Good TV May Be Making a Comeback!

For those of you who get the Sunday paper and that little insert inside called the Parade, you may have noticed this past week on the cover the picture of four beard-adorned and camo-clad men standing in a Louisiana swamp.   The four men are part of a family called the Robertsons in West Monroe, LA, and for millions of people in the US like myself, they are one of the most famous families on television, thanks in large part to a show featuring them on A&E Network called Duck Dynasty.   Although it has only been on for a little over a year, I just discovered it a couple of months ago when I was on the toilet and heard the TV - some old geezer (whom I later discovered to be none other than the crazy uncle, Silas "Uncle Si" Robertson, who is a fan favorite with good reason!) was talking about stopping to smell the roses and getting nailed on the schnozz by a big bee when doing so (his advice - stop and smell the roses quickly or you will get nailed!) and this intrigued me.  I discovered that day something many of my own family had been raving about, and instantly became a Duck Dynasty fan.  

The Robertsons of "Duck Dynasty - (l to r) "Uncle Si", Miss Kay, Jase, Korie (Willie's wife), Willie (seated), and Robertson patriarch Phil.

 

 

Duck Dynasty indicates something that similar shows - notably History Channel's Swamp People and Animal Planet's Call of the Wildman, both of which are personal favorites - airing in recent years are revealing about the public;  people like clean entertainment that they can relate to.  A bunch of gay kids on that sick show "Glee" just doesn't cut it for most, and bad screeching called "music" on these shows like American Idol and The Voice make for pretty faces with no talent.  With the Robertsons, what you see is what you get, and they are who America has said it loves.   And, the trend is repeated on other channels too - a whole network, as a matter of fact, features traditional values and has an audience of its own, and that network is RFD-TV.  On there, a good variety show called Larry's Country Diner features an equally-funny comedienne called Nadine whose witty repertoire will have you in stitches for hours.  One of Nadine's pearls of wisdom is this - "Smoking won't send you to hell, but it sure makes it smell like you've visited!" as well as gems of spirituality such as "Some people think they can sow their wild oats all week and then pray for crop failure on Sunday."  The appeal of these shows - in particular to people brought up in small-town America like myself - has always been there (remember The Beverly Hillbillies, the Waltons, and Little House on the Prairie?) but it's as if there has been a resurgence over the past few years or so.  Hopefully it continues!

 

The one and only Nadine, from "Larry's Country Diner."

 

This whole phenomenon  of rural-based entertainment goes back some years ago too, with characters both fact and fiction.   Remember The Red Green Show that used to be on PBS, for instance?  That was hilarious!  I can still hear Red Green (played by Canadian actor/comedian Steve Smith) prattle in his gruff voice, "Duct tape - the handyman's secret weapon," and along with Lawrence Welk, Red was a regular Saturday night fixture in our house for several years.  It is really unfortunate that PBS didn't see the benefits (especially with the wildly ascending popularity of the aforementioned Robertsons!) of keeping Red Green on the air, but fortunately there are DVD's!

Red Green and his ever-handy roll of "the handyman's secret weapon."

 

 

Then of course, mention must be made of the Blue Collar boys - Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, and Bill Engvall.   They still have a huge following, and are some of the most talented and hilarious comedians out there today.   Now, they have become animated in a show on CMT called Bounty Hunters, and are as funny as cartoons as they are as real people.  Again, people do relate to this stuff, and only Hollywood is too stupid to realize it - they keep trying to push agendas (like sticking the gratuitous "gay" character now in almost every show, which really makes no sense!)  rather than entertain anyway, so Hollywood is becoming more irrelevant because it is out-of-touch with most normal people.  Perhaps the new center of American entertainment should be in either the South or Midwest, where quality programming could be made like Duck Dynasty which would impart values that many of us who live in the Land of Normal (as opposed to New York, Washington, DC, and LA) can relate to.  Keep praying and pushing for good programming, and maybe one day the chuckleheads at the big entertainment companies will finally get the hint. 

 

Polka 101 - A Lesson!

You will notice that I do a specific subject followed by a more general entry, but do not ask me why!  At this point I am killing some time at the library at my university as class let out sooner and I have nothing better to do, so thought I would share here today.

To begin, let's see...my new CD acquisitions are worth mentioning.  This past Friday I received six of the seven CD collection of Lawrence Duchow's orchestra, with recordings collectively dated between 1938-1952.  It would probably be a good idea to explain a little about who Lawrence Duchow was, as he is also an important pioneer as far as my music collection is concerned.   Duchow had an early polka orchestra that had its genesis in Wisconsin in the 1920's, although most of his available recorded work comes a few years later.  He was similar in style to some other orchestras who were his contemporaries - "Whoopie John" Wilfahrt, Harold Loeffelmacher's Six Fat Dutchmen, etc. from neighboring Minnesota - in that he played primarily German-style polkas which reflected the tastes of the upper Midwest demographic (and still does today).  However, he is also pivotal in dance band history too, as it was people like him that influenced and was contemporaneous with another young German Lawrence - that last name you'd know as Welk! - from the Dakotas.  And, he adopted the format accordingly - his essentially was a polka big band.  Another similar orchestra from the same area - Romy Gosz - was even more like a traditional dance band (I want to say Gosz played trumpet with Duchow for a short time, but I could be wrong on that, so I need to check the polka history book I have at home to verify that fact).  Any rate, I got to sample the CD's I received, and he did have a fairly good-sounding group.   Gosz will be my next acquisition in the summer, as there are 8 CD's of vintage material from him I want to get my hands on too.  If you are interested in getting some of this vintage stuff (and it is collectible!) the place that has it is www.polkamart.com , as it is their label, PolkaLand Recordings, that reissued it.  However, a word of caution about ordering from them - be prepared to wait a while!  As a matter of fact, you may be waiting up to four weeks for the discs, so hopefully it isn't life-or-death to get them!  On the positive though, they do have some fantastic collections, and they are definitely worth a look.  If you want the CD's faster though, I want to recommend a better source I have also shopped with for many years, and that is my good friend Cy Pfannenstein at www.cysmusic.com.  Located in Avon, Minnesota, Cy will hook you up with any polka recording if it is in existence, and he is good about getting them to you in a timely manner as well.

