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Show ~~we Jammin' Now~§ by Bangs L. Tapscott Bein' as how I'm a-bein' yore new president, I reckon I orter be a-writin' a President's column in thishyere good ol' boy style to fit the image of a downhome gen-yu-wine bluegrasser. But I cain't do it. I been a college perfesser too long, and my writin' style chokes on thishyere hick patois. So pardon me whilst I write the tightass way I'm a-used to doin'. A careful scrutiny of the cover of this month's Intermountain Acoustic Musician will reveal a small but significant change: the Utah Bluegrass Music Association has been superceded by the Intermountain Acoustic Music Association. This change recognizes an anomaly that has existed for much of the life of the UBMA. Despite 'bluegrass' in the name, the UBMA has not been a uniquely bluegrass organization. Rather, it's been a haven for folkies, bluegrassers, oldtimeys, fingerpickers, blues buffs, oldline c&w types, and everybody else who enjoys, plays, and listens to "our kind" of acoustic string music. Let's face it: Utah & its surroundings are not large (population wise), and out of any population you decide to measure, most of them will be fans of whatever kind of music is most prevalent on the ayem/effem stations: Pop, Rock, Slick Country, and Easy, with occasional infusions of Classical and Jazz. There simply aren't enough bodies in our area to support an organization narrowly focussed on a single alternative music form. If we had to live by bluegrass alone, we would soon wither on the vine. Likewise if we had to live by folk alone, and so on. Our membership is not and never has been restricted to just-bluegrass fans, and the lAMA is recognition of that fact. If you want to talk serendipity, look at that acronym: !.A.M.A. "I am a ... " and you fill in the blank for yourself. "lAMA bluegrass freak." "lAMA folknik." "lAMA nlrish fiddle groupie." Whatever. (Bumper stickers come to mind? Maybe we'll print some.) The lAMA is where our kind of music all comes together. I take the notion of an acoustic music community very seriously. Surrounding the varying musical preferences and tastes of our members~ there's a common ideal that is easy to recognize but hard to characterize exactly. Since I took over the reins of the UBMA I've been trying to formulate that characterization, and I think it's something like this: What differentiates us from them is what differentiates participation from observation. With the ayem/ effem genres of music, there is a gulf between those who produce it and those who consume it: the musicians up there on the stage (or in the orchestra pit), and the fans out here listening and responding. 3 Most rockers are not rock musicians (unless you count air guitar); likewise for fans of Slick Country, Jazz, and whatnot. There is a firmly recognized class wall between performer and audience. The relationship is that of the music hall. Not so with our kind of music. Its basic model is not the music hall, but the community get-together, where musicians and audience are part of a single group and where the roles are liable to swap back and forth. Those are the roots, whether we're talking folk, blues, bluegrass, or barn dance, and those roots are evident not only at jam sessions, but also in "concert" settings. Between sets, or after the show, ayem/effem performers hide out backstage and talk to each other; our musicians go out front and hang out at the T -shirt table and rap on audience members 1-on-1 and answer questions and talk music and sign record jackets and whatnot. lAMA-types tend for the most part to be musicians themselves (at least 90% of us play some guitar or some autoharp or some banjo or something), and the difference between performer and audience is one of degree rather than one of kind: that guy up there on the stage is just like me, except his picking is better than mine-or maybe it's not. Enough of that philosophizing. The lAMA isn't just a new name; it's a new organization, duly registered with the State of Utah as a nonprofit corporation, and with the application forms in for federal tax exemption. Exactly what all of this means to you as lAMA members will be explained in future issues of the newsletter. Meanwhile, I'll be seeing you at jam sessions and concerts and other exotic places. Keep on pluckin'. -Bangs 5195 Emigration Canyon Road 583-1869 |
