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Monday, May 9, 2005
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Almost 30 years ago in a New York saloon I saw a man with a wooden leg
tell stories and play the harmonica in ways I'd never considered.
Along
with the usual approach, going at a blues harp side to side like an
ear of corn, he could pop it into his mouth like a musical cigar and still
get out more notes than I can find the regular way. There was one tune I swear he played
using his nose. (OK, I was drinking at the time.)
His name was Peg Leg Sam, and I've just found him again -- in a film streaming online at Folkstreams.net,
a documentary made around the time of that trip to Manhattan. The music
is even better than I remembered, and I don't recall his having room
for buckdancing in that New York club.
He's also quite a story teller. Here are a few words from Sam, spoken in the film "Born for Hard Luck: Peg Leg Sam Jackson":
"I was born for hard luck... Such hard
luck, if it was rainin' down soup... everybody standing there with a
spoon... why, I'd have a fork..."
The film isn't quite a half-hour long, and it's worth a visit. There's even a transcript
if you want to learn the words to the songs (or follow the details of
some of the stories).
I know I'll be back for more films from
Folkstreams. The catalog already ranges from cowboy poets and
Appalachian string bands to Louisiana zydeco, New Hampshire Shakers and
urban klezmer revivalists. (That's right, as I heard a klezmer
practitioner say in another context, it runs from "old 'country music'
to 'old-country' music.")
Folkstreams, which has a weblog
along with its growing video archive, came to my attention while I was
submerged in the spring semester and didn't have time to watch any films at the office. Here's part of its mission statement:
The mission of Folkstreams.net is to build a national preserve of
documentary films about American folk or roots culture. Produced by
independent filmmakers, these hard-to-find films give voice to the arts
and experience of diverse American groups. They are streamed on the
website together with background materials that highlight the history
and aesthetic importance of the traditions and the films.
This project is brought to us in part by those kind and talented folks at ibiblio.org, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
4:26:39 PM 
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© Copyright
2008
Bob Stepno.
Last update:
7/19/08; 1:05:24 PM.
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