Urban Pioneers:Polly Stewart Correspondence, 2005

Email archive of Polly Stewart, 2005

Group Wise WebAccess Message Item Mail Message Close Next From: To: Date: Subject: Delete From This Mailbox Delete From All Mailboxes Polly Stewart Monday- January 17, 2005 11 :39 AM Follow-up on oral history project Jan. 17, 2005 Dear Rosalie, Page 1 of 1 Forward Reply to Sender Reply All Move Delete Read Later Properties Print View I hope you are well. I am pleased to report that the editors of a special issue on Utah folklore, to be published in the Utah Historical Quarterly in Spring 2006, have accepted my proposal for an essay on the Utah urban folk-music revival. This would not necessarily be the only thing published on the topic, but it can be very useful as a boost toward future publishing. It's not clear yet how long the essay will be, but meanwhile there's nothing like a deadline to conveniently pose the challenge of an immediate goal. First drafts are to be in by March 15 and second drafts by June 1. The package of essays is to be handed over to the UHQ editorial board by August 1, with revisions done by December 1. The thing should be in the mail by April 15, 2006. I would like to have another interview with you at your home, somewhere around the first of March, weather permitting. By that time I should have three tapes transcribed: 1) the AFS oral history session, 2) the AFS concert, and 3) my interview with Bruce in California. So .. . will you be available for me to come up in early March? I don't know how long it takes nowadays to get from Salt Lake to Boise (and the 25 miles beyond that to your place). It used to take 7 hours, but I'm told it's not nearly that long anymore. If I got there in the evening, we could spend the next day interviewing and I would head back either that afternoon or the next morning, depending on how much time was needed. Wednesday, March 2 would be a good time for me to leave SLC in the afternoon. We could interview Thursday, March 3 that afternoon or possibly the morning of Friday, March 4. Please let me know if this will suit you at all. If not, we'll arrange something better. cheers, p http:/ /131.118.32.161/servlet/webacc?action=Item.Read&User.context=il8jsfSb9hu3bhcEm5&Ite... 1/17/2005 Stewart, Polly (Salt Lake City, UT; ). Urban Pioneers: The Folk Music Revival in Utah, 1958-1969. The postwar folk music revival did not sweep into Utah until the late 1950's, when performers Bruce Phillips and Rosalie Sorrels enlivened a cultural environment rich with pioneer-era singing traditions already documented in academic scholarship. Their juxtaposition of traditional Utah expressive culture with labor and social-protest music and an infusion of bluegrass--at the height of the Civil Rights era and the beginning of the Vietnam era-- ushered in a decade of extraordinary cultural energy in Utah, today only a memory. The present initiative is to create long-term oral-history documentation of the era, of which this paper is a snapshot. Novell WebAccess Page 1 of2 Mai I Message N Close Next Delete From This Mailbox Delete From All Mailboxes Forward Reply to Sender Reply All Move Delete Read Later Properties From: To: Date: Subject: 3/15/05 Polly Stewart Tuesday - March 15, 2005 2:53 PM Time line of folk music events in SLC This is my own memory added to the FSU chapter materials in _Folkore in Utah_. Print View For historical reference, I grew up on Burllves, was in high school from 1958 through 1961 (except fall1960], and was at the U from 1961 through 1966 (except spring 1962]. I left SLC for Eugene in September 1966. I took folklore from Barre in Spring 1965 and attended a conference put on by the Fifes at USU in 1965 or 1966 1957 Wayland Hand's summer course (1958 Not folk music, but: Oistrakh pere et fils prevented from giving concert] 1958 Weavers come to Kingsbury Hall despite right-wing protest (I didn't attend) 1959 Summer, Dean Bentley sends RS to UCLA 1959 Summer Dean Bentley mounts first big folklore week, w/ Greenway, Cray, RS + 1959 (?would have to be fall 1959 after RS met him at UCLA) Guy Carawan concert 1959 ?Pete Seeger and Sonny Terry, Kingsbury Hall 1960 (?April?) RS and Olive Burt's presentation on murder ballads, SLC library 1961 Spring, discussions about founding IFMC, Sorrels living room 1961 June, big concert by "The Grope," OSH 1961 Summer, Jean Ritchie concert, extended stay with husband George Pickow 1961 Summer, Kenny Goldstein, extended stay with wife Rochelle and 3 small ~ ,1 'OW. ~ t\-\c. " children in SLC, Kenny records RS, Bruce Phillips, auditions & records Bruce t? 1\/Q . r , J ~..tt ,. Cummings, Ray Conrad, maybe others (2--J '' (t,.