NanciNet Digest 6-29-98
// More concert news and reviews, the diminishing availability of
// Nanci CDs in the UK, and hammers. - MF
From: Jabba9@aol.com
Subject: Short Telluride Review
>From the Colorado Springs Gazette
"Nanci Griffith's voice ls like that of an innocent 12 year old calling
friends up to the treehouse. After a Saturday afternoon of one fast picking
band after another, Griffith's soothing country ballads hit their mark for the
dinner crowd."
Mike
jabba9@aol.com
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From: Andreajh@aol.com
Subject: hitching a ride
i'm just wondering if any nanci fans from northeastern ohio are planning on
attending any of the concerts scheduled this summer...if so, i'd love to hear
from you and possibly arrange to hitch a ride...or just get together sometime
and chat...it's lonely being a fan of nanci, lyle, and maria mckee in the land
of guitar rock and techno...and it's frustrating constantly being passed over
when concert tours are planned...
crying in cleveland,
andrea
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From: Cynthia Courtney (courtney@mpi.com>
Subject: Nanci tix on sale this Sat. for Boston show!
Nanci is scheduled for a Sept. 11, 1998 concert at Harborlights in Boston
(Fri. night, 7:30 p.m.). Tickets go on sale this Saturday, June 27, 1998
through NEXT Ticketing. You can order by phone:
617-423-6000
Yippee! Like Deb Thornton, I too was disappointed last fall thinking those
were the last times I may get to hear her perform live, and she wasn't at
her best, and there was too much Crickets. (flame away y'all). NOW, I am
totally looking forward to hearing her back at all four cylinders again.
Cindy Courtney
courtney@mpi.com
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From: "Grissom, Mark" (mgrissom@bechtel.com>
Subject: The Fleadh...
A few comments:
1. Going to the Fleadh in San Jose Sunday. I am hearing disturbing reports
that the only way to get a schedule is to buy something
for $10! That is ridiculous...after forking over $45 for a ticket, one
should be entitled to know what is going on where. If there is
no free handbill, the information should be provided to the local
newspapers, ala' The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, so
that one can properly plan their day.
Anyone else feeling this way should email the Guinness Fleadh people, as
I intend to do. That is just not right.
2. I am concerned, mostly for my girlfriend, that Sinead O'Conner and Nanci
will be playing at the same time. Is this what
happened at the other Fleadh's? Can anyone describe the probable Main
Stage lineup vs. a smaller stage, as I am led to
believe Nanci did not play the Main Stage.
3. I read in Billboard Emmylou Harris has a live album called "Spyboy"
coming in July, recorded with her wonderful little
"Wrecking Ball combo, including Buddy Miller. While I would suppose
there may be some "Wrecking Ball" cuts on it,
the songs mentioned were others she did on that tour....Daniel Lanois'
"The Maker", Gram Parsons' "Wheels",
"Boulder To Birmingham", "Love Hurts". Should be outstanding!
SpinyMark in Berkeley
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From: Carolyn Andre (candre@enteract.com>
Subject: NN: The Fleadh...
At 10:49 AM 6/25/98 -0700, "Grissom, Mark" (mgrissom@bechtel.com> wrote:
>A few comments:
>
>1. Going to the Fleadh in San Jose Sunday. I am hearing disturbing reports
>that the only way to get a schedule is to buy something
> for $10! That is ridiculous...after forking over $45 for a ticket, one
>should be entitled to know what is going on where. If there is
> no free handbill, the information should be provided to the local
>newspapers, ala' The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, so
> that one can properly plan their day.
yes, the "show program" costs $10, and contains a "spiffy" folder to hold
the two parts: a CD-sized booklet with photo/bio info on all the acts (and
ads from Guinness, etc.), and the critical item: a set of laminated cards
with the schedules for each stage and a map of the layout, fastened
together like a backstage pass set.
Course, eventually the Fleadh folks do post listings of the acts/times for
each stage on the main site map within the venue ... but, they don't
necessarily update them when a stage runs behind or acts change order. In
NY, the act lists were written in marker, in Chicago they were
printed/laminated.
And I gather that this posting of the lists is an "improvement" over last
year.