early pioneer polka bandleader Lawrence Duchow

Brave Combo leader Carl Finch with Miss WestFest 2012

 Polka music is one of those things that is greatly misunderstood unfortunately by many, who think it is a bunch of drunk Germans at Octoberfest playing accordions and tubas while clad in lederhosen.  However, polka is a multi-faceted musical genre that is also very cross-cultural.  In the US alone, there are at least 12 different types of polka music, and each is pretty much the product of its ethnic audience, geographic location, and other factors.  Even the instrumentation isn't the same.  Take, for instance, a group like Brave Combo.  This polka band is probably the closest thing polka has ever come to a fusion with rock music, and its leader, Carl Finch, looks like the product of an explosion that fused Willy Nelson and Elton John together.  They are top-notch musicians, although not my cup of tea personally.  Then there are the Polka Nuts from Brighton, Colorado.  Largely the creation of the Gaschler family almost 30 years ago, who are descended from Volga German immigrants from Russia who settled the Rockies, they are the most famous example of a group that plays "Dutch Hop," a style of polka that is unique to the Volga Germans and features the tsymbl, or hammered dulcimer.  Next up is Richie Yurkovich and Polkarioty from Willard, Wisconsin.   Yurkovich is in true Frankie Yankovic tradition a proud Slovene-American who plays the Slovene-flavored "Cleveland-style" polkas, and his is also a phenomenal band with excellent showmanship.   And, if that isn't enough, you have a fusion of the styles - Eddie Korosa, Jr., from Chicago plays a very rich-sounding polka repertiore that synthesizes Slovenian and Polish flavors (Korosa's was also the polka band that John Candy led as "The Kenosha Kickers" in that first Home Alone movie back in 1989).  Then you have the traditional oomp-pa-pa sound of the upper Midwest - Karl and the Country Dutchmen, Barefoot Becky and her Ivanhoe Dutchmen from Iowa, and a host of others.  Texas is a unique area for polka bands that no one would  have expected, yet in central Texas near the hill country there lives a substantial population of people whose ancestors spoke Czech, Slovak, or German, and they also produced some great bands too - one that comes to mind that is one of my favorites is John Karderli's Seven Dutchmen Orchestra, based near New Braunfels, as well as Roy Haag's Little Fishermen of Texas from the same area.  And, these bands can be family affairs too - the Dujka Brothers from Brenham, TX, as well as the Bacas from around Fayetteville, TX, whose history goes back a hundred years.  One of the most interesting groups I came across from Texas though that deserves mention is the Shiner Hobo Band.  I first saw these guys on the "Big Joe Polka Show" sometime back around 2006, and they got my attention.  Consisting of about almost 40 musicians, most of them old Czech farts in their 60's and 70's led by a "conductor" with a toilet plunger for a baton, they are both talented and also amusing to watch - watching them was like watching a polka festival collide with the Philadelphia Mummer's Parade.  

The Shiner Hobos, circa 1957

The Shiners, like many long-established Texas polka bands among the Czech-speaking community, have a history that dates back over a century.  They are an institution in themselves and are worth checking out at www.shinerhoboband.com when you get the opportunity.

Also worth mentioning is of course the Polish contribution.  Polka is after all a Polish word, and my in-laws who are Polish would probably skin me alive if I didn't discuss some of that here.   There are two types of American Polish polka - one originated on the East Coast in New England and New York and is essentially polka big band music, and the other is called "Chicago Push" and originated with Polish communities in the Midwest, particularly Milwaukee and Chicago.  Of the two, I prefer the East Coast version, which has as its luminaries people such as 19 Grammy-holding Jimmy Sturr of Florida, NY, as well as now-departed legends such as Rich Bobinski, Larry Chesky, and Walt Solek.  In addition to standard big band instrumentation, East Coast Polish polka bands feature more minor-key songs (probably from close contact with the Ukrainians to the East, which we'll be talking about momentarily too) and is also noted for it's use of the piano arpeggios.  The "Chicago Push" variety, on the other hand, is more small-ensemble, adaptable, and a little more raw; to me it sounds similar to the Tejano music that the Mexicans in Texas play - its big stars include the late Eddie Blazonczyk and Lenny Gomulka.  And, speaking of Ukrainians, there is a lucrative Ukrainian polka community in mid-Canada, in particular in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and I came across that back in 2006 as well.  One of the groups, the Ukrainian Old-Timers of Alberta, have been around for many years and do have several good recordings.  Scandinavian-Americans have also produced some good polka, although it sounds somewhat like a brassier version of the Slovenian style.  Polka is a universal music, and no one can truly listen to a polka and not feel good doing it, which is why it has also found its way into the Church as well. 

In the 1960's, Vatican II opened a lot of things up in the Catholic Church, many good and many bad.  One thing it allowed for was more of a contextualization of the Mass, and in true folk fashion, this even included the incorporation of polka music!  One of the earliest pioneers of this was Fr. Frank Perkovich (born 1928), from Eveleth in Minnesota's Iron Range, a very ethnically diverse and rich region not unlike where I grew up in Tucker County, WV (also home to the "Polka King," Frankie Yankovic!).  Fr. Perkovich, along with another priest, Fr. George Belasco in Ohio, appropriated polka tunes to the Mass by giving them theologically-compatible lyrics.  This started in the 1960's, and today it is fairly common to have a Polka Mass celebrated at festivals and ethnic events.  Some Protestants also picked up the idea, and there is as a result a Lutheran minister called "The Polka Padre" that has appropriated the Polka Mass for a Protestant setting.  It is also interesting to note here that even one of the most beloved Pentecostal gospel tunes - "Just Over In The Glory Land" - has the exact same tune as a traditional polka called "The Lappland Polka!"  How did that happen??  That is something I wanted to research, and perhaps when I do I will share that with you all as well, because it is interesting how a bunch of Appalachian Pentecostals ended up singing a polka tune with Gospel lyrics at their revivals and campmeetings!  