~~.Mt) ~s 1 1961 Summer founding of The Utah Valley Boys with Bruce Phillips, B. W. Cummings, Byron Davis, {?Amy Theodore's boyfriend, the medical student], and Fred Rinehart 1961 Summer into Fall, "Piss on you, Charlotte!" "Piss on you, Arnie!" 1961 Fall, Peggy Seeger, Union Bldg east ballroom 1961 Fall, Jesse "Lone Cat" Fuller, Union central ballroom, David Pollei impresario 1961 Fall, RS organizes recording sessions for Utah song tradition bearers, I think in connection with the _Folk Songs of Utah_ project. I remember waiting interminably with quite a few others in some anteroom while singers went one at a time into a smaller room that either was a recording studio or had been made into a studio for the occasion, but do not remember recording the only song in my family's tradition, The Fly and the Grasshopper. 1962 early summer, folk singing and folk music contest, open-air venue in Big Cottonwood or some other local canyon. The prizes go to tradition-bearers 1963 Spring, The New Lost City Ramblers 1963 Spring, Face of a Nation, U of U Union center ballroom, Sunday afternoon event 1964 late winter, The Georgia Sea Island Singers 1964 early spring, Rolf Cahn presents concert and gives lessons (I get one lesson) 1964 Spring + I edit 6 or so issues of the I FMC newsletter. Terry_ is president. 1964 Spring, Jack Elliott, in the Babcock Theatre, PMT 1964 Spring, Joan Baez, Highland High Auditorium. I stand up Manny Greenhill without realizing it 1965 late spring, Mitch Greenhill, Unitarian Church 1965 Joan Baez again, Mormon Tabernacle, Maurice Abravanel impresario 1966 early spring, Hedy West, Union East ballroom, part of Spotlight on the American South series headed by me 1966 late spring, Son House, Dick Waterman impresario http://131.118.33.141/servlet/webacc?action=Item.Read&User.context=ewdhz7Ugdgndhd2Gqc&I... 3115/2005 / veil WebAccess Page 1 of 1 Mai I Message N Close Next Delete From This Mailbox Delete From All Mailboxes Forward Reply to Sender Reply All Move Delete Read Later Properties From: To: Date: Subject: Polly Stewart Wednesday- March 16, 2005 1:04AM Urban Pioneers outline, sort of Urban Pioneers: The Folk Music Revival in Utah, 1957-1969 Print View This is a story about an incandescent time in Utah history-brief, illuminating, ephemeral. In folklore theory we say that the most difficult cultural expression to analyze-let alone recognize-is one's own. Because as a very young woman I lived in the midst of this era and participated in it, I did not realize until decades later the weight of its impact upon me and perhaps upon the cultural expression of the society in which I had been reared. The era I refer to is the era of the Urban Folk Music Revival of the late 1950's and early 1960's, a cusp, a lip about to overflow with the energy of a culture that had reached the tipping point, setting the stage for a far-reaching cultural revolution. Its appearance and brief life in Utah had similar effects. General outline 1 ). The American cultural scene of the postwar era and beyond; beatniks on the wane, hippies in the offing. Political and economic considerations. Unions, fear of communism, the push and pull of progressive vs. reactionary forces, the commodification of "folk music" (Kingston Trio, Joan Baez as icons). The NYC crucible of the Urban Folk Music Revival and its spread throughout the land via publications, records, television, personal appearances by individual artists, catching fire with the content of the Civil Rights and anti-war movements. The approach of a "tipping point" 2). The Utah scene; Mormon folk song scholarship already "done," and on the wane, the performing arts and literary scene, Utah's positioning as a crossroads--literally on the way to everywhere--at a time when every young person in American was "On the Road," or wanted to be; Two particular performing artists (neither of whom saw himself or herself as a "folk singer") coming to the Utah cultural scene at this crucial time, and the peculiar mix of their talents, interests, obsessions. These two never worked professionally as a duo but became so in the public mind. Bruce Phillips, Rosalie Sorrels (husband Jim always present as well). These two later became moderately well known nationally as folk singers but they still regard themselves as storytellers who use music as needed. (Details on their artistic and political lives) These two generated excitement about folk music through their teaching and their public performances (dev.) 3). Other: Utah Valley Boys, Polly and the Valley Boys, Hal Cannon and his groups, "Mackie" Magleby and his groups, Brent Bradford, Bruce W. Cummings, Pete Netka. 