tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183914313767654082024-03-06T03:43:21.642+01:00sauerkrautcowboysSturm, Twang and the Imaginary Wild West in EuropeRuthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.comBlogger404125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-56665414746874501992023-06-20T19:33:00.004+02:002023-06-20T19:35:34.638+02:00Pullman City -- Again!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7lv5acq-KCF52gLo4gPFUAT4s8-2volFz7PIFVZVZ4AUr7zCcguOPnNBnau24N-iTe9q80kVd7w1rZ7EfTMrqfsvxb4I1mRI_Z_XcuO5uTFZCoiReuwTl8Y2z37VUWqw2fIE975gEi4FCg18a3utU7lZI66NiEIWBRMu509M4j81wC_-9egJMrz9SUOo/s1024/Pullman%20City%20June%2010%202023%20wm14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7lv5acq-KCF52gLo4gPFUAT4s8-2volFz7PIFVZVZ4AUr7zCcguOPnNBnau24N-iTe9q80kVd7w1rZ7EfTMrqfsvxb4I1mRI_Z_XcuO5uTFZCoiReuwTl8Y2z37VUWqw2fIE975gEi4FCg18a3utU7lZI66NiEIWBRMu509M4j81wC_-9egJMrz9SUOo/w400-h300/Pullman%20City%20June%2010%202023%20wm14.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I've let this blog slide over recent years, but I'm trying taking it up again -- as I just paid a visit to Pullman City, the "living western town" near Eging am See in Bavaria, for the first time in years!<p></p><p>It was fascinating to see how much remains the same, but also what has changed. And it was wonderful to be able to hang out with Willie Jones, probably the first person I met and made friends with in the European country music/imaginary wild west scene.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIM5iCsHEOUDOFna7cPz8FMX7J8uRcxy-XnEfRw-FJBkZDXxe5pQETmSbdGaRVoE6A1pg64xE4I4ht-8QtG5uXz3__c20n4xShdppvxeZexQtUsIfCgCOGPsTje81-SOmvDemx7lNw13eiPQ-ugtcTPBBqeMqtZTBmf9vhBZvmRtgTNF6AS15dg_Gatjs/s4032/IMG_6826.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIM5iCsHEOUDOFna7cPz8FMX7J8uRcxy-XnEfRw-FJBkZDXxe5pQETmSbdGaRVoE6A1pg64xE4I4ht-8QtG5uXz3__c20n4xShdppvxeZexQtUsIfCgCOGPsTje81-SOmvDemx7lNw13eiPQ-ugtcTPBBqeMqtZTBmf9vhBZvmRtgTNF6AS15dg_Gatjs/w400-h300/IMG_6826.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Willie, Pullman City 2023<br /></td></tr></tbody></table> </p><p>We met on my first -- or maybe second -- visit to Pullman City in the summer of 2003, amazingly fully 20 years ago! Willie then was the "singing cowboy" of Pullman, strolling around the Main Street and making music as he strolled.</p><p>We had a memorable adventure, driving from Pullman into southern Bohemia for a country night at a wild west road house....where I heard my first Czech country band, playing Okie from Muskogee, in Czech....</p><p>I wrote my first Imaginary Wild West article after those visits -- for the New York Times. Click <b><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/11/travel/deep-in-the-heart-of-bavaria.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></b> to read it.<br /></p><p>This time Willie had an evening outdoor gig at Pullman's Hudson's Bay bar, in the so-called Authentic section, where hobbyists have permanent set-ups. </p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDiwi0rckoWH1v0xvEaLX5MwGN5CnZymwf1Dwq1UEOXQf5Jyb75LYZ5rVcJlKgNALVlLQtgSZob9NFhe7PRueuM8sSN0psEvcMhKpJj_0EbUTbQEh9uvmqKEo0WQ4Kau3povDRCJ-8a0YwcQ-CJdwml5y7QjeXCTGdFwTK76x7Wr1Qyh2Rm0pnnHtCEd8/s1024/Pullman%20city%20June%2010%202023%20wm13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDiwi0rckoWH1v0xvEaLX5MwGN5CnZymwf1Dwq1UEOXQf5Jyb75LYZ5rVcJlKgNALVlLQtgSZob9NFhe7PRueuM8sSN0psEvcMhKpJj_0EbUTbQEh9uvmqKEo0WQ4Kau3povDRCJ-8a0YwcQ-CJdwml5y7QjeXCTGdFwTK76x7Wr1Qyh2Rm0pnnHtCEd8/w400-h300/Pullman%20city%20June%2010%202023%20wm13.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>He played gentle duets with his friend Wolfie, a frequent musical partner, whom I had met back in 2004, at Dobrofest in Trnava, Slovakia, when they were playing in a trio with John Ely</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiITsdESkWrQvUNw2qR0HCwnLotuV0uFPzXDFoZLy7PFksbphdhLW79Jc0g3hqdoiuVDD9XL9Ykgg9Qx0SlzLvOZsLYKakAQeTWxnT5S3NZyvF8iWylsNwfn9KEbSZEMddx-r1Fg1LBrdi3Y2wfA7YsH6P3BBlBYNy7y_lTpCWqpCnNn_9XMJDWeA9cU0/s2272/IMG_0517.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1704" data-original-width="2272" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiITsdESkWrQvUNw2qR0HCwnLotuV0uFPzXDFoZLy7PFksbphdhLW79Jc0g3hqdoiuVDD9XL9Ykgg9Qx0SlzLvOZsLYKakAQeTWxnT5S3NZyvF8iWylsNwfn9KEbSZEMddx-r1Fg1LBrdi3Y2wfA7YsH6P3BBlBYNy7y_lTpCWqpCnNn_9XMJDWeA9cU0/w400-h300/IMG_0517.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dobrofest, Trnava, 2004<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>At Pullman this time, it was a special old-time hobbyist weekend, and many people were dressed up in Period styles.</p><p>There were trappers, clerks (or bankers? doctors? carrying what looked like briefcases or medical bags), elegant gambler-types, cowboys, etc. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1BTn3QHkv4o5OPDbjHckKuLutkDm6nMOwBSDjjeuyv0xVJ5bxrINl09S_WIy_PPXLuCzfgo_7ARN79poSviF2TVXwsrOKm91x_UpTJI-NCW92pXWtCUNigcTDrBgj_I0R2Y9bRVl4JM94CkZOMgHHm5oomztIl6MMGdkFvxjDUYXVdINtgQ0VCnPY7og/s1024/Pullman%20city%20June%2010%202023%20wm12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1BTn3QHkv4o5OPDbjHckKuLutkDm6nMOwBSDjjeuyv0xVJ5bxrINl09S_WIy_PPXLuCzfgo_7ARN79poSviF2TVXwsrOKm91x_UpTJI-NCW92pXWtCUNigcTDrBgj_I0R2Y9bRVl4JM94CkZOMgHHm5oomztIl6MMGdkFvxjDUYXVdINtgQ0VCnPY7og/w400-h300/Pullman%20city%20June%2010%202023%20wm12.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOnSqXFVk90LITSdlwEc4EirnV5cw-ycdfW9FTS3Gp1TaLFuYNnO_r3LEGwCI26KMuX6XlzLcwPvouXHs0OCs93WhPOhOWtX3rgXzxJwmWxeLCB7LXtT1tYoFn5t5qOTMCUkAFbLARLj3YIj3BT0_03ci2X9T-bZ9Jw3cm66nKu8VORIBPWTqdIgT-VOY/s1024/Pullman%20city%20June%2010%202023%20wm10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOnSqXFVk90LITSdlwEc4EirnV5cw-ycdfW9FTS3Gp1TaLFuYNnO_r3LEGwCI26KMuX6XlzLcwPvouXHs0OCs93WhPOhOWtX3rgXzxJwmWxeLCB7LXtT1tYoFn5t5qOTMCUkAFbLARLj3YIj3BT0_03ci2X9T-bZ9Jw3cm66nKu8VORIBPWTqdIgT-VOY/w400-h300/Pullman%20city%20June%2010%202023%20wm10.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>A big innovation that I didn't remember as being too popular in earlier visits were huge crinoline skirts. One woman I ran into en route to the ladies room had such a hard time maneuvering that she seemed almost trapped in the toilets!<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1zmrOWBfHT5mat6Y642270DSWMobFpXzLKvhjHc9uepCTrKRMeGyLx1uzEzIDoao0yK3Kfq-FWCuyg99i09e_pGkjXTYoXk2sbz8Q1OPALWXasqUOVQ1OI17ltrILtvoeDMPjOq0g2maY1aCAd9qve1EmMU56pdtDOWoBljWUBHaGAKaXrgFZG_8IV8Y/s1024/Pullman%20city%20June%2010%202023%20wm7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1zmrOWBfHT5mat6Y642270DSWMobFpXzLKvhjHc9uepCTrKRMeGyLx1uzEzIDoao0yK3Kfq-FWCuyg99i09e_pGkjXTYoXk2sbz8Q1OPALWXasqUOVQ1OI17ltrILtvoeDMPjOq0g2maY1aCAd9qve1EmMU56pdtDOWoBljWUBHaGAKaXrgFZG_8IV8Y/w400-h300/Pullman%20city%20June%2010%202023%20wm7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZCq0N33JRFOgufowqRnDZ_59ZQKabMSITeRbnQNyO79kbA7lf_L0gHKWJH-dq-ldmQ4XWtUTr2kDb5WGxVL87m4ecJvejnACFQhMt_Vg_0C8m8x0q2MC8fd9pW-1DKRIhlHQtEJVbCJ-XgEg8LZ0m13FK6SQir-lgjRCNXvu1iBaf_wsvx2cyCeu8JKM/s1024/Pullman%20city%20June%2010%202023%20wm6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZCq0N33JRFOgufowqRnDZ_59ZQKabMSITeRbnQNyO79kbA7lf_L0gHKWJH-dq-ldmQ4XWtUTr2kDb5WGxVL87m4ecJvejnACFQhMt_Vg_0C8m8x0q2MC8fd9pW-1DKRIhlHQtEJVbCJ-XgEg8LZ0m13FK6SQir-lgjRCNXvu1iBaf_wsvx2cyCeu8JKM/w400-h300/Pullman%20city%20June%2010%202023%20wm6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQNXFU2SJhWkL7tHYzzX0VapRGjrgnnsjTt8zKG0OAOIxErxvJ7wzJxzRFMHkSEesLPbcHJ37SSwcUUZukarBNfcrXTT_hONR9EKaR8lSVw9O5Mm1ROP-xb1iaRL3cVj2JMrPRe0wjNBih9WnXzud5Dnx6J0flFMzlV8cISYD7naPLxDtmmDPAmiDbwpU/s1024/Pullman%20city%20June%2010%202023%20wm5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQNXFU2SJhWkL7tHYzzX0VapRGjrgnnsjTt8zKG0OAOIxErxvJ7wzJxzRFMHkSEesLPbcHJ37SSwcUUZukarBNfcrXTT_hONR9EKaR8lSVw9O5Mm1ROP-xb1iaRL3cVj2JMrPRe0wjNBih9WnXzud5Dnx6J0flFMzlV8cISYD7naPLxDtmmDPAmiDbwpU/w400-h300/Pullman%20city%20June%2010%202023%20wm5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>The Hudson's Bay bar area seemed like a "safe space" -- maybe like a gay bar -- where hard core hobbyists could gather in their costumes and live their lives (and dreams) away from the commercialism and "family fun" tourism of the Main Street.</p><p>The main structural novelty of Pullman is the new (since I was there) Karl May theatre, an outdoor stage in an arena-like setting, similar to other wild west theme parks, where they are now staging plays etc based on Karl May's stories and characters. This summer they're doing Treasure of Silver Lake -- which I may have seen a Karl May festival years ago, in Austria or Germany.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDwZ0tgNLPtvyHbJFo9Hw85ra0OZZ1K46kz1BqT3NyquaT5GalYAWrgal276Ts8xZLYfD82RKQ6p12w-wmhhdT5pN41b2cOvo42d_3FI6oGnR-3SaniNBKXk3kohPYKAF_fnCucpFVEFkJws5US2PeegMU6U8RGhncd7HBR-vUjsm57Jq1FK-OYg1vrOA/s4032/IMG_6760.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDwZ0tgNLPtvyHbJFo9Hw85ra0OZZ1K46kz1BqT3NyquaT5GalYAWrgal276Ts8xZLYfD82RKQ6p12w-wmhhdT5pN41b2cOvo42d_3FI6oGnR-3SaniNBKXk3kohPYKAF_fnCucpFVEFkJws5US2PeegMU6U8RGhncd7HBR-vUjsm57Jq1FK-OYg1vrOA/w300-h400/IMG_6760.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><p>Pullman's "American History Show" is now performed in the Karl May arena stage, rather than on Main Street, as before. Alas I couldn't see the whole show to see how it compared with past versions, as a huge violent storm blew up right in the middle, and sent everyone running for cover.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOTQn42XjAJwvaToRAuEXe4IG-90ARqKqPiiO7ym7YzXvOVxsw_PvPNno_B8KNO3xJ6FpKYoOsH7ex59CpcKPTfnIWHg3XyOjXmOAEXroo44CBBlrZR3hkQdXKD5PFnx9fa1JNKBuLcWAqA5VO5yINIzQzxuRlP7USOWLUD85QsrsK1Ebdtp4v1u-6Wrw/s1024/Pullman%20city%20June%2010%202023%20wm2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOTQn42XjAJwvaToRAuEXe4IG-90ARqKqPiiO7ym7YzXvOVxsw_PvPNno_B8KNO3xJ6FpKYoOsH7ex59CpcKPTfnIWHg3XyOjXmOAEXroo44CBBlrZR3hkQdXKD5PFnx9fa1JNKBuLcWAqA5VO5yINIzQzxuRlP7USOWLUD85QsrsK1Ebdtp4v1u-6Wrw/w400-h300/Pullman%20city%20June%2010%202023%20wm2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The storm's a-coming!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of Pullman's "stars" when I used to go there years ago was "Hunting Wolf," billed as a half-Cheyenne shaman. His act entails dealing with bison.</p><p>When I first saw him, his long, flowing hair was black.... he still runs with the bison, and his hair is still long and flowing, but now it's white.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimPrqhnCY_e6enRn_0YGij68_U8U4u_ONTWL1BhuPSOLL9sWACJ8mZqbIsfhGwc7WMOqjwi_8D_wMJ2JsKmwr_zlsBCHAwAm2WYz140anQAKfpjuVMC2lOsPnmOUB4ldEwou3nHGfmxTf700lM7pmZ0TIdatki1kYChy0nDTIJe2qteawKWxRvL6hylIQ/s1024/Pullman%20city%20June%2010%202023%20wm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimPrqhnCY_e6enRn_0YGij68_U8U4u_ONTWL1BhuPSOLL9sWACJ8mZqbIsfhGwc7WMOqjwi_8D_wMJ2JsKmwr_zlsBCHAwAm2WYz140anQAKfpjuVMC2lOsPnmOUB4ldEwou3nHGfmxTf700lM7pmZ0TIdatki1kYChy0nDTIJe2qteawKWxRvL6hylIQ/w400-h300/Pullman%20city%20June%2010%202023%20wm1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-6350431392970546192020-11-29T17:43:00.003+01:002020-11-29T21:17:50.774+01:00Adventures in the Realimaginary....<p>It's been an age since I posted anything....sorry!</p><p>I gave an illustrated lecture — via Zoom — on Nov. 12 as part of a program organized by the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow.</p>
<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp7Em4SDPa2NNSmXZyNV2dziucGuwYI8t1vIggih0gjbp5-TpqaarISGAHQHt3z3TX82CjUJvu0cH2GDa3yaDq5GLoi1V4vnJCeYfOilSzstP-Bcn40WkdnDQLoHW-5Ev8XE5TuPHkfzU/s1600/IMG_1548.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp7Em4SDPa2NNSmXZyNV2dziucGuwYI8t1vIggih0gjbp5-TpqaarISGAHQHt3z3TX82CjUJvu0cH2GDa3yaDq5GLoi1V4vnJCeYfOilSzstP-Bcn40WkdnDQLoHW-5Ev8XE5TuPHkfzU/w400-h300/IMG_1548.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lonstar and me, at the Berlin country music messe<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>In it I looked back over my experience in Poland, dating back to
