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When you go down on Deep Ellum, keep your carburator clean, 'cause the women on Deep Ellum sell you dirty gasoline - Bill Neely, Deep Ellum Blues documentary

Author Topic: Introductions: When the Roll is called...  (Read 221404 times)

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Offline GerryC

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  • Jest settin' here a-pickin' and a grinnin'
    • www.reverbnation.com/gerrycooper
Re: Introductions: When the Roll is called...
« Reply #150 on: June 21, 2005, 06:03:46 AM »
Hi everyone! I've been a member for a while but have not answered roll-call until now - sorry, sarge!

My name is Gerry, I'm 57 years old and live in Yorkshire, England. For 30 years I taught Religious Studies, English and modern languages in a variety of schools until health problems led to an early retirement in 2002. I used to be married and I have three great grown up kids - my youngest just graduated from Liverpool University with a 2:1 degree in Philosophy and Music.

I've played guitar since I was 17, having fallen for music via the Beatles and early folkie stuff. I was turned on to the blues by a jazz-loving school pal; I'd go round to his house and listen to Miles and Coltrane and the MJQ. This guy's brother was in the army, stationed in Germany, and used to bring records home, many of which he'd obtained from the GIs across the road. One bundle contained a 10-inch [!!] album by Brownie and Sonny, another by Lightnin' and a third by Big Bill... OK, OK, I'll come quietly.

I've played in all sorts of bands over the years - rock 'n' roll, country, Irish rock, school musical production orchestras (great if you want to learn to play in keys such as A-flat and D-flat), church groups etc, but I've always preferred solo work. Since I retired I've been out and about playing blues in clubs and pubs and the occasional festival - check out www.blacksheepbrewery.com/musicfestival for the one I just got back from...

These days I live on my own in a house with an attic converted to a sort of studio where I recorded my CD (check out www.NetRhythms.com for a review) and keep my collection of guitars: my Ol' Faithful, a Yamaha FG 340-II I've had over 20 years, a Yamaha 410-12A twelve-string, a Martin 000-1, an Ozark 3515 single-cone resophonic and my pride and joy, a new Martin 000-28. I'm saving up to buy a National.

Favourite artists from the past would be Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, Big Bill, Sonny & Brownie and Blind Willie McTell; from the present, Martin Simpson, Steve James, Gary Boyle, John Hammond, Rory Block and Hans Theessink. Local heroes include my former teacher Roger Sutcliffe, Brendan Croker and the redoubtable Steve Phillips.

Well, I'm goin', yes goin', and yo' cryin'  won't make me stay; I'm going to a Woody Mann seminar next week and I gotta get my string fingers oily and limber.

Cheerily,

Gerry C
I done seen better days, but I'm puttin' up with these...

Offline Ponyboy

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Re: Introductions: When the Roll is called...
« Reply #151 on: June 22, 2005, 02:06:52 PM »
Hello all,

I'm very new to the site--only just a few days--but registered after being lead here by google searches for lyrics and tabs for tunes by Arthur Pettis and Sam Collins. This must be the place!

In real life I am Tom, living in Ohio, married, with one college-age daughter. To pay the bills and support my extra-curricular activities, I work in administration at a university. Now for the fun stuff...

I apologize in advance for my choice of a username; I did not see until after I registered that another very similar one has been in use among this group. Let it be suffice to say that this name was given to me by friends. Maybe I'll tell why later. I will be happy to change my moniker out of respect to Pony Boy the Elder if need be.

I will be 47 in less than a month, and have played around with the guitar since I was ten. So, not quite a bonifide child of the sixties, but most of my childhood was spent in the sixties! I prefer acoustic, both strumming and finger-picking; also play electric; can sing fairly well, play harp a bit, and used to play fiddle years ago. While I am essentially a hobbyist guitar player, it is a wonderful creative outlet for me. My interests in music are far and wide, but I am partial to "roots music," particularly blues, and even more narrowly, for lack of a better term, "classic blues," which in my definition at least, includes country blues.

