Now Playing on Festival Radio
Thursday, March 31, 2005
WCBE Needs Help
I spent a few hours early this morning answering phones at WCBE-FM during Morning Edition to kick off their fund drive. There are several reasons you should either listen to or, even better, support WCBE.
- It was one of the stations that pioneered the freeform adult music format. WXPN and KCRW got all the press because they were in big markets and were early adopters of streaming technology on the Internet, but WCBE was right there with them in the early '90s.
- WCBE still plays a great variety of music, much wider than I do, including the music I play plus world music (a wider range), jazz, new age, r&b, gospel, soul, hip hop and more. Tune in to their weekday morning show Ante Meridien (9AM to noon - all times Eastern Standard, add 5 hours for UTC) or their weekday afternoon show, Global Village (noon to 3 p.m. ) and you'll hear what I mean. The first hour of Ante Meridien is dedicated to world music and is particularly good. Toss The Feathers, their local Celtic/UK variety music show (2 pm to 5 pm Saturday) with Doug Dickson , Blue Collar with Dr. Steve, their local blues show (6 pm to 9 pm Sundays) and Roots and Offshoots, their local twangfest with Maggie Brennan, (9 pm to 11 pm Sunday) are also particularly fine.
- Without WCBE, the Online Folk Festival does not exist. It was listening to WCBE that made me rediscover acoustic and folk music and made me explore it in greater depth.
- They need your support right now during their fund drive through Monday, April 4. Even if you can't shoot them some moolah, I hope you'll take the time to listen to their music shows and broaden your musical horizons.
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Iona, Holy Week and Tenebrae Services
I've been listening to Iona a lot for Holy Week. Part of the reason is that I pulled out my Iona CDs for St. Patrick's Day, which was just last week, and part of it is the purely stunning 14+ minute live version of "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" (to what most in America would consider the alternate tune, the tune of "The Water is Wide") from their Heaven's Bright Sun CD.
It starts with a plaintive guitar solo over a bed of swirling keyboards, which fade out before Joanne Hogg's vocals. After she sings the first verse, the percussion kicks in. The third verse, "See from his hands, his side, his feet, sorrow and love come mingled down..." Hogg sings accompanied solely by stark, staccato single drum beats, reminiscent of the soldiers driving the nails into Jesus' hands and feet. After the fourth verse finishes: "Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine demands my soul, my life, my all" the band launches into 5 minutes of instrumental coda, which to me reflects the nature of giving one's all in response to the cross, then fading out into some ethereal keyboards.
The church I attend is currently between buildings. We sold our previous building (a process fraught with much controversy) and are currently in the process of getting the approvals to begin building in a new location, with the new building to be complete by the end of the year if all goes well. We were not able to coordinate a joint Maundy Thursday with another local church, and not having a building of our own in which to meet, I found myself free to attend another local church for services on Maundy Thursday.
I chose to attend at First Community Church in Marble Cliff, since I have many friends who attend there and know many in the choir from singing with them in the Symphony Chorus. I figured that if nothing else, the music would be outstanding. I was not disappointed. The service was at their main campus, a beautiful stone church with a sanctuary in the "old school" cross shape. It began with the choir processing with candles in a darkened sanctuary to a cappella chant and circling the congregation. It gave me chills. It's rare that one can find a choir that can sing in unison so well. Anyway, the service turned out to be combination celebration of Maundy Thursday and tenebrae service, which I was not expecting. The symbolism of the tenebrae service, usually held on Good Friday, is powerful. In a typical tenebrae services, as the passion story is told, candles are extinguished one by one until the sanctuary is left in darkness, symbolizing the death of Christ on the cross for our sins and His descent into hell. I liked that the acolytes physically walked the Christ candle out of the sanctuary, leaving the sanctuary in darkness.
Typically, this is where a tenebrae service will end, and the congregation files out in silence, meditating on the absence of Christ and awaiting His return fom the dead on Easter. I was surprised when, after a couple minutes in darkness, the lit Christ candle was processed back into the sanctuary. It was dramatic, symbolic and beautiful, as the one light entered the darkened sanctuary, but I couldn't help feeling it was theologically wrong. I think we should have left the sanctuary feeling the darkness of Christ's absence and remembering the hopelessness and despair of the shepherdless disciples and the sorrow of a world without the light of Christ, which strikes me as the point of re-enacting those events for Holy Week.
