Amusing story

[Eric Hanson]

I have to agree. This is one of the greatest threads in a long time. It speaks to all of us, and joggles our minds to think about how we have been affected at some point, either near or far, n the past.
To add to the thoughts. While on a Disaster Relief project in Puerto Rico last month I was sitting around a table with a number of men of varying ages, and places of origin. The discussion of music came up due to a bluetooth speaker playing from someone’s phone (aren’t these little guys the greatest!) One of us asked about a musician of a certain genre, and then the conversation ensued. Various tpes of music was touched on. Various artist’s and band’s music was shared.
One of the other men made the comment, “Isn’t great. It seems like the more diverse we are in our taste of music, the more likely we are to be able to connect with just about anyone.” Profound soundbite, to be sure. Goes so well with all that is being stated.
What happily surprised me was later during the project I connected my phone to the van radio. Played “Baton Rouge” played by New Grass Revival. A young guy of 20 yrs piped in with a “YEAH!”. Seems he is from the New Orleans area and knows the song well due to the university ball teams playing the song often.
Then a man around my age mentioned that some years ago he had seen New Grass Revival live. I was SO JEALOUS! He is from Oklahoma. 30+ years apart, and thousands of miles apart, we all had a liking for the same song, for different reasons.
Thank you again for such a great story to start such a wonderful conversation!

[Paul Statman]

Diggin' this thread..

[CES]

Brick, thanks for posting this, and I hope you continue to cultivate this friendship. Music can bridge generations, races, and religions, if we’ll only let it...

[FranklintonBill]

Great stories...great thread...

[Bertram Henze]

...think swastika tattooed on the forehead...

You mean you met Mr C. Manson???

But then A. Capone played the mandolin, nothing is impossible.

[AndyV]

Now- a little while later, he shows up at my shop again. This time he brings me an oud. To have, to take apart, to study. He and his musician friends have decided that I should build ouds. They can't buy decent ones in this country. I asked who in the world is going to buy an oud made by some white guy that grew up on a farm in the Midwest. He said- don't worry about that; the market is waiting and it's all connected. So I have what I think is the only available book in English on oud construction and another book on historical lute construction on my bedstand. Some day there may be a new page on my website: Ludewig Ouds.
Life is full of surprises. And new friends. And music is a giant doorway.

Would they be Oudwigs? LOuds?

For some reason I responded to a CL posting a few weeks ago. Listed/pictured were a not-high end Hoyer archtop guitar, a couple unfinished balalaikas, and three sizes domra. I was told someone else had already arranged to view the guitar. The poster would contact me late the next morning is she still had it. I talk to her the next morning, the guitar is still there, the other person's thinking about it, and oh, she found the mandolin. "Mandolin? That could be interesting." I say. "It's a Gibson, so it will cost more."
So this sounds good, but whatever model, it's going to be out of my range (unlike the $100 guitar). I decide to check them out on my lunch if for no other reason than a change of scenery. (She's 20-25 min from me.)

Well, there's the balalaikas and domras on a couch, the guitar leaning next to them, and across the room propped against another couch, the Gibson K1!

Great conversation with her and her hubby. The guitar had been left by a tenant years ago. The K1 had been her brother's. He had started building domras and balalaikas for the Ukrainian community (not Ukrainian himself).

So there at last is the connection to your story. Not much of a connection, but when I went a local music store to get strings for the mandocello, there's a woman there arranging to have work done on her oud.

Amusing? Not so much. Curious coincidence.

[General Johnston]

If y'all feel comfortable, I know every place is different, but please go meet your neighbors. Don't wait for them to do it.

[AndyV]

There's a lot of yard work that doesn't get done when I'm talking to my neighbours.

[Big Joe]

I spent 3 1/2 weeks in the hospital in April. I asked if I could play my mandolin and they said yes, if I don’t interrupt any other patients. I closed the door when I played at first, but the staff kept opening the door. The patients and staff wanted me to play as often as I could and loud so it could be heard all over the floor. It wasn’t long before patients and staff would come into the room to listen, and sometimes talk about music and what it is. They thanked me nearly every day for playing. They said it soothed them and calmed them down. Most had very serious medical conditions and it seemed to help them in their recovery. They asked me to come back and play for them as often as I could. What I was afraid would be a nuisance to them turned out to be a joy for all of us, especially me because I got to play as much as I wanted any time of the day or night.

