enough to recall the Doris Day/Frankie Laine rendition of their song “A-round the Corner (beneath the berry tree}.”

I first learned of Marais and his music from my college roommate Sandra Peters (who, some years later, was to become my sister-in-law, making our children first cousins.)  Sandy came from a musical family, but more importantly to me, a rather quirky one.  Not only did she and her sister share an attic room with a pet bat (!), her dad played the musical saw and Sandy knew more off-the-grid folksongs than I’d ever heard of.

Sydney and Nyel – Wedding Picture 1987

However, it wasn’t until I met Nyel that all those songs (and more) came bubbling forth — perhaps because he said he didn’t sing (and, indeed, I never heard him do so — not even when standing beside me at church during the hymn-singing) — but he always asked me to sing!!  Me!  The one who can’t carry a tune in a bucket but remembers all the words — especially the kookie ones.

Mostly, his requests for “musical entertainment” came when we were on car trips.  Since I have always been pretty much night-blind, he would drive after dark and it was my “job” to keep him awake.  He didn’t seem to mind my tenuous tune-carrying and he enjoyed the lyrics — which often led to discussions about where I’d learned them, from whom, and about the years before we had met.  (It’s hard for me to believe that even as late-in-life as we did meet, by the time Nyel died, we had spent nearly half of our lifetimes together!)

Sydney and Nyel — Oysterville Sesquicentennial, 2004

It both amuses and pleases me that music was such a huge part of our lives, though both of us professed to a severe “lack” in that area of accomplishment.   But… I did follow my mother’s advice to “Make a joyful noise” and, somehow, ended up with the perfect appreciative partner!  And… back to yesterday’s potato patch discovery:  you can never tell what will trigger a song and a whole host of fabulous memories.  They don’t say “music makes the world go ’round” for nothing.

 

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Some Days Are Like That!

Thursday, August 31st, 2023

Patricia’s Garden – 2019

Carefully considered, I do believe yesterday had many more pluses than minuses.  As a matter of fact, there was only one negative and, as it turned out, that was mostly a figment  of my imagination.  (Doncha just hate when that happens?)

The morning passed “as usual” — a few household chores, a little catching up with email, and another pass at next week’s column for the paper.  It’s not quite to my liking yet but maybe the lightening gods will visit me today.  Not “lightening” in the sense of a flash of brilliance; more the opposite of serious as in “lighten up!”  I still have a day or two. so I can but hope.

But back to yesterday — I spent the midday hours at my friend Patricia’s house — lunch and a garden tour (but forgot to take pictures, of course!) and a lot of catching up.  I especially loved seeing the latest pictures of her granddaughters and hearing the latest among her many siblings and in-laws — all areas of life that I’m not personally privy to, being as I am, an only child and also the mother of an only, unmarried child.  Thank goodness for good friends who don’t mind my vicarious clapping and cheering or (sometimes) clucking and lamenting.

Judy in her Rodeo Queen Days!

Then off to the Performing Arts Center to Judy Eron’s concert — some familiar songs, some new, and all pure Judy!  My personal favorite was her tribute to Charlie, “her very own fruitcake.”  I couldn’t help wondering how many people in the audience had been lucky enough to actually sample some of Charlie’s fruitcake — his father’s recipe — as Nyel and I had.  I think Nyel actually gave Charlie a sample of his fruitcake — in his case, his mother’s recipe! (Again, I didn’t even think of taking a picture, so entranced was I — but scored today online with one that must have been taken in her “Rodeo Queen” days!)

I drove home in the glow of friendships and laughter and music and decided to start dinner and then get back to my computer.  But… cough, sputter, rusty spurts, silence!  No hot water!  Not in the kitchen!  Not in the downstairs bathroom sinks!  Not in the bar.  I went out to listen for the pump.  Was it running?  Did I have yet another  leak?

Spiffy New Faucet

It was well after six-thirty but I called the plumber anyway.  I could at least leave a message.  But on just the second or the third ring, he answered!  Himself!  And I began to cry.  So much for Competent-Widow-Woman-In-Charge-Of-Her-Life…  Patience on his part, an explanation that he’d been here doing a little more work that we’d discussed previously, and following a few simple directions on my part and… all was well.  But doncha just HATE when that happens?