Like others at my age, I'm sure, my encounters with the blues, music in general, and guitar playing, have progressed with starts and stops, often interrupted by detours in musical interests and life's other pursuits. However, these, like all true learning experiences, build upon one another, layer upon layer. I grew up with the whole 60s/70s music experience--folk, rock, acid rock, blues, soul, etc. First I was into rock and blues rock. Later I was into what was contemporary folk. I tried my hand at song writing. In the early 80s I met a local blues/jazz/folk guitarist who played the clubs. He was kind enough to let me play a bit on one of his set and thus began my few years of public performance. For several years this fellow provided me with a wealth of guidance and tips on playing, people, and the music scene in general. I've made a few pilgrimages to the Delta. Helped found a local blues society. Fairly recently, spent about a half a year of Friday nights in a garage band, playing whatever we felt like, and never having any intention of getting out of the garage!

In addition to playing and learning the music itself, I have a number of related peripheral distractions (interests): cultural history of the South, the Sixties, and the African-American experience; culinary arts in general, but more on topic as it relates to "anything southern" which generously includes soul food, Creole, Cajun, Floridian melting pot, home-style, BBQ, grilling, smoking, and "just plain good"; and reading and listening widely around related roots music areas such as bluegrass, folk, early country, rockabilly, "things played on elderly instruments," as well as their respective locales, histories, and cultural environments. ("This guy just can't focus.")

These days I have the luxury (or handicap) of over 30 years of musical hindsight, and enough empty-nester leisure time (when the "honey do" list for our 100+ year old house doesn't distract me) to concentrate on learning and playing music I never had the time to, or didn't know about when I had the time. Currently, that means Charley Patton, Paul Rishell, Memphis Minnie, Furry Lewis, etc. And that brings me to this discussion group and web site, where I look forward to more of what I've seen in only this short time.

Cheers,

Tom ("Ponyboy")
Ponyboy -- Tom

Offline Slack

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Re: Introductions: When the Roll is called...
« Reply #152 on: June 22, 2005, 02:25:20 PM »
Welcome Tom!

Thanks for the nice introduction and good to have yet another unfocused member of our karass. (this seems to be a new word that's going around, a bit more dignified somehow than "weenie").  You have excellent taste in music, culture and food.  ;D

Don't worry about your user name -- I think you can easily lay claim to it.  The other "Poney Boy" has not logged in for 6 months -- and stayed just long enough to make 5 posts.  You'll be the elder in no time.

BTW, how did you get the name Pony Boy? (which conjurs up a 'stick horse' to me)

Cheers,
slack
« Last Edit: June 22, 2005, 02:26:59 PM by Slack »

boots

  • Guest
Re: Introductions: When the Roll is called...
« Reply #153 on: June 22, 2005, 02:33:44 PM »
Quote
You'll be the elder in no time.
How can you say that? He's another bloody youngster. ;)

Hi! there Tom. Glad you joined us.

Edited: Doggy (sic) spelling
« Last Edit: June 22, 2005, 02:35:04 PM by Boots »

Offline Ponyboy

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Re: Introductions: When the Roll is called...
« Reply #154 on: June 23, 2005, 06:24:01 AM »
Thanks for the welcome Slack and Boots.

BTW, how did you get the name Pony Boy? (which conjures up a 'stick horse' to me)

I'll try to be brief. Over ten years ago, my wife and daughter conspired to convince me with all their feminine wiles that I needed to buy a really nice horse for daughter to show on the hunter/jumper circuit. Being the son of a pipe fitter, and third generation Polish American, I was raised to think that bowling was the most noble sport! The whole English riding thing was lost on me; and the cost of the horse, board, vet, lessons, exhibit shows...well, I think you get the drift.

I made my first trip to the Delta with a good friend who was fortunate enough to have been around Chicago when Muddy, Wolf, Butter, and Bloomfield played the clubs. He had invited his 20-something year old son on the trip, who was in a band, and was "going down south with pops and one of his old buddies" to "learn something." After hearing me curse and whine more than once about "the hoofed money pit," the young man dubbed me "Pony Boy." It stuck and once the word got around, anyone knowing me in relation to music, calls me that. Even after daughter found cars, boys, and college more interesting, and I was -- "sigh" -- forced to sell the horse, the name stayed.

There're worse nicknames, I suppose. And yes, Slack, it certainly conjures up stick horse. But the young man who named me--lead singer and harp player for a crazed neo-metal-thrash-grunge-blues band--nodded knowingly at me and said: "Dude, you just don't know. 'Pony Boy,.'" he hissed with emphasis. " Like, it could mean ANYTHING, man!" I'm not sure I liked that it could mean "anything" but I had to admit: the mystique with which he imbued the name was somewhat appealling (and, I obviously can't be brief  ;-> ).