[Bertram Henze]

I spent 3 1/2 weeks in the hospital in April. I asked if I could play my mandolin and they said yes, if I don’t interrupt any other patients. I closed the door when I played at first, but the staff kept opening the door. The patients and staff wanted me to play as often as I could and loud so it could be heard all over the floor. It wasn’t long before patients and staff would come into the room to listen, and sometimes talk about music and what it is. They thanked me nearly every day for playing. They said it soothed them and calmed them down. Most had very serious medical conditions and it seemed to help them in their recovery. They asked me to come back and play for them as often as I could. What I was afraid would be a nuisance to them turned out to be a joy for all of us, especially me because I got to play as much as I wanted any time of the day or night.

It's called music therapy and proves that you don't need a medical degree for everything.

[Cheryl Watson]

What a great thread! I worked with an 3rd grade ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) class, years ago, for about two months in my last year of my graduate studies. They were mostly Afghani children who had come here to escape the Afghanistan war. They are just like everyone else: Most were very polite and kind and some were rude, defensive, and quite badly behaved. The girls had not been allowed to go to school in Afghanistan and were elated to be in school! A few of the boys had been raised to disrespect women and were disrespectful to me and their fellow female students. They could barely understand or speak English, and I certainly could not understand them either, but over time, with positive body language, calmness, and firmness, and a lot of photographs and graphics and yes, humor, and music (I played guitar and mandolin and sang for them everyday), even the boy with the most issues, started to bond with me, listen to my guidance, and realized that I deserved his respect. He even started to treat the female students with more kindness and respect. The day I left that classroom, he actually hugged me and thanked me for being so kind, helping him with his studies, and for all the music. We all had tears in our eyes that last day I was with them and I will never forget their little faces when I left, full of caring, respect, and tears of farewell compared to the fear and distrust on their faces on the first day I had met them.

One of the greatest joys I have ever known was to witness them learning English and singing songs with me. Many of them were very taken with my mandolin and I often allowed them to strum it while I played the chords. Yes, music IS the universal language!

[Todd Bowman]

Great story! Thanks for sharing!

[AndyV]

Wonderful!

[AndyV]

Would they be Oudwigs? LOuds?

For some reason I responded to a CL posting a few weeks ago. Listed/pictured were a not-high end Hoyer archtop guitar, a couple unfinished balalaikas, and three sizes domra. I was told someone else had already arranged to view the guitar. The poster would contact me late the next morning is she still had it. I talk to her the next morning, the guitar is still there, the other person's thinking about it, and oh, she found the mandolin. "Mandolin? That could be interesting." I say. "It's a Gibson, so it will cost more."
So this sounds good, but whatever model, it's going to be out of my range (unlike the $100 guitar). I decide to check them out on my lunch if for no other reason than a change of scenery. (She's 20-25 min from me.)

Well, there's the balalaikas and domras on a couch, the guitar leaning next to them, and across the room propped against another couch, the Gibson K1!

Great conversation with her and her hubby. The guitar had been left by a tenant years ago. The K1 had been her brother's. He had started building domras and balalaikas for the Ukrainian community (not Ukrainian himself).

So there at last is the connection to your story. Not much of a connection, but when I went a local music store to get strings for the mandocello, there's a woman there arranging to have work done on her oud.

Amusing? Not so much. Curious coincidence.

They're oud to get me!
Driving home this afternoon I hear on the radio that Gord Grdina is playing a solo oud concert downtown tonight.

[Br1ck]

As far as music and healing, I had a heart bypass, was hurting, bored out of my brain, sleep deprived and sick of TV. After two weeks out of desperation, I got my mandolin out, gingerly held it off to the side, and played a fiddle tune. It was the start of my real recovery.

See if I could walk to the corner and back, play a little mandolin. Try to pick something off the floor, play a little mandolin. Try desperately not to sneeze, play a little mandolin.

It was months before I picked up a guitar.

[Dale Ludewig]

Brick, please give us your name.
Look at what you started: one of the most heartfelt threads on this wonderful site. And please tell your neighbors about the response to your new relationship with your neighbors. All of them all over the block or whatever. This is all such a good thing.

