Now Playing on Festival Radio
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Long-time Celtic Radio Host Doug Dickson Dies
Doug Dickson, who hosted the Columbus local Celtic radio show Toss The Feathers on WCBE-FM, died Sunday, September 16 after a battle with cirrhosis and kidney problems. He was 54.
Doug was a mainstay in the Columbus music scene, and was a tireless promoter of Celtic music. You could always count on Doug to play Richard Thompson every week, and Oysterband and Steeeleye Span most weeks. I gained an appreciation for the broad spectrum of Celtic music from listening to Toss the Feathers on a regular basis, and the music I heard there has decidedly influenced the music heard on Festival Radio.
For some remembrances of Doug, visit http://www.wcbe.org/sublevelDougDickson_TTF.html. Doug leaves behind a wife, Anna, and a daugher, stepdaughter, and stepson.
Hoist a few in fiddler's green for the rest of us, Doug.
Doug was a mainstay in the Columbus music scene, and was a tireless promoter of Celtic music. You could always count on Doug to play Richard Thompson every week, and Oysterband and Steeeleye Span most weeks. I gained an appreciation for the broad spectrum of Celtic music from listening to Toss the Feathers on a regular basis, and the music I heard there has decidedly influenced the music heard on Festival Radio.
For some remembrances of Doug, visit http://www.wcbe.org/sublevelDougDickson_TTF.html. Doug leaves behind a wife, Anna, and a daugher, stepdaughter, and stepson.
Hoist a few in fiddler's green for the rest of us, Doug.
Labels: Doug Dickson
Monday, September 17, 2007
Charity E-Bay Auction for George Grantham of Poco
I got the following news passed to me in an e-mail and am passing it along. My uncle is one of the biggest Poco fans on the planet.
PUTTING HEADS TOGETHER--eBay AUCTION FOR THE BENEFIT OF GEORGE GRANTHAM
George Grantham is known for his hits "Crazy Love," "Heart of the Night" and so many more. POCO's George Grantham, the great drummer of seminal country rock from the West Coast, set the rhythm for the group that influenced many. The band is still performing across the county in show after show, but a stroke took George off the road as the band plays on.
George's daughter, Gracie, has pitched in to come to her father's aid. To defray medical costs, she has begun a campaign [Putting Heads Together] to reach out to George's many cohorts, musical friends and admirers in an effort to secure donations of music items, swag and memorabilia to be included in an eBay auction for the benefit of George Grantham.
"In this day of higher and higher value for things of show biz history, this is a good chance to latch on to something cool, at a good price, for a great cause while helping someone who brought great music to so many," said John McEuen, one of the founding members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band who has stepped in to assist in this effort to raise funds for his friend in music.
"In their first L.A. gig, at the Troubadour, POCO opened for us (NGDB) and blew us away. A year later, we went looking for a singing drummer like George, the Ringo of country-rock."Friends who have donated items include:Timothy Schmit/Kentucky Headhunters/Scotty Moore/Steve Wariner/DJ Fontana/Don Henley/Richie Furay/Chris Hillman/Graham Nash/Orleans/John McEuen (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
# # #
For more information on the Putting Heads Together eBay auction for the benefit of George Grantham visit puttingheadstogether.org.If you have an item you would like to donate, please contact Gracie at Paradddle@aol.com /or/ info@puttingheadstogether.org.For more information on George and his day-to-day progress, fans may visit the POCO website at poconut.com.
PUTTING HEADS TOGETHER--eBay AUCTION FOR THE BENEFIT OF GEORGE GRANTHAM
George Grantham is known for his hits "Crazy Love," "Heart of the Night" and so many more. POCO's George Grantham, the great drummer of seminal country rock from the West Coast, set the rhythm for the group that influenced many. The band is still performing across the county in show after show, but a stroke took George off the road as the band plays on.
George's daughter, Gracie, has pitched in to come to her father's aid. To defray medical costs, she has begun a campaign [Putting Heads Together] to reach out to George's many cohorts, musical friends and admirers in an effort to secure donations of music items, swag and memorabilia to be included in an eBay auction for the benefit of George Grantham.
