High School Folk Fest: Mississippi John Hurt, Doc Watson, and Hedy West... ....Philadelphia 1964-1967

Poster courtesy of Carl Apter (225)

"Good Evening everybody...with y'all, glad to be with you. Hope I can entertain you nicely... hope I can."

When I found out that Mississippi John Hurt played a concert in 1966 in the auditorium of the school I teach at, I knew there had to be a story.... Others played too: Doc Watson, Hedy West, The Country Gentlemen, The Capitols, and a number of other local and student bands.

So far I've located the phenomenal Hurt and Watson sets, and an odd short interview with Doc, tracked down thanks to an over the air tape of Gene Shay's WXPN folk show where he thanks David Kleiner (Central Class 225) for the recordings.

Mississippi John Hurt - 1966 - Central Auditorium

Set 1
Nearer My God To Thee
Baby What's Wrong With You
Coffee Blues
It Ain't Nobody's Business
Candy Man
Stagolee
Monday Morning Blues

Set 2
Salty Dog
I'm Satisfied
Make Me a Pallet On Your Floor
Frankie
Spanish Fandango
My Creole Belle
You Are My Sunshine
Avalon

Doc Watson - 1965 - Central Auditorium

Muskrat 
Honey Baby Blues
The Little Stream of Whiskey
Georgie
We Shall All Be Reunited
The Fisher's Horn Pipe / The FFV
Windy and Warm
The Wild Goose Chase
Blackberry Blossom
Greensleeves
Hand Me Down My Walking Cane
Life Gets Tedious, Don't It
Deep River Blues
Otto Wood The Bandit
Hiram Hubbard
I Like The Old Time Worship Of The Lord
Ramblin' Hobo
Streamline Cannonball
Oh By Jingo
Tom Dooley
Fiddle Tune Medley - The Fiddler's Dram/Whistling Rufus/Ragtime Annie
Doc demos songs from his earlier band career / Brown's Ferry Blues
Blue Smoke
Interview by Barry Berg

Gene Shay (former WXPN Folk Show host) identified Barry Berg as the recording engineer for both the Hurt and Watson concerts. Berg was a Temple student who had a folk show called Broadsides on WRTI and was one of Shay's "Folklore Flunkies" when he did his show on WHAT. "While Broadsides was technically a folk show, it was sometimes a thinly-veiled attempt to play rock music on the college station where the administration had banned rock and roll." -Broadcast Pioneers

Meanwhile, both Central (all boys at the time) and the nearby Philadelphia High School for Girls had their own Folk Song Societies. "Clubs were the only way to interact with girls from Girls’ High. So I belonged to Drama Club, Folk Music Club, Political Affairs club."  -Jake "George" Fratkin (Class 225), Central Folk Song Society member

CHS Jug Band

The Central and Girl's High Folk Song Societies organized a remarkable series of folk festivals, listed below along with The Centralizer student newspaper articles from the Central High School Archives.


April 11, 1964 - Girls HS Auditorium
Hedy West
Tossi and Lee Aaron (Lee was co-director of the Phila Folk Music Workshop)
Benjamin Aranoff
Quandary Quintet - with Michael Bacon (224) and sister Hilda Bacon
(Recording not yet found)

   ...This concert will be the ""biggest thing in S[tudent] A[ssociation] history," as it will cost approximately six hundred dollars. This is the first SA function with professional performers and the first time an SA function of this type has been held on a Saturday night. The Folk Festival will cost SA members $1.00 and non-members $1.50, a quarter going to the student associations of these schools to promote sales.
   The performers will include Hedy West, nationally known artist from New York City, author of best selling song "Five Hundred Miles"; Tossi Aaron, accompanied on the mandolin by her husband, Lee, the co-director of the Philadelphia Folk Music Workshop; Benjamin Aranoff, one of the best banjo players in the country and runner up in the Philadelphia Folk Festival Banjo Contest; the Quandary Quintet, upcoming jug band that will soon appear at "The Second Fret."
-The Centralizer (student newspaper), March 1964

June 2, 1964 - Central Auditorium
Stupidity Singers (CHS students)
Ukranian Folksingers (GHS students)
(The recording by WRCV has not yet been found. Phil Covelli (222) was president of the club and produced and directed the show.)