Anyway, other than this one theological quibble I found the service extremely moving and it really did help me into the Holy Week frame of mind.
It starts with a plaintive guitar solo over a bed of swirling keyboards, which fade out before Joanne Hogg's vocals. After she sings the first verse, the percussion kicks in. The third verse, "See from his hands, his side, his feet, sorrow and love come mingled down..." Hogg sings accompanied solely by stark, staccato single drum beats, reminiscent of the soldiers driving the nails into Jesus' hands and feet. After the fourth verse finishes: "Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine demands my soul, my life, my all" the band launches into 5 minutes of instrumental coda, which to me reflects the nature of giving one's all in response to the cross, then fading out into some ethereal keyboards.
The church I attend is currently between buildings. We sold our previous building (a process fraught with much controversy) and are currently in the process of getting the approvals to begin building in a new location, with the new building to be complete by the end of the year if all goes well. We were not able to coordinate a joint Maundy Thursday with another local church, and not having a building of our own in which to meet, I found myself free to attend another local church for services on Maundy Thursday.
I chose to attend at First Community Church in Marble Cliff, since I have many friends who attend there and know many in the choir from singing with them in the Symphony Chorus. I figured that if nothing else, the music would be outstanding. I was not disappointed. The service was at their main campus, a beautiful stone church with a sanctuary in the "old school" cross shape. It began with the choir processing with candles in a darkened sanctuary to a cappella chant and circling the congregation. It gave me chills. It's rare that one can find a choir that can sing in unison so well. Anyway, the service turned out to be combination celebration of Maundy Thursday and tenebrae service, which I was not expecting. The symbolism of the tenebrae service, usually held on Good Friday, is powerful. In a typical tenebrae services, as the passion story is told, candles are extinguished one by one until the sanctuary is left in darkness, symbolizing the death of Christ on the cross for our sins and His descent into hell. I liked that the acolytes physically walked the Christ candle out of the sanctuary, leaving the sanctuary in darkness.
Typically, this is where a tenebrae service will end, and the congregation files out in silence, meditating on the absence of Christ and awaiting His return fom the dead on Easter. I was surprised when, after a couple minutes in darkness, the lit Christ candle was processed back into the sanctuary. It was dramatic, symbolic and beautiful, as the one light entered the darkened sanctuary, but I couldn't help feeling it was theologically wrong. I think we should have left the sanctuary feeling the darkness of Christ's absence and remembering the hopelessness and despair of the shepherdless disciples and the sorrow of a world without the light of Christ, which strikes me as the point of re-enacting those events for Holy Week.
Anyway, other than this one theological quibble I found the service extremely moving and it really did help me into the Holy Week frame of mind.
The Nominations are In...
For the Best of Live365 Awads 2005.
The Online Folk Festival is not on the list.
As a fan of Cleveland sports teams, I understand well the meaning of "Wait 'til next year."
VIP members and broadcasters may vote here.
Folk nominees are:
They're all fines stations, though I have to admit some puzzlement as to why BikerBarLive is nominated in folk rather than country, since country and alt-country seems to make up the majority of what's on every time I've tuned in. But the people have spoken. Listen for yourself and make the call, if you're eligible to vote. If you're not eligible to vote, hie thee to live365.com and get thee a VIP membership so thou can hear The Online Folk Festival commercial free, but first visit this page and click on the flashing button on the bottom left so I get my kickback for sending you and you get the satisfaction of helping me pay for this hobby.
The Online Folk Festival is not on the list.
As a fan of Cleveland sports teams, I understand well the meaning of "Wait 'til next year."
VIP members and broadcasters may vote here.
Folk nominees are:
They're all fines stations, though I have to admit some puzzlement as to why BikerBarLive is nominated in folk rather than country, since country and alt-country seems to make up the majority of what's on every time I've tuned in. But the people have spoken. Listen for yourself and make the call, if you're eligible to vote. If you're not eligible to vote, hie thee to live365.com and get thee a VIP membership so thou can hear The Online Folk Festival commercial free, but first visit this page and click on the flashing button on the bottom left so I get my kickback for sending you and you get the satisfaction of helping me pay for this hobby.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Why Play World Music?