Cheers.
Ponyboy -- Tom

Offline Slack

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Re: Introductions: When the Roll is called...
« Reply #155 on: June 23, 2005, 07:04:58 AM »
Heh, thanks Tom - enjoyed the story!

jameshuckle

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Re: Introductions: When the Roll is called...
« Reply #156 on: July 04, 2005, 09:18:48 AM »
Hi All,

I'm new here but old elsewhere ;-) I've been listening and playing the country blues for 15 ish years now. I play electrcally in pubs but prefer my cheap acoustic guitar collection to play in the jam. I prefer the delta style and am working on the confidence to start singing (o dear).As well as picking and sliding I also play a banjo, english dance and folk on an anglo concertina and blow a harp. I'm keen on jamming and swapping tunes and joining in.

Anyone know of a juke in Beds? Well, theres always hope...

James

Offline Slack

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Re: Introductions: When the Roll is called...
« Reply #157 on: July 04, 2005, 01:30:58 PM »
Welcome James!

jameshuckle

  • Guest
Re: Introductions: When the Roll is called...
« Reply #158 on: July 05, 2005, 01:31:30 AM »
thats tight Slack, thanks.

boots

  • Guest
Re: Introductions: When the Roll is called...
« Reply #159 on: July 07, 2005, 02:56:41 PM »
Anyone know of a juke in Beds? Well, theres always hope...

James

I think there could well be a Weenie quite close. I think there is one in Northampton (appologies for not having a name to hand) :-[

http://www.bedfordunplugged.co.uk/

Boots

Offline Slack

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boots

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Re: Introductions: When the Roll is called...
« Reply #161 on: July 07, 2005, 03:43:11 PM »
Cheers Slack, I should have recalled. (Sorry Si).
If we ever get the map back...........

jameshuckle

  • Guest
Re: Introductions: When the Roll is called...
« Reply #162 on: July 08, 2005, 01:12:15 AM »
thanks for the tip, i'll be sure to check some of this stuff out.

james

Offline Rockdale

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Re: Introductions: When the Roll is called...
« Reply #163 on: July 18, 2005, 09:46:05 AM »
I've been meaning to post this for awhile but haven't gotten around to it. So here it is....

    I'm 21 years old and I started playing guitar when I was around 15. For the first year or so all I really played was punk rock songs ( I was a skateboarder ). One day I was visiting with a friend of mine who started playing guitar at the same time I did, and he played the intro for "Texas Flood" by SRV for me. It blew me away! I said "you gotta teach me that" so he did. He also showed a Chuck Berry style 12bar pattern and the lick from johnny be good. After that I went home and looked through my parents' cd collection and sure enough
I found SRV's greatest hits.
   A few months later my friend moved to Texas and I didn't know anyone else who played guitar but I wanted to learn more blues music. Now that I was playing by myself it was more difficult to do the electric lead guitar stuff. So my dad gave me a cd to listen to by a guy named Robert Johnson. It was awesome!! I got an acoustic guitar and  a Lightnin' Hopkins cd next and went to work using my ear and any acoustic blues tabs/books/videos I could find. I met two people in town that knew something about country/delta blues.....
one of which is dead now. The late Banjo Dan introduced me to the music of Roy Bookbinder and gave me a copy of his instructional video Vol. 1.
    After I saw that Book video it was over for me man. I've been hooked on country blues ever since. I listen to other music too but I mostly play country blues and sometimes I play songs out of Fingerstyle Guitar magazine (modern stuff mostly but cool). I found out about this site from a link on Stefan Grossman's woodshed. He makes great lessons for people. I only have a few of them.....John Hurt 1 and 2, Elizabeth Cotten, Bo Carter, Country Blues Guitar (3 dvd set), and The Art of Fingerstyle Guitar. I've worked through the songs on all of these videos and now I'm using my ear to figure out songs until I can save some more money to buy more DVDs.
    Anyway, it's been nice talking with you, but that's all for now.


               Kenny

Offline GhostRider

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Re: Introductions: When the Roll is called...
« Reply #164 on: July 18, 2005, 09:53:10 AM »
Great to have you with us, Kenny.

Alex

 


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