   On June 2, the combined Folk Clubs of Central and Girls High presented a folk concert in the Central auditorium. The concert was taped by WRCV AM radio and rebroadcasted at 10:00 P.M. on June 6.
   Two new folksinging groups made their debut on the Central stage. One was a group of Ukranian folk singers.... The other, a threat to the 'Chad Mitchell Trio' and 'Peter, Paul, and Mary', was the 'Stupidity Singers.'
   The concert was attended by more than 400 students from both schools.
-The Centralizer, June 1964

May 1, 1965 - Central Auditorium
Doc Watson
Uncalled IV Jug Band

   Doc Watson and the Uncalled IV Jug Band appeared at the Second Annual Central High Folk Festival in the SA's most successful event.
   510 people attended from many schools, resulting in a $100 profit. All profits from the refreshment stand have been donated to the Mississippi Book Collection [a SNCC and SCLC program to increase literacy and voter participation among Black voters in the Jim Crow South].
   When Doc Watson appeared, no one failed to respond to him. Not only was his guitar and banjo playing extraordinary, but his warmth and personality compelled appreciation from all at the concert. Playing a variety of folk music from blues to country banjo, Watson always told a little story before each song. Watson played his instruments with such tremendous dexterity that even the anti-folk music audience appreciated him. He could flat pick a song, playing only one string at a time, and reproduce an effect created by fingerpicking, or playing three strings simultaneously.
   The high point of the concert was the union of Doc Watson and Roger Sprung, who played the banjo in the Jug Band. Sprung, in his own right one of the best progressive banjo players in the country, presented his stunning syncopated version of "Greensleeves", backed by Watson on the guitar.
   To Doc Watson, folksinging is a way of life. Watson picked up the banjo when he was six and the guitar at fourteen. He played traditional music all his life, but didn't start recording until he was forty, in 1960, when folk music revived in popularity. Doc, a most mild mannered person, is angered at only one subject - Bob Dylan. "I like his songs; they're basically good. I just don't like the way he sounds."
   Appearing with Doc Watson at the festival was the Uncalled IV Jug Band, a group of four of the most gross musicians ever to play. However, despite their appearances, which supplemented their wild music, the Jug Band created the most excitement at the concert.
-The Centralizer, May 1965

(photo not from the CHS concert) 

May 21, 1966 - Central Auditorium
Mississippi John Hurt
Jerry Ricks
John Pilla
Dan Starobin (224)

   Central High's Third Annual Folk Festival, featuring Mississippi John Hurt, was held Saturday evening, May 21, at 8:30 P.M. in the CHS Auditorium.
   Mississippi John Hurt, 75 year-old singer and guitarist, isolated from blues singers for many years, has developed a style all his own. His repertoire includes traditional, traditional-religious, and original compositions. Although Mr. Hurt first recorded in 1928, his 1963 appearance at the Newport Folk Festival marked the end of his long absence from performing.

   Others in the program included Jerry Ricks and John Pilla, guitarists. Of special interest was Dan Starobin, also a guitarist, who was graduated from Central in the 224th Class.
-The Centralizer, May 1966


April 29, 1967 - Girls' High Auditorium
The Country Gentlemen (from DC)
Igra Dance Group (directed by Bill Vanaver)
Dan Starobin (224)

   This year's Folk Concert is a joint venture with Girls' High. The S.A. is sponsoring Central's share of the performance in cooperation with the Folk Song Society, headed by Steve Landau and Mark Schultz (both 226).
   Topping the program are the Country Gentlemen, a group specializing in its own style, a blend of country, jazz, and folk music. The Gentlemen, from Washington, D.C. have appeared at Carnegie Hall... and have recorded on the Mercury and Folkways labels. Unlike many other groups of their type, they gear their program, filled with humor, to urban audiences.
   Also at the concert will be the Igra dance group, under the direction of Bill Vanaver. The dancers, new on the scene, perform folk dances including those of the Balkans, Poland, and the Ukraine.
   Dan Starobin (224), folk singer, humorist, and Central graduate, will be on hand as he was at last year's concert.
   Ticket's can be obtained in the lunchroom opposite the change booth. Tickets are $1.50 with a twenty-five sent S.A. card reduction.
-The Centralizer, April 1967

Other Concerts at Central - Dates unknown
Jim Kweskin Jug Band
Geoff and Maria Muldaur
The Capitols

Much thanks to my Central colleague Elliott Drago for starting this ball rolling by telling me about the John Hurt concert; the alumni members of the Central Folk Song Society for sharing their memories and information and for making these concerts happen: Carl Apter (225), Jake "George" Fratkin (225), Elliott Fratkin (225), David Starobin; Rudy Cvetkovic (239) and David Kahn (220) of the Associated Alumni of Central High School for putting me in touch with members and granting access to the Central Archives and back issues of The Centralizer; Barry Berg, for making the recordings, the late Ed Sciaky for digitizing them, and David Kleiner (225) for sharing the recordings with me, and us all.