4). long-term and short-term effects of this artistic presence along the Wasatch Front. How present-day "folk singing" differs. Well, this needs work, no doubt about it. Please discard this hopeless mess. More follows. PS http://131.118.33.141/servlet/webacc?action=Item.Read&User.context=ewdhz7Ugdgndhd2Gqc&I... 3/15/2005 Novell WebAccess .l MaU Message Close From: To: Next Forward Polly Stewart Polly Stewart Reply to Sender Date: Tuesday- April12, 2005 11:51 AM Reply All Move Delete Subject: Oral history project: notes on phone conversation with RS Read Later Page 1 of2 Properties Print View [NB some of this material is confidential] ~ ~t. ~ )\... Tuesday, April 12, 2005 NOTES: Rosalie called Mon. 4/11 at about 8 a.m. with corrections to the timeline. } 1) Spring 1966 Dick Waterman was not impresario of the Son House concert but was Son House's manager. 2) She did not leave SLC in Summer 1966 but in the fall, in November 1966. (I had remembered her being gone from SLC during the summer and had incorrectly inferred that she had already left permanently.) Rosalie had accepted an invitation to perform at the 1966 Newport Folk Festival in July. It was her first trip east of Denver. The invitation had come through the help of Jean Ritchie and some others and was tendered not only because of Rosalie's singing talents but also in acknowledgment of her networking-the many folk music concerts she had impresarioed and performers she had hosted in SLC over the previous seven or eight years. She was featured in the "New Faces" portion of the NFF program and was accompanied by Mitch Greenhill. What was significant artistically about this concert was twofold: First, she was singing her own material as well as Bruce Phillips's, a development away from the traditional material she had earlier been associated with (and which many people thought she should stay with); second, Mitch's technique of accompaniment, which was very attentive to her actual singing and which included responding to improvised vocal lines with guitar lines of the same tune, was eminently suited to Rosalie's developing singing style, and the concert experience amounted to a kind of artistic awakening. Before, she had been stultified by her husband's guitar accompaniments, and by his and others' expectation that she should sing in a more restricted and uncreative traditional style. [By 1966, RS had recorded three albums: Folk Songs of Idaho and Utah (Folkways, 1959 or 1960), Rosalie's Songbag (Presgige, 1961), and Somewhere Between (Unitarian Church of SLC, after 1961). Artistically they progressed from strict adherence to traditional songs and performance styles on the first to contemporary songs by, e.g., Malvina Reynolds ("Somewhere Between") and Pete Seeger ("My Father's House") and a freer less traditional singing style on the third. RS had been moving farther and farther away from Anglo traditional music expression and more into her own artistic expression, which was much more emotional and rubato. She was also writing her own songs, but many people, including her husband, wanted her to stay within traditional parameters. Rosalie's Songbag was engineered and produced by Kenny Goldstein in the summer of 1961 . The recording was done in the Sorrels living room at 931 Second Avenue. Sign of artistic tension between J and R: Kenny asked Jim to leave off his accompanying Rosalie during the recording session. This was surely a blow to Jim's ego and was doubtless one of the causes of their later conflicts. Jim professed to be bored by folk music and was always much more interested in jazz. Rosalie had tried to sing jazz but Jim had not been sanguine about about these efforts.] The experience at Newport was so important to Rosalie that she got Mitch to go with her to Connecticut where she had been scheduled to cut a record for Folk Legacy. The Patons had expected her to use an old-time string-band backup but she had not felt comfortable with this backup and was much happier with Mitch. They cut the record, _If I Could Be the Rain_ at the Patons' dining-room table using an old-fashioned double-sided [copper??