Year: 2011

Eli Smith Interviewed on Brooklyn Independent Television

2 Comments

I was lucky enough recently to be interviewed by Jon Gerberg for the program “Caught in the Act” on Brooklyn Independent Television, and here is the result!  Thanks Jon!

I talk about what I do here in Brooklyn with my old time string band The Dust Busters, with Down Home Radio and with the upcoming Brooklyn Folk Festival, scheduled to take place June 10th – 12th of this year.  Its right around the corner!

Here’s a bit more about the “Caught in the Act” program.

“Brooklyn’s art scene is one of the most vibrant and diverse in the world. Each month, Caught in the Act: Art in Brooklyn profiles a cross-section of key Brooklyn professionals in fine art, dance, music, theatre—and new forms of expression combining all of the above. From established institutions of international stature, to the emerging artists and companies that have long made our borough’s arts scene so exciting, Caught in the Act catches them in the act of creating, displaying, interpreting—and enriching—the cultural life of Brooklyn.”

Mud Season Tour: April 30th – May 7th. Look Out!

Leave a Comment


Spring is in the air and The Dust Busters are taking to the road.  Look out!

Fri. April 29th – New York, NY. We’re very happy to be doing a New York show with our friend Andy Cohen.  Andy’s an amazing blues and ragtime guitarist and the one and only dolceola player you will ever see anywhere.  Check it out!  No Cover!
9pm Andy Cohen
10pm The Dust Busters
@ Banjo Jim’s located at 9th St. and Ave. C in Manhattan

Sat. April 30th – Washington D.C.

Presented by The Folklore Society of Greater Washington
Show time: 8 pm

Washington Ethical Society Auditorium
7750 16th St., NW
Washington, DC 20012.

The Polka Dots will open the show.

Sun. May 1st – Woodcrest Farm, Hillsborough, NC.
7pm. $15 suggested donation.
5604 Dairyland Road
Hillsborough, NC 27278
info@woodcrestfarmnc.com

Music and Historical Memory

Leave a Comment

A new article by Mat Callahan, author of “The Trouble with Music:“

“Music can remember what History forgets.  Attesting to this fact is a great body of music commemorating people and events often ignored or obscured by prevailing historical accounts.  This is not confined to ballads or folk songs of the past but is the subject of contemporary compositions as well.”

Music and Historical Memory

Music and memory have always been inseparable.  After all, Memory is the name of the Goddess who was Mother of the Muses.  The Muses, according to the poet Hesiod, “were nine like-minded daughters, whose one thought is singing, and whose hearts are free from care…who delight with song… telling of things that are, that will be and that were with voices joined in harmony.”  They called on Hesiod to sing their praises but they did so with a challenge: “You rustic shepherd, shame: bellies you are, not men!  We know enough to make up lies which are convincing, but we also have the skill, when we’ve a mind, to speak the truth.”[i]

That the nine muses were the daughters of Memory and not another Goddess is explained by the fact that their number corresponds to the gestation period of human beings.  Memory lay with Zeus nine nights to produce nine daughters and in the marvelous mathematics of myth our story begins with the renewal of human life upon this earth.  Memory serves unfolding and rebirth, not the mere storage of information.

This interpretation is supported further by the fact that Memory was the protectress of Eleuther’s Hills-Eleuther meaning freedom in Greek.  What greater gift could there be than to rejuvenate our bodies while freeing our imaginations? Therefore, the Greeks of Hesiod’s time thought memory should be

On the West Coast… with John Cohen! Feb. 26th-March 12th…

1 Comment

[The Dust Busters with John Cohen, Fall 2010.]
About to head out on tour with The Dust Busters again!  We are very very pleased to be doing a tour of the West Coast with our friend from New Lost City, John Cohen.  John Cohen is a founder of the legendary old-time string band The New Lost City Ramblers, one of our very favorite bands and big inspirations.  John Cohen is a musician, photographer and film maker who has released more than 16 documentary films.  His latest is entitled “Roscoe Holcomb: From Daisy, Kentucky.”  The film follows Roscoe Holcomb, the singer, banjo and guitar player, construction worker and coal miner whom John encountered in 1959 while doing field work in Eastern Kentucky.  John befriended Roscoe and through John, Roscoe Holcomb was able to tour and play shows around the United States and in Europe, becoming known as one of the truly unique and essential voices of American folk music. It’s a beautiful film and a wonderful tribute to Roscoe Holcomb.  We will be touring up the West Coast from Berkeley all the way up to Vancouver, BC, playing shows and screening the film.  See below for all the dates and information.

