So, just to warm back up, I figured I'd grab a small random thing.
At various places and times I had speculated on/wondered about some possible Old And In The Way shows at bluegrass festivals during the latter part of summer 1973. This is a "chapter" in my head. For now I'll just say that these dates probably didn't happen:
- July 4, 1973: 1st Annual Pennsylvania Old Time Mountain-Country Gospel-Bluegrass & Blues Folk Music Arts Festival,Valley View Park, York, PA;
- July 26 or 29, 1973: First Annual West Virginia Peace, Love, Blues and Bluesgrass [sic] Folk Music Festival, Aunt Minnie's Farm and Country Road Park, Rt. No. 33 and 119 (Stumptown), Glenville, WV;
- September 1-2, 1973: 9th Labor Day Weekend Original Blue Grass Music Festival, Camp Springs, NC;
- September 7, 1973: First Annual Harpers Ferry West Virginia Indian Summer Bluegrass Folk Music Festival, Harpers Ferry, WV.
If I had to write the book today, that's what I would say. Alas, because somehow it's more fun to discover a "missing" show. So finding that it had just gotten to advertising stage but probably never happened is a bit of a letdown. But I just don't think they happened.
There's nothing here that we hadn't more or less already concluded (though Corry holds out hope for Camp Springs, I think Bartenstein's non-recollection is sovereign). But since this is a thing that interests me, since my blogging brain and fingers feel in need of some warming up -- six days since my last post is the longest I have gone in quite awhile-- I thought I'd just chum the water with this reminder.
If anyone, anyone, knows where there are good bluegrass blogs that might be likely places to see if anyone knows/remembers anything? I'd also love to be educated by some bluegrass experts. I have pleaded for help on the GSCBF at the California Bluegrass Association message board. But I'd love to find any good sites and also educate myself more. TIA.
Hey, did you know I have a theory that Old And In The Way played St. Louis or thereabouts on June 4, 1973 and that John Hartford played fiddle? Really, I'm not making this up, but I'm behind by about 100 posts and I'll never catch up, so I thought I'd just mention it here.
ReplyDeleteSomebody in the band (not Jerry) said that they had a St. Louis gig and that Hartford sat in, but I'm too distracted to try and trace it backwards. June 4 is the only day that works.
Unfortunately, I doubt the June 4th date.Here's what Vassar says:
ReplyDelete"We met the day before the first show in Boston, rehearsed that night and started playing the very next day".
Sources:
(1) Rowan, Peter, Vassar Clements, and David Grisman. 2004 [1997]. Old and In the Way: Breakdown. Original Live Recordings from 1973—vol. 2. [Acoustic Disc ACD-28, 1997; album liner notes reproduced] In Goldsmith 2004, pp. 218-220.
(2) Goldsmith, Thomas, ed. 2004. The Bluegrass Reader. Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
Ok, having opened my big mouth I looked it up. It seems that Hartford played in the Bay Area, not St. Louis. (the cite is the Goldsmith reprint of the AC28 liner notes noted above). Hartford seems to be left out of a lot of accounts, even if the St. Louis thing turns out to be a figment of my imagination.
ReplyDeletehttp://books.google.com/books?id=LgAGzopOTbYC&pg=PA220&dq=%22john+hartford%22+%22old+and+in+the+way%22&hl=en&ei=SjbUTdLcPNO4twe1-qSwCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEEQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22john%20hartford%22%20%22old%20and%20in%20the%20way%22&f=false
Garcia also says that Hartford played fiddle "for a gig or two" in a 1990 interview.
ReplyDeleteThe Peace Love Blues and bluegrass Folk Music Fest on Aunt Minnie's farm in WV happened.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that, Jody. I wonder if there are any newspaper articles about it, or a program, or anything else?
Delete