Find more at the Mississippi John Hurt Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted primarily to preserving the musical legacy and history of Mississippi John Hurt, while providing musical and educational opportunities to disadvantaged youth.

Jake "George" Fratkin from the 225 Yearbook

*********

Addendum:

Carl Apter (225), President of the Folksong Society sent in the program from the show:

We Call It Folk

I was elated when I heard the news that the complete field recordings of Alan Lomax are finally available online. His travels around the US and the world with a tape recorder preserving the musical traditions of thousands of people have had a huge global impact, of course. But they were also a little inspiration behind my humble street recordings in Mexico and Central America and the creation of tapewrecks.

Alan Lomax spent the last 20 years of his career experimenting with computers to create something he called the Global Jukebox. He had big plans for the project. In a 1991 interview with CBS, he said, "The modern computer with all its various gadgets and wonderful electronic facilities now makes it possible to preserve and reinvigorate all the cultural richness of mankind." Alan Lomax's Massive Archive Goes Online - Joel Rose on NPR

I knew the Lomax collection was being digitized, but I was surprised to find out that one of figures behind this monumental task, over 17,000 recordings, was Don Fleming of The Velvet Monkeys, whose flotsam has washed up on this blog multiple times. Lomax died before the Jukebox was created, but Fleming, Anna Lomax Wood, Alan's daughter, and a small army of volunteers worthy of the WPA have finished the job.

Insert your nickel here:
The Association for Cultural Equity - The Sound Recordings 1946-1990

Watch this:
Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, and Don Fleming on the Colbert Report Interview and performance.

It's also apropos that good ol' Rustle Noonetwisting, the fellow who records everything in my life, sent me the news and titled this post.

Kenny Gross... ...I'm Not Crazy Yet... ........Just About Half (Lancaster 1984)

Kenny's name was always spoken with a warm-hearted laugh and a roll of the eyes, followed by some story of crazy escapades. Some even called him "Psycho Kenny," but in today's tidy education-speak he might be considered an individual with "multiple exceptionalities." He was gifted, spastic, addicted, and overflowing with creativity all at the same time. Not easy for someone like Kenny to fit into a classroom, four walls, or a band.

Jeff Coleman: I first met Kenny hanging out in a park, sometime in the early 70's. He was sitting on a rail fence in front of the amphitheater there, playing his guitar, with a circle of people around him. As I got closer, I realized that he was making up a song about the hat I was wearing- it was pretty funny. I hung out for a while and everyone who came by had some lyrics sung about them. 

He was the first singer of Lancaster's first full-on punk band, The Bodies and wrote songs ready to play with anyone willing to put up with that lanky hyperactive personality.

Gumby: Kenny was a nice guy and extremely talented with some great songs but he had a bad drug and alcohol problem.... Johnny Scrotum: Tommy caught Kenny shooting heroin in the bathroom of his parent’s house.... He had just purchased, found, or stole a female manikin which he used as a microphone stand. Once the heroin kicked in, Kenny took it upon himself to dry hump the naked manikin on the front yard...in a typical suburban neighborhood.... At this point we all knew that Kenny was not going to work out long term. He was too much of a mess.

A few years later he went into the studio with Jeff Coleman and Steve Patton (The Blame, Fender Twinns, The Red Roosters). They got on tape what may be a tiny few of hundreds of songs Kenny wrote in his wanderings, and Jeff's cheesy synth organ give them a super cool pop flair.

Ugly Girls
About Half  
I Don't Need It  
Mix and Mingle  
The Taking
Dress and Dance  
Nucular Rat
To Lonely People

Jeff Coleman: ...Kenny came in and played guitar along with drummer Steve Patton. Later I "bounced" those tracks to another tape machine while adding stuff like bass, guitars, and keyboards. At some point we'd get Kenny back to redo vocals, which was really hard for him, because he wasn't in a band then and the structure was loose.

I first met Kenny hanging out at State of Confusion, the Cotton sisters' punk rock shop in downtown Lancaster. He played in the store once around '85 or '86 with Rex Litwin, Rustle Noonetwisting (The Real Gone, Jack Lord's Hair, The Chelsea Squares), and Steve Patton as backup band billed as Kenny Gross's Suicide. I don't think anyone recorded it, but I still have Kenny's chorus in my head, "I wanna kill Dick Clark, so I can be the world's oldest teenager...."