I'd suggest getting there early, equipped with a couple of 3x5 cards & a
pen, and cozying up to a friendly looking person who has bought a program
-- most will be glad to let you look at the schedule (well, *I* spent a
bunch of time loaning my cards to different folks at both cities :-)
>2. I am concerned, mostly for my girlfriend, that Sinead O'Conner and Nanci
>will be playing at the same time. Is this what
> happened at the other Fleadh's?
In NY, Sinead was scheduled as the next-to-last act on the Mainstage, and
Nanci as the last on the Village Voice tent. (which *I* was counting on,
so I left after 2/3 of Sinead's set & heard female voices as I approached
the VV tent). Unfortunately, the rearranging of lineups during the day
resulted in Nanci & the Donal Lunny Band switching order so that Nanci came
on at the same time as Sinead ...
In Chicago, Sinead was 2nd to last as well (Saw Doctors closed).
If the program order listed in the brochure holds up, it looks like San
Diego ordering/stages would be:
Naya Stage (a circus tent w/open sides - stage across long side):
(started at 12:15 w/45 minute sets & 15 minutes between sets till 6:15 to
50 minutes and last act getting 1 hour)
Noella Hutton
Jeb Loy Nichols
Alejandro Escavado (sic>
Band Search Winner
The Devlins
Rubyhorse
Hayden
Young Dubliners
Donal Lunny Band
Bay Guardian Stage (another tent as above):
(acts started a noon, ran 35 minutes w/15 minutes between sets, till around
6 when they switched to 50 minutes w/last 2 acts getting 1 hour)
Catie Curtis
John Martyn
Altan
Nanci Griffith
Paul Brady
Richard Thompson
Mary Black
The Saw Doctors
X
Shane MacGowan
Mainstage: open area w/lge stage at front end
(acts started at 12:10, typically ran 45 minutes w/10 minute break between
sets. after 6 p.m., they ran 55 min)
Great Big Sea
Chieftans
Billy Bragg
John Lee Hooker
Wilco
The Corrs
Los Lobos
Chumbawamba
Tracy Chapman
Sinead O'Connor
Regards,
Carolyn Andre
-------------------
Chicago, IL / USA | Support Independent Music! Use the Internet
candre@enteract.com | Carolyn's House of Music: http://house-of-music.co
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From: "John Nolan" (johnnolan3@ibm.net>
Subject: Aug 21 Chicago Tickets On Sale Saturday
Nanci will be appearing on Friday August 21 at the World Music Theatre with
the 1998 Newport Folk Festival. Joining Nanci will be John Hiatt, Rickie Lee
Jones, Joan Baez, Wilco, the Violent Femmes, Rodney Crowell, Jimmie Dale
Gilmore, Loudon Wainwright III and Alejandro Escovedo, according to an ad in
the weekly Reader. Tickets ($25) go on sale Saturday at noon at
Ticketmaster. Charge by phone is at 312-559-1212 or on line at www.
ticketmaster.com. The World Music Theatre is a large shed in the Chicago's
south suburbs.
John ("Ticket Price does not include parking fees or applicable ticketmaster
service charges") Nolan
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From: DRiley4510@aol.com
Subject: Cry Freedom
Hi,
Lisa Day said (edited):
>While I am drawn to folk music partly because of its social messages, I have
a slight problem with what I see as an >irony. I learned "If I Had a Hammer"
from my fifth-grade teacher...The song's message is about peace and
>brotherhood among everyone, yet it seems contradictory that a singer would
sing it militantly followed by a shaking >fist and a comment about freedom.To
me, it seems to go against the humanitarian message of creative
>nonviolence in the struggle against oppression in America. What happened to
"Love one another, it works!"?
Thanks for the thought-provoking comment. However, these things need not be
seen as contradictory (non-violence & militancy), do they? The strong
exression in favour of freedom (artistic & otherwise) surely comes from the
desire to oppose McCarthyism in all its forms (given what Nanci prefaced the
song with - thanks for the great report from Deb T. that lets me say that!);
opposition to such things needs to be shouted militantly (IMHO), don't you
think? That is surely part of legitimate politics & a necessary process to
remove things that are arguably created by even the most free political
systems. We all need to be vigilant (& loud!) when the system begins to fail
from within. Defeating such things by making sure we're heard can be done in
the spirit of loving one another - and it'll work!