Fr. Frank Perkovich, the man who brought polka to church!

Well, it looks like you all got an education in polka music tonight, something I didn't plan on.  However, I must end class for tonight and will definitely have more to share later.  God bless.

Those Fiddlin' Kids!

Talent, as is well documented, starts young.  It is born in the person God gifts with it, but it also takes a lot of work to refine and develop it into something that really stands out.  Talented kids are particularly something that deserves appreciation, as a truly talented young person will make an impact on his or her audience.  The problem today is that a lot of fluff and idiocy (Justin Bieber comes to mind here - sorry to the Bierberites out there, but the truth hurts!) gets passed off as talent, and indeed a lot of marketing and image-making goes into creating many of the no-talent hacks that are out there, but it still isn't true talent.  However, thankfully, there are young people out there who really shine, and although they will never make millions like Bieber or some of those fly-by-nights do, their talent is creating a legacy.  In recent years I have encountered several of these remarkable young people, and they are the ones I want to talk about today.

The young talented (and real) artist does happen, and in the past we have been blessed with kids such as the cherubic-sounding Charlotte Church (her recording of the "Ave Maria" she cut at the early age of 12 still sends shivers up my spine!), the multi-talented Blaise Garza (he tackled - and did so masterfully - the once-obscure contrabass saxophone in his teens), and kindergarten crooner Blake Ewing, who was discovered on Ed McMahon's old Star Search  program back in the 1990's (he also did a tremendous job playing rich kid Waldo in the movie version of The Little Rascals).  All of them are now adults, and they still have careers although not as well-known as they once were, and all of them are still blessed with tremendous talent.  The ones I want to discuss now are not quite as famous as these are, but they are still talent that deserves to be appreciated.  So, let us begin!

The first two I want to talk about are the Piatrowski Sisters, Andrea and Erika, who both are accomplished fiddlers with their family's band, Pan Franek and the Polka Towners.  These girls have been performing from an early age, and the first I remembered hearing them was when they made a guest appearance on Jimmy Sturr's program on RFD back in 2007.   These girls are not only talented fiddlers, but are also gifted in showmanship, even giving Sturr's fiddler, Frank Urbanovich, a run for his money on the show.  The girls are now adults themselves, but as far as I can reckon they still tour with the family band, which is based out of Michigan.   If you get the chance to listen to them, please do - you will not be disappointed!

Andrea and Erika Piatrowski, and their equally talented sister Christina, at a polka festival performing.

 

 

The second family of talented young ladies are a little different in style, as they play vintage Western Swing and do it well. I heard the Quebe Sisters and their band on "Larry's Country Diner" a couple of months back, and almost immediately bought their CD's because they sounded phenomenal - their rendition of "Across the Alley From the Alamo" is one of the best I have heard actually!  The Quebes - Grace, Sophia, and Hulda - are native Texans all still in their teens, and they like many young talents developed at a young age, due in large part to a supportive family.  These gals actually have a website (www.quebesistersband.com) and they have two very excellent CD's available that I would urge anyone who loves big bands, Western Swing, or more traditional country music to give a fair listen to.  I am also encouraging Larry Black to have them back sometime on his show too!

 

 

The Quebes - Grace, Sophia, and Hulda

 

 

The third group is from a different genre altogether - Southern Gospel.  Back in January, we attended the winter crusade that the Lake Gibson Church of the Nazarene conducts here in Lakeland every year, and in addition to the evangelist (an anointed and powerful Methodist bishop from Alabama, Dr. Kip Laxson), the pastor, Rev. Charles Kirby, brings in a well-known gospel group.  In past years it has been the Pfeifers (probably my all-time favorite Gospel artists, hands-down!), but understandably due to scheduling, Pastor Kirby brought in a group I had never heard before from Iowa called the Browns.   The consist of two talented young brothers, Andrew and Adam, and their beautiful sister Michaela.  Their mom, a sweet lady named Shelly, rounds out the group while their dad handles their technical support.   One thing struck me about this family - Shelly lets her kids shine, and although she sings with the group, her kids are the stars of the show and I believe she wants it that way because she is a proud mama (and a good one, as she has raised three talented and well-mannered young people).  However, lest you get the impression that these kids are all about singing songs, it turns out they are also talented musicians - all three play violin, and Michaela has recorded an excellent solo album recently.  When they were at the crusade, they played a beautiful rendition of the song "Let There Be Peace on Earth," and they also played some classic hymns of the Church that many of us Catholics and Anglicans are familiar with too.  They likewise have a website with several recordings available (I understand they were also awarded Top 10 Mixed Gospel Group of the Year for two consecutive years, which in itself is quite an honor), and the URL for that is www.brownsmusic.com.  The site says they currently have 10 recordings available, and there is indeed something for everyone.

 

 

The Browns - Adam, Andrew, Michaela and mom Shelly

 

I final young talent I want to mention is a young French Canadian guitarist I came across back in 2009 who is a Gypsy jazz virtuoso.  At the time, he was 13 (he is now almost 18 if I calculated right) and when I heard him, it was as if the spirit of Django Reinhardt had resurrected itself - this kid has one of the most phenomenal Gypsy guitar techniques I have ever had the blessing of hearing, and although he hasn't gotten it on disc yet, I actually have corresponded with him and encouraged him to do so.  Quinn Bachand is definitely someone that classic jazz afficianados should pay attention to, as we may be hearing more of him in the future. At present, he is doing some tours with his older sister Christine, and has also forayed into Celtic folk music as well.  Although I would prefer personally he stick with Gypsy jazz, Quinn is going to do great at whatever genre he settles on. 

 

Young guitar prodigy and Gypsy jazz master Quinn Bachand

 

There are many more of these young shining stars I could mention, but these are some I have encountered personally that really impacted me with their wonderful talents.  Many of their recordings are in my own library, and I count it an honor to have them.  So, for us old-timers, be assured that the extent of today's talent doesn't stop (or even start!) with punks like Justin Bieber - the kids I just talked about are the real stars, and I will support their careers any day.  Any rate, so long until next visit, and happy listening.  For you parents, encourage your kids to explore music and maybe learning an instrument for themselves if they develop an interest; who knows - someone like me may be writing about them someday too!  







