[mplpost] 'live' interviews

[Bill Usher]

> From: "David grierson" <davidgrierson@hotmail.com>
> Reply-To: maplepost@icomm.ca
> Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2001 11:08:38 -0800
> To: maplepost@icomm.ca
> Subject: RE: [mplpost] 'live' interviews
> 


Hi all,

David's post sent me back thinking of a few years of traveling and
interviewing that I did for a few dozen CBC shows back in the 70's. Anne's
post sort of says I can reminisce.... Ok?

Paul Mills had just launched Touch The Earth and gave me a push out the door
with my little Uher tape recorder. Over a few years, I hung out with and
interviewed folks like Elizabeth Cotton, Bruce Phillips, Sarah Ogan Gunning,
Pete Seeger, Janette Carter, a relatively unknown John McCutcheon, Taj Mahal
and dozens more. 

I remember a couple of trips through Louisiana. Mardi Gras '76, I was down
playing on Zachary Richard's first album in Bogalusa. One of our side trips
was to visit the wonderful Cajun accordionist Marc Savoy. Marc had promised
Philippe Bruneau back at a Mariposa festival (thanks Estelle) that if
Philippe would ever would come to Eunice, Marc would make him a Cajun
accordion. 

Linda Page and I were there (and the tape was running) when Marc took this
beautiful red button accordion out of the cupboard of his workshop and
handed it to him. Philippe was a bit of a cantankerous character but he
positively melted when he started to play all these Quebecois riffs on this
Cajun accordion.

Another night, Marc took us out to visit D. L. Menard at his farm and we
went back to the summer kitchen (surrounded by rice paddies) and Philippe
would quite purposefully throw off all the Cajun players by sticking in a
few extra passing chords to the two that were needed. Bill Russell was there
that night too. When Philippe would launch into a Quebecois tune the Cajun
players would just put their instruments down and wonder in awe.

Our travels that spring took us out to Berkeley, where we stayed with
Malvina Reynolds for a few days and she told a bunch of stories while the
tape was running. We called Malvina "Captain". She lived the songs she
wrote.

We came back to New Orleans for the festival in May and I remember walking
with a very old Sam Chatmon back to the horse barns off the fair grounds
trying to find a quieter place to record. A very young teenager name of
Colin Linden was there with his traveling partner Jim (???) hanging on every
riff and word that Sam uttered. Sam chastised me on tape because, with his
accent, I couldn't understand that 'turn up' greens was 'turnip' greens.

One last story was a Christmas trip through the UK gathering stories for a
bunch of radio shows with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, Frankie Armstrong,
Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson, and Archie Fisher.

Skye Morrison was my tour guide this time around and we had this lovely chat
and sing round in Martin and Norma's snow bound farm house before we headed
over the moors to this modest 'castle' on the Scots border where Archie
Fisher was living. I dimly remember a small child playing around our feet.
Was that Eliza?

Archie's place was as cold and drafty as a castle should be despite the
blazing fire. He took us down to the local pub that night to hear another
wonderful British concertina player that I had met earlier at Mariposa. I
want to say last name 'Anderson'.... Estelle?

I loved sitting there listening to the stories. Thinking to ask the next
question that would properly lead into the next yarn.

Given the thread on festival interviews, certainly, as an artist being
interviewed, there's nothing more wonderful than to have someone who's not
only knowledgeable and curious about your work but also willing to listen
hard and say out loud the question that the audience wants asked and that
you feel you can take the effort and time to answer.

Bill



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