I received the most recent Oasis World Music sampler in the mail today, and as I was listening to it in the car on the way to Westerville for a church meeting, it occurred to me that I've never made any comments on this blog about why I choose to play world music (or non-North American/British Isles-derived music, to be more precise) on the Online Folk Festival.
It would be easy to program the station without it. Certainly playing what we here in the states narrowly define as folk music (traditional, old-time, singer/songwriter, Celtic/British Isles folk, cajun/zydeco, etc.) would fill out the format successfully. And it would probably improve my listener retention as well, since I know from my listener statistics that the world music tunes generally have the largest dropout.
One reason is that I think the non-English-language music adds "texture" to the station. I think that we listen to songs differently when we do not know the language . We become more aware of the non-verbal portions of the music - the rhythms, the instrumentation, the technical skill of the musicians, even the sounds of the words themselves, once separated from the meaning, become part of the soundscape.
A second reason is that I think using the word folk music to apply only to the music of one region is pretty ethnocentric. Lots of people make folk music around the world, and narrowing the definition of folk music down to one little patch of the globe does not really reflect that reality. Like the water, my definition of folk music is wide. The concept of this station was really nailed down upon reflecting upon attending the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival several years ago, where I heard a wide variety of musicians, including a couple "world" music groups, all performing from the same stages one after another, spanning a wide variety of genres. Hearing the world music included with the folk music there lent the concept some additional credibility.
The third reason, and the one that trumps them all, is that it's my station and I dig the music and want to hear it as part of my workday listening. I like to groove along with Kanda Bongo Man or the Afro Cuban All Stars. I like to hear the rich voice of Cesaria Evora or the Andean flute music of Quichia Machas. It puts some variety in my day.
I'm not an expert in world music. That's why most of what you'll hear has already been vetted for me by experts on samplers from Putamayo, or the World series by Charlie Gillett who has that great show on the BBC, or Rykodisk/Hannibal. And when I find artists on these samplers that I like, I know to snap them up when I see them in the $3 bin at Used Kids.
More than you wanted to know, I expect.
It would be easy to program the station without it. Certainly playing what we here in the states narrowly define as folk music (traditional, old-time, singer/songwriter, Celtic/British Isles folk, cajun/zydeco, etc.) would fill out the format successfully. And it would probably improve my listener retention as well, since I know from my listener statistics that the world music tunes generally have the largest dropout.
One reason is that I think the non-English-language music adds "texture" to the station. I think that we listen to songs differently when we do not know the language . We become more aware of the non-verbal portions of the music - the rhythms, the instrumentation, the technical skill of the musicians, even the sounds of the words themselves, once separated from the meaning, become part of the soundscape.
A second reason is that I think using the word folk music to apply only to the music of one region is pretty ethnocentric. Lots of people make folk music around the world, and narrowing the definition of folk music down to one little patch of the globe does not really reflect that reality. Like the water, my definition of folk music is wide. The concept of this station was really nailed down upon reflecting upon attending the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival several years ago, where I heard a wide variety of musicians, including a couple "world" music groups, all performing from the same stages one after another, spanning a wide variety of genres. Hearing the world music included with the folk music there lent the concept some additional credibility.
The third reason, and the one that trumps them all, is that it's my station and I dig the music and want to hear it as part of my workday listening. I like to groove along with Kanda Bongo Man or the Afro Cuban All Stars. I like to hear the rich voice of Cesaria Evora or the Andean flute music of Quichia Machas. It puts some variety in my day.
I'm not an expert in world music. That's why most of what you'll hear has already been vetted for me by experts on samplers from Putamayo, or the World series by Charlie Gillett who has that great show on the BBC, or Rykodisk/Hannibal. And when I find artists on these samplers that I like, I know to snap them up when I see them in the $3 bin at Used Kids.
More than you wanted to know, I expect.