Ponderings

There has been much to ponder the past several weeks, but to start the conversation, we have a home computer again!!  It was long in coming, very much needed, and I can get much more accomplished regarding class projects and writing these articles.  It is so good to be back!

Let's see - this is an informal conversation, so let's talk some about what is on my mind.  We had our second trip to Pinecraft, the Amish community in Sarasota, this past Saturday and we also got to eat at what was once called Troyer's,  a very good Amish-style buffet on Bahia Vista, just up the road a couple of blocks from the more famous Yoder's.  Be watching my food blog for a review on that later.  One thing I picked up while down there is a very large but easy-to-read Amish newspaper called The Budget, which I believe is published out of Ohio if memory serves me correctly.  The bulk of the paper is made up of brief submissions by writers in various communities across the US who tell of events happening in their neighborhoods, and it is fairly innocuous stuff that you would not see on CNN but probably should be, as we need more news like that.  News items are varied - Mose Hostetler got a glass eye, and you can hardly notice it's glass because it matches his other one, and other such news items.   I love reading stuff like that, as it makes me a little homesick, and thanks be to God for the small towns that still dot the "highways and byways" of our great nation.  If you live in Florida (or are just visiting), make a point to visit Pinecraft, eat some good food at Yoder's or Troyer's (or whatever they call it - good food regardless!), and be sure to pick up one of those papers, which are readily available for less than a couple of bucks. 

The Der Dutchman Amish Restaurant and Buffet in Sarasota, formerly Troyer's

It is also getting to be springtime, although my dear friends and family haven't gotten the bulletin yet being another winter storm - this one they are calling Virgil - slammed most everything north of Florida pretty hard.  The last one, Ukko (Al Roker on the Weather Channel couldn't get that quite right and was calling it "Urkel"; that's OK Al - we forgive you buddy, as you are still fun to watch!) hasn't even melted yet!  However, the temperature is slowly rising in Florida, which has led me to start contemplating gardening this year.  In my big planter in front of the house, where I grew tomatoes last year, I plan on planting live herbs - at least two parsley plants, rosemary, basil (of course!), oregano, thyme, sage, and maybe some catnip for the furkids.   Nothing enhances the flavor of food like live herbs (not to steal thunder from my food blog!) and I love growing them.  Let's just pray my green thumb doesn't turn black this year!  I also want to plant a few Roma tomatoes, as I plan on doing a whole batch of my homemade sauce at some point this summer between scanning 403b files at work and conjugating Greek verbs in grad school, and Romas make the best sauce, as any Italian worth his pesto will tell you.   Anyway, pictures of all that to follow on my food blog too, as I plan on doing a growing technique thing with the herbs on there.

Let's now talk some music.  I haven't been getting a whole lot of new stuff the previous year, although that has changed recently.  I am really gaining quite an affinity, for instance, for "Dutch Hop" polkas, and love the sound - something about that hammered dulcimer makes those type of polkas sound so pretty.  "Dutch Hop" originated with Volga Germans who settled primarily in Colorado after immigrating here from Russia early last century, and they have a unique culture that is distinctive from other German communities you find around the US.  Volga Germans are practically as much Russian in many ways as they are German, and their cuisine and music reflect that quite clearly.  The hammered dulcimer is not unique to "Dutch Hop" though, as it also is featured on many klezmer recordings too as well as in Ukrainian folk bands - it is called a tsimbl in those cultures, but is still the same trapezoidal-shape instrument you'd find in bands like the Polka Nuts or John Fritzler's.  I managed to get a good CD of vintage Dutch Hop music by two of its early pioneers, Adolf Lesser and Paul Weingardt, and the older stuff is a little more livelier than that played by contemporary groups such as the Polka Nuts, but it is still good music.  Although Lesser has been making recordings since the 1920's, many of the ones on the disc are from the 1950's.  Another much-anticipated addition to the music collection I finally found is the vintage commercial recordings of Johnny Green's orchestra, including his 1935 arrangement of one of my favorite tunes of his "Mile a Minute."  The first I had heard this was on a Vitaphone short from 1935 I have on DVD, and I fell in love with it. Of course, Green's was a phenomenal orchestra, and the maestro himself a tremendous talent (he directed the MGM orchestra for years, and his is the work you will hear on the original West Side Story soundtrack), as well as a prolific composer ("Body and Soul," now a classic jazz standard, was his composition). 
the phenomenonal Johnny Green!

A sheet music cover of Adolph Lesser, Dutch Hop pioneer.

 

 

I am also expecting from my friends at Polkamart.com a collection of early polka pioneer Lawrence Duchow, who led a polka dance band in Wisconsin from the 1920's.  However, Polkamart, although they have good music selections, takes forever to ship your orders!  I am already 3 weeks into waiting on it, and am getting anxious.  Anyway, polka as you know is an integral part of my vintage dance band collection, and to be honest you cannot really appreciate big bands without appreciating polka and its development, as it has contributed so much.   My CD collection, which will now be at 1120 once the missing Duchows find their way here, is a historical documentary.   It chronicles the development and growth of a phenomenal genre of music - big bands - that is an integral part of Americana as well.  People who hear "big band" often associate it with cheesy swing tunes with over-exaggerated brass (to me, those "big band sound" attempts really stink!), and they really don't know what this musical genre is all about.  It is my hope one day to find some way to appropriate my collection to life experience and use it to educate others, as a glorious heritage is contained within those wax-stacks many people today don't even know about.  And, that is a good lead-up to my next subject of conversation.