[George R. Lane]

I agree with Dale, this has been the most inspiring thread I have read on the Café. I wish I had neighbors within ear shot to hear me play. All I have are the horses and dogs, and they have no appreciation of music.

[AndyV]

Agreed. I keep coming back to this thread.

[Bob Clark]

All I have are the horses and dogs, and they have no appreciation of music.

Hey George, are you sure they have no appreciation? I have tried playing for sheep to no avail, but sheep are really dense. But playing for cats can have incredible results.

My wife is heavily engaged in TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) of feral cats. By 'heavily' involved I mean that she is closing in on one-thousand cats taken care of. She is also a heavy-duty shelter volunteer. So, as you might imagine, we constantly have scared feral or not-so-feral cats coming and going on the farm. I really love cats and hate to see them upset. When I can, I get out my mandolin and play for them. For some, no response. For others, an immediate, palpable calming effect. It is amazing and gratifying to see.

I have also used my mandolin to help tame the few feral cats we ended up keeping here on the farm as barn cats. The mandolin's ability to help habituate them to us is amazing. It might be worth trying with other species, as well.

Best wishes,

Bob

[Bertram Henze]

All I have are the horses and dogs, and they have no appreciation of music.

Have you tried cows?

[George R. Lane]

Well Guys and Gals,

No Cows around here. Lots of horses, birds and a stray fox. Bob, we have a couple of cats that we have rescued ourselves and they seem oblivious to my music. However, the birds really seem to like it, especially if I play a faster tune as the like to bob their heads about in time. It is nice to have an audience once in a while.

[Jeff Mando]

AndyV -- out of curiosity, how much was the Gibson K1?

[jswag]

Wonderful thread!
Thanks to everyone!
I taught Art to elementary kids for over 30 years. Former students still tell me the lessons they remember and enjoyed the most
were when I used my mandolin or guitar to introduce concepts or directions through songs and tunes. And they would often ask me to play while they were working on their projects. One of my ESL students told his parents about my mandolin, and his father came to see me and brought a 10 string mandolin of some sort,(it's been a number of years ago) and we played some melodies together and he played and sang a few songs..I got to know that family real well while their son was at our school...
And amazingly, the teacher next door never complained about the music!
you never know..
Jeff

[DavidKOS]

About two years ago, a young Afghani family
....
the woman mentioned hearing the music. I play my mandolin a lot in my backyard, and my wife is always telling me how loud I am, so she said she was always telling me that, to witch my neighbor replied, but we LIKE listening to the music! I almost died laughing.

And the food is divine, provided you like spicy and have a lot of yogurt and beer. The SF Bay area is a totally diverse community. This goes musically too. Really a special place. .

Great thread.

I've had the great fortune to spend a good deal of time some years ago in "Little Kabul"...uh, Freemont, CA. with some Afghan musicians.

It was a wonderful experience, and to my surprise they loved mandolin, as it was used in Afghan radio pop music, and in the Indian filmi music they also listened to.

For example, they loved this shenai CD that had mandolin as the main alternate instrument! I have not found it on line to share.

Anyway, I had one of those cheap Asian made F-hole mandolins and to make a long story short, it wound up staying with the Afghans as they expressed an interest in learning mandolin...so I gave it to them. They already played harmonium, tabla, and other percussion, but at the time there was a shortage of string players.

It seems that's not true, I look on youtube and there are hundreds of videos of Afghans playing their traditional stringed instruments like robab, tambur, dutar, etc., both in Afghanistan and in many other places.

[Br1ck]

Ok, here's another I'm not a worthy human story. We had a primary election last week and my poling place is down the block. I was watering a flower bed when a guy walks by with a voting pamphlet. I told him I was going to be right behind him. I recognized him as one of the older gay couples from the next block.

On my way to vote, we met and started chatting on the sidewalk. His third adopted son was graduating high school. They adopted teenage boys desperately needing a home. Being in their sixties, they were looking forward to being empty nesters. Then they got a call from the woman at the placement center. Did they know their recent graduate had a 14 year old brother? He needs a home.

Yep, adopting teenage boy number four. One black, one white, now the second Hispanic, and four more years of fatherhood. Lucky young men.