December 2, 2023 -- Classic Rebroadcast

[dwarnold]

This week, we travel back to December 2, 2000 to The Town Hall in New York as A Prairie Home Companion welcomes special guest Ramblin' Jack Elliott, plus a visit from some of New York City's most exciting subway musicians.

Highlights include chat about New York in December, plus Garrison sings “Good to be Here in New York” and an ode to his daughter “Hush, Little Baby,” several sketches including Guy Noir and Tom Keith, a song from each of our excellent subway musicians or bands, plus a Dylan tune from Ramblin’ Jack, and the latest News from Lake Wobegon.

prairiehome.org/shows/57851.html

[dwarnold]

December 2, 2000

00:00 Logo
00:14 Tishomingo
02:13 Applause
02:14 Election
03:20 Good to be here in New York
06:36 Hush Little Baby
11:27 Applause - New York, New York
12:39 Applause
12:48 Little Falls
15:36 Applause - GK Talk
16:01 Tom Keith
22:32 Applause - GK Intro Natalia Paruz Natalia Plays Ave Maria
25:53 The Swan
28:59 Applause - GK Intro Jorge Luzuriaga - Talk With Jorge
32:35 Moliendo Cafe
34:42 Applause
35:21 Powdermilk Biscuit Break
37:01 GK Welcomes Subway Conductor/Talk
39:50 Subway Ride
46:14 Applause
47:15 Revenge of the Hippies
50:11 Applause - GK Segue to Next Group; Church of Betty
52:15 GK talks with Spank
53:00 Diamond and Pearls
55:08 Applause - GK Segue to Ramblin' Jack Elliott; Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
105:44 The Connection
108:18 Applause - GK Segue to Intermission
108:39 Buddy's Habits
112:10 Welcome Back to the Second Half...Quo Vadis
114:27 Applause; Greetings
117:26 GK Intro Ernest Stein - Talk With Ernest
119:57 Mendohlsson
122:24 Applause
123:06 Guy Noir - Waiting for Word from Tallahassee
129:35 Applause - GK Welcome Back Jack Elliott
129:56 South Coast
136:44 Applause
137:01 Monologue
153:27 Applause - Swing From Paris; GK Wing from Paris; GK Credits Band Over Tune; Credits
156:27 So Long, It's Been Good to Know to You

[dwarnold]

More About our Guests:

Folk music legend has it that RAMBLIN’ JACK ELLIOTT showed up at Woody Guthrie’s house in the early 1950s and stayed for two years. Other stories about him abound, like the time he played for James Dean in a Hollywood parking lot, or the time Jack Kerouac read him the entire then-unpublished manuscript for On The Road, or the time he serenaded a group of young British schoolchildren on a railway platform and years later ran into one of the kids who told him the encounter had prompted him to buy his first guitar (the kid was Mick Jagger). A master storyteller, Elliott first “rambled” around the country with Guthrie in the early ’50s, then was an influence to Bob Dylan in Greenwich Village in the ’60s. After moving to California in 1965, Elliott reconnected with Dylan in the early ’70s and became a member of the Rolling Thunder Revue. Throughout his career, he has traveled the world, gathering inspiration for his stories and songs. In 1996, Elliott won a Grammy for his South Coast album (Red House Records) and was also chosen as the recipient of the Bill Graham Lifetime Achievement Award at San Francisco’s Bay Area Music Awards. For 1998’s Friends of Mine (HighTone), he was joined by a number of artists with whom he had toured over the years, including Guy Clark, Nanci Griffith, Arlo Guthrie, Emmylou Harris, Tom Waits, and Jerry Jeff Walker. A Stranger Here (ANTI-) is among his more recent recordings. Elliott’s daughter Aiyana directed a documentary film about his life, which won the Special Jury Prize for Artistic Achievement at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival.


ERNEST STEIN was born in Munich, Germany, in November 1900. He began studying piano with his mother at about age five and played the cello in the high school orchestra. He immigrated to New York in 1921, where he found a career in the import business. He was able to hear Richard Strauss conduct the New York Philharmonic at the old Madison Square Garden. He found work as an accompanist for the Brahms Singing Club, a women's singing group, with whom he performed at Carnegie Hall, as well as at The Town Hall. Stein also performed publicly with renowned violist Lillian Fuchs, the wife of his identical twin brother, Ludwig, as well as with her brother, violinist Joseph Fuchs. Also a composer, one of his favorites works is the piece “Florival,” which he and Lillian Fuchs played together on the radio. In 1936, he married Doris Blumenthal, and together they raised three sons, the youngest of whom is The Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band’s own Andy Stein. In addition to composing and performing, Stein was also a published poet. Ernest Stein passed away in 2004 at the age of 103.