1980, when I was a correspondent for UPI covering Solidarnosc and
martial law (including when I was jailed and expelled from the country
because of my coverage) and discussed how throughout my career I’ve
observed how people create lived e<span class="text_exposed_show">xperience
via dreams and desires: whether it was Solidarnosc activists aiming for
civil society, or emerging Jews and Jewish communities claiming,
reclaiming — or creating — identities, or fans of the American frontier
finding identity in country music and home-grown swinging door saloons. </span></p><p><span class="text_exposed_show">There was a lot more I would have wanted to say in response to questions
in the very brief discussion afterward, but that can be for another
time. </span></p><p>There's a lot about the Imaginary Wild West in Poland -- with a focus on the four-decade career of my friend, the pioneering Polish country singer Michael Lonstar, whom I've written about in the past on this blog.<br /></p><p>You can view my lecture here -- or on YouTube. It starts with Solidarnosc, then segues into the "virtually Jewish" and on to the Imaginary Wild West.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HwjK-R9BzQo" width="320" youtube-src-id="HwjK-R9BzQo"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-67585586955769354992019-08-03T14:22:00.000+02:002019-08-03T14:22:06.349+02:00Line dancing in Italy!Scenes from the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Arts---Entertainment/Country-Rock-Summer-Festival-2087604664833583/" target="_blank">Country Rock Summer Festival </a>on Italy's Adriatic Coast, at Montesilvano Marina. The West Umbria Country Dance group peforms. Yee Hah!<br />
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Here's the poster </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRoHEqeLxH34BmbNCbKBw_LMdjER-6rrBfqMwVZX6GctztXmMKsWngIDJ9YCE_ysThUPNFqz62zXcNqFMZ6txcRuuGhlN6mV6ghYD_mU_dBJfulDtD6drtORLHmUrr2MtK4FI2c04I10o/s1600/country+rock+summer+festival+2019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1131" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRoHEqeLxH34BmbNCbKBw_LMdjER-6rrBfqMwVZX6GctztXmMKsWngIDJ9YCE_ysThUPNFqz62zXcNqFMZ6txcRuuGhlN6mV6ghYD_mU_dBJfulDtD6drtORLHmUrr2MtK4FI2c04I10o/s640/country+rock+summer+festival+2019.jpg" width="452" /></a></div>
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-87858095710718606182019-07-14T10:09:00.000+02:002019-07-14T10:09:40.645+02:00The earliest recorded sounds of the banjo<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaynN7LcDXPCInmTqepRb8Z_E9kGWkxTJ-6ZB1tfEawYhWmUGaJ7e1fnUShNQa0crvZveTiSLyK3ugcq3UB9OOj_HOV1JlSvyfsmFFT0FXXKMLxbrEn24YDOyVti2uKA63ZCqtwMIGHo0/s1600/Banjorecord.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaynN7LcDXPCInmTqepRb8Z_E9kGWkxTJ-6ZB1tfEawYhWmUGaJ7e1fnUShNQa0crvZveTiSLyK3ugcq3UB9OOj_HOV1JlSvyfsmFFT0FXXKMLxbrEn24YDOyVti2uKA63ZCqtwMIGHo0/s400/Banjorecord.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The oldest known recordings of the banjo date from the 1890s and are contained in four wax cylinders recorded by the African American entertainer Charles A. Asbury.<br />
<br />
The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/retropod/the-oldest-surviving-banjo-recording-1/?utm_term=.fdd2f2aa319c" target="_blank"><b>Retropod</b></a> podcast is the latest to write about Asbury, following several articles last year when .Archeophone Records released a <b><a href="https://www.archeophone.com/catalogue/charles-asbury-4-banjo-songs/" target="_blank">45 rpm vinyl recording</a></b> with 16-page booklet, photos, and notes.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSwN2fsH5bc63x41nROad7D-Q0lkPdWNiMVjEdi8loSlpEUofItIZu2W02OpflcYVow9Y4pic8adwRXMoNWNvNbSdUkXGZjTFVExc1Tl4eOZ5DRl61EzsyxKbc9tboXms-pcoiw8U3M0o/s1600/IMG_8208.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSwN2fsH5bc63x41nROad7D-Q0lkPdWNiMVjEdi8loSlpEUofItIZu2W02OpflcYVow9Y4pic8adwRXMoNWNvNbSdUkXGZjTFVExc1Tl4eOZ5DRl61EzsyxKbc9tboXms-pcoiw8U3M0o/s640/IMG_8208.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lubos Malina plays banjo with the Czech Band Druha Trava, at Dobrofest, Trnava, Slovakia, 2006</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The <a href="https://www.archeophone.com/catalogue/charles-asbury-4-banjo-songs/" target="_blank"><b>Archeophone notes</b></a> describe Asbury as "an African American veteran of the minstrel stage" who lived from ca. 1857 to 1903.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Born in Florida but raised in Georgia by a Baptist preacher, Asbury played Sambo in stage productions of <i>Uncle Tom’s Cabin</i>
before becoming a noted vocalist with the original Unique Quartette and
a celebrated banjoist on the vaudeville stage. His banjo songs were
popular in phonograph arcades all over the country in the early 1890s,
years before phonographs went into people’s homes. He did yeoman work
for the infant phonograph companies–churning out wax cylinders, a few at
a time, for seven years–before disappearing abruptly from the annals of
the stage and recording history[...].</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #cc0000;">The oldest recording on the set dates to about 1891, making it the
oldest known banjo recording in private hands. Asbury played in the old
minstrel “stroke” banjo style that virtually disappeared from the
vernacular and has only in recent years been rediscovered and
reinvigorated by scholars of American banjo music. </span></blockquote>
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<a href="https://www.archeophone.com/catalogue/charles-asbury-4-banjo-songs/" target="_blank"><b>Click this link to sample all four tracks on the recording</b></a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/retropod/the-oldest-surviving-banjo-recording-1/?utm_term=.fdd2f2aa319c" target="_blank"><b>Listen to the Retropod podcast</b></a><br />
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<b> </b>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-53757581497991671412019-05-23T13:10:00.001+02:002019-05-23T13:10:46.041+02:00Video -- Malina Brothers house concert, in Italy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqgOgdHjY_gB5qDccCgRRMHBzAo6JIfGQ0oe8LoobjGeA8nmRSlE_IBnDN7-2pvDXj7_YqwdHlPpDrEOENSiNlkR18nMTsk6-01hBVpiRw177Lw_Gl655dnIQLJIPnBy-NEwafexuaFRw/s1600/IMG_4873.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqgOgdHjY_gB5qDccCgRRMHBzAo6JIfGQ0oe8LoobjGeA8nmRSlE_IBnDN7-2pvDXj7_YqwdHlPpDrEOENSiNlkR18nMTsk6-01hBVpiRw177Lw_Gl655dnIQLJIPnBy-NEwafexuaFRw/s640/IMG_4873.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
My last post took note of <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.com/2019/04/music-and-imaginary-wild-west-in-cz.html" target="_blank">a concert I attended in April </a> by the Czech bluegrass band <a href="https://www.malinabrothers.cz/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Malina Brothers</a>, with guest appearances by <a href="https://www.charliemccoy.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Charlie McCoy,</a>
the Nashville-based harmonica virtuoso and member of the Country Music
Hall of Fame, and the Czech singer Kat’a Garcia. The concert was sold
out, and got a prolonged standing ovation from the crowd. And it was
being filmed for a live show DVD.<br />
<br />
That concert took place in the Sono Center, a major venue in Brno, CZ, for contemporary music -- the audience numbered 700 or 800.<br />
<br />
Less than a month later, the Malina Brothers, who are old friends of mine, visited Italy -- where they gave a house concert at the home of a friend.<br />
<br />
I managed to live stream it from my phone, on Facebook -- and here it is. It was my first live streaming, so the visual quality is not the best (and it's vertical -- the program didn't let me rotate the phone)... but still. It's a testament to their talent that their same repertoire works in a big theatrical venue like the Sono Center -- and also in the intimate setting of a private living room.<br />
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<b>Set One</b><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="476" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fruthellengruber%2Fvideos%2F10157377691636563%2F&show_text=0&width=267" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="267"></iframe><br />
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<b>Set Two</b><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="476" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fruthellengruber%2Fvideos%2F10157377929571563%2F&show_text=0&width=267" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="267"></iframe><br />
<br />
Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-57734763597694847022019-04-27T17:26:00.001+02:002021-04-30T10:52:31.566+02:00Music - and the Imaginary Wild West in CZ<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9KjACfzh6ksZdowt3NnjFdF4nnDOBJKxNIqCgTLYK-GA0Z0k5xjFa_tur-vcWt3BMGxoWNrG80CbPhUUfkElv7IiNO9K_cN1YJZTUxWAlbtoIQKwFgDb6sK2CKUMoCe4LRpYii5c4d0w/s1600/Brno+Bill.cz+wm1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9KjACfzh6ksZdowt3NnjFdF4nnDOBJKxNIqCgTLYK-GA0Z0k5xjFa_tur-vcWt3BMGxoWNrG80CbPhUUfkElv7IiNO9K_cN1YJZTUxWAlbtoIQKwFgDb6sK2CKUMoCe4LRpYii5c4d0w/s640/Brno+Bill.cz+wm1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
In Brno, Czech Republic, the Imaginary Wild West leaps off a wall….
advertising “the best steaks” in the city at an eatery called <a href="http://www.bill.cz/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">“U Starýho Bill”</a> (At Old Bill’s) that calls itself “a real ‘TEXAS’ restaurant.”<br />
<br />
The wall here was a few steps away from the Sono Center, a major Brno
venue for contemporary music — where I was headed to attend a concert
by the Czech bluegrass band <a href="https://www.malinabrothers.cz/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Malina Brothers</a>, with guest appearances by <a href="https://www.charliemccoy.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Charlie McCoy,</a>
the Nashville-based harmonica virtuoso and member of the Country Music
Hall of Fame, and the Czech singer Kat’a Garcia. The concert was sold
out, and got a prolonged standing ovation from the crowd. And it was
being filmed for a live show DVD.<br />
<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuQYAvWwVJAWgOapoy4zyRE9dVdYx3DUVp6OjcJ5-JH0nuKjeYiaX4Phc4CzvC2Go53vrH6a6egGafsTEn1p5R5dhvB2cNfDVzpPxdfnHtcodvCWWxBJvHMBekUDbzCfCIikMf8TdNAmM/s1600/Brno+Malinas+wm1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuQYAvWwVJAWgOapoy4zyRE9dVdYx3DUVp6OjcJ5-JH0nuKjeYiaX4Phc4CzvC2Go53vrH6a6egGafsTEn1p5R5dhvB2cNfDVzpPxdfnHtcodvCWWxBJvHMBekUDbzCfCIikMf8TdNAmM/s640/Brno+Malinas+wm1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
The Malinas are old friends of mine. Banjo player and
multi-instrumentalist Lubos Malina was one of the founding members of
the great Czechgrass group Druha Trava, and I met him (amazingly) nearly
15 years ago, at one of the many summer bluegrass/country festivals in
CZ, when I first started exploring the Imaginary Wild West in Europe.<br />
<br />
Guitarist Pavel Malina used to play with DT, and fiddler Pepa Malina
still sometimes plays with them. The Malina Brothers band came together
informally at first, but over the past five years or so has developed a
remarkable following in CZ — as the concert in Brno demonstrated.<br />
<br />
The three brothers visited in Italy six years ago and gave a house
concert at the home of a friend. It was the first of a series of house
concerts anchored by Lubos.