One thing being deprived of a computer has compelled me to do the past few months is to write more journal entries, and as I began to get back into doing that regularly, I began to ponder my own past - why I like the music I like, why I cherish the CNC's (central narrative convictions, as Dr. Archer, one of my professors, devotes a lot of writing about) I have, and most intriguing, I have pondered the question as to if there was a purpose to why God allowed me to grow up as I did and if so, what it has done to define my personal faith, etc.  I of course have written a ton of this in my memoirs, and it also comes out in my family tree research too, but this is the one aspect I feel I need to explore more.  As I began to do so, I realized that in my person I am practically the ultimate paradox - I have the blood of Charlemagne and Constantine in my veins, yet I grew up in such abject poverty that it is almost incomprehensible to many my age (we Gen-Xer's in general are not big on first-hand knowledge of wood stoves and  outhouses, yet I grew up with both - go figure!) .  Also, here I am, a person of the '80's generation, yet while my classmates in high school were listening to Madonna and Michael Jackson, I was listening to Guy Lombardo and Freddy Martin!  Also, I grew up in small-town Appalachia - both the town of Parsons, WV, where I grew up as well as the towns of Kirby, WV (where I spent a lot of my formative years) and Terra Alta, WV (where I went to high school) are all tiny hamlets, insignificant on the world stage, yet here I am!  I grew up in those remote mountain hamlets, yet today I am working on a graduate degree, speak three languages, and have a professional resume that many would envy.  Ironically, one of my professors asked me before class tonight why I didn't have a doctorate yet - a flattering but good question!  Again, all of this is the paradox (or series of paradoxes) that constitutes my life.  My answer to why all this came together is simple - only God!  I mean, here I am - I grew up in a community where practically everyone was on some sort of government assistance, yet today I am friends with archbishops, leaders of polka bands, Southern Gospel artists, scholars and academics, and other such people - yet another paradox!  On, and on, and on I could go with all this.  All I can say ultimately is thanks be to God for his goodness and mercy, simple as that.  

I suppose I have rambled enough for one night, so I will wrap it up for now.  I want you all to stay tuned though, because speaking of music, I have a good article I want to share in a couple of weeks entitled "Those Fiddlin' Kids!" about some phenomenal young talent I have gotten the privelege of hearing.  As I promote these talented young people, I would encourage you to check out their recordings and other work and support their art, because they are truly phenomenal, but you will read about that at another time.  God bless until next time, and glad you could visit with me again.

 

A Fried Hard-Drive Has Necessitated My Absence, But I Am Back!

Back in early December, our home computer system crashed and burned hard, in effect crippling our communications. That is why I have been noticeably absent here lately.  However, I hope to get back into the swing of things, as I have a lot of good stuff to talk about and it will take some time to do it, so we'll start now!

I have been back doing contract work this past couple of months in addition to grad school, and life has gotten extremely busy with both work and class.  But, it isn't anything we can't handle.   Work now is quite interesting, as I am doing an extended project for a retirement benefits company here in Lakeland as a consultant to get them converted to totally paperless.  It is a project I am sure will take a long time, as it requires scanning about 17 4-drawer filing cabinets of alphabetically arranged files into pdf documentation, and then indexing them into a database.  My staffing agent told me initially it would be a two-month project, but somehow I think it is going to take longer.  If you have ever scanned a large volume of documents, you know exactly what I am talking about - removing tons of staples, and also being on the lookout for those annoying little Post-It notes some people like to attach to pages that will easily gum up a scanner if missed.   However, that all goes with the job.  The company, and indeed the job itself, is actually great:  a very laid-back atmosphere, and it is conveniently located in downtown Lakeland just across the street from scenic Munn Park.  Also, with Barb working one block away, it proves convenient for us both too.   It is also nice at lunch when I can explore the local eateries - we have the Bosporus Turkish Grill (good kabobs there, if only they didn't slap a nasty salad on your plate when you tell them you really don't want it!), a decent Chinese place, and Palace Pizza, as well as the Black and Brew Coffee Shoppe (they make a decent cup of coffee and have good blueberry scones I enjoy an hour before heading up to work of a morning).  But besides eateries, there is also a little General Store downtown (next door to the Turkish place, ironically!) that I have been frequenting a lot, and it is fun to visit.  The owner Teresa and her "marketing manager," a terrier mix named Sparky, run the place and she has gotten to know me pretty well - she maintains a good rapport with her regulars.  Of course, when I venture over there at around 12:30 in the afternoon, Sparky is in her "planning session" (for us laypeople, she is taking a nap!) so I don't get to see her too often.  If ever you are in downtown Lakeland though, you must stop by and browse around.  One thing she features at her store are some very good books by local authors, such as Donald Moore, who is from over here in Auburndale and known as "The Redneck Gourmet," and also one of my favorite reads from there is Laverne Stevens' Bread and Butter Days, which chronicles the life story of Clem Flickinger, a childhood friend of the more famous Walt Disney (some of you may have heard that name!), and the life he had growing up in the small village of Marceline, MO.  I want to talk more at another time about that book, as it gave me some childhood memories of my own.

Above are some pictures of the inside of the store, the "Marketing Manager" Sparky, and the front entrance.  A place like this makes a West Virginia boy like me feel right at home, as this is just like the local stores back home where I grew up, that were owned by people like Si Faris and his wife Freda in Rowlesburg, WV; Carl "Sonny" Hedrick and his wife Lorraine in my hometown of Hendricks, WV; Nellie and Lincoln Cox in Kirby, WV, where I spent most of my childhood; and C.J. Smith in Augusta, WV.   All of these high-priced "Quickie-Marts" today just don't have the same level of personal service and nostalgia that these old stores had, so I am thankful to God that in downtown Lakeland there is a little place like this.   Hopefully, they will stay open and successful for many years to come.  I mean, seriously, where else can you get Frostie root beer, Cheerwine cola, and Nehi grape soda in the glass bottle (which actually tastes better to me!)?  Now, if I can only convince Miss Teresa to get some Frozen Run Birch Beer in stock!

The book Bread and Butter Days by LaVerne Stevens, which you can get at the General Store - good read!

Anyway, I just wanted to share a little inspiration with you today here, and in time I plan on being back again with some more tidbits of my West Virginia-originating wisdom for you to ponder.  Until then, this is hoping that everyone had a good 2013 so far, even you folks getting slammed like crazy in the northeast this winter with storms - it is unbelievable that they are actually naming winter storms this year, and I have to watch Al Roker on the Weather Channel every morning now just to see what they are going to name the next one (plus, I lost track of the letters; aren't they in the R's now?).  So, my northern friends and family, be safe in all that mess, and we'll be thinking of you in this 70-degree weather we have here right now.  God bless until next time. 