I know Nyel was nearby when I was enjoying Judy’s Fruitcake song.  I hope he was off doing something else when I was blubbering over the phone to my ever-patient plumber.  And I tried mightily to cut myself some slack. One or two plumbing disasters in a summer… maybe acceptable.  But five?  OMG! Please, please!  No more!

 

 

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Another 1st at Our House (& not a good one)

Saturday, May 20th, 2023

Susan Waters, Randal Bays, Clint Dye Maybe in the Fall??>

In all the years (22+ probably) that we’ve been hosting House Concerts here at the White House in Oysterville, today we had the first ever experience of having to cancel the day before the event.  One of the musicians, Randal Bays, called me at 8:00 this morning with what he said (thought? hoped?) was a terrible cold.  So far, he was testing negative for Covid.

Ironically, the very first House Concert Nyel and I ever hosted some twenty years ago was with Randal!  He’s probably done fifteen or more since then, has played at countless Vespers, and has included his wife Susan and sons, Willie and Owen, in most of them.  He sounded devastated.  (I was, as well, but tried mightily to sound supportive, concerned and all those other things that one feels in these all too recent days since the Pandemic.)

Randal Bays — when he was feeling plummier!

As soon as we were off the phone, I began e-mailing and calling the 30 folks who were planning to come tomorrow.  I do hope I got them all!  Everyone I talked to was amazingly sympathetic — wishing Randall and his musical companions — wife Susan and friend Clint Dye — well and hoping that we could reschedule at a later date.

Thank you all for your understanding.  And if, perchance, you know of anyone planning to come who didn’t get the word, PLEASE let them know!   This is not the hostesses worst nightmare, I’m sure… but it could be close!

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Well, that’s one way to gatecrash!

Sunday, March 19th, 2023

Cinderella behaving properly  in the Living Room.

Gradually, I am “catching up” with musician friends and offering them time and space for a House Concert.  The worst years of Covid slowed things way down — actually to a screeching halt.  In the fall I began tentatively with limited audience numbers, lots of cautionary suggestions to keep us all healthy.Slowly we are finding our way back to normalcy.

Today as I was getting things spiffed up in last minute readiness for Fred Carter’s appearance, I felt that the library was still exhibiting a few crumbs from our Friday Night Gathering.  So, I asked Cinderella Roomba if she would give the carpet a once-over.  Off she went and I heard her from afar, making everything neat and tidy.  And then… silence.

Her app on my phone said she was stuck,  I know exactly what that means when she’s in the library.  She goes under the couch (though I’ve tried to explain that who cares about UNDER the couch!) and then tries to get out at one end or another where the space between couch and carpet is just too tight.

Does she back up and return the way she came in?  Of course not.  She just keeps inching forward, wedging herself ever more snugly so she is just peeping out.  Just a little.  And totally stopped.  Unfortunately, I’m not strong enough to lift the couch with one hand and grab her with the other… so, whoever arrives first will be asked to help.

Sydney and Fred – At Concert’s End!

Or, we could just leave her there to hear the music.  She’s out of the way and probably won’t even be noticed.  But it’s really not fair to all those who have brought their potluck dish and contributed to the donation box and joined in the applause and ambiance of it all.  And what about other roombas that might want to come?  Not fair at all, Cinderella!

And really annoying!

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Laughing Along With Judy Eron!

Wednesday, July 27th, 2022

Judy Eron — Singer, Songwriter, Author, and More!

This afternoon I’m going plum-picking with Judy Eron.  Or maybe I’ll get to compete with her to become a Rodeo Queen. And perhaps, too, I can share in her excitement over her first social security check and help her find her yodel!

You can join in these adventures, too, at the Peninsula Art Center from 4:00 to 6:00 this afternoon.  That’s when Judy will be center stage, playing and singing some of her own songs.  I’m not sure which ones — she’s written over 500 in her long career!   I hope there are some of my favorites, but I’ve found with Judy that each “new” song of hers I hear becomes my new favorite… so no worries!

And, you might think from my use of the word “career” that Judy has been a full-time musician all these years. Well… sort of.  But she is also a clinical social worker (which sounds almost as impressive) and, an author — of What Goes Up. . .Surviving the Manic Episode of a Loved One (2005).