The Subway Musicians:
CHURCH OF BETTY, CHRIS RAEL AND DEEP SINGH draws heavily from Indian folk, popular, and classical styles. Although they perform in a variety of venues, Sitar player Chris Rael and tabla player Deep Singh recorded a CD called Tunnel Ragas specifically to sell in the subway when they play there.

CURTIS JARDINE is a native of a Trinidad and has been playing the steel pans most of his life.

Folk singer/guitar player JORGE LUZURIAGA is originally from Ecuador.

In addition to the musical saw, NATALIA PARUZ plays a number of other novelty instruments. Among many other performances, she appeared on Regis & Kathie Lee, at the Rainbow Room, and with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Zubin Mehta.

SPANK is an a cappella doo-wop trio made up of Reggie Rowson, Herman Seay, and Harvey “Raisin” Cain.

[jspnrvr]

Hey,folks. Sounds like a good show. But I'm afraid I won't be able to be listening with. Tonight is the Floyd Radio broadcast, and they have a pretty good lineup, so that's what I'm going to be up to. Have a good evening!

[doctork]

I'll be tuned in and double tasking as usual. I saw Ramblin' Jack Elliott at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering Jan 2020, last outing prior to the shut down. He was elderly and appeared a tad frail but he was still quite robust in character! A real gem of the Old Days.

[doctork]

Dec 2, 2023 16:56:30 GMT -5 jspnrvr said:

Hey,folks. Sounds like a good show. But I'm afraid I won't be able to be listening with. Tonight is the Floyd Radio broadcast, and they have a pretty good lineup, so that's what I'm going to be up to. Have a good evening!

One of the advantages of eventually getting back to our Blue Ridge home is the music, which includes close proximity to Floyd, Carter Family Fold, Galax Thee-ay-ter, and the Blue Ridge Music Center near Galax. Even our little tiny town has live music at least two night a week year round, and people actually go UP the mountain to hear it! Now that we are in the thick of The Big Dark, the Blue Ridge sounds mighty fine, even though we know that it entails snow and winding two-lane roads. But it IS in the mountains, goes with the territory, just like the Big Dark goes with the PNW.

[dwarnold]

Dec 2, 2023 17:52:15 GMT -5 doctork said:

Dec 2, 2023 16:56:30 GMT -5 jspnrvr said:

Hey,folks. Sounds like a good show. But I'm afraid I won't be able to be listening with. Tonight is the Floyd Radio broadcast, and they have a pretty good lineup, so that's what I'm going to be up to. Have a good evening!

One of the advantages of eventually getting back to our Blue Ridge home is the music, which includes close proximity to Floyd, Carter Family Fold, Galax Thee-ay-ter, and the Blue Ridge Music Center near Galax. Even our little tiny town has live music at least two night a week year round, and people actually go UP the mountain to hear it! Now that we are in the thick of The Big Dark, the Blue Ridge sounds mighty fine, even though we know that it entails snow and winding two-lane roads. But it IS in the mountains, goes with the territory, just like the Big Dark goes with the PNW.

The nice thing about PHC is that it is free and in my house, which is a good place to be given it has been raining for 24 hours... I was looking for gopher wood earlier.

[dwarnold]

ShowTIME !!!

[doctork]

Hi DW!

[dwarnold]

Dec 2, 2023 18:03:20 GMT -5 doctork said:

Hi DW!

Good evening Doc.

Some fun jokes to start the show off with this evening. I am glad for the frivolity... sometimes the news of the day is too much so it is good to get a break from it all`

[doctork]

Ernest Stein, 100 years old! It's been a week for old age, hasn't it. Henry Kissinger died at age 100, Jimmy Carter is nearly there at 99, Rosalynn died at 93, and Sandra Day O'Connor died at 93.

Kissinger was recently in China negotiating with Xi and remained a guru/consultant to many until the very end. But Rosalynn Carter and Sandra Day O'Connor both died with dementia and its consequences. Not so sure I want to get to such an advanced age.

[doctork]

Yeah, not much good news these days, or if there is, it's on the back page in small print.