A Month Is Ending, and So Is My First Graduate Semester

It amazes me at how fast the year has really flown by!  We just celebrated Thanksgiving a week ago (and just finished up the leftovers of our turkey yesterday!) and it never fails - it seems like every year at around this time I catch a bug, which I am starting to recover from!  Although the year got off to a bumpy start, the good news is that it is ending much better than it started.

As you may have figured out by reading my earlier material, I started my Masters degree program in August, and at this juncture (November 29th) I am about to wrap up my first semester - one down, five to go!  It has taken some getting used to, as much has changed at the campus since I got my Bachelors there back in 1996, but I am finding my "groove" finally and the research projects are actually motivating me to do some much-needed study on things I have been wanting to do but never had the incentive.   I would surmise that as of the end of this semester, I have written probably a couple of hundred pages easily in research projects, critical reviews, and a couple of in-class presentations I was assigned, and as I write this I am finishing up my last two projects before the semester wraps up and I get a few weeks of much-needed rest to enjoy the holidays.   Next term should be much smoother now that I have my routine established.

One other aspect of this past few months has been the acquisition of a CD recorder, and I have been able to finally get a lot of my LP's onto CD, some of which have no prospect of reissue professionally.  I have been wanting to get one of those for years, and finally have been able to do so.  Of course, I have a lot of LP's to transfer yet, so it is a project that will take a while, but the good thing is that I have some good stuff on CD now that I have better access to listen to and enjoy more.  That project actually entails two aspects - one is vintage big band records, and the other is some of my old Gospel and Armenian/Assyrian music that is both on vinyl and cassette.   Like many things that stimulate good memories, this stuff does - hearing some old material on cassette I haven't listened to in years was particularly refreshing, whether it be the Chilingirian String Quartet's recording of Aslamazian's Armenian Suite, or Diane Bish's masterful rendition on the great Rufatti organ at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church of Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee, or other LP's of vintage material - soprano Sylvia Kutchukian's beautiful rendition of Armenian sacred music, Baptist evangelist Ed Reese's recordings of Gospel standards on an instrument called the Cordovox (an electronic accordion that also can play organ tones), or the earliest vintage LP's of such Christian music luminaries as Dino Kartsonakis (from 1963) and Phil Driscoll (from 1972).   As for my vintage big band collection, it is also good to get some material like Ernie Hecksher and Jose Melis, two bandleaders who have no CD reissues available, on disc.   However, I have to do these in small doses due to the fact school now has me pretty busy.  However, I anticipate doing about 30 more LP's in the coming few months.

Concerning the holidays, Christmas decorations are now up too, and the cats as usual think the Christmas tree is a big chew toy.  Let me ask you all something, and feel free to email me with the answer to this if you have it - why is it that cats like chewing on Christmas trees anyway??   For one thing, our tree is artificial, so it cannot taste all that nice.   And, then after chawing on the tree, these dang cats get sick and yack up bits of green stuff all over the floor, which is a mess to clean up.   What complicates that fact is that we have four of them, and all but one likes munching on the greenery!   However, despite the fact I would like to strangle them on occasion, I love our four furry children - even as a kid I have always been a cat person.  They are adorable, fun to watch, and at this point in my life I can't imagine what it would be like not having a cat in the house.   And, no offense to dog people, but I have much more patience with cats than I do dogs - my mother's shi-tzu, honestly, has got to be one of the most mentally-unbalanced of God's creatures; he seems to always be hungry and "horny" all the time (pardon the crassness of the latter term, but for alliterative purposes and also the fact there is not a better word that fits this creature, I had to use it!) - and, for some reason he has an unnatural affection for cats, as he is always trying to molest ours.  Of course, that never ends well, as he generally ends up getting the tar knocked out of him by our large male Snowshoe Siamese at least once during the course of a visit.  But, like people who vote for Obama (my apologies to any friends who did - nothing personal!) he didn't learn the first time!  If they had a Dr. Phil for pets, just saying, that person would get rich from just treating Mom's dog!

Meet "the Beast" - Mom's shi-tzu Cobby, eater of all and rider of cats!

Got a new show you all should watch too that I have gotten interested in over the past few months since we switched to satellite.  If any of you get RFD-TV, there is a show on at 11 PM on Saturdays called "Larry's Country Diner," and it is a must-see for anyone who likes a good, clean variety show with a down-home feel.   The show is actually set up as a diner that serves food, with the MC, Larry Black, overseeing the festivities of the program.  The highlight of the show is Nadine Nadine (no kidding - that is her name!), an elderly but sharp-tongued church lady who arrives to the tune of ragtime music with a print dress and matching hat carrying a big Bible that Charles Atlas would have a challenge lifting!  Although vintage country music is not my thing, this show is a haven for those who do appreciate it, as he often features as guests vintage country musicians such as Jim Ed Brown and others.  Of course, my favorite guests of his are Riders in The Sky - one of the best groups ever!  So, if you have nothing better to do on Saturday nights (Larry is on after the Molly B Polka Party which I also never miss), take a virtual visit to Larry's, where, as the tag line says, "the cameras are rolling and WE DON'T CARE!" 

 

The one and only Nadine!

 

 

Speaking of polkas, I have been watching Molly B's show on RFD religiously, as both myself and Oreo our cat love it.  What I found to be really good about that lately is that she is featuring more bands that play this style of polka called "Dutch Hop," and it is good stuff!   This is a style of polka you will hear a lot out in Colorado and adjacent areas, and is a product of the various groups of Volga Germans (Germans originally from Russia) that settled there over a century ago.   The distinction of this style is that it utilizes (thanks to the Russian influence) an instrument called a hammered dulcimer, which really gives the music a pretty sound.  This instrument has popped up in other musical genres before (notably in klezmer, where it is called a streifidl (Yiddish for "straw fiddle") but I never had the appreciation for it that I developed listening to these "Dutch Hop" bands.   Some of the better-known groups are the Polka Nuts (they are phenomenal!), John Fritzler, and the Dutch Hop Music Makers.   Google them if you wish to find out more information about them, or for a historical book and recordings on the genre, go to the Center For Volga German Studies website at http://cvgs.cu-portland.edu/.   I promise, once you hear "Dutch Hop" it will be a good experience to your ears!

