OK, I was not going to do this, but I guess I felt compelled as I have been neglecting OS during much of the Holidays and guilt now is hanging like a cloud for neglecting my duties. I do need to get to chapter 2 of Common Music for Uncommon People.
I don’t think it is compelling reading and perhaps not much of interest, perhaps it helps for some people to know who the hell that guy is.
So here it is, 25 things perhaps you don’t want to know about me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
1. I was shy, unhappy teenager. I was not sure if I was coming or going, nor where I fit in life.
2. I had the largest collection of vinyl records in high school. Mostly R&B. I listened to them in my room. I was perhaps the only one who also collected Woody Guthrie among my high school classmates (This was in the 50’s)
3. When I graduated from High School I was 6’3’ and weighed a skinny 145 pounds and somewhat insecure.
4. I gained 20 pounds in the Navy.
5. I worked in a small jazz club in the early 60’s where I was the minority. The brothers taught me how to dance, wiggle my ass. When I dance the rhythm runs from the core of my soul through my whole body and please play some Mingus as that is DANCE music baby.
6. My career came about by accident, literally. http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=25903
7. I inhaled
8. I was an absolute party animal in the 60’s and 70’s. Made up for lost time in High School.
9. I was fortunate to have some very close friends in the 60’s who were academics and artists. They influenced me greatly
10. I was very politically involved in the 60’s, I was a draft counselor and was requested to teach a class on selective service law, and Federal Court appeals relating to selective service law. A friend who I knew at that time thought I should consider taking up law as a career. I wasn’t interested.
11. I moved to the Sierra Gold country in 1973 and built my house. We lived over a year without electricity. My children say it was one of the best times of their lives as I read to the every night by kerosene light. The Narnia Chronicles and the Earth Sea Trilogy were two of the series of books I read to them.
12. I am very protective of those who I love
13. I have been fortunate to have been loved by two very good women
14. I spent 16 years involved with a local highly regarded Community theatre company where I learned to act, stage manage, construct sets and the art of stage lighting. We also could out party nearly anyone.
15. After theatre I ended up working with a Community radio station. I began to work Music Festivals on the side and move away from theatre
16. Radio and music festivals had me returning to my first love, Music.
17. I am the father of two daughters and the wicked step father of two sons and a daughter, all for some strange reason say they love me.
18. My wife and I started a non-profit organization to support local concerts, performing artist in the local schools. Each year when we ran the organization we had a mini “festival” picnic and jam session.
19. I started a local non-profit Low Power FM Community radio station run by the community with an all volunteer staff. It took a while for some to take me serious but finally when I was able to gather enough people for a public meeting I told them. “I have a construction permit from the FCC that allows me to build a radio station, I can build it and I can run it, but it won’t then be what I want it to be, a community station. You will build it and you will run it”. And they did and they are still running it.
20. I now consult on a new music Festival that is coupled with white water river rafting.
21. My wife and I began an Acoustic Music Camp three years ago that is growing each year. Ages attending have been 10-80 years in age. We feel anyone can play music
22. I serve on a board of directors for a Music Organization. We put on a conference each year in a different part of the Western Region featuring showcases, workshops and panels. The organization supports Roots/Folk/Americana/Bluegrass and World Music in the Western Region of the US.
23 I am the amalgamation of experiences good and bad and very much of those who have come in and out of my life. My grandparents taught me appreciating what I have in life as they had little as I wrote, http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=39936 “Nickel Dimes and Quarters, a Gift of Love and Light” . Others taught me to appreciate being here now.
24 I joined OS as friends thought I should write some of my political commentary they have been receiving for years and share it with others. Funny thing happened, once I joined OS I rarely write political commentary anymore. I just lost interest as there is so much of it here, so I just read it and occasionally comment and write about other things.
25 I am no longer shy, nor skinny, not at all insecure and here at this stage of my life pretty happy. Music is a core of what makes my life and the community that is made up of those within it.
