The Fredösphere

Banjo player Eddie Adcock underwent brain surgery to correct a hand tremor that interfered with his ability to play his instrument.  He was awake during part of the surgery and--as was necessary to locate the relevant nerves--played his banjo during the operation.  Now, sign me up for the other operation, the one that fixes the technique of banjo players who never practiced.

What's that?  You demand to see video?  Here you go:



(Hat tip Cronaca.)

Labels: OldTyme

How much cooler would Goliath be if he fought David in a powered armor suit? Way cooler!

Everyone is talking about the study that concludes Evangelical Christians are less susceptible to "irrational" beliefs.  The WSJ quotes Chesterton, inevitably (and dangerously; the crazy master's thinking tended toward the dazzlingly inventive, but not logical, certainly not in any systematic way).  I would have mentioned this Chesterton quote instead:  "The first effect of not believing in God is to believe in anything."  I guess the ol' boy got one right.  Further commentary can be found at Futurismic.

Finally, one more religious link, with some music thrown in:  A Cappella News found this trailer for a Sacred Harp documentary.  It's nice to see the movement can attract people younger than 30 (not to mention 70).

Labels: GraphicNovel, OldTyme, Religion

I promise, as a representative of the Software Interface Designer Community, to kill myself in ritual fashion to atone for the criminally bad UI of an alarm clock formerly owned by James Lileks.

Meanwhile....

Last Sunday I unleashed folk music on my Lutheran congregations.  This was not some 70s folk-ish abomination wherein the Kyrie chant is accompanied by a guitar played by Sally Field in a nun suit.  No, I'm talking about a hard-core folk abomination with banjo and washtub bass.

I'm not joking.

Well, the washtub was used only at the University Lutheran Chapel, since the regular bassist couldn't make that service, and we sing in the balcony there so the congregation never saw (and, I hope, never noticed) the washtub. 

We sang my arrangement of "There is a Fountain Filled With Blood," a vivid, not to say morbid, hard-core independent revivalist Freewill Baptist metaphor if there ever was one.  This rendition redeemed the previous attempt to perform it in a church service, years ago, which was ruined when one of the trio of singers left the sanctuary just before it was time to sing, on the deeply mistaken belief that he had time to run an errand.  (Later, I found out he was annoyed we started without him.  I wanted to punch him in the nose.)

My banjoist boasts of near-contact with folk music royalty.  He explained to me who Lloyd Chandler is:  the writer (maybe) of the original version of the song, "Conversation With Death," (AKA "O Death") which was adapted by Ralph Stanley and made known to the wider public by its use in the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou.  Dan, my banjoist, mentioned proudly that he once visited North Carolina and helped install a septic system in the home of one of Lloyd Chandler's cousins.

So, I've sung in a folk band with someone who installed a septic system for a cousin of Lloyd Chandler, who wrote (probably) the song "O Death."  I am so going to use that the next time I play Name Dropping.

Labels: Composition, OldTyme

Hosanna!  My buddy Alan gave me the news.  Carol Barnett's The World Beloved:  A Bluegrass Mass has been recorded by VocalEssence.  Give the Sanctus a listen.  (Stephen Paulus' The Day is Done and Eric Whitacre's Water Night have sample tracks available as well.)

Labels: Composer, OldTyme, vocal