“Roscoe Holcomb: From Daisy, Kentucky” recently premiered at the Margaret Meade Film Festival at the American Museum of Natural History together with a retrospective of John’s work and also just won the award for Best Documentary Short at the Woodstock Film Festival.

Below are the dates for our upcoming tour.  See ya out in the world!

Sat. Feb 26th, 2pm
Instore appearance at Down Home Music Store
10341 San Pablo Ave
El Cerrito, CA – 94530
(510) 525-2129

Sat. Feb 26th, 5pm
Workshops at The Freight & Salvage
2020 Addison Street

Berkeley, CA 94704

Info:
Old Time 5-String Banjo Workshop w/ John Cohen – Saturday, February 26, 5:00-6:00 pm ($25**)
Old-Time Country Fiddle Workshop w/ Craig Judelman – Saturday, February 26, 5:00-6:00 pm ($25**)
Old-Time Guitar Workshop w/ Eli Smith & Walker Shepard – Saturday, February 26, 5:00-6:00 pm ($25**)
Old Time String Band Sounds & Styles w/ John Cohen, Craig Judelman, Eli Smith, & Walker Shepard – Saturday, February 26, 6:15-7:15 pm ($25**)

**There is a discounted fee of $40 if you sign up simultaneously for one of the 5:00 workshops and the 6:15 Old Time String Band Sounds & Styles.

Mon. Feb 28th, 7:30pm
Show at The Freight and Salvage
2020 Addison Street

Berkeley, CA 94704

– The show starts at 7:30pm with a showing of John’s new Roscoe Holcomb film, then at 8pm the great Bay Area bluegrass band Kleptograss and then The Dust Busters with John Cohen.  We will also be joined on this show by our friend Frank Fairfield!

Tuesday March 1st, 9pm

Interview with Robert Crumb

5 Comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download


[Crumb interviewed by Eli Smith.  Photo by Eden Brower, 2010]

On today’s show I speak with Robert Crumb.  R. Crumb is best known as a cartoonist and illustrator, but what a lot people don’t know about him is that he is a very talented old-time mandolin player and a very serious collector of 78rpm records!  I caught up with Robert Crumb at John and Eden (The East River String Band)’s apartment over on the Lower East Side in Manhattan.  We had a good talk about Crumb’s interest in the old music and his early experiences finding old 78rpm records in the same junk shops where he searched for old comics as a kid. He has traveled extensively in search of records! meeting interesting personalities in strange places, from Delaware and Cleveland all the way to Argentina and Uruguay.  Robert Crumb plays live on the show together with Eden and John’s East River String Band.

Tracks played on today’s episode (a lot of this stuff has never been reissued!):
Thanks to John Heneghan for supplying much of the music for this program.

Shook It Up This Morning –  Joe Evans & McClain
KWKA Blues – Eddie & Sugar Lou’s Hotel Tyler Orchestra
Happy Days & Lonely Nights – Charlie Fry And His Million Dollar Pier Orchestra
Ginseng Blues – The Kentucky Ramblers
Sacalelo Desparejo – Trio Odeon (Iriate/Pesoa/Pagez)
Your Soul Never Dies – Smith’s Carolina Crackerjacks
Risonha – Luperce Miranda
Farethee Blues – East River Stringband w/ R. Crumb
Hy Patillion – East River Stringband w/ R. Crumb


And don’t forget to check out our good friends at the Old Time Herald Magazine – www.oldtimeherald.org – lots of great articles, reviews and more!

Roscoe Holcomb: From Daisy, Kentucky

1 Comment

Just a word to let everyone know that John Cohen’s new film, “Roscoe Holcomb: From Daisy, Kentucky” is out now!  It has been released by Shanachie Video and is available for purchase by CLICKING HERE.