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Mary Elizabeth Williams
Sourie de Campagne
Sirenita Lake
yekdeli
keenoctopus
Frank Apisa
Salon.com
Comments
I would like to be able to say they were waiting for their inheritance but the only thing they will get is the bills. Both Cindy and I have been very fortunate with our children. They have all turned out wonderful with occasional rough patches that are a part of youth.
Ric,
You can still do a pirate radio station, just do it on the net or micro power which is legal. I will though have to admit it is far more work than some people think.
My wife, Cindy does as show every other week 4-7am and she spends at least 3 or 4 hours putting her play list together. She very particular about what she plays and she knows her music. She is one of the better broadcasters on the station, she always says I am prejudice but I am not the only one saying that. She recently received an email from someone from Virginia who had heard her show and was traveling down I-80 between Tahoe and Sacramento. She wanted to know a couple of the things she was playing that morning.
A few years ago when I was still broadcasting I got a call from England from someone who was listening on the internet. They were asking about several of the songs I was playing. With the stations now streaming on the internet you now can hear music you had no idea exhibited. There is so much now out there and much of it is better than another release from Johnny Superstar that is over produced, with lousy mixes but fits on Commercial radio.
A little shameless promotion, check out this web site www.kvmr.org Also check out the listener’s guide that is online. There are also many other Community Stations in the US as well. For those of us who are fortunate to have one within listening distance we are spoiled.
Wonderful,how you have filled your life with love and music!
Monte
When I was in my late 20’s I began to figure out that, yes, those who were not the prom queen or cheerleaders, jocks etc, had more difficulty adjusting to life outside of high school. Within a few short years I was saying “Halleluiah ain’t life great”. High school has its own world, a society that is so unlike what is in the “real world”. Misfits often thrive as it is like suddenly you have options that you never dreamed of.
And yes I was a very late bloomer’ and I know many who were.
Dustbowl Diva,
I am glad you found KVMR to your liking. The personalities that are part of the station are an eclectic bunch and they are passionate in what they are doing. There are over 250 “certified broadcasters” affiliated with the station. All have to go through a training program to become certified. A part of that is spending time with several selected broadcasters before they can schedule their one hour certification show, which is a time set aside between midnight and 4am, and only a few times a year.
I have an old flyer we used back in the early 90’s to market the station, “KVMR-FM, Not Easy Listening”. I used to say when I was making a presentation for the station, “if you like everything on this station perhaps we should pay your shrinks bill as no one can be that eclectic”
As for stumbling into things in life, yes that is what I often do. But once there I try it out and if it fits then I stay with it. There have been many things I have found I do not fit with.
Monte,
I am glad you think it is a good list as I was not so sure and was quite frankly hesitant to post it. I admit to being quite self aware of even my faults but self righteousness is something I am working on. As Cindy will tell you I also have an arrogant streak for which I have been also working on, but then I humiliated myself enough that that has taken me down many notches.
1_Irritated _Mother
I like that handle and your avatar. I try to walk the walk, but have to admit that at times in my life I left the trail. I think if I do “soak in someone's feelings” it comes from my earlier years when I was so self conscious but, I am not always so quick to pick them up. I often self examine myself and will sometimes think of when I was a jerk of misread someone. I find that some people fear what they may find within themselves and thus never visit their inner self.
I am quite aware that I am not perfect and after years of bashing myself over some of my traits I have found that some are found to be looked upon as appealing, not appalling as I might think of them. I have been told I am a very complex person by some.
Linda,
Whoa, Libba Cotton, I got to look at your post. Acoustic Guitar is an outstanding magazine. Do you have a link to the article? No when someone wishes to talk of late bloomers they don’t come much later that Libba. Did you get a chance to meet her before she died?
As for music, it is to me a source of life and without it much joy would not be in the world. I am quite critical in my own listening as I spend so much time in music, but in reality it is what gives you pleasure and that is what is important.
If it weren't for Charles and Ruth Seeger the world would never have known of her. Next time you listen to "Freight Train" you will know who wrote it.