The brothers played this arrangement of Smetana at the house concert in
2013 — and at the concert in Brno.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/21vv9UJteDQ" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
On the night after the Brno concert, Pepa Malina performed with Druha
Trava at the start of a a week-long tour with Charlie McCoy — a
sold-out, standing-ovation gig in the town of Ceska Trebova.<br />
<br />
Here’s a video of the run-through before the Ceska Trebova concert:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fdruhatrava%2Fvideos%2F2185589795104223%2F&show_text=0&width=560" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Charlie McCoy has had a standout career in the USA and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009.<br />
<br />
I’ve written about him in the past, on my Sauerkraut Cowboys blog,
because he is quite wellknown in the country music scene outside the
USA. He tours regularly in Europe and elsewhere (i.e. Japan), and he
makes a point to play with European bands and also records with them; he
has <a href="https://www.charliemccoy.com/recordings.php" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">released albums</a> in France, Denmark, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Later this summer he will be touring in Sweden in England.<br />
<br />
Onstage at the concert in Ceska Trebova, he recalled how he met up
with Druha Trava — it was at the festival in Strakonice, CZ, where he
was performing in 2001. DT was also on the bill and asked if he would
join them for a few songs — since then he has toured with them half a
dozen or more times in CZ, released a live album with DT and also
released a CD with The Malina Brothers.<br />
<br />
Here’s a promo video about the Malina Brothers album (partly in Czech, partly in English):<br />
<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cmOFXWhGHxM" width="560"></iframe>
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<br />
I met Charlie back in 2005 during one of his tours with Druha Trava — the concert I saw was at a <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.com/2009/05/more-on-charlie-mccoy-and-also-czech.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">“Days of Texas” festival</a> in the little town of Roznov pod Radnostem, in eastern CZ.<br />
The festival, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/09/travel/roznov-pod-radhostem-czech-folk-heritage-has-its-champion.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">I wrote in an article</a><br />
<br />
<div style="padding-left: 30px;">
<span style="color: #ff6600;">highlighted
the fact that from the mid-19th century until World War I, thousands of
people emigrated from Roznov and other towns and villages in the region
to Texas. Today, Texas has the largest ethnic Czech community of any
state in the United States.</span></div>
<div style="padding-left: 30px;">
<span style="color: #ff6600;">There were
demonstrations of 19th-century farming customs used by the emigrants and
performances by American-style Czech country-western groups, as well as
local folk groups performing Wallachian songs and dances. An exhibition
of quilting featured a big patchwork quilt reading “Texas,” hung
prominently from the upper floor of the old Roznov Town Hall.</span></div>
<div style="padding-left: 30px;">
<br /></div>
Like the Malina Brothers concert in Brno, the Druha Trava/Charlie
McCoy concert in Ceska Trebova drew a standing ovation from an energized
crowd — and lots of autograph-seekers and CD-buyers afterward.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0LYL8U0_kKOJw4AuHxgj8NFqRVMFtBTrwYDjOXbIt-Cy4J3wnZt1e_6bh67ajlv1Ie8GkAwze7DV9Prsi0mGZetDyvxbCDxpSeMICh2GhgVYLpN_njoKyqOMP0wkR8UPM6Nc2q88a8gg/s1600/IMG_4524.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0LYL8U0_kKOJw4AuHxgj8NFqRVMFtBTrwYDjOXbIt-Cy4J3wnZt1e_6bh67ajlv1Ie8GkAwze7DV9Prsi0mGZetDyvxbCDxpSeMICh2GhgVYLpN_njoKyqOMP0wkR8UPM6Nc2q88a8gg/s640/IMG_4524.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
And here we are in Ceska Trebova, backstage.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNQxzzOY9ga3G2UoCHnE2UWjQmLU90G3bFVfizGsUrIPbS9GJfE0WVCnQ_z-aIOTFCMUaf-yKf6nyG2CJpXxo3Q0oOu85k4WokNF7sIR94iNa8l7bsAOcKR337_k8z_whRxmDBn5eVfXE/s1600/IMG_4528.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNQxzzOY9ga3G2UoCHnE2UWjQmLU90G3bFVfizGsUrIPbS9GJfE0WVCnQ_z-aIOTFCMUaf-yKf6nyG2CJpXxo3Q0oOu85k4WokNF7sIR94iNa8l7bsAOcKR337_k8z_whRxmDBn5eVfXE/s640/IMG_4528.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-81402375006030808922018-10-01T12:19:00.000+02:002018-10-01T12:49:39.664+02:00Western theme parks in CZ and PL -- catching up<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyAc3y0-IMd5LU30tiiTtNYr678HI49cd9p9XuFRHe2Dkqg2TnJxccRU7td5RrCf5wUzuhpMbn9bVfBO4JsVTokuvXeZXvbyFdLwDUnIgkLS2LPYhsUPv4wDtYWUCz2gDA2AcnqjGRdfk/s1600/REG+Boskovice+western+july+2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyAc3y0-IMd5LU30tiiTtNYr678HI49cd9p9XuFRHe2Dkqg2TnJxccRU7td5RrCf5wUzuhpMbn9bVfBO4JsVTokuvXeZXvbyFdLwDUnIgkLS2LPYhsUPv4wDtYWUCz2gDA2AcnqjGRdfk/s640/REG+Boskovice+western+july+2018.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me at the Western Park in Boskovice</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I can't believe it's been nearly a year since I updated this blog... time seems to fly faster and faster and, well, I'm lazy...and then again it's easier just to post links on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Sauerkraut-Cowboys-171265162917402/" target="_blank">the Facebook page</a>... But I'll try to do some catching up in the next few days....<br />
<br />
First, Wild West theme parks.<br />
<br />
I managed to get to two of them this summer -- <a href="http://twinpigs.zory.pl/" target="_blank">"Twin Pigs"</a> in Poland, and the <a href="http://www.westernove-mestecko.cz/" target="_blank">Western Park (once called Wild West City</a>) outside Boskovice in the Czech Republic.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-1zgOWReVckBcLCzpITLWgCAlIRvgfu5Wddg4lJHdJN0CmZSN_s7TuUwvI-CUZd_SAXXnz9NUfJB2afQF0ip89rGrQVNHlWrjdZ_AXhKD_DrnoU5aQqSyrttYswR5mdMe5Qnb5haUIq0/s1600/Twin+Pigs+wm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="1050" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-1zgOWReVckBcLCzpITLWgCAlIRvgfu5Wddg4lJHdJN0CmZSN_s7TuUwvI-CUZd_SAXXnz9NUfJB2afQF0ip89rGrQVNHlWrjdZ_AXhKD_DrnoU5aQqSyrttYswR5mdMe5Qnb5haUIq0/s640/Twin+Pigs+wm1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I've visited a number of wild west theme parks in Europe over the years -- they are key elements in the Imaginary Wild West. Real Imaginary spaces that have grown out of dreams, passions, stereotypes, and yearnings -- but also help create them. <br />
<br />
This was my first visit to Twin Pigs -- but the latest of several to Boskovice.<br />
<br />
The Boskovice park was founded in 1994 as a private initiative by a local man, Luboš "Jerry" Procházka, who developed the park in a natural setting in and around a disused sandstone quarry. The first time I visited -- in, I believe, 1997 -- it was out of season and the park was closed; I could only look at it over a fence. But I was struck by the view of the saloon and other movie-set buildings.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3h8iVUchzoy4gQ_cqgjB_uvZbix126nXAMr6LWh9yF4gWS-_95hG7yGUybL8ayUDSVo18J8Gq75_uilf-hENGZ8a9kfhhI8zjaP896NMaE4inRoOa4uvHmXNEGDmidwvD76SgcUHl2NE/s1600/Boskovice+wild+west+1997.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="546" data-original-width="846" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3h8iVUchzoy4gQ_cqgjB_uvZbix126nXAMr6LWh9yF4gWS-_95hG7yGUybL8ayUDSVo18J8Gq75_uilf-hENGZ8a9kfhhI8zjaP896NMaE4inRoOa4uvHmXNEGDmidwvD76SgcUHl2NE/s640/Boskovice+wild+west+1997.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My first view of Wild West City, in 1997 - out of season</td></tr>
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<br />
At that time, I was researching my book "Virtually Jewish" -- about the relationship of non-Jewish people to Jewish culture in Europe. I wrote this in an essay published at the time in <b>The New Leader </b>magazine (and also in my 2008 book <a href="http://austeria.pl/en/product/letters-from-europe-and-elsewhere/" target="_blank"><b>"Letters from Europe (and Elsewhere)")</b></a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Some people compare Europe's current interest in Jewish culture with the United States' interest in Native Americans. To be sure, I have seen Indian dolls wearing beaded costumes for sale in the Denver train station that reminded me of the "Jewish" puppets and figures I have photographed in Prague, Krakow, and Venice. <br /><br /> I was not surprised, therefore, by two posters I found on display in the Boskovice tourist office. One is for a jazz festival whose proceeds are to go toward renovation of the Jewish quarter. The other advertises a rodeo at a place called "Wild West City: Boskovice's Western Town." It features photographs of people dressed up like American Indians riding horses, with corrals, rickety wooden structures and even tepees in the background. A handbill shows a seductive Indian maiden looking over her shoulder. <br /><br /> I found Wild West City on my map, the edge of Boskovice, and stopped there on my way out of town. It is a theme park set up in an old quarry that resembles a stage set from a John Ford movie, replete with a flimsy wooden saloon and general store. A sign at the entrance reads, "Indian Territory." Another notes the kilometers to various spots in the American West -- most of them spelled incorrectly. It's off-season The place is deserted. The only sound is that of hoofbeats, as a costumed employee rides a horse round and round the repro corral.</span></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjufUVeHn8izdkUTjifFrnhVm-pdKQyWL7K2woXEKBHXn0HxgqBkiVHcZzhdZFrAB0-itCKnRoI-VI5Fi73QXFOOXM_TX3N5YSRrNo1yWcilWeXASNOLYh18447hxj7AvMIEcGVLOJXN9c/s1600/Boskovice+WW+2018+wm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="1050" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjufUVeHn8izdkUTjifFrnhVm-pdKQyWL7K2woXEKBHXn0HxgqBkiVHcZzhdZFrAB0-itCKnRoI-VI5Fi73QXFOOXM_TX3N5YSRrNo1yWcilWeXASNOLYh18447hxj7AvMIEcGVLOJXN9c/s640/Boskovice+WW+2018+wm1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boskovice's Wild West main street</td></tr>
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<br />
On subsequent visits over the years, I spoke with Jerry -- who is still the owner and managing director -- and observed the town "in action." It includes the usual wild west tropes -- a "main street," saloon, "boot hill", bank, "Indian Village" etc.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3tdHCM2-4-lfOjsnCctS_1FeIw24TBiwNapVLQV_l1-TgUhlc9461VwZ0XguulpiTYty60NnkkkTkV9qckvA8vGqKAp_NFhi8VPVIvA2G0qjBBxC1dmJc8eJknJpSMzlaYpaRFwIIOrA/s1600/Boskovice+WW+2018+wm5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="1050" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3tdHCM2-4-lfOjsnCctS_1FeIw24TBiwNapVLQV_l1-TgUhlc9461VwZ0XguulpiTYty60NnkkkTkV9qckvA8vGqKAp_NFhi8VPVIvA2G0qjBBxC1dmJc8eJknJpSMzlaYpaRFwIIOrA/s640/Boskovice+WW+2018+wm5.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the Boskovice "Indian Village"</td></tr>
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But I've always found it much more low key and laid back than some of the others I have visited -- there's a dusty slightly rundown feel -- though I did notice on my visit this July that some of the buildings had been repainted since my last visit. There also seemed to be more activity elements aimed at kids.<br />