Celtapalooza Smashes all OFF Listener Records
Thanks to everyone who listened last week to the temporarily rechristened Online Celt Festival. At several times during St. Patrick's Day, the station had 105 simultaneous listeners, the most it has ever had at one time. For the day, total listenership was 778 total listener hours (TLH), also a station record.
The great reaction to the Celtic music has really made me give serious consideration to starting a second, all-Celtic music stream. If my financial situation allows, I may do this some time in the next few months. The other idea I have been kicking around for a second stream would be a station programmed solely with folk music on artist-owned or indie labels.
I've posted my schedule for the next several weeks for Featured Artists.
The great reaction to the Celtic music has really made me give serious consideration to starting a second, all-Celtic music stream. If my financial situation allows, I may do this some time in the next few months. The other idea I have been kicking around for a second stream would be a station programmed solely with folk music on artist-owned or indie labels.
I've posted my schedule for the next several weeks for Featured Artists.
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Catching up on New Adds
It's been awhile since I've updated new adds to the Online Folk Festival on the FolkBlog (though I've been pretty good at updating the New Adds page on the website). I should probably wait until after Celtapalooza is over, since the only artists in rotation now are Celtic artists, but come next week these artists will be back in rotation, and I have time tonight, and so it shall be. I've started with three CDs you will hear this week.
Jed Marum: Miles From Home
Jed Marum has put together a rewarding acoustic folk album, with significant Celtic influences. The standout songs on this album are"The Locket" about Marum and his mother struggling with her Alzheimer's Disease, "Look Ahead Tommy" about Irish immigrants settling n America and "Mama's Lilly," a story of an accidental death in the Civil War from shelling a West Virginia town.
Grada - Endeavour
An impressive young traditional Celtic band from Ireland, Grada has just had this CD from 2002 released in the US by Compass after the success of their 2004 CD The Landing Step. This band shows impressive musicianship on traditional tunes, as well as tunes written by the band. Singer Anne Marie O'Malley has a pleasant soprano voice and wraps her tongue around some very difficult Gaelic at breakneck speed on "Cathain," the opening track. This is also in rotation this week.
Robin Flower & Libby McLaren: Steelhead in the Riffles
A well-played collection of Celtic/contra-type dance tunes featuring Flower on mandolin, fiddle and guitar and McLaren on piano, accordion and voice.
David Francey: The Waking Hour
How did I miss this CD when it first came out? I guess I'm one of the last folk DJs on the David Francey bandwagaon, but I'm now glad to be there. Singer/songwriter David Francey, Scottish by birth, Canadian by residence, has put together an outstanding collection of acoustic tunes ably backed by Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch and Fats Kaplin (the same crew behind the recent You Can't Save Everybody album by Kane and Welch). All in all, this collection matches superior songwriting with superior playing.
There's not a klunker on this CD, but since I graduated from Perry High School in Lake County in Northeastern Ohio, the two tracks written about Northeastern Ohio have particular resonance with me. "Ashtabula" is a portrait of a fading coal port on Lake Erie, and "Fourth of July" tells about being in Madison, Ohio (the next town over from Perry) on the first anniversary of 9/11 and all the patiotic display in the shadow of the cooling towers of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant.
Jackie Frost: Calliope
This is a nice collection of laid-back acoustic jazzy folk in the vein of Norah Jones, although this leans more towards the folk part of folk/jazz. Frost's ensemble mixes in some bluegrass and Texas swing, so that's one distinction from Jones. Frost's voice is not as smoky nor is her style as expressive as Jones, but if you are one of the millions who've bought Norah Jones, and you liked the direction Jones took on her second CD towards the folky and acoustic, then this CD is right up your alley.
Chris Elliott: Satellite UFO Jet Plane or Star
If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, then you know that I am a sucker for a good collection of jangle pop. This is an excellent collection of jangle pop. The track that I keep coming back to, and I'm not sure why, is a mostly instrumental piece ("Nice") with the following lyrics:
Jed Marum: Miles From Home
Jed Marum has put together a rewarding acoustic folk album, with significant Celtic influences. The standout songs on this album are"The Locket" about Marum and his mother struggling with her Alzheimer's Disease, "Look Ahead Tommy" about Irish immigrants settling n America and "Mama's Lilly," a story of an accidental death in the Civil War from shelling a West Virginia town.
