Banjo versus TV week 91: Granma's pub songs

A check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s ongoing plan to spend more time on his banjo than on TV. This post covers 11/22/2009 through 11/28/2009.

I visited my British grandmother this past week. I've blogged about her before, how she was a motorcycle courier during the London Blitz.

We talked about her old favorite pub songs from her days in London. Songs like Knees Up Mother Brown, which starts about 50 seconds into this video:

That's a great old pub song. (And only a truly twisted mind would think it would make a good kid's ditty.)

Another of her favorite pub songs is My Old Man's a Dustman, seen here with a tea chest bass (the skiffle band equivalent of a jug band's washtub bass):

Another notable thing about that My Old Man's a Dustman video is the use of a banjolele, which is what Granma thinks of when she thinks of banjos. Basically, she thinks that banjo players should sound like George Formby:

So now I've taken it as a challenge to learn how to play some pub songs for Granma on my banjo.

I've ordered up a copy of Let's Have Another One: 22 Classic Pub Songs to get started.

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Also in the last week:

• I renewed my membership in the Banjo Hangout Player's Union. In addition to bragging rights, membership entitles me to get the 2010 T-shirt — probably one of these designs.
  
  
• I typed "banjo" into the iTunes U search engine and found...
  • Bluegrass and Old-Time String Band Music from the Florida Folklife Collection (iTunes link).

    The Florida Folklife Collection includes approximately 150 cubic feet of paper records (including field notes and administrative files) and thousands of audio and video recordings, which date from the 1930s through 2001.
    
    Created by Florida folklorists, the Collection consists of 88 individual series that document the performances by, interviews with, and fieldwork surveys of folk musicians, artisans, storytellers, folklife interpreters, and other Florida peoples and their traditions. Read more.

  • Several iTunes U podcasts from East Tennessee University's Archives of Appalachia (iTunes link):
    • Ballads and Songs — Historical Recordings
    • String Bands & Instruments — Historical Recordings
    • Festivals
  • Quite Early Morning: The Life, Times, and Legacy of Pete Seeger from A World of Opportunity's program Keepers of the Flames (iTunes link)
• Just Googling around and ran into Max's Sexy Banjo Show, which — with songs like Prom Night Priapism and Vagina Town — is not for the kiddies.

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

Washtub bass entrepreneur

Combining two of my loves into one post, here's one about jug bands and entrepreneurship.

Bogdon Vasquaf sent this note to members of the jugband Yahoo! group:

I have been invited to be on MSNBC Elevator Pitch (google it).

This Thursday Nov 6th. I will pitch my crazy electric cardboard box upright bass to 2 Fortune 500 Investors on national television. MSNBC will show it twice a day for a week, and will post the vid on the MSNBC home page for about a month.

I dont start taping until 9:30am so I want to jamm and try to be noticed by t he Today Show at 7:am Rockefeller Plaza.

If anyone is interested in meeting me to jamm just email me.

more info on my page.

onward and upward!

Bogdon Vasquaf

MSNBC's Elevator Pitch is kind of like the BBC's Dragons' Den, which is my favorite entrepreneur program.

Good luck, Bogdon!

Mark your calendars - Battle of the Jug Bands

Decisions, decisions.

On Sunday, February 10th, to stay here in Chicago and see the last day of The 48th Annual Univerity of Chicago Folk Festival?

Or to drive 6 hours each way and see The 26th Annual Battle of the Jug Bands in Minneapolis?

My washtub-bass-playin' world debut

I had the best time with the Windy City Jammers at banjo night at the Lincoln Restaurant in Chicago. My humble banjo-playin' skills aren't even close to cutting it yet, but as it turns out I'm a natural at the washtub bass.

More on that washtub bass when I get the time. For now, enjoy some pictures.

Update: This post just isn't complete without some praise for the wonderful group of musicians that perform every Monday night at the Lincoln. (They drift in between 6:30pm and 7:00pm [or later] then play 'til 10:00pm.) From pros to gifted amateurs to amateurs to, er, me -- everyone is welcome.

It's billed as "banjo night" but the Windy City Jammers are an entire band. I'm told that you never know what instruments are going to show up. This week it was:

• Three plectrum banjos (four-string)
• Tenor banjo (four-string)
• Washtub bass
• Electric sax
• Washboard
• Jaw harp
• Two mandolins
• Three violins
• Accordion
• Trombone
• Trumpet
• Five-string banjo (that's me!)
• A percussion box with -- literally -- all the bells and whistles, plus a bike horn.

The crowd varied in age from the college kids at the corner table to the Swedish octegenarian ladies who have been the band's groupies for twenty years.

The music stands strain under the weight of the band's three-inch thick, xeroxed songbook. I probably captured about a fifth of the night's selections in my notes: Wolverine Blues, Do You Ever Think of Me?, Pennies from Heaven, Dr. Jazz, Bill Bailey, In a Shanty In Old Shanty Town, I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Cecilia ("Does Your Mother Know You're Out"), Ja-Da, When You're Smiling, You Were Meant for Me, Under the Double Eagle, Sweet Georgia Brown, Somebody Loves Me, and When I'm Sixty-Four.

There was a lot of friendly banter. Nobody picked on me for my lack of experience, but I had to take a little grief for bringing a five-string banjo to a four-string band.

I'll definitely be going back. I just need to find an instrument to play until my banjo skills are worthy of the band.

Lincoln Restaurant, 4008 N. Lincoln Ave. (between Cuyler Ave & Damen Ave), Chicago. (773)248-1820. Banjo night with the Windy City Jammers is every Monday night. Dinner starts at 6:00pm; music from 7:00pm to 10:00pm. $5 minimum.