<br />
The imagery is based on US western movies and Karl May books, but it also is influenced by Czech tramping tropes. The Czech movie <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwhgVyXDr3g" target="_blank">Lemonade Joe,</a> a 1964 spoof of the singing cowboy genre, also plays a role -- in particular with the big "advertising" mural for "Kola Loka" -- the sarsparilla type drink enjoyed by the movie's hero.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF4_uGOun8WNDj5d-g7mtMW9iHhCv9sARklOkrl0i5UXpOyi6rAMfUzSma-EJ6YPMXjE8pAmZP2NYfomhTfay86s5bY-e75-AgrwBFy-RKVy3ZND0uhRQVEjYVnL3iVIC231Z8OpGSazw/s1600/Boskovice+WW+2018+wm2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="1050" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF4_uGOun8WNDj5d-g7mtMW9iHhCv9sARklOkrl0i5UXpOyi6rAMfUzSma-EJ6YPMXjE8pAmZP2NYfomhTfay86s5bY-e75-AgrwBFy-RKVy3ZND0uhRQVEjYVnL3iVIC231Z8OpGSazw/s640/Boskovice+WW+2018+wm2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiLU04FZKuLe21dnqlzpunivrO-Ps97yJstZ2YFKUUYsBtKcqA_dqhX7gwN5VRqbaTp-rSuDWjRkGjngrmz-564R6UjrNizIfcADdJxpD_Bi8yYz7pnFK_8dF7d5SH1UnSDbmbKNPOjyM/s1600/sauerkraut-wm7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="533" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiLU04FZKuLe21dnqlzpunivrO-Ps97yJstZ2YFKUUYsBtKcqA_dqhX7gwN5VRqbaTp-rSuDWjRkGjngrmz-564R6UjrNizIfcADdJxpD_Bi8yYz7pnFK_8dF7d5SH1UnSDbmbKNPOjyM/s640/sauerkraut-wm7.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Performance at Boskovice Wild West city in 2004</td></tr>
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The park includes an <a href="http://www.westernove-mestecko.cz/atrakce/divadlo" target="_blank">outdoor theatre</a>
where live performances take place -- I didn't see one this summer (it
apparently was based on the shootout at the OK Corral) but some years
back I took in a performance based on Karl May's Winnetou characters.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOwdAQ402_yoqsJjyVKJvRQ-8yiZR-qlrjqoNWrfulq1YBA110vQp4oY_jJcAfedwtKztxmg1sROwSbM1P1EO4DcxKCZ-z9MkwCLgSFlfms9gJpHPo3rns_ou2Vx3GNqZLbJd_uB7ad70/s1600/Twin+Pigs+wm7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="1050" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOwdAQ402_yoqsJjyVKJvRQ-8yiZR-qlrjqoNWrfulq1YBA110vQp4oY_jJcAfedwtKztxmg1sROwSbM1P1EO4DcxKCZ-z9MkwCLgSFlfms9gJpHPo3rns_ou2Vx3GNqZLbJd_uB7ad70/s640/Twin+Pigs+wm7.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Twin Pigs, located in southern Poland near Zory, off a main highway, is a somewhat different story, It employs the same general skeleton, but has quite a different feel: a purpose-built construct born out of a commercial business plan rather than from personal passion.<br />
<br />
Opened in 2012, it is described as an amusement park, and it is much more "top down," planned out, and hard-edged than Boskovice, with its grassroots origin and -- despite recent improvements -- still rather amateur feel.<br />
<br />
There is a regular lay-out along the Main Street, and also a ferris wheel, roller coaster, and other rides, restaurants, a 5D theater, and children's activity trails. Lots of red-white-and-blue bunting and American flags (and a few Confederate ones, too).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitLTirei0Xe1u5-wE4k453YOPdTSPfwV_EWfZgQ2q8pqdP_S3JqlQcQJk_BaM2j7HwQ1Qq_oowgEoQf2mMGmBsVAzBMx5pfnHJ9AwHt2CYkCZS1_FK_LtO_LZGDy7c2dTqBubWlc8p_qo/s1600/Twin+Pigs+wm2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="1050" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitLTirei0Xe1u5-wE4k453YOPdTSPfwV_EWfZgQ2q8pqdP_S3JqlQcQJk_BaM2j7HwQ1Qq_oowgEoQf2mMGmBsVAzBMx5pfnHJ9AwHt2CYkCZS1_FK_LtO_LZGDy7c2dTqBubWlc8p_qo/s640/Twin+Pigs+wm2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Twin Pigs main street, toward saloon</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Twin Pigs Indian Village</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiizQYSynguFOejMJd10VUFqL1icgDaEw2EsEhocfOX8ngt2fkm1KCR7JRfQMaKOD_70L_kznccd-AKzzVFhBO_F5_2pzl1exNKw7WnIWkYD9-nUg0FlXl_BxYQpA5pcS8GHcE5eJsvy1g/s1600/Twin+Pigs+wm5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="1050" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiizQYSynguFOejMJd10VUFqL1icgDaEw2EsEhocfOX8ngt2fkm1KCR7JRfQMaKOD_70L_kznccd-AKzzVFhBO_F5_2pzl1exNKw7WnIWkYD9-nUg0FlXl_BxYQpA5pcS8GHcE5eJsvy1g/s640/Twin+Pigs+wm5.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Twin Pigs ferris wheel</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Twin Pigs Main Street</td></tr>
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<br />
<a href="http://www.westernove-mestecko.cz/" target="_blank"><b>Western Park Boskovice web site</b></a><br />
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<a href="http://twinpigs.zory.pl/" target="_blank"><b>Twin Pigs web site</b></a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwhgVyXDr3g" target="_blank"><b>Watch the movie Lemonade Joe</b></a><br />
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-66463890879115899862017-10-21T12:15:00.002+02:002017-10-21T12:19:05.316+02:00Wearing cowboy on his skin (in Bavaria)<br />
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I've been visiting <a href="http://wjb.sk/" target="_blank">Willie Jones, </a>the American-born singer whose been based in Germany for more than 30 years and is one of the standouts on the European country scene. He has a new compilation CD coming out this fall, and I wrote the liner notes.<br />
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Willie is one of the first people I met in Europe's Imaginary Wild West -- back in 2003, when he was the strolling singer at the Pullman City wild west theme park (I was writing an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/11/travel/deep-in-the-heart-of-bavaria.html?_r=0" target="_blank">article for the New York Times </a>on European wild west theme parks). We went on a memorable road trip to a country roadhouse in southern Bohemia ... the first time I heard "The Okie From Muskogee" sung in Czech.... I last saw his about a year and a half ago, at the "mini Dobrofest" festival in Trnava, Slovakia (which I wrote about <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.de/2016/03/mini-dobrofest-dobro-still-means-good.html" target="_blank"><b>HERE</b></a>).<br />
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Last night I went with Willie to a club gig in a village in Bavaria, near Regensburg: he played bass backup for a German duo called Bud 'n' Cellar, and also sang....country-infused rock and pop.<br />
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The club was packed -- and the fans demanded -- DEMANDED -- DEMANDED -- that they play "Country Roads" -- two times! I have posted about <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.de/2014/11/country-roads-again-in-transliteration.html" target="_blank">the significance of this song </a>in the European country scene. <br />
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I was particularly fascinated by the tattoos sported by one of the group's friends. He wore his enthusiasm on his skin.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLJwGhLl-xjA6tcU_1CosgpNbfmeiXtFXErkWE-u7jx_OUQUi4PGt74BfjnfpQZlhxbPlhRFtCLQIvb-5tpAG1Jq6oEUEuxgjJ5gpDcj4dynrZOaGcGEzL8yiD9tcJCAFIQnjDTc18Kwc/s1600/sauerkraut+Oct.+20+2017-wm2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLJwGhLl-xjA6tcU_1CosgpNbfmeiXtFXErkWE-u7jx_OUQUi4PGt74BfjnfpQZlhxbPlhRFtCLQIvb-5tpAG1Jq6oEUEuxgjJ5gpDcj4dynrZOaGcGEzL8yiD9tcJCAFIQnjDTc18Kwc/s640/sauerkraut+Oct.+20+2017-wm2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
Here's another couple of pics from the gig:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic-OfbZohxwnESSs4i8txuEjEiDiPXgShyb6fQsDZVAx9pWk4QaJcycuMND6xnpnA_68VelvwSm-UeTx7TOh8SxNg0oTCEfHm_VCTSctbRYWbMTdEkWjeHRcizkHkNaXKp4gkYHOLl808/s1600/sauerkraut+Oct.+20+2017-wm4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic-OfbZohxwnESSs4i8txuEjEiDiPXgShyb6fQsDZVAx9pWk4QaJcycuMND6xnpnA_68VelvwSm-UeTx7TOh8SxNg0oTCEfHm_VCTSctbRYWbMTdEkWjeHRcizkHkNaXKp4gkYHOLl808/s640/sauerkraut+Oct.+20+2017-wm4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-92004004863978443812017-09-03T16:33:00.001+02:002017-09-03T16:33:19.363+02:00Jews, Americana, Bluegrass, Jewgrass...<br />
This is slightly off topic, but here's an article I wrote for Hadassah Magazine about the involvement of American Jews in bluegrass and Americana music, focusing on the current crop of musicians but also providing some background on what is a decades-long involvement.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/2017/08/17/jews-plus-bluegrass-equals-toe-stompin-jewgrass/" target="_blank"><b>Jews Plus Bluegrass Equals Toe-Stompin' Jewgrass</b></a><br />
<br />
<div class="entry-header">
<div class="entry-meta">
By <span class="entry-author" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/Person"><a class="entry-author-link" href="http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/author/ruth-ellen-gruber/" itemprop="url" rel="author"><span class="entry-author-name" itemprop="name">Ruth Ellen Gruber</span></a></span> August 2017</div>
</div>
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<br />
<div class="p1">
Banjo picker Eric Lindberg loves with a passion the
distinctive harmonies of the acoustic country music known as bluegrass.
However, he says, as a Jew, he long felt “a bit out of the loop.<br />
</div>
<div class="p1">
“Much of the work from the inception and early days of
bluegrass is deeply spiritual and Christian based,” says the
dark-haired, darkbearded 30-something Lindberg, who also plays guitar.
“Musically, I could connect with the songs on every level, but my
identity as a Jew from Brooklyn always kept me from truly identifying
with them.”<br />
</div>
<div class="p1">
The solution? He and his wife, singer Doni Zasloff, formed a bluegrass band called <a href="http://nefeshmountain.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Nefesh Mountain</a> whose
original songs meld bluegrass and old-time licks with lyrics reflecting
Jewish traditions. “Nefesh is a Hebrew word which loosely translates as
the soul or animating spirit of all living things,” they explain on the
band’s website. “The mountain is a cross-cultural symbol used widely in
Jewish text as well as in bluegrass and old-time musical forms.”<br />
</div>
<div class="p1">
Bluegrass and old-time are two different approaches to
traditional 20th-century American roots music, performed by ensembles
made up mainly of stringed instruments such as fiddle, banjo, mandolin
and guitar.<br />
</div>
<div class="p1">
Nefesh Mountain’s 2016 debut album featured bluegrass
greats Sam Bush, Mark Schatz, Scott Vestal, Rob Ickes and Gary Oleyar,
and it included songs called “Singin’ Jewish Girl” and “Adonai Loves
Me.” Lindberg and Zasloff are among the current crop of musicians who
blend their deep-seated Jewish identities with an equally deep
connection to traditional roots music—a fusion that some performers and
critics dub “Jewgrass.”<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
<div class="p1">
New Orleans-based <a href="http://jewofoklahoma.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Mark Rubin</a>, 51, a veteran of both the American roots and klezmer scenes, takes a different tack on his new album, <a href="http://jewofoklahoma.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Songs for the Hangman’s Daughter</em></a>.