 

A hammered dulcimer, the trademark instrument of "Dutch Hop" polka bands.

 

 

That is all I have to share for today, but hopefully will be visiting with you again soon before 2012 winds down (provided the Mayans were not correct - just joking!). And, if I miss some of you, may you have a blessed holiday season, and remember Who we are celebrating it for and why.



Election Reflections

November 6, 2012, has come and gone, and with it any possibility for America to recover any sense of greatness she once had.  Barack Obama is still on his throne for at least another four years, and this has many people concerned.  I myself am concerned too, and wanted to share some thoughts on the issue concerning it.  This is much more serious in tone than many things I have written here over the past year, yet it must be addressed.   I doubt if even all words here will be sufficient to say what needs to be said, but it is an attempt to try.

What will another four years of Obama mean for us, the average "Joe Schmo" whose demographic makes up what much of this nation is?  I recently watched Dinesh D'Souza's 2016 film, and that was frankly very enlightening.  D'Souza, a capable theoretician and accomplished scholar, recounted his own immigrant origins in India and contrasted them with Obama's, but the differences between them were like night and day.  D'Souza, along with Lebanese-born activist Brigitte Gabriel, Assyrian actress/activist Rosie Malek-Younan, and thousands of others, represents what America is all about - these people are proud Americans, they love and value our nation's heritage, and although many of them are naturalized citizens, they have brought a valuable contribution to our nation.  I am proud to call all of these wonderful individuals Americans, and many of them I am also honored to have as friends too.   I would also like to mention in that group as well some lesser-known people - my dear friend and Assyrian Church of the East Deacon John Khio, a parishioner in our parish by the name of Jeanne Radcliffe, another former parishioner of ours named Susan Winslow, and Subdeacon Najib Jacob, a Palestinian immigrant who faithfully serves at St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox parish in Pinellas Park, FL.  All of these people are dear friends, and I wouldn't trade my friendship with these dear people for all the gold in the world.   Many immigrants have enriched America greatly and helped her to become the great nation she once was, and that being said, I also want to go on record as saying that if anyone chooses to come to the US, and goes through the legal channels of doing so, they are welcome and I trust their giftings and talents will enhance the communities they settle in once they arrive.   God's blessings truly be with these people.

Then there is our "fearless leader" President, Barack Hussein Obama Jr.  Obama is proported to have been born in Hawaii, although much speculation has been evident over the past several years regarding his birth certificate.   His mother was an American (and a distant relative of mine, I might add), and his father was from Kenya.  Although Obama may have been born in America (d'Souza affirms that he was in the film) his mindset is anything but - his mentors were well-versed in anti-colonialist sentiments, Marxism, and Black Liberation theology, and he also received some of his education in a madrasa (Islamic parochial schools, which in recent years have been linked to recruiting/training Islamic militant terrorists) in Indonesia.  And, much of Obama's own policies - especially his increasing the deficit to twice the amount of all his predecessors combined, as well as his disdain for the military - reflect that anti-colonialist mentality.   And, that is really the root cause as to why so many people were worried when he won re-election by the electoral vote, which I have noted elsewhere has the usefulness of a foreskin, rather than the popular vote, which was overwhelmingly for Romney.  Lest anyone misunderstand, I don't see the electoral college as totally unnecessary, as the Constitution does allow for it, but in recent times the way that it currently operates renders it unethical.   It has initiated the question as to who comprises the electoral college, and why they do not reflect the popular vote like they were supposed to.   Some people I have talked to have even come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter how they vote because the phantom menaces on the electoral college have the final say anyway.  Are they right?  I wonder about that myself, and perhaps I need to meditate more on that question.

Honestly, I have not felt that feeling like I felt on the morning of November 7th since the mid-1990's, when the whole Ruby Ridge/Waco thing happened, and in 1999 when another Democrat, Bill Clinton, attacked a sovereign Christian republic (Serbia) to defend a bunch of Moslem terrorists - Kosovo, I feel, is what led to 9/11, but that is just my feeling!  Yet, I have found it hypocritical that the same people who got so hawkish about Kosovo were the very ones to yell at Bush when he went in to take out Saddam Hussein in 2002 - these liberals sicken me at times with the blatant hypocrisy they harbor, and another thing about that was the deafening silence of people like Jesse Jackson, who likes crying "racism" at everything, being so silent back in the early 1990's when South Sudanese - mostly Black and Christian - were being slaughtered by the thousands by the militant Islamic government of Sudan.  South Sudanese scholar, Dr. Dominic Mohammed, nailed it when he asked the very excellent question - "Are Black Christians less valuable than White Muslims to these Americans?"   It does make one wonder, doesn't it??   Of course, in lieu of what has happened, Jesse Jackson today thankfully has all the relevance of a pet rock - he's all mouth, all about entitlements, and is more racist himself than those he accuses.   Not much, honestly, separates Jesse Jackson and his Black Panther friends from David Duke and the Kluckers - they are all evil, in my book.  And, evil doesn't differentiate skin color, contrary to these politically-correct thought police who like confusing disagreement with "racism."  Which now leads me to my next issue to discuss - will America as a republic stand?