-can't remember the name of this] mike, Rosalie facing Mitch across the table and each of them recorded by one side of the same mike. (This record is available today on CD.) It was a breakthrough artistic experience in content and style. Later, back in SLC, Jim was extremely critical of everything about the album, including Rosalie's intonation­an effort to control her artistically I had left SLC in late August 1966 and was not around for Rosalie's last months in SLC, but it was pure hell for her. Both she and Jim were kind of crazy. Their conflicts had been building over the years and Jim's efforts to control Rosalie physically (an extension of his efforts to control her aristically) became obsessive and frightening. Rosalie visited a marriage counselor about 12 times. Jim had gone to .oryession only, then ann~ed that they could not afford the counseling (but subsequently went to Las Vegas with:.,..«h-"Daddy Wiggins" Silv d came back with two kilos of marijuana, a huge expense). Jim was having many extramarital affairs (RS s · that later four women had come to her in Boise and offered to testify against Jim in court if it came to that). Jim had been openly selling http://131 .118.33.141/servletlwebacc?action=Item.Read&User.context=dnarl4Ng9np6gg9Ful&Ite... 4/12/2005 ·~out of the house at 931 and Rosalie was afraid that the children would be taken away from them. Jim also tried repeated~et Rosa~ie ke acid, but she always refused because she knew of its efficacy in mind-control. Rosalie had w to leav 1\i n 1965 but had not had the resources and her mother had refused to let her come to Bois . Rosalie's ma ge counselor told her in late 1966 that "death might result" if she did not get out of the house. RS's contacts in California (incl. the mayor of Richmond [can't remember name] and HunterS. Thompson) were able to combine their resources to get her out of SLC. She and her five children spent a year in her friend the mayor's guest house. She moved to Boise in 1967 and found a cheap ($67.50/mo) rental house at 2500 Overland Road but could not find a job and eventually was unable to afford even that. This part of her life is not germane to the Oral History project. http://131.118.33.141/servletlwebacc?action=Item.Read&User.context=dnarl4Ng9np6gg9Ful&Ite ... 4/12/2005 Novell WebAccess Page 1 of 1 Mai I Message Close Delete From This Mailbox Delete From All Mailboxes Forward Reply to Sender Reply All Move Delete Read Later Properties Print View From: To: Date: Subject: Polly Stewart Monday - April 25, 2005 8:17 AM The Folk-Legacy album Monday, April25,2005 Dear Rosalie, Thank you so much for the CD of your wonderful album, _If I Could Be the Rain_, and especially for the liner notes from the vinyl format of 1967. Those notes are a valuable resource for research. Beyond that, I was bowled over to see Mitch Greenhill's mention of me in his note. Ye gods. What happened was, Mitch seduced me with his singing at the Unitarian Church and then I seduced him in the old-fashioned way. "Fornication--but that was in another country; and besides, the wench is dead." Would you like to have the pamphlet back? I can easily photocopy the pages and send the "original" back to you, or bring it up on my next visit. The CD was in the mail when I returned last Tuesday to SLC from the conference in Eugene, OR. My presentation on the SLC folk revival was well received. I want to send you a copy of the talk but that will have to wait until I can buy a car to 'replace my Volvo, which was destroyed on March 31 while parked in front of my house by a madman who at a high rate of speed sideswiped The Dowager and drove head-on into the car behind me, destroying both vehicles. This was about 10:30 at night. The whole neighborhood heard it. We all heard the crash, then heard a vehicle back up and drive off. The officer investigating the scene said there's no likelihood the perpetrator will ever be caught. Since returning from Eugene (in a rental car) I've been spending full time on a search for something I can afford. At any rate, next time I write it will be to see when we might arrange another visit to your place. I would love to see any materials (clippings, flyers, etc) you have there, in preparation for a visit to UCSC in the summer. Love, p Polly http://13 1.118.32.161/servlet/webacc?action=Item.Read&User.context=cu3hoeRj4rl2ef5Bi5&Ite... 4/25/2005 Novell WebAccess Page 1 of2 Mai I Message Close Delete From This Mailbox Delete From All Mailboxes Forward Reply to Sender Reply All Move Delete Read Later Properties Print View From: To: Date: Subject: Polly Stewart Thursday - May 26, 2005 8:30 PM Re: interviewing and oral histories workshop? Bert, thanks for this off-the-cuff but excellent analysis of the two disciplines in relation to each other. Polly >» 05/23/05 