In songs such as “Southern Jews Is Good News” and “Teshuvah,” Rubin,
who was born in Stillwater, Okla., bluntly attempts to reconcile his
experience as a culturally Jewish musician in the American South.</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
“It is not religious music in the usual sense,” says music
critic Ari Davidow. Rubin “is in-your-face about who he is and how he
doesn’t fit stereotypes. He is not just making a statement to
anti-Semites who see Jews as aliens, but also to Jews of the coasts who
find it alien to imagine that there are Jews who live in redneck
territory, proudly embracing redneck values.”</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
The involvement of Jews with American roots music goes
back decades, to the folk and old-time music revival that kicked off in
the late 1950s and in which Jewish musician, musicologist and filmmaker
John Cohen was a key figure. (Today, one of the top bluegrass artists is
Jewish musician Noam Pikelny, recipient of the first annual Steve
Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass in 2010, though he
does not address his Jewish identity in his music.)</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Mandolin and clarinet virtuoso Andy Statman and
award-winning scholar and performer Henry Sapoznik, now director of the
Mayrent Institute for Yiddish Culture at the University of Wisconsin,
were both pioneers of the klezmer revival movement. They had been
steeped in old-time and bluegrass before turning to Yiddish sources in
the 1970s.</div>
</div>
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<br />
.... <a href="http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/2017/08/17/jews-plus-bluegrass-equals-toe-stompin-jewgrass/" target="_blank"><i>Read full article</i></a>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-43893556132596582822017-07-14T10:28:00.002+02:002017-07-14T10:31:37.928+02:00Country Music... from Iran<div style="text-align: center;">
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<br />
I've just learned about and Iranian-born country artist -- <span style="color: #0c343d;">Erfan "Elf" Rezayatbakhsh</span> -- who a founded a country band -- <a href="http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/meet-the-dream-rovers-irans-hardcore-traditional-country-band/" target="_blank">The Dream Rovers </a>-- a few years ago and has tried to bring country music to his home country.<br />
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<br />
The web site <a href="http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/meet-the-dream-rovers-irans-hardcore-traditional-country-band/" target="_blank">"Saving Country Music"</a> wrote in an article and interview in January:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #0c343d;">He’s a singer and
songwriter from Tehran, and along with guitar player Ahmad Motevassel,
they are the Dream Rovers.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #0c343d;">This is not some weird-sounding Iranian techno music with a banjo
slid in there to certify it as “country.” The first album of the Dream
Rovers was a covers record that included old country music classics like
Tennessee Ernie Ford’s “Sixteen Tons,” and Merle Haggard’s “Hungry
Eyes.” The band first formed as the Persian Rovers in January of 2007,
and shorty after were forced to go on a hiatus after Elf was conscripted
into the Iranian military service. After a few personnel changes, the
band re-formed as the Dream Rovers—Iran’s first country music band.</span></span></span></blockquote>
<br />
Here's "Superstar," their first official video, released in 2011. The song was insired by Taylor Swift: <br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z3ngdClmZuU" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<br />
The Saving Country Music article tates:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #0c343d;">Though most of Western music in Iran can only exist in forbidden,
underground channels, Elf and the Dream Rovers were able to present
their music publicly at the Sharif University of Technology (SUT) in
Tehran on multiple occasions, and for audiences of more than 500 people.</span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><i>“I was born and raised in a country that has absolutely zero background in country music,” </i>Elf tells Saving Country Music.<i>
“Yet I am very passionate about preserving the true country music,
which is the most important and authentic part of the American heritage
and culture and introduce it to the people of Iran through workshops,
concerts, and the release of albums and singles.”</i></span></span></span></blockquote>
<br />
Here's a video of the band performing at the university:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_-HctnJRQEM" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
Elf went on to study country music in the East Tennessee State University’s bluegrass, old time, and country music
program in Johnson City, Tennessee and graduated Summa cum Laude in 2014. He now lives in Canada.<br />
<br />
He and his music were brought to my attention by ETSU Prof. Lee Bidgood, who teaches in the old time and bluegrass program -- and who has been a friend, advisor and sounding board on issues of "the imaginary west" and country music outisde the US ever since we met more than a dozen years ago. Lee's book on Czech bluegrass is coming out this fall, and it is he who was the driving force behind the documentary on Czech Bluegrass, <a href="http://banjoromantika.com/" target="_blank">Banjo Romantika</a>, in which I am an onscreen commentator.<br />
<br />
The Saving Country Music article concludes -- echoing the words and attitudes of many European country artists:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;">Erfan “Elf” Rezayatbakhsh and the Dream Rovers may not be your next
favorite honky tonk band, but you may also be surprised by their
knowledge of country music and proficiency. Like many country music
artists and bands from non English-speaking countries, some of the
subtleties of the art form can get lost in the translation. But that
says nothing about the heart and dedication Elf has brought to the
music, recording country songs in both English and his native tongue,
and illustrating how even country music, which seems so characteristic
of a specific place, can defy borders, and perforate insular
environments and the inherent differences between the American and
Iranian mindset.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><i>“When there is music, nobody thinks of fighting,” </i>says Elf.<i>
“That’s why I came to the United States—not only to study country music
in its homeland, but also to travel to the country which had been
introduced to me by the media in Iran as ‘the enemy’ and ‘the great
Satan’ and see the people, talk to them, and learn about their culture
through them.”</i></span></blockquote>
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/meet-the-dream-rovers-irans-hardcore-traditional-country-band/" target="_blank"><b>Click to read the full article</b></a><br />
<br />
<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-67794394592431107082017-07-06T18:46:00.000+02:002017-07-06T20:15:30.667+02:00I'm writing about Winnetou....!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCpDWWLMLOqwqGA3KYAaSeqRALecIuRcOsMvOxJK4wk2z3iFrJos22FS7dC3VdqiWYaMQH0cJvfVAk1hSEHGP5Z2yf4GzeU_nW9yiwOLnr3645fFWTCu14Fn85STjISL2sWlcwt1Gn_EA/s1600/reiten_wir_cover3_kl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1128" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCpDWWLMLOqwqGA3KYAaSeqRALecIuRcOsMvOxJK4wk2z3iFrJos22FS7dC3VdqiWYaMQH0cJvfVAk1hSEHGP5Z2yf4GzeU_nW9yiwOLnr3645fFWTCu14Fn85STjISL2sWlcwt1Gn_EA/s400/reiten_wir_cover3_kl.jpg" width="281" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I’m delighted and excited to have been asked to write the Foreword to “<a href="https://www.amazon.de/Reiten-wir-Phantastikautoren-f%C3%BCr-Karl/dp/3946425321/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495531849&sr=8-1&keywords=reiten+wir" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><b>Reiten Wir!</b></a>”
— an anthology of new short stories based on Karl May characters to be
published in October as part of events and initiatives this year marking May’s
175th birthday.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsq-cky5sfpk3oTUKSuz6AF73zWluIii2AdUEeg7DkgidPSn7OU1PLbGf1rMsYqS-dOE2h7NWSm9UIkwIhND52oQHToRinZD1MgrUdDx2amvbD_P_6b3VAk2ry6g7RPw7H7EDjCcoq_nM/s1600/gojko+mitic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsq-cky5sfpk3oTUKSuz6AF73zWluIii2AdUEeg7DkgidPSn7OU1PLbGf1rMsYqS-dOE2h7NWSm9UIkwIhND52oQHToRinZD1MgrUdDx2amvbD_P_6b3VAk2ry6g7RPw7H7EDjCcoq_nM/s400/gojko+mitic.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gojko Mitic as Winnetou</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Proceeds and royalties will go to support the <a href="http://www.karl-may-museum.de/web/start.php" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Karl May Museum </a>in Radebeul, Germany.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7uMy9NSoXJG51QT5eixWrb0TO-iX_Vq2BijTbk83D8TkJ_t9c-k-1o75Y0OTChqv3spZv5zeH4LQOSwmcvE0ZiXxcEGfXjFNPtRsgj0VpuH_iaWCxE7A0rVl6cKe-sHERm8K8Mrf47H4/s1600/DSC01669.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1071" data-original-width="1600" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7uMy9NSoXJG51QT5eixWrb0TO-iX_Vq2BijTbk83D8TkJ_t9c-k-1o75Y0OTChqv3spZv5zeH4LQOSwmcvE0ZiXxcEGfXjFNPtRsgj0VpuH_iaWCxE7A0rVl6cKe-sHERm8K8Mrf47H4/s400/DSC01669.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karl May theme beer at the Karl May festival in Radebeul, some years back</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
My first exposure to the Imaginary Wild West in Europe (and Karl May) dates back to 1966, when my family spent the summer in Prague -- my father was leading an archaeological dig in the village of Bylany, near Kutna Hora, east of Prague.<br />
<br />
In preparation for writing my Foreword, I dug out the diary I kept that summer -- and where I noted the Czech fascination with Winnetou and the Wild West.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;">"Cowboys 7 Indians are BIG. Esp. the W. German (I think) movies <u>Winnetou</u> and <u>Old Shatterhand. </u>In almost every store window you see color postcards &/or slides with scenes from the films being sold [;] I have seen Winnetou candy bars, books, a poster in a record store for the Winnetou music etc. W. is apparently the solemn-faced 'Indian' (typically clthed) who looks like either Sal Mineo or Paul Newman (or both). Shirts, brown with fake buckskin fringe & laced neck are advertised as ARIZONA, & next to them re TEXAS blue jeans....[...] More Winnetou junk: iron on patches, special blue jeans, new cards, packs of cards of the actor who plays Winnetou. Magazine cover..."</span></blockquote>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkF7sw0BnCkFoTXEHqin71-mnP5ZKHA_JCh7kwoPuTMFlSHgEB0PNAraXl2Llz6MQGBBNtuXotXJOVhQmYTaVnR2zSYS7bawKxTOnW8LJp_-IkmnKaDBGiV8tSApxlMYtXUYdh57SQQrk/s1600/IMG_1964.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkF7sw0BnCkFoTXEHqin71-mnP5ZKHA_JCh7kwoPuTMFlSHgEB0PNAraXl2Llz6MQGBBNtuXotXJOVhQmYTaVnR2zSYS7bawKxTOnW8LJp_-IkmnKaDBGiV8tSApxlMYtXUYdh57SQQrk/s400/IMG_1964.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karl May and Indian stuff, on display in Germany</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Later in the summer, I watched <u>Winnetou</u>, the movie, on television.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;">"It was a pretty bad movie but interesting for a couple things. The cast was international. Herbert Lom was the baddie & Lex Barker Old Shatterhand. These two are US I think. Pierre Brice (French) was Winnetou. Then there were British & others. I think it was filmed in Yugoslavia. I don't know in what language -- it was dubbed in Czech. This was the first time [in a movie] I ever hear an Indian (Winnetou) who didn't have a deep voice. He was high & thin & nasal. Also, the Indians were goodies."</span></blockquote>
<br />
Our family went to a live performance of the operetta "Rose Marie" (of "Indian Love Call" fame), set in the Canadian west. It starred the pop singer Waldemar Matuska who, I wrote "is a big star here. His pictures are in the shop windows and magazines & record stores almost as much as Winnetou."<br />
<br />
I decided that Matuska would be my favorite singer and bought a picture postcard of him (which I still have) to go with the ones I bought of the French actor, Pierre Brice, who played Winnetou in the movies.<br />
<br />
Many years later, when I first started seriously researching the Imaginary Wild West and the European country music scene, I met Matuska, who was headlining of the first Czech country festivals I attended (in around 2004).<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7sIHcOkU91id2Gl_UjjjBzb2mgQpTIF8gAjRuTFPRDpG-C7o2GXYJeAYRgbjd6Xo4mBb4pjswbzZm3j-fWKmPWHonl_BXazx8ROPJViUxAZ-CQPO3rmeA8WQpscLgvL1toJJNr3BFrbE/s1600/IMG_0346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="360" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7sIHcOkU91id2Gl_UjjjBzb2mgQpTIF8gAjRuTFPRDpG-C7o2GXYJeAYRgbjd6Xo4mBb4pjswbzZm3j-fWKmPWHonl_BXazx8ROPJViUxAZ-CQPO3rmeA8WQpscLgvL1toJJNr3BFrbE/s400/IMG_0346.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Matuska, who had moved to the United States in the 1980s, died in 2009.<br />
<br />
I <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.it/search/label/Waldemar%20Matuska" target="_blank">wrote at the time on this blog</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;">Matuska was a towering figure in Czech popular music and culture and was
instrumental in popularizing American folk and country music to the
Czech audience. (Singing, as was required under communism, Czech lyrics
to American songs.) He also appeared in the seminal 1964 movie "Limonady
Joe" -- a wonderful send-up of the singing cowboy genre of movies and a
classic of Czech cinema.<br /><br />Matuska was important to me in my
connection with Eastern Europe, and in my feel for the music and popular
culture of the Czech Republic in particular. He became my idol when, as
a kid, I spent the summer in Prague with my family in the 1960s. I
bought picture postcards of him -- he was lean, bearded and extremely
handsome. And I convinced my entire family to go hear him at a rather
weird performance of "Rosemarie" at a sort of indoor sports
arena...Matuska played the role of the mountie that was taken by Nelson
Eddy in the classic movie. I remember that it was a rather static
performance, as they all seemed to sing to the microphones that were
hanging prominently above the stage...<br /><br />When I actually met
Matuska decades later, at the Strakonice Jamboree folk and bluegrass
festival in the Czech Republic in 2004, it was a remarkably emotional
experience. I had just begun following the European country scene, and
Strakonice was my first Czech festival. And there he was -- the idol of
my youth!<br /><br />Matuska -- who had "defected" to the United States in
1986 but, after the fall of communism, returned frequently to CZ to tour
-- was the headline act. Heavier, even bloated-looking, with clearly
dyed hair, he didn't look much like the slim, handsome singer/actor of
the 1960s, but he had the audience in the palm of his hand.<br /><br />I
went backstage and spent 20 minutes or so talking with him. I felt shy
and fluttery! What I remember are his hands -- very small and delicate,
with polished nails and an almost dainty ring.</span></blockquote>
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-63455939449712033012016-10-30T18:50:00.004+01:002016-10-31T10:29:34.907+01:00Spaghetti Cowboys: Country fest in Bologna. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The arrow points the way</td></tr>
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Last Sunday I spent an afternoon at a <a href="http://festivalcountry.it/" target="_blank">country western festival in Bologna, Italy</a>. It was the very last day of the two weekends that the festival took place, and I was eager to see what it was like: though I have been to wild west and country festivals in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, France and the Czech Republic, I have only been to a couple of them in Italy.<br />
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This one, called "Festival Country," took place at the Bologna Fairgrounds, and it shared space in a cavernous hall with a sort of "October Fest" beer festival (featuring what was presented as German food). In a separate cavernous hall there was a so-called "Irish Festival."<br />
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The path to all three led through the grim industrial landscape of the Fair buildings.....<br />
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Once there, what did I find?<br />
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The scene -- at least on the day I was there -- was a sort of distillation of all the most common stereotypes associated with "the west," "the frontier," "country-western," and, in a certain way, "America." It was almost "paint-by-numbers"-- but refreshingly, in contrast to festivals in other countries, I only saw one Confederate flag.<br />
