I would like to try to smooth the waters a bit if I could & maybe apologize to Carl for being what I would now admit was a little unnecessarily harsh, especially since your quality of guitar playing in the country & pre-war blues idiom is really quite rare in today's world & I think deserves a level of respect. I will be honest: The quality of your voice, the volume of your videos, the range of the instruments & memorabilia displayed in them was actually a bit of a sore point with me & I admit was one of the factors I recently quitted the company of Weenie as well as a certain paranoia I was feeling about baring a part of myself on the world wide web. As a working bluesman I think maybe I was feeling a little compromised in being an avid poster & enthusiast . . . probably bi-polar too . . . of course I am also a university educated person & the other side of my persona is deeply scholarly, I am currently studying 18th century English Lit.? why? Because I am a full-fledged nerd that way I guess . . . & i'm also a blues nerd, nothing I can do about it. I don't need to say all this but would like to be diplomatic & honest.
I stick by my criticisms tho' Carl but at this point I offer them in a more friendly & respectable manner. We all deserve to be respectably treated & I apologize if indeed I wasn't being enough of a gentleman.
I will offer criticism that comes from the bluesman side tho', & this criticism is always tempered by the profound respect & allegiance I feel for & with our blues men & women pioneers . . . & so I will offer a certain kind of criticism for the hobbyist & perhaps another for the proffesional . . . many here seem to be very opinionated about the way country blues is portrayed & appreciated in the western world where certain players are held in high 'popular' esteem whereas those of us with an actual sense of the history of the music have a different opinion. Blah blah, excuse me.
The 'expensive guitars' comment I qualified earlier . . . the integrity of this music should not be compromised, I voiced perhaps a personal prejudice. I play in bluegrass circles & I complain to those cats about their expensive Martins & Collings too, but ONLY when their gear trumps the expression of the music . . . who doesn't like playing or owning a beautiful guitar, it is like a fine woman by your side . . . hmm, maybe not that great, ha ha.
As a musician my enemies are not to be found in the country blues world, my enemies names are Britney & 50 Cent & Lohan. I want a sticker for my guitar that says 'This Machine Kills American Idol.'
I think John's idea for Performance Corner is inspired, great idea. I think probably i may have been guilty in the past of not posting correctly on the Back Porch . . . of course I tended to post songs that I had just or recently learned . . . & always by ear, so 'do they sound Ok?' I may have been asking. & i am greatly touched by the kind words. I didn't expect them & don't even think I deserve them.
You have a legion of fans on Weenie & youtube & elsewhere Carl, who cares what a crank like me says. Besides, i'm just some Eastern Canadian . . . . what the hell do i know about the Blues?
I stick by my criticisms tho' Carl but at this point I offer them in a more friendly & respectable manner. We all deserve to be respectably treated & I apologize if indeed I wasn't being enough of a gentleman.
I will offer criticism that comes from the bluesman side tho', & this criticism is always tempered by the profound respect & allegiance I feel for & with our blues men & women pioneers . . . & so I will offer a certain kind of criticism for the hobbyist & perhaps another for the proffesional . . . many here seem to be very opinionated about the way country blues is portrayed & appreciated in the western world where certain players are held in high 'popular' esteem whereas those of us with an actual sense of the history of the music have a different opinion. Blah blah, excuse me.
The 'expensive guitars' comment I qualified earlier . . . the integrity of this music should not be compromised, I voiced perhaps a personal prejudice. I play in bluegrass circles & I complain to those cats about their expensive Martins & Collings too, but ONLY when their gear trumps the expression of the music . . . who doesn't like playing or owning a beautiful guitar, it is like a fine woman by your side . . . hmm, maybe not that great, ha ha.
As a musician my enemies are not to be found in the country blues world, my enemies names are Britney & 50 Cent & Lohan. I want a sticker for my guitar that says 'This Machine Kills American Idol.'
I think John's idea for Performance Corner is inspired, great idea. I think probably i may have been guilty in the past of not posting correctly on the Back Porch . . . of course I tended to post songs that I had just or recently learned . . . & always by ear, so 'do they sound Ok?' I may have been asking. & i am greatly touched by the kind words. I didn't expect them & don't even think I deserve them.
You have a legion of fans on Weenie & youtube & elsewhere Carl, who cares what a crank like me says. Besides, i'm just some Eastern Canadian . . . . what the hell do i know about the Blues?