Of course there's another couple of issues here - firstly,what about the song,
"If I Had a Hammer," itself? It asks us to sing, hammer, MAKE A NOISE "all
over this land" - give a warning to danger, sound a bell of freedom. Surely
militancy of expression is called for by the song itself? Secondly, what sort
of militancy are we talking about in Nanci's performance? It can certainly be
interpreted in a very positive sense as a celebration of the victory of music
over oppression; that's how I would want to read it - I only wish I'd been
there to see the show!
Bye!
Dave.
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From: Tony Bloomfield (tonyb@reading.u-net.com>
Subject: Bad news?
A mail order store here in UK which I use regularly just sent me an update
to their annual catalog. It contains a list of deletions which includes no
less than 8 of Nanci's albums (TALBTW, PIMW, OIAVBM, LSSM, OFSE, OVOR, F,
BONG - I hate these initials but I'm too idle to type them all out), with
the implication that they have been discontinued by the record company!
Since Storms was never in the original catalog, that leaves only 3 MCA
albums on the list, LOTB, LLA and LNGH. (All Nanci's records are released
by MCA in the UK except Blue Roses which is on Elektra).
So are MCA UK miffed at Nanci's decision to switch to Elektra? Or because
she has 'given up touring'? Should we advise all Brit Nanci fans to top up
their collections ASAP, or have these been deleted because they are about
to be re-issued on a budget label?
What's the situation in the USA?
Cheers,
Tony(fully expecting the England soccer team to follow Scotland on the
plane home tomorrow)B.
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From: Bill Lavery (musicvil@gvi.net>
Subject: NN: Bad news?
I don't know this for a fact but MCA Uk seems to be trimming their
catalog quite a bit. Especially in the folk and Americana area or maybe
that is all that we have noticed. It seems that every few months one of
our UK customers orders some of the MCA titles and informs us that they
are no longer available in Europe. Lyle Lovett is another that comes to
mind. I don't think the US branch would delete these titles even if the
sales dropped off totally. When it is a name artist like this they will
keep them forever if for no other reason it helps attract other artists
to sign with the label that Nanci or whoever recorded for.
The other good news is that MCA has been going back and lowering the
list price on many of these older titles.
Bill Lavery
http://villagerecords.com/
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From: "Bill Page" (bpage@scctel.com>
Subject: Re: Cry Freedom
Dave and Lisa have exchanged comments on "If I Had a Hammer:"
Lisa Day said (edited):
>I learned "If I Had a Hammer" from my fifth-grade teacher
>...The song's message is about peace and brotherhood among
>everyone, yet it seems contradictory that a singer would
>sing it militantly followed by a shaking
>fist and a comment about freedom.
To which Dave replied:
>"If I Had a Hammer"...asks us to sing, hammer, MAKE A NOISE "all
>over this land" - give a warning to danger, sound a bell of freedom.
Surely
>militancy of expression is called for by the song itself?
Sorry, Lisa, gotta go with Dave on this one. Seeger's song is a battle cry,
a protest song, a call for action--looking for a hammer of justice, for a
bell of freedom, for a song about love. Coming from the guy who epitomized
protest through music, it is the banner song of the movement pushing for
social justice.
Bill "ain't going nowhere" Page
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From: Kathy Wallace (kathyw@walltech.com>
Subject: Report from the Kate Wolf Memorial Festival...
Hi, folks,
I just got back from the Kate Wolf Memorial Festival and I don't see any
reports on this, so I thought I'd better let you know that Nanci was in
fine form there.
As reported earlier, this festival is held on a hillside, with a lush green
forest providing the backdrop for the stage and blue skies with soaring
red-tail hawks providing the ceiling. The weather was hot and sunny.
We arrived at about 11 am and should have gotten there a lot earlier,
because we had to sit half-way up the hillside, about 50 yards from the
stage. (A major disappointment!) Nanci performed last, from about 6:20
until about 7:25. I didn't write down the list, but from memory:
Speed of the Sound of Loneliness (opening song)
Flyer
Who Knows Where the Time Goes (outstanding!)
This Heart
Ford Econoline
Going Back to Georgia
Friends of Mine
If I Had a Hammer (no militancy this night)
It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go
Across the Great Divide
Well Alright (closing)
Darcy Farrow (encore)
She and the BMO sounded absolutely glorious. She seemed happy and relaxed
in the between-song banter, but a bit rushed because of the requirement to
finish on schedule in consideration of the neighbors.
My husband went down to the stage early on and took what I hope are some
great photos that I'll put up on our web site as soon as they're developed.
