Re:RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT THREAD 15 Years, 11 Months ago
I’d Have 3 Flowers, Bob had 4.
From a blog:
A few years back, we went up to BB King’s in Times Square and sat in a small dark room with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, an upside down Stetson, and a whole mess of coffee. Tim didn’t know how to work a camera, I didn’t know how to do an interview, but Ramblin’ Jack sure did know how to talk. He gave us a little info about him and Bob Dylan touring together as the Rolling Thunder Revue and we just about lost it:
“I was the first one to put the flower in my hat on Rolling Thunder Revue. We got into the Rolling Thunder Revue hat/flower contest, who could have more flowers in their hat. At each successive show, I’d have 3 flowers, Bob had 4. I’d have 4 and he’d have 5. We were just playing around with the makeup too. I had a heart painted on my face one time. Another time I had a tear coming out of my eye. We were like rodeo clowns. I remember when Arlo [Guthrie] asked Bob why he always had that clown white on his face. Arlo said, ‘What’s that shit on your face?’ Bob said, ‘What face?’”
Re:RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT THREAD 15 Years, 11 Months ago
great show! ramblin' didn't mention clayton, but, he spoke of every sea capt and ship he knew of along with mentioning ships whenever he could. he's a riot and extremely adorable.
i could have listened to jack carry on all eve.
he kicked off the show with 'san francisco bay blues'
and told a funny story abt mick jagger hearing him on a train platform when jagger was a young lad. this led into the stones song, connections, which has the same chords as san franciso bay blues.
he played a couple of bob's tunes.
'i'll be your baby tonight'.
later he mentioned bob was a village club back in the 60's when ramblin played 'don't think twice'
he said he saw bob standing in the room with what appeared to be a halo around his head. bob said, 'i relinquish this song to you, jack'
i didn't feel like shooting photos while he was performing, but, got a couple prior to the show from a distance while he graciously met with people and signed autographs.
apologies for quality.
jack's approachable, but, i wasn't in the mood to deal with the mobs.
the woman on the stage introducing jack is phil ochs sister, sonny.
p.s. following the show, he was anxious to tour the amazing whaling museum. it's a beauty!
also asked a professional photographer what he planned to do with the photos he shot of the show. he said, he'll publish some on his blog: http://folkbluegrassblog.com
Re:RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT THREAD 15 Years, 11 Months ago
thanks, ruby..
yeah, i'm pretty friendly. i'm surely not going to bug a artist tho unless they bug me first.
we did enjoy ourselves despite the outdoor heat & humidity.
summerfest is a worthwhile event on cobblestone streets.
there were at least 6 or 8 outdoor workshop stages with fantastic performers.
we ran into eddie, who i'm sure many people here at nep know.
he entered ramblin's show with us. he stuck by me, wearing a dylan fan sticker pass thing and claimed he was with the press
i persuaded him to walk over and take a photo.
can't say it's any better than the others, but, he did it!
Re:RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT THREAD 15 Years, 10 Months ago
I did, diamond sky. Great post! Thanks.
Ftr, of the three vids that diamond sky posted, I'd recommend the second and third ones. I just spent a half-hour typing up a post (I was, naturally, logged in) describing these, but when I clicked on "Submit," the message was not posted and it showed that I was "logged out." This has been happening a lot since the recent techno changes to the Forum. Anyone else experiencing this?
Cowboy, Beat, Folksinger's Folksinger, soon to turn 77
Re:RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT THREAD 15 Years, 10 Months ago
Some Billy Faier news (from a blog):
JN 23 08
This past weekend was Gene and Angela's annual "Spudacular" aka: The First Potato Salad of Summer Picnic in St. Paul MN. While this event always attracts some pretty darn good musicians (and me), this time the legendary banjo picker Billy Faier performed. He had done a gig at the Ginkgo Coffee House on Thursday. The stars and frets were aligned such, that he put on a house concert on Gene's back deck for about a dozen or so lucky folks on Saturday afternoon.
