FORGOTTEN MUSIC: JOHN JACOB NILES

John Jacob Niles (1892-1980), the Dean of American Balladeers, was an American singer and composer who influenced many artists with his repetoire of Appalachian songs.  He often sang in a high falsetto, which gave his music an eerie, haunting, and dramatic quality.  Much of the time he accompanied himself with his distinctive Appalachian dulcimer.  A trained musciologist, Niles found his inspiration in the ordinary American.  He painstakingly transcribed songs and snippets he heard while traveling throughout his native Appalachia, sometimes refining them and adding to them.  His work covered normal human themes, songs of love and despair, gambling songs and spirituals, presented with an understanding and love of those he sang about.

     One of his best-known songs, Go Away from My Window, was reportedly written when he was sixteen for a girl he was in love with.  Bob Dylan used the first line of the song in his own It Ain 't Me, Babe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfSQAEsMuqA&NR=1

     There are very few live recordings available, hut here's a snippet of John Jacob Niles doing that song live, followed by a brief comment by Bob Dylan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpaAeqBhwrM

     Here's Little Black Star:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnnXxkCIt8I

     And The Irish Girl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMO-b8FM2OE

     A song with another traditional theme is The Maid Freed from the Gallows.  The person who posted this song added a very odd video, so it might best to listen with your eyes closed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkCNevvWjYQ

     My own favorite is the powerful Christmas song I Wonder As I Wander.   The simplicity of the lyrics, combining both a love of nature and awe of the story of Christ, has touched millions of people.   It started with a snippet that he heard sung by a young girl.  Here's the story behing the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FttMHRyD6E

     And, here's the song itself.  I could not find a decent link to it being sung by Niles, so I had to choose among versions done by Joan Baez, Placido Domingo, Linda Ronstadt, and many others.  This recording byThe King's Singers brings out the beauty and the power of this carol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRL43iw6cY4

     And finally, for those who wish all the details, here's a brief article on Niles, which gives a complete discography and bibliography:

http://www.john-jacob-niles.com/John_Jacob_Niles_discography.htm

**********

     For more forgotten music, visit Scott Parker's blog at scottdparker.blogspot.com, where he provides links for your listening pleasure.

OVERLOOKED TELEVISION: SEEING THINGS and SHE-WOLF OF LONDON

One of the brightest television shows I have ever seen was Seeing Things, a Canadian mystery series that aired from 1981 to 1987 for a total of 43 episodes.  It was created by and starred Louis Del Grande, of whom one wag said must have been the role model for George Constanza.  (Sometimes the "Del" was presented as "del".)  Del Grande played Louis Ciccone, a hapless reporter for the Toronto Gazette who happened to be saddled with a type of clairvoyance.  Ciccone could see events from the past, but only those that relate to certain unsolved murders, and he could not get a new vision/clue until he figured out how the last one related to the murder.  Naturally, his visions tended to complicate things.  Seeing Things was a perfect almagram of crime, clairvoyancy, and comedy.  Along for the ride were Martha Gibson, Del Grande's real-life wife, as Ciccone's wife Marge, and Janet-Laine Green as Crown Attorney Heather Redfern.

     Del Grande's role won him the 1983 ACTRA award for best actor in a television drama.  Janet-Laine Green has worked steadily in the industry, acting asell as providing voice-overs for such children's series as Babar, Jacob Two-Two, Franklin, Mythic Warriors:  Guardians of the Legend, The Never-Ending Story, and The Care Bears Family.

     Seeing Things has been shown in the past on American television; I first saw it on PBS many years ago.  To my knowledge, it has not been released on DVD.  (If I'm wrong, please correct me; I'd love to get the full series.)  I was able to dig up the first episode in five parts on Youtube.

Part 1 of  "I May Be Seeing Things, But I'm Not Crazy":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYTED3bm46I&playnext=1&list=PLD5A580AE89AD813B

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5JqAtKq7jI&feature=related

Part 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxSePbmhxzc&feature=related

Part 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgdcFxhB00c&feature=related

And Part 5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB0Ej5FLRMI&feature=related


     Another program that I loved was She-Wolf of London, starring Kate Hodge and Neil Dickson.  She-Wolf ran for only 20 episodes in 1990 and 1991, suffering an ignominious fate over the last six episodes.  Hodge played Randi Wallace, an American grad student in England to study mythology under Dr. Ian Matheson, played by Dickson.  Sparks fly and the two are attracted to each other.  Unfortunately, during a camping trip on the moors, Randi is bitten by a werewolf.  (You have to hate it when that happens.)  For most of the series, the pair are trying to find a cure for werewolf-itis and Ian is charged with protecting Randi during her changes.  Because a full moon happens only thirteen times a year, many of the shows did not focus on Kate changing, but rather on various supernatural creatures.  This was another series that relied a lot on humor and interrelationships.
    
     She-Wolf of London was a British show created by Mick Garris and Tom McLaughlin; Garris had written such movies as Critters 2, Hocus Pocus, and The Fly II, and later worked on Stephen King vehicles Riding the Bullet and Quicksilver Highway.  Regrettably, the European producers pulled the financial plug on the series during its first season.  To cut down on costs, the series and its characters moved to Los Angeles.  Since the she-wolf was no longer in London, the name of series was changed to Love and Curses.  The move to L.A. for the last six episode sucked the life out of the series.  It was explained by Dr. Ian Matheson losing his academic job (his scholarly study was published by a very lurid paperback company -- evidently a no-no in British academia) and becoming a television talk show host specializing in paranormal topics.  A sad, sorry end to one of the brightest shows on television.