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I was hit by a fist of sound as soon as a entered -- from a band (whose name I didn't get) playing on a stage in the middle of the hall: playing so loud that that the sound was utterly distorted, with only the bass and the beat discernable.<br />
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The <a href="http://festivalcountry.it/" target="_blank">web site</a> promised shows, concerts, food and drink, "pioneers and westerns", Indian traditions, games, and handicrafts.<br />
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At the entrance to the cavernous hall stood a manikin of a Native American, posed outside a tepee as if to pounce.<br />
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Nearby, there were basic-type mock ups of a Saloon, a bank, and a corral -- which is where, I believe, shows were staged.<br />
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All around the edges there were stands selling cowboy boots, cowboy hats, T-shirts, "western attire" and the usual type of wild west tschotsches -- most of which I rather assume were made in China or somewhere. Unlike at some other festivals I've been so, there was not much of the participatory or performative dress-up.<br />
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There was a dance floor for line-dancing (increasingly popular in Italy) in front of the band-stand.<br />
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And beyond this were lots of tables where people could eat -- the "western" fare included a variety of (mainly) meats, giant hamburgers and other dishes that to me seemed pretty unappetizing (I ate fish & chips in the Irish festival). This being Italy there was also pasta -- but thanks to the Americanness of it all, it was the first time I have ever seen "spaghetti and meatballs" in Italy.<br />
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One thing that was different from some of the festivals I've gone to elsewhere was a series of lectures given on "western" topics, such as western movies. I dropped into one of them -- where an Italian from an organization called <a href="http://www.sentierorosso.com/" target="_blank">Sentiero Rosso (Red Trail)</a> that supports Native American rights was talking about how his group brings aid to Native American families.<br />
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I was planning to stay at the festival until evening (the last train back to Florence was at something like 9:30 p.m.), but in fact, I only lasted a few hours....I'm sad to say that was it all so empty, stereotyped, and superficial that it wasn't really fun.<br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-8967338777126299302016-10-30T18:50:00.002+01:002016-10-31T10:25:36.452+01:00Spaghetti (& Meatballs) Cowboys: Country fest in Bologna. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The arrow points the way</td></tr>
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In late October I spent an afternoon at a <a href="http://festivalcountry.it/" target="_blank">country western festival in Bologna, Italy</a>. It was the very last day of the two weekends that the festival took place, and I was eager to see what it was like: though I have been to wild west and country festivals in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.it/2012/07/french-festivals.html" target="_blank">France</a> and the Czech Republic, I have only been to a couple of them in Italy.<br />
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This one, called "Festival Country," took place at the Bologna Fairgrounds, and it shared space in a cavernous hall with a sort of "October Fest" beer festival (featuring what was presented as German food). In a separate cavernous hall there was a so-called "Irish Festival:" vaguely Celtic music, and stalls that mainly seemed to sell "Lord of the Rings" type clothing.....<br />
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The path to all three led through the grim industrial landscape of the Fair buildings.....<br />
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Once there, what did I find?<br />
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The scene -- at least on the day I was there -- was a sort of distillation of all the most common cliches and stereotypes associated with "the west," "the frontier," "country-western," and, in a certain way, "America." It was almost "paint-by-numbers"-- but refreshingly, in contrast to festivals in other countries, I only saw one Confederate flag.<br />
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I was hit by a fist of sound as soon as a entered -- from a band (whose name I didn't get) playing on a stage in the middle of the hall: playing so loud that that the sound was utterly distorted, with only the bass and the beat discernable.<br />
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The <a href="http://festivalcountry.it/" target="_blank">web site</a> promised shows, concerts, food and drink, "pioneers and westerns", Indian traditions, games, and handicrafts.<br />
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At the entrance to the cavernous hall stood a manikin of a Native American, posed outside a tepee as if to pounce.<br />
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Or, of course, post for pictures.<br />
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Nearby, there were basic-type mock ups of a Saloon, a bank, and a corral -- which is where, I believe, shows were staged.<br />
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All around the edges there were stands selling cowboy boots, cowboy hats, T-shirts, "western attire" and the usual type of wild west tschotsches -- most of which I rather assume were made in China or somewhere. Unlike at some other festivals I've been so, there was not much of the participatory or performative dress-up.<br />
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There was a dance floor for line-dancing (increasingly popular in Italy) in front of the band-stand.<br />
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And beyond this were lots of tables where people could eat -- the "western" fare included a variety of (mainly) meats, giant hamburgers and other dishes that to me seemed pretty unappetizing (I ate fish & chips in the Irish festival). This being Italy there was also pasta -- but thanks to the Americanness of it all, it was the first time I have ever seen "spaghetti and meatballs" in Italy.<br />
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One thing that was different from some of the festivals I've gone to elsewhere was a series of lectures given on "western" topics, such as western movies. I dropped into one of them -- where an Italian from an organization called <a href="http://www.sentierorosso.com/" target="_blank">Sentiero Rosso (Red Trail)</a> that supports Native American rights was talking about how his group brings aid to Native American families.<br />
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I was planning to stay at the festival until evening (the last train back to Florence was at something like 9:30 p.m.), but in fact, I only lasted a few hours....I'm sad to say that was it all so empty, stereotyped, and superficial -- and that, despite the razzle dazzle and noise, there was such a lack of energy -- that it wasn't really fun. <br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-19107027834550080032016-03-12T18:25:00.000+01:002016-03-12T18:53:13.887+01:00Mini Dobrofest -- Dobro still means good in any language<div class="tr_bq">
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Last night was a homecoming of sorts, in Trnava, Slovakia -- an hours-long concert in honor of John Dopyera, who with his brothers invented the dobro, or resonator guitar.<br />
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Last night's concert was also billed as a "mini-Dobrofest" -- a much smaller, but still fun successor to the Dobrofest festival that for years took place in Trnava to celebrate the instrument and its creators.<br />
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Dobrofest was founded in 1992, just when Slovakia was gaining independence through its "velvet divorce" from the Czech Republic. The country was, subconsciously perhaps, looking for national heroes, and Dopyera became one -- the archetypical local boy who made good, even though he left the country to do so.... Dopyera was born in the village of Dolna Krupa, near Trnava, in 1893 and emigrated to the United States with his family in 1908. They ended up in California...<br />
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Year after year, Dobrofest brought top international musicians to Trnava, including the Americans Peter Rowan, Bob Brozman and Jerry Douglas -- as well as local bands.<br />
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Here's a video of Peter Rowan performing with the Czech band Druha Trava at Dobrofest in 2005:</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YUta4xL_b88/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YUta4xL_b88?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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But Dobrofest <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.sk/search?q=dobrofest" target="_blank">sort of ended for lack of funds</a> in 2008 and then sputtered into mini-fests after that.<br />
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I attended it several times, the first time in 2003, when main events were held in the town's main square as well as in other venues, including one of the synagogues.</div>
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Last night's concert took place in a music cafe that is part of a huge new stadium and shopping mall complex. I met up with some of my oldest friends in Europe's Imaginary Wild West and country music scene.</div>
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The headliner was <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.sk/2009/11/germany-willy-jones-back-at-pullman.html" target="_blank">Willie Jones </a>and his band. A big bear of a man with a full beard, Willie (and bandmember Roman Ac) were two of the very first people I met in the scene -- back in 2003, when he was working as the "singing cowboy" of the Pullman City wild west theme park in Bavaria.</div>
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I was working on an article for the New York Times back then, and I followed Willie and Roman on an adventure into the Czech country world.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Willie Jones and Roman Ac in Trnava March 11, 2016</td></tr>
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As I wrote in <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.sk/2008/12/cowboy-and-country-western-saloons.html" target="_blank">an earlier post on this blog</a></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><br />One of my first experiences in the Imaginary Wild West was, in fact, a cowboy-style party in a country-western roadhouse in a remote village in southern Bohemia....I was led there by Willie Jones, an American who at the time was working as a singing cowboy at the Pullman City wild west theme park in Bavaria. Along with a Slovak bluegrass group, we traveled in a three-car convoy from Pullman City into CZ.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000;">The road house was in a village too small to appear on my map. From the outside it looked like an anonymous village restaurant, but inside it was decorated with Wild West paraphernalia including horseshoes, sepia photographs of Native Americans and Billy the Kid, and a framed arrangement of pistols and playing cards.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000;">The occasion for the party was the 50th birthday of Franz Zetihammel, a figure well known on the Czech and German western show circuit for his portrayals “Fuzzy,” an “old coot” persona harking back to characters played by comic western actors such as Gabby Hayes or Walter Brennan. Fuzzy has long straggly grey hair and beard and never appears in public without his cowboy hat, cowboy boots and turquoise bolo tie and other jewelry.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000;">A Czech country duo got the guests up and dancing with locally written Czech country songs and Czech covers of American hits such as John Denver’s “Country Roads” and even “I’m and Okie from Muskokee.”</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000;">One of the party guests, a man in his forties, was dressed head to toe in full cowboy attire, including sheriff’s star and a six-shooter – which Fuzzy at one point pulled from its holster, brandished at the dancers and then fired at the ceiling – fortunately, it was loaded with blanks....</span></blockquote>
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Other artists on the line-up last night were the award-winning Czech guitarist Jakub Racek, the English singer Dave Peabody (who duetted with a Bratislava-born fiddler, the only woman onstage...), and the Slovak dobro player Peter Sabados.<br />
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The show last night was MC'd by Peter "Bonzo" Radvanyi -- the bluesy local performer who had been the driving force behind Dobrofest. He ended the show by getting everyone to sing a sort of "Dobro chant" that had ended the festival events in its heyday.<br />
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And then he got everyone one stage to do this -- at the very end of the show<br />
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I sat with a table of friends in the front row -- they were people who really helped me in my quest to follow the scene over the years and explain the fascination with American country style, country music, bluegrass, and all that goes with it. Thanks guys!<br />
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-37076666738550062922015-08-22T17:28:00.002+02:002015-08-22T17:39:57.044+02:00Equiblues 2015!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This was the third time I have been to the Equiblues rodeo and country music festival in St. Agreve, France -- an annual event that draws upwards of 25,000 people and that this year was celebrating its 20th edition.<br />
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It was one of the first big country-western festivals I attended (back in 2004) when I first started following the "scene". Last time I was there was 3 years ago -- read what I wrote back then <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.it/2012/08/equiblues.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> and <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.it/2012/08/more-on-equiblues-2012.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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Equiblues lasts the better part of a week, but this year, I only was able to make it there for Friday evening and Saturday, and -- alas -- I missed all of the rodeo -- though I saw some of the cowboy mounted shooting competition.<br />
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One of my reasons for going was to meet with Georges Carrier, an expert on country music in France who had been the director of the Country Rendez-vous festival in Craponne for 18 years.<br />
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I parked in front of the scene in the photo at the top of this page -- a fitting welcome image.<br />
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But the photo below encapsulates the atmosphere event better: "Authentic Dreams". Festivals like Equiblues are signal embodiments of what I call "real imaginary" spaces -- a re-created; no -- a <i>created</i> -- "America" where everyone wears cowboy hats and boots and hustles and bustles amid the trappings of the frontier; but where little has much really to do with the United States. As usual, except for some of the artists and rodeo performers, I was one of the only -- if not the only -- American there. I did hear English in the crowd from one couple strolling through, but UK English.<br />
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Actually, I found this year's Equiblues just about identical with what I found three years ago. Even the same food (sausage and frites; steak and frites; wine; beer...) and physical set-up. For festival-run merch, tickets, food, and events -- you have to pay in Equiblues dollars that you have to buy with Euros: one dollar = one Euro.<br />
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As usual, I was fascinated by the use of flag imagery -- American flags, Confederate flags and various other flags and banners. They are used basically without much meaning, as decoration mean to provide an "American" or "Rebel" spin, as backdrops, clothing, ornamentation.<br />
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In the photo below, fly in a row, over a souvenir and clothing stand, an American flag, a Confederate flag with the words "Heritage Not Hate", a Confederate flag and, I think, an Iowa state flag. I doubt of many people understood the significance of the slogan......<br />
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Check out the flag-inspired clothing, too.<br />
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The music, of course, with crowded concerts every night -- by American, Canadian and French artists -- under a circus-like big top, is one of the highlights. And there is a big space for line-dancers. I am still fascinated by the hypnotic geometric movements of these masses of people.<br />