Judy Eron – From Her FB Page

Perhaps, most impressive of all, to me, is that she lived and worked in Nashville for twenty years!  Nashville!  Rubbing elbows and writing songs for all those country singers we know and love!  She has also recorded two LPs, has written musical theater and has had two musicals produced — in Vermont and Nashville.  Wow!

Judy tells me that she may call on her friends Charlie Watkins and Janet Clark to do a few numbers with her today — the three of them make up three-fourths of Double J and the Boys.  But, mostly, this afternoon will be all Judy.  As she told me, “This is my once-a-year concert of all my own songs.”

I can scarcely wait!  I hope the Peninsula Arts Center tent is full to bursting — have you called to reserve a spot? — and that Long Beach reverberates with Judy’s enthusiasm and rollicking music!

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Won’t you join me tomorrow on KMUN?

Thursday, October 21st, 2021

Larry Murante who made Mrs. Crouch famous in song!

And Larry Murante, too!  We’ll be on Carol Newman’s “ARTS Live and Local” show — although we won’t be exactly “live.”  You’ll hear Larry singing “The Ballad of Mrs. Crouch” through the magic of recorded sound* and Carol and I will be coming to you via a telephone conversation — me in Oysterville and Carol in her studio at KMUN Coast Community Radio — tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. at 91.9 FM on your radio dial.
(*A note just in from Carol makes me think that Larry, too, will be singing “live” from his place in Seattle and not via recording at all!  Stay tuned, as they say…)

Sydney at home in the erstwhile Parsonage.

It all sounds like smoke and mirrors to me, but when you think of the subject matter — ghosts! — the magic of electromagnetic signals and transmitters and receivers seem one hundred percent  appropriate.  Carol told me she wants to talk about Mrs. Crouch and about my “new” book (out last June), Historic Haunts of the  Long Beach Peninsula!  “After all, Halloween is almost here,” she said.

Carol Newman, Host of “ARTS Live and Local”

I hope to talk about the Reverend Crouch as well as about his young wife, Sarah, who drowned so mysteriously in the Willapa River back in 1893.  Was it an unfortunate accident?  Or did her husband do her in?  He lived for almost a half-century longer than she did and led quite a newsworthy life, as it turned out.  Thanks to the ever-increasing digitization of public documents and historic newspapers, much information has come to light in recent years concerning Josiah Crouch — much of which I reveal in Historic Haunts.

Cover: Historic Haunts of the Long Beach Peninsula

Since Crouch never was brought to trial here in Pacific County, we can only speculate what conclusions an 1893 jury of his peers would have reached.  But, given the information about his shenanigans during the next four decades, what conclusions might be reached today?  What do my readers think, I wonder.  No one has said… yet.  But several folks have asked if he, also, haunts this house.  Or… is it only Mrs. Crouch?  Perhaps more clues will come up tomorrow on ARTS Live and Local!  Tune in and see what you think!

 

 

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7:00 Nov. 28th: www.columbiatheatre.com

Saturday, November 28th, 2020

The Oyster Crackers in Red — Photo by Tucker Wachsmuth, 2018

The Peninsula’s very own Oyster Crackers —  Bette Lu Krause, Rita Smith, and Cryst’l Mack — will arrive here this evening in a live stream performance from the stage at Longview’s  Columbia Theatre!  We can enjoy them from the comfort of our own homes via the magic of cyberspace!  They are part of a series called, “Artists in Our Midst” shot at the Columbia Theatre with the conviction that “if you can’t come to the theatre, the theatre will come to you!”

Recorded some months ago, “We did all of our favorites,” Bette Lu told me recently.  She was non-specific but I truly hope that my own favorite,  “Bring Me Li’l Water, Sylvie” (by Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter) is included.  And, just in case, I’ll have my handkerchief ready.

The Oyster Crackers – a Tucker Wachsmuth Photo, 2018

It’s not the only one of their songs that makes me teary, however.  You know, those unbidden tears that come  — not from joy, exactly, and certainly not from pain.  Probably from something akin to nostalgia and almost always triggered by music.  I’d call them “old lady tears” but I know for a fact that they are not confined to age or gender.