Now, I'm seriously thinking about that concert in Concord, CA in September!
-Kathy
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From: lbday@siu.edu (Lisa Day)
Subject: NN: Report from the Kate Wolf Memorial Festival...
Kathy indulged us in a report of a to-die-for concert and included a set
list from memory, including
>If I Had a Hammer (no militancy this night)
I protested last week about the aNGel's shaking fist before her performance
of the song at the Salt Lake City concert, and I feel like I did what
another anonymous NNetter once called "walking into the Church of Nanci and
peeing in the holy water."
I agree with Dave and Bill's reactions to my message about the
*ideologically* militant nature of "If I Had a Hammer," but I still don't
think a shaking fist is appropriate as a preview to the song. When I
learned the song, I distinctly remember getting chills whenever I learned
that the hammer in the song was the hammer of justice, not an actual hammer
to physically beat someone into compliance (hey, I was ten and
impressionable). In this age of resorting to violence as a first response
to an uncomfortable or unfair situation, shaking a fist at someone to tell
them to be fair toward each other is like saying, "Stop that damn cursing!"
I resist siding with anyone who makes some kind of violent display in an
effort to persuade me about an issue. Pete Seeger once said, "A good song
can only do good." I think Nanci's best songs about social injustice rely
on anecdotes and stories rather than overt commands to change the world,
like the way she advocates relief for the downtrodden agrarian society in
"Trouble in the Fields." I'm glad she didn't shake her fist at the KW
Memorial Festival or make any angry comments about freedom.
Civilly disobedient,
Lisa "blame it on my 5th-grade teacher" Day
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From: Michael Gaither (mgaither@netcom.com>
Subject: Kate Wolf Fest...anyone get it on tape?
Hi All,
It was a great fest (we only went on Sat), but halfway thru Laurie
Lewis' set I found out the whole thing was being broadcast to a local
station.
Did *anyone* by *any* chance get it on FM-broadcasted tape?
I'd be more than happy todo some trading and be eternally grateful. ;)
Thanks,
- Michael
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From: Shawn Kimbro (kimbro@planetc.com>
Subject: Re: Arm & Hammer
Lisa Day wrote:
> I protested last week about the aNGel's shaking fist before her performance
> of the song at the Salt Lake City concert, and I feel like I did what
> another anonymous NNetter once called "walking into the Church of Nanci and
> peeing in the holy water."
Hey, somebody's throwing a pool party and I wasn't invited? I wanna
splash too! I think Nanci just might have been caught up in the emotion
of the song, she doesn't seem like the militant type to me, although I
bet she'd look great with a Rambo style headband and a couple of
ammo-belts strapped across her chest! I see your point Lisa, but I'd
doubt there's much more to it than a bit of footlight theatrics.
Nanci's good at that you know. Sort of reminds me of the first time I
saw her do Tecumseh Valley. When she cried, I cried. The second time I
thought, "Wow, Townes' song nailed her again." The third time, "Gee, she
really can't get through this song." The fourth time, I started
watching the crowd. Last year when she walked up to the spotlight to
start crying, I started looking around. The emotional reaction was
almost unanimous - whether it's genuine or not - it works. So, I
imagine she'll shake her fist a few more times when she performs Pete
Seeger's hammer spangled banner. It's an emotional song, and we all
love emotion!
Warm Regards,
-Shawn
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From: John Iacoletti (johniac@austin.ibm.com>
Subject: KICK 92.1 FM
John Schexnaydre writes:
> Problem is the newspaper radio listings do not have a KICK listed and if I
> go to 92.1, I can hear a classical station off in the distance.
KICK 92.1 FM in Austin (actually KIKY) is no longer on the air.
_________________________________________________________________
From: Rob Schrull (RSchrull@gbla.com>
Subject: Greetings / Japan
Hi folks:
Greetings from the Heartland of America, where I'm spending a week of work
whilst two little kids I know are enjoying beautiful Glocester Mass and
it's coast. Don't get me wrong, I like the heartland, but I LOVE New
England and especially Seaport towns.
I wrote the following from Japan but never got around to sending it, as we
all were having such a great time and upon my return I went right back to
work. I've got ton's of Nanci news and a new bio to send to you all, but
I'll send this first, and then report back on Nanci when I arrive home
early next week. I don't think I mentioned it, but all her new tour dates
(and there are quite a few) are fresh and listed on her site. Been in
communication with her editor at Random House on her book and suspect I'll
have news about that too fairly soon as well.