The film has been packaged by Shanachie as “The Legacy of Roscoe Holcomb.”  The DVD includes John’s new film about Roscoe as well as his classic 1962 film about Holcomb, “The High Lonesome Sound.” You get both!

“Roscoe Holcomb: From Daisy, Kentucky” recently premiered at the Margaret Meade Film Festival at the American Museum of Natural History together with a retrospective of John’s work and also just won the award for Best Documentary Short at the Woodstock Film Festival.

Also, a very nice piece about John Cohen and the new film just aired on NPR’s Weekend Edition: CHECK IT OUT

Here’s a synopsis that I wrote for the program guide of the Woodstock Film Festival:

“John Cohen explores the life, philosophy and music of Eastern Kentucky banjo player, coal miner and construction worker Roscoe Holcomb. Holcomb has been injured on the job and forced into early retirement. He discusses his life and music and plays a number of traditional songs from his region. Using intimate footage of Holcomb at home as well as footage of his family, community and region, Cohen presents a remarkable and visually beautiful portrait of Roscoe Holcomb, a man who despite economic hardship and changing times has maintained a powerful and authentic personal music and philosophy.”

John used old footage from the early 60’s that he couldn’t use for “The High Lonesome Sound” because the technology didn’t exist at that time to put the film footage and audio into sync.  But now that is possible and was accomplished in expert fashion.  For this new film John also used really awesome color footage that he took of Holcomb and his family in the 197o’s.  It’s a beautiful film and a wonderful tribute to Roscoe Holcomb.

[Roscoe Holcomb with John Cohen, 1964]

Recent  reviews of the  film “Roscoe Holcomb: from Daisy, Kentucky.”
———————

Midwestern January “Snow-Season” Tour…

Leave a Comment

Hello Everyone,

Well first off, apologies for not having posted more Down Home Radio episodes of late.  There’s great stuff in the archive waiting to come out, but I got real busy with my string band The Dust Busters and couldn’t produce Down Home for a while.  It will come out soon! (Fairly soon…)

Meanwhile, The Dust Busters are taking to the road again for our January 2011 Midwestern “Snow-Season” tour. Its gonna be a great tour, with a number of really cool shows on the schedule! See ya out there in the world…

Wednesday Jan. 19th– Hiram College, Hiram, OH.

Thursday Jan. 20th– House Concert in Cleveland, OH sponsored by Roots of American Music.

Friday Jan. 21st– Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, IL – Trad Fest with Bruce Molsky and the Foghorn Stringband.

Saturday Jan. 22nd– Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, IL – Trad Fest with Bruce Molsky and the Foghorn Stringband.

Sunday Jan. 23rd– Independent Media Center gig in Urbana, IL with the Foghorn Stringband.

Tuesday Jan. 25th–  Rachel’s Cafe Bloomington, Indiana.

Thursday Jan. 27th– Greenline Cafe, Philadelphia PA with Noggin Hill.

Saturday 29th– Cafe Nola, Frederick, Maryland with Lydia Martin of the Martin Family Band and The Woodshedders.

Sunday Jan. 30th – Windup Space with Stephen Strohmeier and Walker & Jay, Baltimore, MD.

To Hear Your Banjo Play

Leave a Comment

Here’s an amazing 1947 film called, “To Hear Your Banjo Play.”  The story and dialogue were written by Alan Lomax.  The film is narrated by Lomax and features a young Pete Seeger guiding viewers through a brief history of the banjo, American Folk Music and its relevance to modern society.  This film features some of the best of the 1940’s New York folk music scene.  It has the only footage of Woody Guthrie performing in his prime, Margot Mayo’s American Square Dance Group is featured, along with Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Butch Hawes and others.  Texas Gladden makes an appearance as well.  This is an incredible film!

Here is some more footage of Woody Guthrie, apparently from the same session as the footage used in “To Hear Your Banjo Play.”  Woody is singing his song, “Ranger’s Command.”  Apparently this footage has only recently come to light.


And don’t forget to check out our good friends at the Old Time Herald Magazine – www.oldtimeherald.org – lots of great articles, reviews and more!