THE LIARS' BENCH FOR AUGUST 7TH AT CITY LIGHTS

KIND HEARTS, PLEASE CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO GET AN ENLARGED VERSION.

THE LIAR'S BENCH AT CITY LIGHTS, JULY 3RD, 7:OO P.M.

Kind hearts, here is the information about the next Liar's Bench at City Lights on July 3rd at 7 p.m. All of the participants are not listed on the flyer because we had to go ahead with the printing before we heard from everyone. However, this is an approximate list.

The Stecoah Fine Arts Center

I found this spiffy cat hanging on the wall in the Stecoah Cultural Arts Center and couldn't resist. The Center is full of original art.

HEDY WEST IN CULLOWHEE, N. C., CIRCA 1957

I just found this 55-year-old, waterstained photograph in my attic: Hedy West at Western Carolina College circa 1957. That's her in the corner, listening attentively to her fellow students. This photograph was made in the basement of the old Joyner building, in what was called the "student center" (now long-gone). Hedy appears to be a very serious young lady, and indeed, she was. She was also unhappy and alienated.(See another post on this blog entitled "Hedy West: Folksinger.") Shortly before her death, I talked to Hedy via "instant message" on my computer, and although she named a few instructors that she liked, she frankly felt that her years at WCC were marked by frustration and bordom. Within a decade of her sojourn in Cullowhee, she would be a celebrated folk musician playing at festivals with Pete Seeger and on her way to study folk music at Columbia where she would meet Allen Lomax. In New York (Greenwich Village)where she sang "500 Miles," and in Germany where she studied "leider."

However, looking at this picture, I remember a different Hedy who sometimes played "Hard Times, Cotton Mill Girls," and told stories of her father,Don West, a poet (avowed communist) and labor organizer. I met him several times when he came to visit Hedy. He was a gifted storyteller and I hung on every word when he talked about strikes and violence in Georgia textile mills. In fact, he gave me a lot of exciting "dangerous" literature about topics like the Haymarket Street Riots, Governor Altgeld of Illinois and Eugene Debs - names and events that became important to me for the rest of my life.

At some point, I hope to give these two remarkable people their due with this blog. I've just acquired two books: a biography of Don West, A Hard Journey, by James Lorence and a collection of his writing No Lonesome Road. Stay tuned!

SHEILA KAY ADAMS AND DOCTOR BRINKLEY

For those of you who don't know her, this is Sheila Kay Adams (click on the photo) at the Kidder Cole Festival when it opened at the Highlands Library. Sheila told a story about a relative who started receiving radio broadcasts through his dental fillings. Sheila's family didn't have electricity then, so they would gather around a table and her uncle would prop his mouth open with a salt cellar and the family would listen to music. One of their favorite programs was the broadcasts of Dr. John R. Brinkley from XERA, Del Rio, Texas and he came in loud and clear. They would all swing and sway to the Carter Family doing "Keep on the Sunny Side." In time, this night-time practice began to wear on the uncle .... well, I won't tell you the ending of the story. Sheila Kay also sung "The Brown Girl,"an 18th century ballad which I hadn't heard since Hedy West sang it the 60's. I alway loved the part where "the high Lord" cut the Brown Girl's head off and "kicked it against the wall." Of course, the high lord, who was grieving for his wife's death (she had been stabbed by the Brown Girl), immediately committed suicide. This was a bloody tale, and I loved it.