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Show THE PREZ SEZ ... by Bangs Tapscott When somebody new takes over the helm of an organization like this, people generally want to know something about him. Who is this guy, and what are his qualifications? I mention that' so you don't think that I'm writing this just because I like to talk about myself. Hey, it's for your benefit. Unlike some folks we both know, I have no fixed musical ideology. I like whatever I like. In mid-teens I developed a taste for traditional jazz (what some twirps call by the degenerate name of "Dixieland")-George Lewis, Jack Teagarden, Turk Murphy, Jimmy McPartland, and their ilk-that has stayed with me so far. I started playing guitar (and ukulele) when I was seventeen, playing whatever was chorded out in the music books around the house (mostly old pop and country stuff from the 20's, 30's, and 40's, along with traditional "singing songs"Old Mill Stream, Stephen Foster, and like that). In college I discovered folk music: the Weavers, Josh White, Woody Guthrie, Jimmie Rodgers (is he folk?), etc., and eventually the Kingston Trio and that whole bag. I ate it all up. Josh White's stuff got me interested in blues, which I still work at though I can't play them quite right (not being a fingerpicker). Oh yeah, and Tom Lehrer. And Flatt & Scruggs, courtesy of the Newport Folk Festival records. In the early 60's I did a minor amount of coffeehouse performing, as did almost everybody in Seattle who owned a guitar, whether they were any good or not (I was fair). Throughout the folk boom I continued to be the despair of my purist friends, who would catch me listening to the local C&W stations. I moved to Salt Lake City in 1966, and continued to be mainly a kitchen-picker until I discovered the UBMA jam sessions shortly after they first started. Six or seven years ago a close friend from Cincinnati began to indoctrinate me with bluegrass, and that has since been my main musical involvement; but that hasn't dimmed my excitement for the other kinds of music. Let's see, I didn't mention the period when I was heavily into Carlos Montoya, Manitas de Plata and Sabicas, or the years when I bought every Charlie Byrd album I could find, or my eternal wish to be Chet Atkins, or ... But you get the picture. The point of the above recitation is that I feel quite comfortable heading up the Intermountain Acoustic Music Association. I'm unlikely to be moved by any of the (to my mind, stupid) rivalries that occasionally arise between folkies, bluegrassers, etc., and I suspect I can do a lot to prevent them from arising in the first place. 3 That tells about the musical background; but do I have any administrative experience for the job? Well, sorta. I'm a co-founder and past President of the Utah Association of Academic Professionals, past President of the U. of U. chapter of the American Association of University Professors, co-founder and past Vice-President (and newsletter editor) of the U. of U. Macintosh Users Group, and so on. I think I know what I'm doing. You of course are free to differ with that opinion, and to tell me about it. But don't tell me too often, or you'll hurt my feelings. ******************************** Any of you local performers or groups hankering for national exposure? If so, check out p. 7 of the February Frets magazine. They are starting a new column called Noteworthy , designed to publicize new talents and recognize outstanding regional and local musicians. You can pick up Frets at Acoustic Music or Intermountain Guitar & Banjo or GSL Guitar Co. in Provo. ******************************** Apology time: My apologies to the ayem/ effem stations who took offense at last month's column which referred to them as ayem/effem stations. Also to the ACLU for using the term 'hick'. Also to the outraged citizen who wrote in to complain that calling my own writing style 'tightass' had turned the magazine into a cataract of pornographic filth unfit for women or children. (Actually, 'tightass' comes from tigh, Buster Brown's dog,+ tass, a soviet news agency, hence "doglike or dogmatic journalism".) ******************************** -Bangs |