In 1987 Kenny played with a short-lived band called Future X and recorded a few songs on a boombox.

Dan MacLellan: All who knew Kenny had a story as Kenny was the “great story teller”. One never knew if his stories were truth or fable though you could never deny his ability to write great lyrics.

Kenny's travels...

Drew "Loki" Shaw: I don't remember the exact time I met Kenny but he and I both were hustling for dollars and sleeping on Simonton Beach in Key West, Florida I instantly loved the guy! He was wearing a dress and singing his song "Bum Sleep Beach" on Duvall Street and I had to sit down and just listen man....

Kenny died in 2004.

Intelligencer Journal: Kenny Gross, 51, of Manhattan, N.Y., formerly of Lancaster and Key West, Fla., died of natural causes on July 26 in Manhattan.

A musician and songwriter, Gross performed solo and with several former bands, including the Bodies, Future X, the Psycheholics and Thunder B Band. He previously worked for Burnham Corp., Lancaster, Elixir Industries, Leola, and Lapp Electric, Lancaster. He also was a commercial deep-sea fisherman out of Cape May, N.J., and the Texas coast.
He was a 1971 graduate of Manheim Township High School....

The Psycho Troubadour

Jeff Coleman: Now I hear that Kenny has died- died while playing music in a park. He wrote a lot of songs, but I suppose most of them are lost now. That's OK- I'm sure they served their purpose. Making music was how Kenny made his way through the world. Still, Kenny dreamed about making records like every singer/songwriter does, and once we got him into my studio in Paradise to record him. ...The songs we recorded at that time are uneven and raw and I think that's about perfect. Even on the sloppiest ones, Kenny's talent comes through, even if it's just one line or an off-hand remark.

..................... 

Thanks to Jeff Coleman and his basement Steam Powered Studio for the tracks and words. He has a very cool community-minded philosophy:  I don't charge people to record here. I don't charge for the music we make here either. Instead fans sponsor the studio and the work we do. Sponsors get access to the fabulous catalog of 300 or so songs... including the rest of the Kenny Gross session. A veritable archive of Lancaster music from the mid-70s to now.

The Sinister Lampshades (Lancaster 1983)

The Sinister Lampshades was my first band. In 1982 or 83 we recorded on our friend Harry's reel-to-reel tape recorder. It was a "portable" unit from the 60s with tubes and it weighed about 50 pounds. We all had cassette recorders that might have sounded better, but it was so much cooler to use that big old machine. It seemed more like a recording studio. I think Harry had about 4 reels that we taped over several times because we didn't know where to buy new ones and we used up a fair amount of tape making burp and fart noises.

Originally, when I was in 6th grade, the Sinister Lampshades was more like a group of friends.... I got the name from my brother Gil's classmate, a dude named Tim. Seems he was a big Zappa fan, and used to recite lyrics and so forth. I came up with the Lampshade cartoon character and the original theme song. I still have the original lyrics in a scrapbook somewhere. -Greg S.

Then Greg and Mike invited me to join (if I could get a bass). We played a number of backyard parties, school dances and a battle of the bands against heavy metal OSIRIS.

We got utterly destroyed in that 2 way battle of the bands! They had a stage that took up half the gym, pro light show etc.We were playing through practice amps. lol! The student council gave us a sympathy booking at some dance later on. - Mike S.

Strangest of all, we played a Christmas banquet for the 103rd Battalion of the Pennsylvania National Guard. My father was commander and paid us $50. Some of the covers we played were pretty mainstream: INXS, Billy Idol, Tom Petty, Prince, but some must've seemed pretty out there to that unsuspecting audience: The Cramps, The Clash. On listening back to those reel tapes, it's the originals that stand out.

Twisted feelings - about the world
Twisted feelings - about that girl
Twisted feelings - about wombats
Twisted feelings - about Siamese cats
Twisted feelings - about FREAKS!
Twisted feelings - You know we hate those freaks
Twisted feelings - about destruction
Twisted feelings - about 3 kinds of destruction

Twisted Feelings
Seizure
Ode to the Mel

Greg later played in The X-Cellerations and Animation.
Mike is currently with the Towson Steele Solution.
Tom was in The Real Gone, Jack Lord's Hair, Rocknoceros, Mud Pie, and is currently in Mud Pie Sun.