But think of it, much of it is not really new. This Israeli/Hamas et all dates back to 1948 (November 2023 was the 75th anniversary of the Nakbah, though not much said about that). people in their 90's die, politics continue to make bad headlines, bad weather and natural disasters occur.

Maybe the problem is the 24 hour news cycle. I liked the old days with news 30 or 60 minutes a day.

[dwarnold]

Dec 2, 2023 18:12:01 GMT -5 doctork said:

Yeah, not much good news these days, or if there is, it's on the back page in small print.

But think of it, much of it is not really new. This Israeli/Hamas et all dates back to 1948 (November 2023 was the 75th anniversary of the Nakbah, though not much said about that). people in their 90's die, politics continue to make bad headlines, bad weather and natural disasters occur.

Maybe the problem is the 24 hour news cycle. I liked the old days with news 30 or 60 minutes a day.

I think you may have hit the nail on the head so to speak. I can imagine how much more happiness was found when bad news only arrived with a daily news cast or perhaps a weekly newspaper. Folks focused on what was in front of them and let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.

[doctork]

Good news doesn't get all that many clicks and comments but "If it bleeds it leads" so bad news predominates. When you have dozens of news channels operating 24 hours per day, that's a lot of bad news.

Unless there is something truly Breaking News, I usually listen to an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, and that's because I no longer get up, showered and dressed for the work, then listen to the first 22 minutes of the Today Show, which was all solid news, not fluff. I mean, when I wake up in the morning and faced a day at the office.hospital, it was useful to know if something had blown up overnight or if war had broken out. Then after work, I'd catch 30 minutes of local news and 30 minutes of national news. That was plenty!

[dwarnold]

I think it is amazing that so many perfectly capable artists never get a chance to play in venues where they might be "discovered". We do not have lots of street performers in Tallahassee but over the years there have been some really open music festivals where folks who were not well known had a chance to play before an audience, even if it was shoppers in a grocery store. I think we need more of that.. presentation of "arts" in common places where people just get a chance to pause and appreciate the amazing skills of those who can play, sing, dance, etc.

[doctork]

And I started here a couple minutes late so I am just catching the interview with the Ecuadorean from Loja. I've been to Loja, it's beautiful, and it's one of those "Blue Zones" in the world where a very high proportion of the people live to be 100 years old or older.

[doctork]

Dec 2, 2023 18:32:35 GMT -5 dwarnold said:

I think it is amazing that so many perfectly capable artists never get a chance to play in venues where they might be "discovered". We do not have lots of street performers in Tallahassee but over the years there have been some really open music festivals where folks who were not well known had a chance to play before an audience, even if it was shoppers in a grocery store. I think we need more of that.. presentation of "arts" in common places where people just get a chance to pause and appreciate the amazing skills of those who can play, sing, dance, etc.

That was one of GK's great strengths, and also a strength of live radio show broadcasts - bringing talented new unknowns to the fore where more people could hear them.

OLd Crow Medicine Show was famously discovered while busking on the streets of Boone, NC where there were noticed by Doc Watson and he brought them to MerleFest. One of the reasons MerleFest was founded, in addition to honoring Merle Watson, was to afford an opportunity for the little known talents to appear in front of tens of thousands of people. MerleFest has 10 or 12 stages, 70,000 to 80,000 attendees and probably at least 80 to 100 acts, well-known few, many lesser known but often equally talented.

[doctork]

I'm surprised that Tallahassee doesn't have more street performers, being a university town, but maybe they have a lot more small local venues, often also a feature of college towns. Boone, NC is also a college town, home of App State (Appalachian State University), and a place that really caught my attention when we lived in WA the first time and wanted to move back east, thinking either VA or WV. Our aim was a little off.

[dwarnold]

I was taking some new shoes to one of my older friends today, he was telling me about his Dr that is treating his Parkinson's disease. According to his Dr., there are clinical trials underway that are testing the efficacy of a deep brain implant that might be available in 5 years or so, which would help to reduce the impact of Parkinson's. My friend is 75 and told the Dr. to hurry them up!

[doctork]

This recitation of stops sounds like the #7, IRT line. I rarely took those trains with weird letter names.

Aha must be the the 7 because I took the Staten Island Ferry A LOT.