Grada - Endeavour
An impressive young traditional Celtic band from Ireland, Grada has just had this CD from 2002 released in the US by Compass after the success of their 2004 CD The Landing Step. This band shows impressive musicianship on traditional tunes, as well as tunes written by the band. Singer Anne Marie O'Malley has a pleasant soprano voice and wraps her tongue around some very difficult Gaelic at breakneck speed on "Cathain," the opening track. This is also in rotation this week.
Robin Flower & Libby McLaren: Steelhead in the Riffles
A well-played collection of Celtic/contra-type dance tunes featuring Flower on mandolin, fiddle and guitar and McLaren on piano, accordion and voice.
David Francey: The Waking Hour
How did I miss this CD when it first came out? I guess I'm one of the last folk DJs on the David Francey bandwagaon, but I'm now glad to be there. Singer/songwriter David Francey, Scottish by birth, Canadian by residence, has put together an outstanding collection of acoustic tunes ably backed by Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch and Fats Kaplin (the same crew behind the recent You Can't Save Everybody album by Kane and Welch). All in all, this collection matches superior songwriting with superior playing.
There's not a klunker on this CD, but since I graduated from Perry High School in Lake County in Northeastern Ohio, the two tracks written about Northeastern Ohio have particular resonance with me. "Ashtabula" is a portrait of a fading coal port on Lake Erie, and "Fourth of July" tells about being in Madison, Ohio (the next town over from Perry) on the first anniversary of 9/11 and all the patiotic display in the shadow of the cooling towers of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant.
Jackie Frost: Calliope
This is a nice collection of laid-back acoustic jazzy folk in the vein of Norah Jones, although this leans more towards the folk part of folk/jazz. Frost's ensemble mixes in some bluegrass and Texas swing, so that's one distinction from Jones. Frost's voice is not as smoky nor is her style as expressive as Jones, but if you are one of the millions who've bought Norah Jones, and you liked the direction Jones took on her second CD towards the folky and acoustic, then this CD is right up your alley.
Chris Elliott: Satellite UFO Jet Plane or Star
If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, then you know that I am a sucker for a good collection of jangle pop. This is an excellent collection of jangle pop. The track that I keep coming back to, and I'm not sure why, is a mostly instrumental piece ("Nice") with the following lyrics:
"Birth, school, work, death. Some paradise sure would be nice."
I suppose it summarizes the eternal longing to break the cycle of this world with something infinite in a three-minute jangle pop groove. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it. Anyway, I really like this collection, and if you dig The Byrds or The Kennedys, you might want to check out this CD.
Special Mention: The Hungry for Music Diamond Cuts DJ Collection
I was really happy that the nice people at Hungry for Music, a Washington, DC charity supporting music education in the DC area, sent me a two CD set of the highlights from their Diamond Cuts collection of CDs about baseball. I hope to use them sometime in the next couple weeks (along with all those great baseball songs by Chuck Brodsky and others) to celebrate the opening of the baseball season by having a Salute to Baseball week instead of a Featured Artist of the Week. I hope you will check out this fine organization and consider buying one of their baseball or holiday CDs. (The Holiday Feast: Creme de la Creme CD has become a staple of the Online Folk Festival holiday programming - I highly recommend it.)
Also added: Terence Martin: Sleeper.
Labels: New Adds
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Dave Swarbrick back on stage w/Fairport Convention
The guys in Fairport Convention were thrilled when Dave Swarbrick showed up for a show recently for the first time since his lung transplant operation. They were even more excited when he joined them on stage to sing without an oxygen machine. More details at http://www.fairportconvention.com/news39.htm
Wearing Green and Taking Names!
It's Celtapalooza all week on the Online Folk Festival. We're wearing green and taking names, playing nothing but the best in Celtic music all week, through March 20. St. Patrick's is too good to be limited to just one day. We'll get you in the mood Sunday through Wednesday, and then give you a little hair of the dog to wind you down Friday and Saturday.
Back to regular programming on Sunday, March 20.