1:55AM »> Mike: Good luck in your project. I think most folklorists work also in oral history and should be able to help you. I taught both folklore and oral history at USU. In my own research during my final years at BYU, I tended to move away from collecting third-person narratives toward first-person accounts. I quit worrying too much about the distinction between folklore and oral history and just tried to get good material from which I could learn something of significance about the world those I interviewed lived in, or had lived in. If I were to draw a distinction between the work of a folklorist like me vs. the work of oral historians, it would be that oral historians have been primarily concerned with events the people they interview have been involved with and have used material collected from these individuals to help them better understand the events, while I have been concerned more with the individual actors in these events and have used the invents themselves as resonate backgrounds to help me delineate the character and personalities of the actors. These are not mutually exclusive approaches by any means, but most of the research I have seen tends to tilt either toward the larger historical movement or event such as the immigrant experience or toward the lives and struggles of individual immigrants. I suppose my approach has been influenced by my background in literature and on delineation of character. Because their own predilections will strongly influence the kinds of questions they ask, researchers must have a clear sense of what they want to learn from their interviewees before ever asking a question. Without that sense of direction, research results may not be too useful. I hope that in your instructional sessions you will place a strong emphasis on good recording equipment and proper recording techniques. I'm always appalled when I see a researcher conducting an interesting interview using an in­machine microphone. You probably already know the book, but Edward lves's The Tape-Recorded Interview is very useful for beginning interviewers. Again, good luck in your efforts. Bert Wilson ----- Original Message ----­From: Michael Christensen To: Plan the annual meetings of the American Folklore Society Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 11 :43 AM Subject: interviewing and oral histories workshop? Hi all, I've been appointed liaison to the 'NVC Historical Society, a group that has conducted, and plans on continuing an oral histories project with 'NVC residents. I'd like to set up a short workshop for the group to become better aquainted with the process. I've talked about the basics, put together some readings and handouts, etc., but I think an outside professional would really impress upon the group some of the issues that are bound to come up as they move forward. To the point: do any of you do this kind of thing, and would you be willing? Do you know someone who might be? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Mike http://131 .118.32.161/servlet/webacc?action=Item.Read&User.context=do5nubL19rp5incEq8&Ite... 5/26/2005 Mail Message .~ Close Next Delete From This Mailbox Delete From All Mailboxes Forward Reply to Sender Reply All Move Delete Read Later Properties From: To: Date: Subject: Polly Stewart Friday -July 8, 2005 1:58 PM Bruce Phillips seeks 2006 reunion of P and the VBs July 7, 2005 Dear Dave, Print View I have just returned from Utah's home in the town of Nevada City, which is in California, and Utah is excited about the possibility of effecting a reunion of Polly & the Valley Boys Oust two or three numbers, really) at a concert he will give in SLC. My reason for visiting him is that I am preparing an article on him and Rosalie for the Utah Historical Quarterly, to be published in Spring 2006. The date is open. Bruce can call his agent and ask for any reasonable date. He was thinking about April, but I said you would probably not be free until summer-providing you are interested in pursuing a reunion-due to your faculty obligations. I'm retired and have moved back to SLC. I told Bruce I would try to find you and ask you about this. I have a faculty phone number for you but thought it best to try the e-mail route first. Please let me know as soon as you can whether this is a thought worth pursuing, and we will act accordingly. I am sending a copy of this posting to Bruce via snailmail. My very best regards, p Polly Stewart http:/ /gw ! .salisbury .edu/servlet/webacc?action=Item.Read&U ser.context=rx4jq2Zg8jm3nrdBic&It... 7/8/2005