So here (below) is the belated hello from Japan:
Hi Folks,
It's our last few days in Japan and lots has happened. I promised to shout
a hello to you all from here, so here are some thoughts. They are not that
Nanci related, but given that things haven't quite picked up yet on Nanci's
'off the road' ON THE ROAD tour, I'm hopeful some reflective thought and
about this little internet community we share on this list will be
acceptable to Uncle Mark in Austin. (By the way Mark...the girls really
miss you!!! call us sometime!!!!)
Miss Kirsten and her little sister Meggles survived just fine on their own
in getting here and I can't begin to tell you what the excitement on their
faces looked like meeting them at the gate upon arrival in Narita. Out of
help, within friendship I had given to the son of a man named Koshimizu,
this man invited and paid for all expenses to bring Kirsty and Megan to his
part of Japan. The many things he gave them in experiences whilst there
could not be met by simple travel there and were stories so enjoyable to
hear as we rode together to the mountains of Yatsugatake.
The first part of our time here together was spent in a very nice and
comfortable cabin in the Yatsugatake Mountains which are a range of
mountains that are a part of the Japanese Alps. Kiyasato within the
Yatsugatake region has an event every year, (not at this time however) very
much like Kerrville. I've often thought that if Nanci were ever to
participate in an event in Japan, this would be the region and the event.
It is on the grounds of KEEP, the Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project,
a organization whose basic foundations are found in friendship and peace
worldwide. There is a very strong connection here and in this event to the
United States. The main stage faces the Yatsugatake mountains. The
backdrop for the stage and what the audience sees, is breathtaking views of
the mountains of the Fuji Hakone area and Mt. Fuji towering above all of
them. The lights, noises and rushing about of Japanese cities is not here
and one hears and listens to the wind, .... the birds... and even one's own
breath of life.
On my last evening here, I had the pleasure of dining with a gentleman,
Ishiguro, who was sponsored by the then President of John Deere tractor to
train and participate in the Olympics in Montreal, Canada, quite some years
ago. We shared considerably about friendship, what this means in our life,
how it contributes to our relationships throughout cultures and places. He
spoke of things I did not know he knew about me. Things Koshimizu had told
him. He expressed how many in this small town in the mountains of Japan did
not understand why I gave so much to Koshimizu's son in a time of need, who
is in the States, and had gone so out of my way to do so. He said he was
touched by my friendship to the Koshimizu's (the family we were visiting
and with whom he was a friend) and he asked me to please remain committed
to both that friendship, but also to KEEP and Kiyosato. I was touched by
his honesty when he spoke of how his father did not like Americans out of
the events of war, but how the founder of KEEP (an American) had given
everything he could, in friendship to the people of Kiyosato, to help them
build their area into a thriving community. He shared that as a result of
that one mans friendship, the events of war were erased in his generation.
I had my own thoughts to share about friendship. How in my life, at a few
moments, one most recently, I was promised the world in friendship but in
the final analysis that friendship can only be measured in how and what one
gives to that friendship. We can promise to be a friend for life, but are
we really, can we really, unless we give every last measure of our heart to
the person to whom we pledge or give our friendship? Over the years, as
pessimistic as it sounds or I guess in reality is, I have grown weary of
the superficial pronouncements of friendship that once stressed or when in
time of need, evaporate into mere words. And so it was and has been with
the Koshimizu's and with others in this tiny Japanese town as well as an
even smaller Vermont town, that lives have been touched and bonds of true
friendship have produced bounty beyond expression of words. I confess that
I don't know in the deepest sense why it is true, but the more you give to
a friendship, even when the cost to you is great and you feel you can't
give anymore, the more you receive. From the deepest expenses to your soul
comes the richest blessings to your heart.
All the best and more to you about Nancidom when I return home to the States.
Rob
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From: "Flanagan, Shirley" (FlanagaS@bsci.com>
Subject: Dublin tickets now on sale
Just a quick note to tell all Irish Nanci fans that tickets are now on
sale at the Olympia Theater, Dublin for Nanci's 23rd and 24th Nov.
shows. I got Row 7 on the Monday night.............getting closer all
the time! (They don't know yet who the support/special guests will be).
Shirley
Galway, Ireland
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