"In this day of higher and higher value for things of show biz history, this is a good chance to latch on to something cool, at a good price, for a great cause while helping someone who brought great music to so many," said John McEuen, one of the founding members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band who has stepped in to assist in this effort to raise funds for his friend in music.
"In their first L.A. gig, at the Troubadour, POCO opened for us (NGDB) and blew us away. A year later, we went looking for a singing drummer like George, the Ringo of country-rock."Friends who have donated items include:Timothy Schmit/Kentucky Headhunters/Scotty Moore/Steve Wariner/DJ Fontana/Don Henley/Richie Furay/Chris Hillman/Graham Nash/Orleans/John McEuen (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
# # #
For more information on the Putting Heads Together eBay auction for the benefit of George Grantham visit puttingheadstogether.org.If you have an item you would like to donate, please contact Gracie at Paradddle@aol.com /or/ info@puttingheadstogether.org.For more information on George and his day-to-day progress, fans may visit the POCO website at poconut.com.
Labels: Folk News, George Grantham, Poco
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Festival Radio - New Adds September 15
New Adds, Festival Radio, September 15, 2007
Artist - Album
Anuna - Celtic Origins
Birdie Busch - Penny Arcade
Christopher Smith - Gravedigger's Boy
Greg Brown - Yellow Dog
Joan Baez - Vanguard Visionaries
Joe Henry - Civilians
Kane Welch Kaplin - Kane Welch Kaplin
Martin Simpson - Prodigal Son
Peter Case - Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John
Steve Chizmadia - It Is What It Is
Susan Levine - Atlas
The Steep Canyon Rangers - Lovin' Pretty Women
Various Artists - Sowing the Seeds: Appleseed 10th Anniversary
Artist - Album
Anuna - Celtic Origins
Birdie Busch - Penny Arcade
Christopher Smith - Gravedigger's Boy
Greg Brown - Yellow Dog
Joan Baez - Vanguard Visionaries
Joe Henry - Civilians
Kane Welch Kaplin - Kane Welch Kaplin
Martin Simpson - Prodigal Son
Peter Case - Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John
Steve Chizmadia - It Is What It Is
Susan Levine - Atlas
The Steep Canyon Rangers - Lovin' Pretty Women
Various Artists - Sowing the Seeds: Appleseed 10th Anniversary
Labels: Festival Radio, New Adds
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Cyndi Boste — A Constant Revelation…
Blogger's Note - Sue Barrett is a music journalist and writer in Australia covering folk and acoustic music, with particular emphasis in women in music. From time to time, she will be contributing artist profiles and reviews to the folkblog.
gwg
Cyndi Boste — A Constant Revelation…
By Sue Barrett
For Australian singer-songwriter Cyndi Boste (whose surname rhymes with “toast”), growing up in the foothills of Melbourne’s Dandenong Ranges provided idyllic moments (“bush, cows, paddocks, bikes and Tarzan swings”) and challenging insights into human behaviour (“I learnt a lot about life in childhood”).
From that time, Boste has had a love of music.
“I was always buying records — every Friday, mum and I would go down the street and buy four or five singles. It was a real passion. And I always had a trannie [transistor radio] under my pillow, listening to [radio station] 3XY!”
It was during her primary schools days, that Cyndi Boste began playing an instrument — a piano accordion.
“An Irish sailor bought me a tiny little thing — three keys each side. But I moved on to the guitar when I was 12 or 13 — guitar was a lot cooler — you’re not going to pick up with an accordion!”
At around 15 years of age, Boste started working professionally as a musician and, for a couple of years in her teens, was a regular guest on the Channel 0 television program, The Early Bird Show.
“They’d place me on mushrooms and haystacks, bring Marty the Monster in and Tim the Tiger, and I’d do a couple of songs each week.”
During the early part of her career, Boste performed covers, including songs by Don McLean, Neil Young and John Denver, essentially being a “human jukebox”.