Back to regular programming on Sunday, March 20.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
News From Around the Folk World
The return of news you can use from around the folk world. Why? Because I care.
- BBC2 Folk Award Winners Announced
- Country singer Chris LeDoux, former rodeo cowboy, dies of cancer at age 56
- Profile of Iron and Wine
- Richie Havens profile
- Audio Profile of Sarah Lee Guthrie (NPR's Morning Edition)
- Article on life as a touring folk musician featuring quotes from John Gorka, Cliff Eberhardt and Tracy Grammer
- Mike Ford of Moxy Fruvous Makes Canadian History Rock
- Martha Wainwright profile
- Bruce Springsteen to release new, stripped-down CD with "acoustic feel"
- Daniel Lanois gets star on Canada's Walk of Fame
- Alejandro Escovedo profile
- Kathleen Edwards profile
- Lucy Kaplansky profile
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Irish in America
The Census Bureau has put out a press release with some statistics on Irish heritage in America, just in time for St. Patrick's Day.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/003581.html
The Online Folk Festival will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day with a week-long Celtic music extravaganza blowout-orama. We'll be getting jiggy (and reely and strathspey-ey) beginning on Sunday, March 13.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/003581.html
The Online Folk Festival will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day with a week-long Celtic music extravaganza blowout-orama. We'll be getting jiggy (and reely and strathspey-ey) beginning on Sunday, March 13.
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Rhonda Vincent Featured Artist of the Week
This week's (March 6-13) Featured Artist of the Week on the Online Folk Festival is bluegrass diva extraordinaire (and I mean diva in a good way) Rhonda Vincent. She is one of the most honored women in bluegrass, having won more awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association than you can shake a mandolin at. She has a brand new live CD and DVD coming out on Tuesday, March 8 with her band The Rage. Find out why her peers keep recognizing her excellence all this week as I play tracks from her new live CD and her three most recent studio CDs.
Friday, March 04, 2005
Best of Live365 Award Nominations Open
Last year, Live365 (the service I use to broadcast the Online Folk Festival) began presenting broadcasting awards at their annual conference. The nominations process is open to all broadcasters and VIP listeners of Live365.com. Last year, the Online Folk Festival was nominated for Best Folk Station, but did not win. To participate in the nominating process, go to http://www.live365.com/broadcast/bcawards.live. Deadline for nominations is March 15, and nominees will be released shortly thereafter. My broadcaster name is woodsmeister, for those of you so inclined.
Last year's winner for Best Folk Station was radiowayne, a worthy broadcaster. I don't remember whether I have mentioned it on this blog or not, but radiowayne hosts a live broadcast of his "folk and more" format on Sunday evenings from 7 to 10 pm Eastern time (0:00 to 3:00 UTC), and I generally listen and hang out in the Live365 chatroom, so if you would like to chat with me, that is usually a good place to find me most Sunday evenings.
Last year's winner for Best Folk Station was radiowayne, a worthy broadcaster. I don't remember whether I have mentioned it on this blog or not, but radiowayne hosts a live broadcast of his "folk and more" format on Sunday evenings from 7 to 10 pm Eastern time (0:00 to 3:00 UTC), and I generally listen and hang out in the Live365 chatroom, so if you would like to chat with me, that is usually a good place to find me most Sunday evenings.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Mary Travers Update from Christine Lavin
Christine Lavin sent the following to the FOLKDJ-L:
Dear Folk DJs:
As you might know, Mary Travers of Peter Paul & Mary is in the hospital gearing up for a bone marrow transplant (six matches were found!) -- she will be hospitalized for at least the next six weeks. I have set up an address where you and your listeners can send Mary 'get well' wishes -- I will print them out once a week and send them over (she cannot have visitors, so this is a way to help keep her entertained). In case you don't know, Mary is very funny, sarcastic, loves a good joke -- so if you know any good jokes, I'm sure she'd get a kick out of them. Over the years PP&M have proven to be one of the most enduring folk groups that talks the talk AND walks the walk, supporting good causes and doing countless benefits, so here's a chance for us to help support her during a difficult time. The address is getwellmary@aol.com.
Thanks so much -- Christine Lavin