Meeting and spending time with Billy is an experience, privilege, and a pleasure. He shoots from the hip and is very economical with his words in the course of conversation. I aptly listened a lot and was fascinated by his recollections on his career in folk music. On Friday afternoon he took my friend Wayne behind the proverbial banjo woodshed. He said Wayne's banjo "had no bottom" and it's neck was too skinny (as in narrow). Also he told Wayne "You don't play any notes!" No kidding! Wayne is more adept at frailing. Like I'm more comfortable strumming or flat picking my guitar than actually trying to play music...Sheeesh.
Jo (Deermouse) and I were attempting to tune my guitar to her autoharp, but it took too long and Billy mumbled something and ambled away. I suspect when you've played with the giants of the genre, you don't have a lot of patience for a neophyte suffering from "chain-saw ear".
Billy is a gracious guy and has a wry sense of humor, and I get the sense he's always thinking something. Or maybe playing something. Twice while I was at Henriksen's Billy sat down at the piano and played...West Texas Rag? Shit, I don't know, but it was darn good. I'll try and post a picture from his show soon. As Rambling Jack Elliott wrote in his song 912 Greens:
Re:RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT THREAD 15 Years, 9 Months ago
I have heard, from a usually reliable source, that the new album will include a cover by Mississippi John Hurt. As stated elsewhere in this thread, Elliott once arm-wrestled with Hurt ...and lost.
Courtesy of moon j. and expectingrain.com:
Tuesday, August 19, 2008 Ramblin' Jack Elliott back in the studio
Legendary troubadour Ramblin’ Jack Elliott has entered the studio with producer Joe Henry (Bettye LaVette, Solomon Burke, Elvis Costello/Allen Toussaint) to record the follow-up to his Anti- Records debut, 2006’s I Stand Alone. The 77 year old Elliott sings and plays acoustic guitar, and is backed by a stellar collection of musicians, among them Van Dyke Parks, Brian Wilson’s collaborator on SMiLE and dozens of others from Joanna Newsome to U2, and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos fame on guitar.
Revered for his interpretive take on traditional American music, Elliott steps out of the cast that has shaped his legend -- 50+ years in the making -- on the new record. Dark and evocative landscapes crafted by Henry, a wonderful musician himself, construct a mood that is enhanced by Elliott’s world-scarred voice. Together, musician and producer examine a carefully selected number of pre-WWII blues songs in a wholly unique way.
"Jack Elliot had never approached this music before,” say Henry, “but it's important to understand that many of the country blues masters represented here were friends of Jack's. These blues share a tremendous amount -- in both form and substance -- with the folk music of the same era, the 1930s; and few people made any such distinctions during that day. Everybody was dipping from the same stream, be it Woody Guthrie or Tampa Red, Jimmie Rodgers or Furry Lewis; and Jack drank it all in. His approach is fresh but authentic. He's using an old language but he's speaking in the present tense."
One of the great American musical treasures, Elliott has had a rich and storied life. As a budding musician, Jack developed his voice under the tutelage of Woodrow Wilson Guthrie, truck hitching across the country off and on for a couple of years with Woody, carrying “only razors and guitars.” The pair eventually landed in the McCarthy-free enclave of Topanga Canyon CA in the 1950s, where Elliott played for James Dean and stole his girl (who later became Elliott’s first wife).
On the other coast, Elliott was also a fixture of the Greenwich Village scene, and once spent “three days and a lot of wine” listening to Jack Kerouac read On the Road. But it is his relationship with a young Bob Dylan that Elliott is perhaps most famous for. Though back in the 1960s the up-and-coming Dylan was often mistakenly dubbed the “son of Jack Elliott,” today Elliott simply states “Dylan learned from me the same way I learned from Woody.”
Scheduled for release early next year, the yet-untitled release from Ramblin Jack Elliott promises to be an original and compelling rendering of timeless songs by one of the most important figures in American music.
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enjoyed the gig. Thanks for your report.