[dwarnold]

Dec 2, 2023 18:41:54 GMT -5 doctork said:

I'm surprised that Tallahassee doesn't have more street performers, being a university town, but maybe they have a lot more small local venues, often also a feature of college towns. Boone, NC is also a college town, home of App State (Appalachian State University), and a place that really caught my attention when we lived in WA the first time and wanted to move back east, thinking either VA or WV. Our aim was a little off.

Yes there are a great many small venues especially near the campuses. Because of a number of factors, putting your guitar on the sidewalk and playing for tips isn't easy here.

[doctork]

Dec 2, 2023 18:44:01 GMT -5 dwarnold said:

I was taking some new shoes to one of my older friends today, he was telling me about his Dr that is treating his Parkinson's disease. According to his Dr., there are clinical trials underway that are testing the efficacy of a deep brain implant that might be available in 5 years or so, which would help to reduce the impact of Parkinson's. My friend is 75 and told the Dr. to hurry them up!

There are a number of centers doing DBS (Deep Brain Stimulator) research. NIH has a list on its websites of all research studies with federal funding that are going on. They are usually in medical school centers. In FL, I think Gainseville and Jax (Mayo) would be the places to look. University of Miami is also a center for neurosciences research. Mayo is "the grandfather" of a lot of neurosciences research, but I don't know if there is a difference in available services among their 3 Mayo Clinic locations (AZ, MN and FL).

There's a medical school in Tallahassee now but its relatively new, and often those newer schools haven't yet developed strong research programs.

[dwarnold]

The Church of Betty had a nice sound.

[doctork]

Dec 2, 2023 18:45:42 GMT -5 dwarnold said:

Dec 2, 2023 18:41:54 GMT -5 doctork said:

I'm surprised that Tallahassee doesn't have more street performers, being a university town, but maybe they have a lot more small local venues...Yes there are a great many small venues especially near the campuses. Because of a number of factors, putting your guitar on the sidewalk and playing for tips isn't easy here.

Those many small local venues offer a fairly ready alternative to street playing. They'll often have "open mic" nights where anyone can sign up and play. Do well, they'll ask you back to open for someone else. Do well for that, look to "headline." Gotta be determined to succeed, but there is a lot more talent than recognized success.

[dwarnold]

Dec 2, 2023 18:55:03 GMT -5 doctork said:

Dec 2, 2023 18:45:42 GMT -5 dwarnold said:

Those many small local venues offer a fairly ready alternative to street playing. They'll often have "open mic" nights where anyone can sign up and play. Do well, they'll ask you back to open for someone else. Do well for that, look to "headline." Gotta be determined to succeed, but there is a lot more talent than recognized success.

Last night we went to a "Almost Christmas" concert put on by some old timers from Tallahassee. The host was celebrating the 40th anniversary of his first album release and his first "Almost Christmas" concert. The audience was an old timer group.. I would say average age was over 60 easily.

[doctork]

Yes, when I've gone to any of GK's solo shows, or even one where he has a "co-star" (singer like Heather Masse), the audience usually has lots of gray hair. Note though - MerleFest has a predominately younger folks, though they have some old-timers too.

This is cool, didn't realize Ed Stein was Andy's dad.

[dwarnold]

Guy Noir said Tallahassee, Florida!!

[dwarnold]

Crazy to relive all of that election mess from 2000

[doctork]

Remember how disastrous we thought that was too? Not so much initially given the shock of 9/11 when we all briefly pulled together as one United States, but when the wars(s) started things went downhill fast. Still nothing compared to the election of 2016. W at least seemed to understand the meaning of democracy, and he'd read (or been told about) the Constitution.

I took the Oath of Office and served 3 times in the Bush administrations. There was opportunity for good work, and Bush saved millions of lives, mainly in Africa, with PEPFAR.

[dwarnold]

Dec 2, 2023 19:39:07 GMT -5 doctork said:

Remember how disastrous we thought that was too? Not so much initially given the shock of 9/11 when we all briefly pulled together as one United States, but when the wars(s) started things went downhill fast. Still nothing compared to the election of 2016. W at least seemed to understand the meaning of democracy, and he'd read (or been told about) the Constitution.

I took the Oath of Office and served 3 times in the Bush administrations. There was opportunity for good work, and Bush saved millions of lives, mainly in Africa, with PEPFAR.

It is difficult to decide how to measure the success or failure of any particular elected official. It is especially more complicated as you begin to understand the balance of powers, which I have to say that many elected officials do not because of the high number of lawsuits which rule that government actions are invalid.