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I recently viewed G. W. Pabst’s 1931 film version of The Threepenny Opera. That has led me down a path of discovery to Kurt Weill and, in particular, Lotte Lenya.
Lotte Lenya posing as herself
Below is a 30 minute documentary on Lotte.
part 1
part 2
part 3
>I am on a journey of discovery, and I feel like what I’m discovering is not new, but the footprints of those who went before me. That’s how I feel about my woeful and wonderful ad hoc wanderings though folk music. But I am not worried, I keep finding amazing gems everywhere.
Below are some clips of Rainbow Quest with Richard and Mimi Fariña originally broadcast Saturday, February 26, 1966. Tragically, on April 30, 1966, a mere two months after this show aired, Richard would be dead from a motorcycle accident. His death occurred only minutes after leaving his wife’s 21st birthday party. Mimi was the sister of Joan Baez.
I have to say that for all the improvements in technology since Rainbow Quest was on the air I can’t think of a better way to present great folk music. Sitting around a kitchen table, drinking coffee, and jamming with Pete Seeger is just the best.
>You know it’s vintage when there’s a flute solo. More music from the early days of Christian rock:
>Joan in 1965
Joan in 1966
Joan on Italian TV in 1969
Joan at Woodstock
Joan with Earl Scruggs in the early 1970s?
Joan in 1975
Joan again in 1975 with Bob Dylan
For comparison, Joan again with Bob in 1976
Joan and Mimi Fariña somewhere in the late 1970s?
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>So you want to play the blues? It’s easy, just do as Clapton does (or did more than thirty years ago):
Yeah, just do that. And wow, I want that guitar.
And as a bonus I give you this:
Thank you Winston Legthigh & The Dirty Mac. Now to the rest of you, go forth and play the blues.
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Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons somewhere in time.
A couple of live performance clips (the video quality is poor but the music soars):
Big Mouth (1973)
Streets of Baltimore (1973)
Emmylou remembers Gram:
Gram talks about meeting Emmylou:
>Here’s some vintage Bruce Cockburn jam sessions from years gone by:
…and more recent jamming:
Plus, I just had to throw this one in:
…and a nice cover of one of my favorite super-old Cockburn songs:
Well there you go.
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Woody Guthrie being himself
Now that we’ve barely survived two major party national conventions, heard more than enough speeches to gag, soaked up heaps of blather, waded through veritable swamps of pontification, are reeling from more Wall Street and White House crap, and are wondering who really has got the answers and/or the wherewithal to affect change, I seem to remember a song with lyrics by Woody Guthrie and music/performance by Wilco.
Let’s have Christ our President
Let us have him for our king
Cast your vote for the Carpenter
That they call the Nazarene
The only way
We could ever beat
These crooked politician men
Is to cast the moneychangers
Out of the temple
Put the Carpenter in
Oh it’s Jesus Christ our President
God above our king
With a job and pension for young and old
We will make hallelujah ring
Every year we waste enough
To feed the ones who starve
We build our civilization up
And we shoot it down with wars
But with the Carpenter
On the seat
Way up in the capitol town
The USA
Be on the way
Prosperity bound
Wilco somewhere
A different time, a different era, but all the same.
>The video quality may suffer, the music shineth like no other.
Amen
pilgrimakimbo 