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There was even a Miss Equiblues contest.<br />
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But most visitors looked more like this:<br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-59410359800223114262015-07-12T20:28:00.001+02:002015-07-12T20:28:37.518+02:00Jen Osborne's portraits of Indian hobbyists<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCrwVP5BU_WK9AzghJ_crDhMJcaU7R6nol2IuSSnIQ0NU5AgiHtI6yZe5ZMs2pfR9i4ckwyjc8h_XPeMfrz48QCR2Cxn0Dr7OqlJ43pJ9U2-Ol8_p0ZoDJNHnMXOPA6SNCdueptByx27A/s1600/IMG_9317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCrwVP5BU_WK9AzghJ_crDhMJcaU7R6nol2IuSSnIQ0NU5AgiHtI6yZe5ZMs2pfR9i4ckwyjc8h_XPeMfrz48QCR2Cxn0Dr7OqlJ43pJ9U2-Ol8_p0ZoDJNHnMXOPA6SNCdueptByx27A/s640/IMG_9317.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Indians" and others in Hungary, 2013. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber</td></tr>
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By Ruth Ellen Gruber<br />
<br />
Mother Jones magazine has published <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/media/2015/07/europeans-dressed-as-native-americans-photos#disqus_thread" target="_blank">a series of stunning portraits of Indian hobbyists</a> in various European countries by the Berlin-based photographer Jen Osborne. I don't have copyright permission to repost the pictures -- but do follow the link!<br />
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In them, Jen shows the seriousness of the approach taken by people in the scene.<br />
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<a href="http://www.jenosbornestudio.com/?/photos/TheRedWest/" target="_blank">On her web site,</a> Jen discusses her experiences.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;"><span class="col seven" style="margin-top: -7px;">From 2011 until 2015, I
photographed the elusive "Indian Hobbyists" situated in Hungary,
Poland, Russia, Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as film sets and
stills from the popular Winnetou series and other Eastern European
Native American films. The subjects in my series are not "ethnically"
First Nations, but Europeans who use cultural mirroring, as practiced
heavily in the sixties and seventies, to claim "Indianess", as well as
present themselves as sympathetic to Native Americans. This hobby was
once used as a form of psychological escape from gruelling dictatorships
embraced behind the iron curtain.</span></span></blockquote>
She also photographed some of the locations in Croatia where the Winnetou films of the 1960s were shot.<br />
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I of course have also been photographing people and places in the wild west scene -- including Indian hobbyists -- for more than a decade, and the photos on this page are mine, not Jen's.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOrdUMtWgWgtcKPFcjOJ5cmU7fhydTQzfELBB48CUuD1N6VJulMepegLBycSjbBfitpsN4ryXZRjsi4LCrkG0evMCoGonKe1vnDSG9ab0-gUXugg8jz-cy1pGX_wC-B6eyCWLdQItkkXE/s1600/sauerkraut-wm13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOrdUMtWgWgtcKPFcjOJ5cmU7fhydTQzfELBB48CUuD1N6VJulMepegLBycSjbBfitpsN4ryXZRjsi4LCrkG0evMCoGonKe1vnDSG9ab0-gUXugg8jz-cy1pGX_wC-B6eyCWLdQItkkXE/s640/sauerkraut-wm13.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karl May Festival, Radebeul, Germany, 2008. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqVEtDcC1avkiOk4h7RqOoKdcM3-0HND1dNFbCqRSjPu6tKWiv0xBGpLyEBhLThmgVp5GGo4wsAArxtEzAetbTTkVyr4Snf6zuGyA136WaPs4D4Pg1TghxvSPRaCNnPdbjwvrjfPuxFkw/s1600/sauerkraut-wm18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqVEtDcC1avkiOk4h7RqOoKdcM3-0HND1dNFbCqRSjPu6tKWiv0xBGpLyEBhLThmgVp5GGo4wsAArxtEzAetbTTkVyr4Snf6zuGyA136WaPs4D4Pg1TghxvSPRaCNnPdbjwvrjfPuxFkw/s640/sauerkraut-wm18.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tepees at a Tramp Potlach in Czech Republic</td></tr>
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And my interest, too, goes well beyond Indian hobbyists and
reenactors to include the wide range (pun intended) of people included
in the Imaginary Wild West scene -- the fantasies, the yearnings, the music, the wild west theme parks, the saloons and all those elements that see-saw between the commercial and the sublime (or sublimated).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC5MmA0OGDyHpP0ljbIphQt98lmChhe07_jezoZnNvRtOH_xpkjeG90VwsGsgmZFZe_auODKa-PGaAUTO2DvgB_tjpqogAl97-RuccuqsJfS4axkCiASbT1fTjktxH70ykRZoq5RU3aQc/s1600/sauerkraut-wm30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC5MmA0OGDyHpP0ljbIphQt98lmChhe07_jezoZnNvRtOH_xpkjeG90VwsGsgmZFZe_auODKa-PGaAUTO2DvgB_tjpqogAl97-RuccuqsJfS4axkCiASbT1fTjktxH70ykRZoq5RU3aQc/s640/sauerkraut-wm30.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Jim Bowie" and his wife, and "Indian maiden" at the Pullman City wild west theme park.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtV-dqAro44X5vuWK8F5FbXMV8GX-QxfZNufD7iN4iAR5UuTJQCnrZSYyRsNV2yGN0tVfldnKMXlqNoPVzhA-hF2K1RV4-mPMKPz-tgOj5lp_X7NzTJf7Mfenx5AJNycGfwCxj_vPb8cM/s1600/sauerkraut-wm35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtV-dqAro44X5vuWK8F5FbXMV8GX-QxfZNufD7iN4iAR5UuTJQCnrZSYyRsNV2yGN0tVfldnKMXlqNoPVzhA-hF2K1RV4-mPMKPz-tgOj5lp_X7NzTJf7Mfenx5AJNycGfwCxj_vPb8cM/s640/sauerkraut-wm35.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Czech Indian hobbyists at the German wild west theme park Pullman City</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjv_G2iaL_F6Fc6buEDABqVv8gQVS2IftpBqoB7_0C0Pkr-6qT5oq5u-1onNNryKHbqTFH7DEBiSp4YaMW7mdsfiRTtcicjj1Q9JmJPS_-FqKkmByvBU-6E5pCu0TE86h4HSI8kkFOhQY/s1600/sauerkraut-wm22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjv_G2iaL_F6Fc6buEDABqVv8gQVS2IftpBqoB7_0C0Pkr-6qT5oq5u-1onNNryKHbqTFH7DEBiSp4YaMW7mdsfiRTtcicjj1Q9JmJPS_-FqKkmByvBU-6E5pCu0TE86h4HSI8kkFOhQY/s640/sauerkraut-wm22.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Czech frontier hobbyists at the private wild west town "Beaver City"</td></tr>
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<a href="http://ruthellengruber.com/blog/images/sauerkraut-cowboys/" target="_blank"><b> Click here to see a photo gallery of some of my other Imaginary Wild West pictures</b></a><br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-47699690825959397152015-06-06T19:01:00.003+02:002015-06-06T19:04:39.595+02:00RIP Pierre Brice, the Eternal Winnetou<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gzeydENt0yQ" width="420"></iframe><br /></div>
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The French actor Pierre Brice has died. Much of Europe is in mourning; few Americans have ever heard his name.<br />
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Brice, who was 86, starred as Winnetou, the Apache chief who was <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.com/2012/02/karl-may-60th-anniversary-of-karl-may.html" target="_blank">the hero of a series of movies</a> shot in the 1960s based on the wild west
stories of Karl May, the German hack writer who died in 1912 and never
set foot in the American west but who thrilled the Old Continent with
his tales.<br />
<br />
I fell in love with Brice, like (almost) every other girl in central
Europe, when as a teenager I spent the summer of 1966 in Prague and saw
my first Winnetou movie. It was called “Old Shatterhand” and also
starred the American actor Lex Barker as Winnetou’s blood brother, the
German adventurer Charlie, AKA Old Shatterhand.<br />
<br />
My then-10-year-old little brother and I went to see a 10 a.m.
showing at the Sevastopol movie theatre in downtown Prague. After that I
was obsessed. I bought a postcard of Brice in his Winnetou costume —
darkened skin and long black locks held by a head band — and I cut out
photos of him from Czech magazines.<br />
<br />
As I wrote in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/07/style/07iht-trfest_ed3_.html" target="_blank">an article about Karl May festivals</a> more than a decade ago:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: maroon;">With his long hair and good
looks, Brice set the mold for how a stage Winnetou should look and act,
just as the late American actor Lex Barker, the original Old
Shatterhand in the movies, set the standard for that role with his
rugged features and trademark fringed buckskins.</span></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDHLkqxlP46io2Jn9CCvyQaejl1Xq4uBXkzDZnsF2u5cW_Gpzn6HeWJL2QKrGdZk2gFW1fOyW1usO3eJG6un03KrWIItDTMoN4nFl9nfAohuAs4rIlpW95FVdBl-xiFwjldD8-jlIazE/s1600/Pierre+Brice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDHLkqxlP46io2Jn9CCvyQaejl1Xq4uBXkzDZnsF2u5cW_Gpzn6HeWJL2QKrGdZk2gFW1fOyW1usO3eJG6un03KrWIItDTMoN4nFl9nfAohuAs4rIlpW95FVdBl-xiFwjldD8-jlIazE/s400/Pierre+Brice.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I regret that I never got to interview Brice for my ongoing <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Imaginary Wild West</a> project.<br />
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But Dana Weber and I did interview another Winnetou — Gojko Mitic, a
Yugoslav-born actor who won fame during the Communist era playing Native
Americans in East German-made Westerns, Mitic played Winnetou at the
oldest and biggest summer Karl May festival, that in Bad Segeberg,
Germany, where Brice himself had long been associated.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjttUnNNx0YD_bLj_0i4lkuQWjEjUK9Kx8L6vyRaOXAwKfp7nfHbl4REBxHuZQKtHJ8WhVp3orZswZtWBbFaSJ-vgA17OEgSRoBcjBnsdl1lEdGE7BhRKStG_EheZYAhR834qp8ygEE44Y/s1600/IMG_2006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjttUnNNx0YD_bLj_0i4lkuQWjEjUK9Kx8L6vyRaOXAwKfp7nfHbl4REBxHuZQKtHJ8WhVp3orZswZtWBbFaSJ-vgA17OEgSRoBcjBnsdl1lEdGE7BhRKStG_EheZYAhR834qp8ygEE44Y/s640/IMG_2006.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2NglO7A4fcro_bo06Glb5kEv-ZeYo9Hp7hwcRsqtfVBO-iQI47hvq6-AabpNlWJeolpezBGPGaBQGqjOVA34OPL6rRTw5hh_BkiQ_hwuYl2uYDBljDp2txyRjRalc19-F8GfmHT0Caig/s1600/gojko+mitic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2NglO7A4fcro_bo06Glb5kEv-ZeYo9Hp7hwcRsqtfVBO-iQI47hvq6-AabpNlWJeolpezBGPGaBQGqjOVA34OPL6rRTw5hh_BkiQ_hwuYl2uYDBljDp2txyRjRalc19-F8GfmHT0Caig/s640/gojko+mitic.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gojko Mitic as Winnetou at Bad Segeberg, 2003</td></tr>
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-85027159333122019622014-11-27T13:59:00.003+01:002014-11-27T18:30:24.135+01:00"Country Roads" again -- in transliteration<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjogh_0lWXmxAHqYwMJXm4XkqUMuPT5tjZClp19YTvMuZZsD73y_KZdoqk2SOXT7Gt4PiQrvG0w6hRkKWcIgHa8Lzf9AnaCc4nnHzr2H8mXApcimOEl7BMuFDnfdgW64Lvy7_2RG3eCgak/s1600/country+roads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjogh_0lWXmxAHqYwMJXm4XkqUMuPT5tjZClp19YTvMuZZsD73y_KZdoqk2SOXT7Gt4PiQrvG0w6hRkKWcIgHa8Lzf9AnaCc4nnHzr2H8mXApcimOEl7BMuFDnfdgW64Lvy7_2RG3eCgak/s1600/country+roads.jpg" height="640" width="432" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Received from Roman Ac</td></tr>
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By Ruth Ellen Gruber<br />
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A Slovak bluegrass friend, Roman Ac, posted this picture on Facebook -- it's wonderful, and I just have to post it here. It's the lyrics of John Denver's 1971 mega-hit "Take Me Home, Country Roads" spelled out in Czech (or Slovak) phonetic transliteration.<br />
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I've <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.it/2011/04/on-its-40th-birthday-npr-on-take-me.html" target="_blank">posted here in the past about how in Europe</a> "Country Roads" is probably the most popular (and most covered) country-style song by local singers. <br />
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Denver, born Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. in 1943, died in a plane crash in 1997. "Country Roads" lives on; it's omnipresent, everywhere.<br />
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Here it is in Slovenian:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/RB8Ua3jjdtg" width="420"></iframe>
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"My first country song which I heard was 'Almost Heaven, West Virginia,'" a German truck driver told me in 2004, at the Geiselwind Trucker and Country Festival. "… Henry John Deutschendorf... it was fantastic, yeah? And so I fell in love with country music. [...] He gives us beautiful songs. John Denver. His grandfather was German, and he was one of the best. But he died too early."<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwAgjY7k3tTvewun-qLianz0JId5DYVDArjBxNVszaMGwFSAUICnP09th_ek5Why0mnmJfTjFCUja8PVIPSqpWRJVqgbVmkKnezgrLu4uwL7Y3kt7xf61hvtKd2Eobdb6_Hiq4YPtTa1I/s1600/Geiselwind-singers07-wm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwAgjY7k3tTvewun-qLianz0JId5DYVDArjBxNVszaMGwFSAUICnP09th_ek5Why0mnmJfTjFCUja8PVIPSqpWRJVqgbVmkKnezgrLu4uwL7Y3kt7xf61hvtKd2Eobdb6_Hiq4YPtTa1I/s1600/Geiselwind-singers07-wm1.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fans at Geiselwind, 2007, serenade me with "Country Roads"</td></tr>
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I've heard the song (which is NOT one of my favorites) sung in a variety of languages -- and a variety of accented English. Here's an English cover by a young Italian trio:<br />
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In then-Czechoslovakia, the definitive Czech version was recorded in 1975 by the late, great Pavel Bobek as "Veď mě dál, cesto má" -- it became one of his signature songs. (<a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.it/2013/11/rip-czech-singing-legend-pavel-bobek.html" target="_blank">Bobek, a pioneer rocker and Czech country star, passed away just one year ago</a>.)<br />
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The Czech translation Bobek sang was quite a bit far, geographically, from West Virginia, but rather moving nonetheless -- this YouTube video is of Bobek singing in Czech, with a re-translation of the Czech lyrics back into English.<br />
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I find "Take Me Home Country Roads" almost unbearable sappy; sugary sweet and bland at the same time.<br />
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But audiences in Europe love the song -- they invariably sing along, swaying and smiling. The idea of "home" translates into a sense that we (they) are all at home in America -- or the America of dreams, where is here. Other songs popular in the European country scene also play on this sense of the universal "home" somewhere in the mythical West (or South) -- "Sweet Home Alabama," for example.<br />
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And here's another video I posted before -- of John Denver himself, singing "It's Good to Be Back Home Again" -- at a concert in Germany, land of his ancestors. It's about a truck driver coming home.<br />
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-68075619941472097382014-11-03T10:27:00.000+01:002014-11-03T10:28:39.698+01:00"Wild West" slack-lining in southern Poland.....<br />
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/110668086">Wild West Highline Sokoliki</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/pinetreepictures">Pine Tree Pictures</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</div>
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A group of European slack-liners recently held a gathering in southern Poland -- and the theme was the "wild west" -- bows and arrows, painted body art, feathers, whispery flute melodies.....</div>
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The resulting video is a mash-up of a wide range of Imaginary Wild West tropes, some of them just abstract sketches, set to a rapping hip-hop sound track and breath-taking scenery.<br />
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-89294388252669811612014-10-18T11:52:00.001+02:002014-10-18T18:57:11.985+02:00Homeless US singer become country/Americana star in Sweden<br />
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By Ruth Ellen Gruber<br />
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American media <a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/10/09/354642327/homeless-in-nashville-huge-in-sweden" target="_blank">including NPR </a>(National Public Radio) and the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/street-musician-becomes-recording-artist-1413471796" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal</a> ran stories recently about a homeless American singer in Nashville, Doug Seegers, who was filmed by a Swedish singer and her team for a documentary segment on down-and-out musicians for her TV show -- and ended up a star in Sweden.<br />
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From NPR:<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">People started sending money to help Seegers. A Swedish label offered him a record deal. A prominent record producer back in Nashville — along with a lot of big-deal session guys — signed on to make the record, and they finished it in three days.<br />For one track, someone called in a favor with one of Seegers' longtime heroes, Emmylou Harris. Harris recorded her tracks separately — but she was so moved by Seegers' voice that she called him to let him know.<br />"I pick up the phone and she says, 'Doug, this is Emmylou Harris,' " Seegers says. "And I immediately start crying. I couldn't even talk, I was crying so hard. It was a dream come true for me."<br />When it was released in Sweden, Seegers' album went to No. 1 and stayed in the top five for 10 weeks. Seegers toured the country, selling out 60 shows. Everywhere he went, he says, people would ask him how he was doing in the United States.</span></blockquote>