I’ve said it before and, no doubt will say it again:  The Oyster Crackers are an absolute pleasure to listen to.  Their voices gently glide and spiral around one another, carrying the listener to places of possibilities and contentment.  They are polished, professional, and profound!   And their performances always bring me a deep feeling of peace.  I can’t think of a better beginning to this Covid-plagued 2020 Holiday Season!

 

 

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What’s in a name?

Thursday, February 13th, 2020

Randal’s New Album – 2020

Nyel and I were both blessed with difficult names.  Difficult to remember and, apparently, in Nyel’s case, difficult to pronounce.  And then, of course is the spelling thing.  Sydney, Sidney, Cydnee, Cidne — more variations than you can sharpen a pencil for.  Nyel is often Neil or (go figure!) Niel, or Nyal or Niles or Nils.

So when Randal Bays sent us his newly released CD, Up The West, listing the twelfth track as starting with “Nyel the Cannoneer,” I for one was pleased.  It’s a jig and Randal had debuted it at Vespers a couple of years ago — and here it is, published!  And even spelled correctly!  Yay!

Which, of course, brings us to our last name, “Stevens with a v” as I often say, even before the question.  It really had never occurred to me before I accepted Nyel, name and all, that people would wonder — ph or v?

When we opened the CD wrapper and read the notes, however, I was surprised to find that our last name might have still another interpretation:
    #12 Nyel the Cannoneer/  My friend Nyel Stevenson lives on the edge of the world down on the coast of Washington state.  He has a cannon that he fires off on special occasions…

Randal Bays, July 2018

Never mind.  I’m pretty sure there’s only one Nyel who has a cannon and lives on the edge of the world.  And there’s only one dear friend named Randal who could compose a jig especially for Nyel.  Randal, we love you no matter what you call us!  And I’d be hard pressed to say that about anybody else!

 

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Happy Birthday Aaron English!

Sunday, December 15th, 2019

Checking Connections

Remember that old song, “If I’d know you were coming, I’d have baked a cake…”?  Well, we actually did know Aaron was coming, but what we didn’t know was that yesterday was his birthday!  Luckily, Nyel had baked chocolate chip cookies which actually made it easier because Aaron was back on the road with a bagful in nothing flat.  Or so it seemed.

He was here to pick up a keyboard and its various accoutrements which were donated to his charity by Charlotte and Joe Paliani last July.  At that time, Aaron was here for a House Concert and, though he gladly accepted the keyboard, when push came to shove the next morning… he couldn’t fit it into his rental car.  “You can store it all here,” I said.  “No problem.”

Aaron in East Africa

The charity, the International Music Project, had celebrated its fourth “birthday” shortly before Aaron’s appearance here.  According to his website:  In May 2015 I flew to East Africa with luggage full of donated instruments & the beginnings of a plan. Since that day, my charity has been able to support music programs for youth in orphanages, refugee camps, HIV/AIDS resource centers, & low-income communities in Uganda, Burma, Kenya & the U.S.A.  Thanks to all who have donated musical instruments to the programs, or funds for teachers’ salaries.

Charlotte and Joe’s donation was fabulous but, as the months went by, I wondered if that keyboard, its stand, the piano bench and big box of music would ever get to its intended destination or if it would all live in our back forty for good. I shouldn’t have worried…  It was great to see Aaron, hear about how his ‘new life’ in Nashville is going and about his two upcoming (return) European tours planned for 2020.  He, himself, is a keyboardist and, having wrestled with with “The Donation in The Back Room” for five months, I was more acutely aware of the logistics that might be involved in his European tours.

Aaron English In Concert“Actually, I don’t take an instrument with me,” was the reply.  “I have keyboards stashed in…” and he named at least four European cities where friends are storing instruments for him.  Who knew?  “It’s easier that way,” he said.  “And cheaper in the long run.”  Oh my!  And the rest of us think that we have luggage concerns when we travel??  No so much.

It was in passing that he mentioned it was his birthday.  The 46th.  I was sorry we hadn’t known.  Maybe we could have pulled off a small House Concert…  But, as it was, he was on the road shortly after loading up his car.  He had a concert at a church in Bremerton early this morning…  Wow!  As usual, I’m full of admiration for touring musicians!

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