My friend Alan Stewart reports on a meeting he had with Pete Seeger: An Encounter With a Guy With a Big and Bobbing Adam’s Apple. Included in the article is a new verse for Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.”
Spent a lovely evening last night playing tunes with friends new and old at The Snug Coffeehouse on Bowen Island. Every so often, a couple of times a month or so, we gather there on a Saturday night to play Irish and Scottish tunes. Last night my old friend Dave Marshall showed up, which was lovely. He and I were regulars at the famous Tuesday night session at the Irish Heather in Vancouver in the mid to late 1990s. Last night though was the first time I have ever played with Jocelyn Pettit. Jocelyn, who is all of 16 years …
From the Ontario trip, three new musicians: I saw Michael Ketemer playing a beaten up old Larrivee at the Peterborough Farmer’s Market on Saturday. He bore a little resemblance to Neil Young, with long stringy hair under a ball cap, but he is a much different kind of guitarist. Lovely virtuoso finger picking Celtic guy. He played a few very unusual set dances and some jigs and reels for me and we talked a little. I asked him which of his albums he was most proud of and he handed me “Yellow Stockings” which I bought. You can listen to …
My friend Norah Rendell is a traditional musician of the highest calibre. She is a beautiful singer and a gifted Irish flute player and a curious and lively human being. To be around her is a delight and to make music with her is to be carried away in a space of grace and beauty where we can find out what it means to be truly human. I’ve just spent the better part of last weekend visiting with her in St. Paul, Minnesota, making music and sharing lots of story. For me the social production of music is a deeply …