“For a long time I got caught up in making a living. I was getting paid really well to do covers in pubs [bars] — it was a booming scene. The music was paying more than my day job, so it didn’t take much to convince me to give up the day job and just do the music. I had too much fun playing in the pubs in my 20s and I didn’t think too much about making my own music.”
Gradually, however, Cyndi Boste (whose husky, soulful voice has been likened to that of Lucinda Williams, Bonnie Raitt and Gillian Welch) transformed into a singer-songwriter, with her roots-based music (folk, blues, Americana, soul, country) telling of travelling the highways and byways of life, complete with potholes, detours and dead ends.
“In about 1990, I did an acoustic tape of some songs that I’d written. I try to forget about the tape — it’s pretty bad! — although there are people out there who still really like it.
“When my brother Rory was in the band Steve Boyd and the Preachers, I’d go to see them perform all the time and so I started to understand that there was another way to do music. Then I joined the band — what a treat — I’d never played with other musicians before. I talked to Kerryn Tolhurst, who produced an album for Steve Boyd and the Preachers, about making my own record. And that’s been my life ever since.
“My songs come in different ways. Sometimes, although very rarely, a song comes in one big blurp and I can sit down and almost write it verbatim. Usually, however, they just come from living life and keeping moving — all of a sudden a line or an idea will come. From that first inspiration, the rest is the artistry or the work really. If I’m half-way through a song and it’s not doing anything for me, I won’t put it aside to come back to, I just dump it!
“I’m not a prolific song writer — although I think that I’d write a lot more if I didn’t have to run the business. One of my greatest frustrations is the hours that are lost to running a small business — it breaks my heart.
“If I seriously think about whether I should walk away from music, because it feels too hard or it’s costing too much money, then the pain in my gut is so strong that I can’t think about it any more and I have to keep going. If I were to retire from the road just to write songs, then that would be retirement bliss. The touring is a grind, it really is, and it’s getting harder and harder in this country to tour successfully.”
Boste laughs at quote from a recent novel that describes artists as “a mysterious combination of deep passion, volatile sensitivities, and uncommon vision…persons of rare fragility and unsurpassed emotional complexity”.
“I know that person — can you put those words on my tombstone!”
For Boste, writing and performing her own songs is very, very personal and extremely exposing.
“I don’t suffer very much from performing nerves, but always, no matter what I’m doing, when I wake up on the morning of a show, the anxiety is hideous. Then I’ll have a cup of tea and, from almost that moment onwards, the anxiety goes. Once a show is over, I like to have a few beers and sit down and relax. And, although I hardly sleep at all, I do sleep better after a show!”
Select Discography
Home Truths (1999)
Push Comes to Shove (2002)
Scrambled Eggs (2004)
Foothill Dandy (2006)
Website
http://www.cyndiboste.com.au/
Sue Barrett is an Australian music writer, with a special interest in women in music. She has interviewed Cris Williamson, Cindy Bullens, Catie Curtis, Cathy Fink and Cheryl Wheeler (as well as many performers whose first name didn’t start with the letter ‘C’!). Sue also listened to 3XY on a trannie when she was growing up.
A small part of this article appeared under the title “Cyndi City” in the November 2006 issue of the Australian music magazine, Rhythms.
© Sue Barrett 2006/2007
gwg
Cyndi Boste — A Constant Revelation…
By Sue Barrett
For Australian singer-songwriter Cyndi Boste (whose surname rhymes with “toast”), growing up in the foothills of Melbourne’s Dandenong Ranges provided idyllic moments (“bush, cows, paddocks, bikes and Tarzan swings”) and challenging insights into human behaviour (“I learnt a lot about life in childhood”).
From that time, Boste has had a love of music.
“I was always buying records — every Friday, mum and I would go down the street and buy four or five singles. It was a real passion. And I always had a trannie [transistor radio] under my pillow, listening to [radio station] 3XY!”
It was during her primary schools days, that Cyndi Boste began playing an instrument — a piano accordion.