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It's a heart-warming story.</div>
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NPR got it wrong, however, when it said that Sweden "lacks for country music fans."</div>
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Sweden has a country/bluegrass/linedeance scene and a history of home-grown country and Americana music. There is a <a href="http://www.countrykanalen.se/wp/#.VEI07YuUcxl" target="_blank">country music radio/internet station</a>, and also various local country and bluegrass artists, such as the award-winning bluegrass group <a href="http://www.dunderhead.se/" target="_blank">Dunderhead</a>, and the <a href="http://www.willyclayband.se/frameset.html" target="_blank">Willy Clay Band</a> -- (whose web site seems out of date, but the band has a Facebook page and seems still to be around. </div>
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Here's a <a href="http://welcometosweden.blogspot.it/2010/01/swedish-country-music.html" target="_blank">2010 blog post</a> about a Swedish country concert.</div>
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-16503235040304658902014-05-04T15:17:00.003+02:002014-05-04T15:26:57.313+02:00More evidence of growing Italian country scene <br />
By Ruth Ellen Gruber<br />
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Here's more evidence that Italy's country western scene is developing.<br />
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The Italy blog <a href="http://italychronicles.com/country-music-italian-style-paul-aster-fellows/" target="_blank">Italy Chronicles</a> runs a post about an Italian country singer named Fabrizio Pollastrelli who goes by the stage name<a href="http://www.paulastermusic.com/" target="_blank"> Paul Aster and plays with a band called "The Fellows.</a>" His web site says they play "southern rock 'n' country music."<br />
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Aster hails from northern Italy and is currently based on Fano, in Le Marche on the coast.<br />
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Here he sings -- like so many other European country artists -- Country Roads....<br />
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Italy has a few wellknown, veteran bluegrass groups -- like <a href="http://redwinemusic.altervista.org/eng/indexe.html" target="_blank">Red Wine</a> and <a href="http://www.bluegrass.it/HOME.html" target="_blank">Bluegrass Stuff</a> -- but until fairly recently it has not had much of a "mainstream" country music scene.<br />
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As I've <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.it/2013/08/colosseum-country-festival-and-more.html" target="_blank">posted in the past </a>, this seems to be changing. There is a slowly growing country-western-music-etc scene that includes country music and other general western festivals as well as a surging line-dance scene.<br />
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This is on top of fairly well-established western scene linked to horses and horse-riding, and the Cowboy Action Shooting scene, which has <a href="http://www.owss.it/presentazione.html" target="_blank">clubs in many parts of the country</a>.<br />
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The biggest western event has long been the FieraCavalli -- horse fair -- in Verona.<br />
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Here's a video from the FieraCavalli 2009 -- masters of line dancing.<br />
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<br />I can't forget that the first European country singer I met when I first started exploring the "imaginary wild west" was an Italian, <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.it/search?q=mcanthony" target="_blank">"George McAnthony,"</a> from the South Tyrol/Alto Adige region. I saw him perform a couple of times and did a lengthy interview with him -- he was a nice guy and he and his story helped trigger my interest in the imaginary wild west phenomenon..Sadly, George died three years ago, aged only 45.<br /><br />
Still, just nine or 10 years ago I attended a well-attended "Western Games" festival near Rome -- and there was no line-dancing, and the country band they had playing drew an audience of zero.<br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-17568820450285409632014-03-24T05:07:00.000+01:002014-03-24T05:07:33.884+01:00Buffalo Bill in Milano<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Wild West" toys for sale in Italy. I think that's Buffalo Bill on the bottom label. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber</td></tr>
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Buffalo Bill toured his Wild West show all over Europe. These tours comprised one of three phenomena around 1900 that came together and helped solidify and spread the Imaginary Wild West in Europe -- the other two were Karl May's books and the birth of the movies.<br />
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You can now find a lot of material related to Bill's European Wild West tours online.<br />
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<b><a href="http://library.bbhc.org/cdm/ref/collection/BBOA/id/1635" target="_blank">Check out this link -- to the full program of his show in Milan, Italy in 1906 </a></b><br />
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It's from the Buffalo Bill Online Archive of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.<br />
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The tour opened in Genoa on March 14th, and closed in Udine on May 11th. The show performed in Milan April 30th to May 5th.<br />
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The full tour route in Italy was: Genoa, La Spezia, Livorno, Roma, Terni, Perugia, Arezzo, Firenze, Pisa, Parma, Modena, Bologna, Forli', Ancona, Rimini, Ravenna, Ferrara, Padova, Verona, Mantova, Cremona, Piacenza,Pavia, Alessandria, Torino, Asti, Novara, Como, Milano, Bergamo, Brescia, Vicenza, Treviso, and Udine.<br />
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-17985428494790222302014-02-06T21:30:00.001+01:002014-02-07T14:29:59.378+01:00Tony Trischka's new CD -- A Great Big World<br />
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By Ruth Ellen Gruber<br />
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The American banjo great <a href="http://www.tonytrischka.com/" target="_blank">Tony Trischka</a> has come out with a gorgeous new CD, "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Great-Big-World-Tony-Trischka/dp/B00HAH7IVK/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_1" target="_blank">A Great Big World</a>." You can hear a preview of one track by clicking the link on the photo above.<br />
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The CD showcases Tony't thrilling virtuosity -- and includes guests such as Andy Statman, Russ Barenberg, Tristan Clarridge, Mike Barnett and others on a variety of songs -- including one of my favorites, Woody Guthrie's "Do-Re-Mi." All the tracks are winners -- but the one that really hit me was the oddly titled "Purple Trees of Colorado."Amazing.<br />
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Writes Bela Fleck in the <a href="http://www.tonytrischka.com/images/tony-trischka-great-big-world-liner-notes.pdf" target="_blank">Liner Notes -- which can be accessed online</a>:<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-small;">"Everyone loves to play with Tony, because of his strong musical gifts and conception, and because he's one of the coolest dudes to hang around with and be yourself. Not everyone who asks you to play on their record actually wants that, but he does."</span></blockquote>
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Though <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.it/2011/02/bluegrass-joe-val-festival-my-american.html" target="_blank">I've seen him in the U.S.</a>, I know Tony from here in Europe -- where he plays often, and where he has had considerable influence. This has been particularly so in the Czech Republic, where his progressive bluegrass style was a powerful inspiration to (among others) the musicians who went on to found the group <a href="http://www.druhatrava.us/" target="_blank">Druha Trava</a>.<br />
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In the 1980s, DT's singer-songwriter Robert Krestan and banjoist Lubos Malina were members of the pioneering Czech progressive bluegrass group Poutnici. (They left Poutnici and formed DT in 1991.) Robert at that time also played banjo. Tony was one of their heroes.<br />
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As I <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.it/2008/08/on-tour-in-cz-with-druha-trava-and-tony.html" target="_blank">noted in an earlier post</a>, Tony first toured the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) in 1988, before the fall of communism, and he also returned in 1989, also before the Wall came down. During those stays, he performed as a guest on an LP by <a href="http://www.poutnici.cz/" target="_blank">Poutnici</a>, called "Wayfaring Stranger." In the liner notes, he describes Poutnici in much the same terms I have used to describe Druha Trava. "They … have a unique sound," he said. "Czechgrass instead of Kentucky bluegrass. In other words, they've made it their own, which is wonderful."<br />
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I've now caught Tony on tour with DT on several occasions -- <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.it/2008/08/on-tour-in-cz-with-druha-trava-and-tony.html" target="_blank">first in 2008</a>, and the latest time this past summer, where Tony tried out his new banjo -- <a href="http://www.rollsbanjos.com/" target="_blank">a banjo made by the accomplished Czech banjo-maker</a> <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.it/search?q=zdenek+roh" target="_blank">Zdenek Roh</a>. (Zdenek is featured in the new documentary about Czech bluegrass, <a href="http://banjoromantika.com/" target="_blank">Banjo Romantika</a>.)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tony Trischka with his new banjo, made by Zdenek Roh. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber</td></tr>
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In addition to his Czech tours, Tony also plays elsewhere in Europe -- he teaches at a summer bluegrass workshop near Urbino, Italy, and this fall will be teaching at <a href="http://www.banjocamp.de/die-lehrer-2014.html" target="_blank">a "banjo camp" workshop in Germany</a>.</div>
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-4089748906536795022014-01-13T20:44:00.002+01:002014-01-13T20:46:39.328+01:00More imaginary wild west in Italy! Video of Colosseum Country festival!<br />
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Here's a video report on the <a href="http://www.colosseumcountry.it/" target="_blank">Colosseum Country Festival </a>that took place near Rome back in October. Mostly line-dancing, and lots of tropes....<br />
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I posted about this festival and other events in <a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.it/2013/08/colosseum-country-festival-and-more.html" target="_blank">the slowly growing Italian wild west & country scene</a> back in August. It's gettin' there, I guess.Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18391431376765408.post-58519211688976827472014-01-12T20:51:00.002+01:002014-01-12T20:51:37.328+01:00Off geographic topic: upcoming Country Music Festival in Borneo (and a mention of Tamworth)<br />
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By Ruth Ellen Gruber<br />
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I know it's not Europe, but I just have to post about the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Miri-Country-Music-Fest/144776799064796" target="_blank">Miri Country Music Festival</a> coming up next month...on Borneo! This certainly testifies to the worldwide appeal of twang!<br />
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The festival -- reportedly the first ever country music festival in the region -- takes place Feb. 15 at the <a href="http://miri.theeverlyhotel.com/" target="_blank">Park City Everly Hotel</a> in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia. (Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on Borneo.)<br />
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<a href="http://www.mysarawak.org/2014/01/drenegades-set-to-rock-the-crowd-at-miri-country-music-festival.html" target="_blank">According to MySarawak.org</a> the lineup includes the Malaysian band D'Renegades, the Johnny Rodgers Band (Nashville), The Corn Cake Kings (Kuala Lumpur), Eia and the Superband (Brunei), and two bands from Singapore – Wandering Mustangs as well as Mel and Joe. The program will also include games and competitions for adults and children, pony rides, line-dances and drum workshops and food stalls. <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #990000;">D’Renegades has been around since 1980 and it was formed by accomplished United Kingdom pianist Asif Pishori and Malaysian singer cum songwriter Ady Wow.<br />The duo who now resides in Kota Kinabalu had been performing at various shows and concerts.<br />For this coming festival, Ady and Asif had teamed up with three other equally talented musicians.<br />They are Ozone, Kichi and Zul and together they will get the festival goers dancing to their country rock pop tunes.</span></span></blockquote>
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The <a href="http://www.theborneopost.com/2014/01/12/catch-the-wandering-mustangs-at-music-fest/" target="_blank">Borneo Post online reports</a> that another Malaysian band, Hi Breed, will also perform.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-small;">Festival-goers will enjoy bluegrass, folk and contemporary country music with an impressive mix of tempos for both the young and old.<br />Tickets are available at www.ticketxpress.com.my; Utopia in Kuching; Parkcity Everly Hotel and Planet Borneo Travel and Tour Services in Miri; as well as El Centro in Kota Kinabalu.</span></blockquote>
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The festival is organized by UCSI Communications Sdn Bhd, a professional conference organizer, and is endorsed by the Miri City Council and supported by Parkcity Everly Hotel, Planet Borneo Travel and Tours Services, as well as Curtin University Sarawak.</div>
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<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Miri-Country-Music-Fest/144776799064796" target="_blank">Find more details here on the Festival's Facebook page</a></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5KLTSoya7Ti1SO6IQFvmZ7rTzKtvToF9OqdOEOLXzYHG0viDz5gAtmv3F02H3PGwF-TbRY6LOlFWTy0wu27wBYoHUrCZOZPk1dp5ZsOmjSeGzRThm175mQHVMzRkGtyaz60xxUfCK8zo/s1600/TamworthCountryMusicFestivalDates.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5KLTSoya7Ti1SO6IQFvmZ7rTzKtvToF9OqdOEOLXzYHG0viDz5gAtmv3F02H3PGwF-TbRY6LOlFWTy0wu27wBYoHUrCZOZPk1dp5ZsOmjSeGzRThm175mQHVMzRkGtyaz60xxUfCK8zo/s1600/TamworthCountryMusicFestivalDates.png" /></a></div>
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I also have to note that the vast and venerable <a href="http://tamworthcountrymusic.com.au/index.cfm?page_id=1283">Tamworth Country Music Festival </a>in Australia starts in a few days.<br />
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The <a href="http://www.tcmf.com.au/" target="_blank">42nd edition of this huge event</a> (held in Tamworth, New South Wales) runs this year from Jan. 17-26. Considered to be the world's biggest country music fest it is a showcase and celebration of a thoroughly local scene that draws 50,000 fans or more, with more than 600 performers and 2,500 events staged during the course of the festival -- a rodeo, line-dancing, the annual Australian country music awards and more.<br />
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The line-up this year includes some international artists including Quinn Keister of Canada, Monte Goode from the USA, Australian/Austrian group John Deer Band and Alessandro Nicoletta from Italy, but it's mainly many many local acts.<br />
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<b>Check out<a href="http://www.tamworthcountrymusic.com.au/index.cfm?page_id=1283" target="_blank"> the web site </a>or the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/tamworthcountrymusic.com.au" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> for information about the line-up, events and more</b><br />
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<b><a href="http://sauerkrautcowboys.blogspot.it/search?q=tamworth" target="_blank">See my previous posts about Tamworth</a></b></div>
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673699594687148399noreply@blogger.com0