In 1981 a guy by the name of Joel Garreau wrote a classic text on a discipline called bioregionalism entitled The Nine Nations of North America.  I originally read this back in 1999, and when I did it revolutionized my thinking.  Garreau is not even close to forecasting the dissolution of the US as a political entity, but what he does say is that America is not a single entity anyway, but rather a collection of nine regional "nations."   Each of these "nations" has its own economic base, its own culture and values, and even its own language in some cases.  I myself am a committed bioregionalist, but I will go on record as saying that I differ somewhat with Garreau's model in that I feel there are more than 9 "nations" - Texas and Hawaii, for instance, were once independent entities in their own right and still retain much of that mindset, while the Ozarks, Appalachia, and Utah all have very distinctive histories that are all their own. I would even propose that the South - which Garreau calls the "Nation of Dixie" - is not a homogenous unit either - Louisiana, Florida, and the Carolina Piedmont are all vastly different than the "Deep South" areas of Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi (even among the latter, there is state pride - Alabamians and Georgians, for instance, have a sort of intense rivalry between them).  Then there are all the American Indian tribes - each one of them is already a separate nation - as well as enclaves of Blacks and Hispanics.   Even within states, there are differences - California, for instance, is almost like 3 different states itself.   Garreau expresses this variance well in the opening paragraphs of his book when he writes:

Consider, instead, the way North America really works.  It is Nine Nations.  Each has its capital and its distinctive web of power and influence.  A few are allies, many are adversaries.  Several have readily acknowledged national poets, and many have characteristic dialects and mannerisms.  Some are close to being raw frontiers; others have four centuries of history.  Each has a peculiar economy; each commands a certain emotional allegiance from its citizens.  These nations look different, feel different, and sound different from each other, and few of their boundaries match the political lines drawn upon our current maps.  Some are clearly divided topographically by mountains, deserts, and rivers.  Others are separated by architecture, music, language, and ways of making a living.  Each nation has its own list of desires.  Each nation knows how it plans to get what it needs from whoever's got it. (Joel Garreau, The Nine Nations of North America {New York:  Avon Books, 1981} pp. 1-2)

Garreau's map of the "Nine Nations" as he documents in his book

Geography, economy, semantics...many things differentiate one region from another.  Yet, we need to see how that would figure into the future of the US as a nation.   Will these bioregional distinctions become political reality?  Who's to say, but one thing is for certain - no empire is eternal, but only God's eternal kingdom is.  Which leads us into the next aspect of this discussion.

Is America going to disintegrate?  Many are talking about that now, although in recent years the 9/11 tragedy has deflected some attention from it.  However, with Obama in a second term, the subject is starting to resurface, as well as talk of re-forming the militia movement that gained so much notoriety in the mid-1990's.   Pat Buchanan and other writers argue that the influx of illegal immigrants and the aging/decline of native populations is a factor as well, basing the theory on much of what has happened in Europe.   He also correctly cites another reason for America's demise on the international stage, and this one is the factor many refuse to admit but it is true:

The detronement of God from American life was not done democratically, it was done dictatorially, and our forefathers would never have tolerated it.  Why did people of a once-fighting faith permit it, when prayer, Christmas carols, Bible reading, and posting the Ten Commandments were backed by huge majorities?   Because we live under a rule of judges, Congress is unwilling to confront.  if America has ceased to be a Christian country, it is because she has ceased to be a democratic country.  This is the real coup d'etat.  (Patrick Buchanan, Death of the West {New York:  Saint Martins Press, 2002} p. 188)

Republican democracy, as Buchanan notes, has its roots in Judeo-Christian principle.  The sanctity of life, freedom to follow one's conscience, and the liberty to worship as one is led to do so are values intrinsic to the American experience.  With the growing secularism rampant in American society today, it is no wonder that socialism and other things are gaining a sympathetic ear.  My Archbishop, Mark Haverland of the Anglican Catholic Church, even said in a number of his writings that the American Evangelical churches are following suit by conforming to culture, and thus even the Church has been secularized (this "Emerging Church" heresy I note in my theological articles at www.sacramentalpresenttruths.blogspot.com is the ultimate and latest expression of the secularizing tendency in American Christianity).  However, the thing is, not every person in every part of the nation is doing what New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and the other major metro areas are dictating, and this is causing an ever-heating discontent just under the surface.  In time, that discontent could lead to division, and by division, I mean demographic/geographic division possibly along bioregional lines.   Are we ready for that? 

I would love more than anything to see the US get back to its roots, sans some of the mistakes of the past, and recapture the core values that made us great to begin with.  However, realistically, I don't think it will happen, and therefore I predict that one day - maybe closer than we think! - the US will dissolve as a political entity as its influence as a major power declines.   A number of small regional sovereign entities will replace the US as it once was, and in the long run this may be for the best.   To prove it is not far-fetched, this has happened before - remember the Western Roman Empire?  It was not conquered, nor did it fall by any great catastrophe - it slowly whittled away until in 476 AD the last emperor of the West, Romulus Augustus, was deposed by a "barbarian" chieftain and counsel by the name of Odoacer.  And, it didn't take a lot for that to happen either - he deposed and exiled the boy emperor, and politely sent the imperial symbols to the Eastern Emperor with the message that it was no longer necessary to appoint a successor.   America is on that road too, and it is only a matter of time.   Will it happen prior to 2016?  That remains to be seen, but inevitably it is going to happen someday.  We, as a nation, are just too big for our britches and the cumbersome bureaucracy we have, and the secularizing influences they have, is getting too hard to maintain and too much for the common citizen to bear.  If Obama has his way, he wants to institute a Third-World, anticolonialist, secular socialism that would in essence deconstruct the American system as we know it and replace it with something very sinister.  Thing is, most Americans would not stand for that, and would rise against it rather than accept it.  So, in all likelihood, if the ominous feelings many have about Obama have merit, we could see states, or regions of states, breaking away from the United States in the very near future.  Given the choice of secession or tyranny, I choose secession - America can best be preserved in remnants in that instance.   Question is though, where would I choose to place my loyalties if something like that were to happen?  Given my own heritage, my first choice would be advocating for an independent Appalachian state, but I would also support a Southern coalition too.   I personally hope that myself and many of the "naysayers" about all this stuff are wrong, because such a transition would be a mess, and I would much prefer to save and restore the US to what she should be rather than to see its dissolution.  But, if it comes down to it, I ultimately want to secure my and my family's freedom, and will do what it takes.   Will you?   The decision is one only you can make, but in lieu of the times,  I would suggest that you more thoroughly think about it.   God bless until next time.