     The entire series was later shown on the SF (pre-SciFi) Channel with the Love and Curses episodes retaining the original She-Wolf of London title.  This one is available on DVD.

     Special mention should be made of Diane Youdale, the unsung actress who played the werewolf.  Oh, and Neil Dickon went on to play a recurring villain on the television show Sliders.

Here (again in five parts) is the first show in the series, titled (go figure) "She-Wolf of London".

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qat3i2jdaCw

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lORbrjJ95eI&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Part 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbd34QD7UeY&feature=related

Part 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy5nWR-K4W8&feature=related

Part 5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAg8KfW76Lc&feature=related


     For more overlooked movies, television, and whatnot, drop by Todd Mason's blog Sweet Freedom today and prepare to be amused and amazed.

INCOMING

Not much came in this week, if you compare it to recent weeks.  I had a chance to pick up several Dorchester/Leisure books, but opted not to.

• Philip Jose Farmer, The Unreasoning Mask.  SF novel.
• Jeff Gelb and Michael Garrett, editors, Dark Passions:  Hot Blood XIII.  Horror anthology.  I had read the first few books in the Hot Blood series and enjoyed them.  It's time to see if the series is still good, although with contributions by Dave Zeltserman, Ed Gorman, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, David J. Schow, Thomas Tessier, and Graham Masterton, among others, bodes well for this collection.
• Jack McDevitt, Seeker.  SF novel.  The third of the Alex Benedict novels.
• John Miller, First Power Play.  SF novel, Volume 1 in the Inner Planets Trilogy, a Buck Rogers in the XXV Century book.
• Sarah Stromeyer, Bubbles All the Way.  Mystery novel.  I am a Bubbles fan.

LAZY DAYS

I know some parts of the country are having horrible weather, but things are just fine in Southern Maryland.  We had a very mild winter and it's been warm and lovely the past week or so.  We have had rains, but night seemed to be the proper time to have heavy downpours and strong winds; the days were bright and sunny and the ground just a tad too wet for me to begin working on the lawn.  Perfect.

     Make no mistake about it, spring has come.  We drove around yesterday admiring the forsythia in bloom, as well as the daffodils, jonquils, and roses.  The redbuds are gearing up for riotous color, the trees have sprouted tiny green buds for a promise of verdant beauty.  The azaleas are justung itching to bloom.  The birds are singing.  The male cardinals are ariot in bright display to attract the lady cardinals.  Robins are feasting on treats from the ground.  (Strangely, in four years of living here, I've never seen an oriole.  What's that about?  I mean, I'm fifty miles from Baltimore, for heaven's sake!) 

     It started to grow chilly last night and I woke up this morning to a blanket of snow covering the ground -- about an inch, which is just enough for nature to tell us not to get too cocky.  Looking out the front door, I couold view the trees -- thirty, forty, fifty feet tall -- laced in delicate white.  The view is the same but different out the back door.  Through the white-armed trees, I can see the sun glinting off the lake, providing me with a private dance of light.  It was quiet here in the morning.  No one was about and nature spoke silently at that hour.

    It's now late afternoon, the snow is completely gone and it's short-sleeve weather again.  Nature has again told me that she can do what she wishes, when she wishes.  I'm glad that recently she has decided to be kind to me, showing me her grace and her beautiful coutenance.  Tomorrow it will still be warm, although the ground will be wet from the melted snow.  I'm afraid I still won't get to work on the lawn.  Perfect.

OVERHEARD

From one of a group of fourteen or fifteen year old boys at Wal-Mart:

     "She just doesn't understand the difference between drinking and getting pissy drunk"

     Ah, youth!

WHERE DOUGLAS ADAMS MESSED UP AND I DIDN'T

Douglas Adams got it wrong.  The answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything is not 42.

     It's 41.

     Sorry, Doug, you missed it by that much.

     41 years ago today, I did the smartest thing in my life and married Kitty.  For once in my life I was doing something that was absolutely right, with no questions or doubt in my mind.  Why the most wonderful and  beautiful woman in the world would marry me is another question.

     Back then, I was a bearded bumpkin with blisters on my hands from working construction.  Today, at least, I've lost the beard and the blisters.  Back then, I could get lost in the beauty of her eyes and and the warmth of her smile.  Today, if that has changed at all, my feelings have only grown deeper.

     41 years may seem like a long time, but it really just rushed by.  We survived the low-paying, soul-sucking jobs and the slightly better-paying, soul-sucking jobs.  We were also blessed by doing some things we really loved doing:  we worked in newspapers, at a food bank, at a local cable station, and at an equity theater; we worked at blood drives, concerts, and book signings.  We spend years as therapeutic foster parents, taking in unwanted and troubled kids -- sometimes for a few nights, sometimes for years -- and got to help some really fantastic kids.

     We had two wonderful girls of our own and they just completed us.  We have the knowledge that whatever else we did, whatever mistakes we may have made, our children were proof that the impact we had on the world was real and positive.  Our children went on and gave us four beautiful and whip-smart grandchildren who make us laugh and make us smile and make us marvel at the world every day.

     We have had sorrows and troubles and tragedy.  Through it all, we have had each other.  I wouldn't have any other way.  And I couldn't have loved any woman more than I love Kitty today.

     So, Mr. Douglas Adams, you got it wrong.  You were off by one number.  At least, for the coming year.

ANOTHER DORCHESTER UPDATE - 3/25/11

Courtesy of Gary Dobbs, comes news that the Romance Writers of America are joining the boycott:

http://tainted-archive.blogspot.com/2011/03/dorchester-publishing-boycott-gathers.html