I hate them!

I hate people with talent… Well, let me qualify that. What I really am is intensely jealous of people with talent. Friday night we had a very enjoyable evening, starting off with a couple of (expensive) drinks at the Dry Dock, and then went over to the Calvert Marine Museum to the performance of the “finger style guitar duo” Mac Walter and John Cronin.

The auditorium was unusually full (from our experience), and right away we noticed that we were sort of right in the middle of the age bracket of the audience. I don’t think I saw anybody that was under (a guess) 35, and most were quite a bit senior to that. Due to the lovely drinks we arrived not long before the show, and fairly soon Mac and John took their places on the stage along with three guitars, and the usual forest of microphones. Their “acoustic” guitars were amplified, but only so you could hear them, they weren’t objectionably loud at all. What followed was an hour and a half of great music. MFO said I shouldn’t try to “characterize” their style, but at heart I am an engineer. Being a veteran of the “folk music” generation, what I call “finger style” would be exemplified by Doc Watson and Merle Travis. While they did play a few tunes in that style, more often it was kind of almost jazzy. They played one tune called “Travis –T”, which was out and out classic finger style. They also played “All of me", and Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind" that caused serious flashbacks. It was obvious that they have played together for a long time, their timing and phrasing were effortless, they passed the “lead” back and forth effortlessly.

There were also a few songs of the late Tom Wisner, that local and now somewhat legendary folk singer of the Bay, one of which was a waterman’s tune called “Dredging is My Drudgery”. Most of their music was original. During the intermission we struck up a conversation with the gentleman in front of us who also remarked that it was a shame that there were so few “youngsters” in the audience. We can’t let this music die. It’s so pleasant to hear something that’s not in your face, over amped, with unintelligible lyrics. That may be a bit strong, but you get my point. They also spent a lot of time actually talking with the audience with little anecdotes and stories between the songs. Just a wonderful experience with real music from real people. Keep your antennae up for future performances of these two, it’s worth the effort to go hear them. Real Talent.

Now, before you go sending me a lot of notes, I know that “talent” is largely a product of long hard hours of study and practice, but there still has to be that kernel of (for want of a better word) talent. For instance, back in “those days”, I labored long and hard with a 5 string banjo trying to learn to “frail”, and then switched over to the guitar (a Martin D-28 mind you) endeavoring to master finger picking. At best, I could do a passable Libba Cotton “Freight Train” or “Railroad Bill”, and at my high point could almost get through my friend’s wonderful composition of “Spring Song”. But I was smart enough to know that it was all sort of “music by machine”, maybe technically correct, but stiled, with no “song” if you get my drift. No experience like being mesmerized by people who “got it” like Brian Ganz or Doc Watson, with that ethereal phenomenon of seeing the hands become part of the instrument, and together making something that moves you. Nope, I ain’t got it and never did. Sigh.

and, we were

DFM(usic)