“An Irish sailor bought me a tiny little thing — three keys each side. But I moved on to the guitar when I was 12 or 13 — guitar was a lot cooler — you’re not going to pick up with an accordion!”
At around 15 years of age, Boste started working professionally as a musician and, for a couple of years in her teens, was a regular guest on the Channel 0 television program, The Early Bird Show.
“They’d place me on mushrooms and haystacks, bring Marty the Monster in and Tim the Tiger, and I’d do a couple of songs each week.”
During the early part of her career, Boste performed covers, including songs by Don McLean, Neil Young and John Denver, essentially being a “human jukebox”.
“For a long time I got caught up in making a living. I was getting paid really well to do covers in pubs [bars] — it was a booming scene. The music was paying more than my day job, so it didn’t take much to convince me to give up the day job and just do the music. I had too much fun playing in the pubs in my 20s and I didn’t think too much about making my own music.”
Gradually, however, Cyndi Boste (whose husky, soulful voice has been likened to that of Lucinda Williams, Bonnie Raitt and Gillian Welch) transformed into a singer-songwriter, with her roots-based music (folk, blues, Americana, soul, country) telling of travelling the highways and byways of life, complete with potholes, detours and dead ends.
“In about 1990, I did an acoustic tape of some songs that I’d written. I try to forget about the tape — it’s pretty bad! — although there are people out there who still really like it.
“When my brother Rory was in the band Steve Boyd and the Preachers, I’d go to see them perform all the time and so I started to understand that there was another way to do music. Then I joined the band — what a treat — I’d never played with other musicians before. I talked to Kerryn Tolhurst, who produced an album for Steve Boyd and the Preachers, about making my own record. And that’s been my life ever since.
“My songs come in different ways. Sometimes, although very rarely, a song comes in one big blurp and I can sit down and almost write it verbatim. Usually, however, they just come from living life and keeping moving — all of a sudden a line or an idea will come. From that first inspiration, the rest is the artistry or the work really. If I’m half-way through a song and it’s not doing anything for me, I won’t put it aside to come back to, I just dump it!
“I’m not a prolific song writer — although I think that I’d write a lot more if I didn’t have to run the business. One of my greatest frustrations is the hours that are lost to running a small business — it breaks my heart.
“If I seriously think about whether I should walk away from music, because it feels too hard or it’s costing too much money, then the pain in my gut is so strong that I can’t think about it any more and I have to keep going. If I were to retire from the road just to write songs, then that would be retirement bliss. The touring is a grind, it really is, and it’s getting harder and harder in this country to tour successfully.”
Boste laughs at quote from a recent novel that describes artists as “a mysterious combination of deep passion, volatile sensitivities, and uncommon vision…persons of rare fragility and unsurpassed emotional complexity”.
“I know that person — can you put those words on my tombstone!”
For Boste, writing and performing her own songs is very, very personal and extremely exposing.
“I don’t suffer very much from performing nerves, but always, no matter what I’m doing, when I wake up on the morning of a show, the anxiety is hideous. Then I’ll have a cup of tea and, from almost that moment onwards, the anxiety goes. Once a show is over, I like to have a few beers and sit down and relax. And, although I hardly sleep at all, I do sleep better after a show!”
Select Discography
Home Truths (1999)
Push Comes to Shove (2002)
Scrambled Eggs (2004)
Foothill Dandy (2006)
Website
http://www.cyndiboste.com.au/
Sue Barrett is an Australian music writer, with a special interest in women in music. She has interviewed Cris Williamson, Cindy Bullens, Catie Curtis, Cathy Fink and Cheryl Wheeler (as well as many performers whose first name didn’t start with the letter ‘C’!). Sue also listened to 3XY on a trannie when she was growing up.
A small part of this article appeared under the title “Cyndi City” in the November 2006 issue of the Australian music magazine, Rhythms.
© Sue Barrett 2006/2007
Labels: artist profiles, Cyndi Boste, Sue Barrett
