Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Rich & Scruggs
Too many freakin deaths lately. How about some more marriages & births?
Adrienne Rich, one of the towering poets of more-or-less my parents' generation who made young poets feel we were fated to be forever lightweights by comparison, which was largely true. A radical feminist intellectual, she could be a tough read for men, but her views were consistent across the board, on war, violence, economic justice.
Earl Scruggs, the incomparable bluegrass musician who perfected the 3-finger picking style on the banjo. In the Sixties, famous for the Flatt & Scruggs partnership ("The Ballad of Jed Clampett"), he refused to acknowledge any musical or political barriers between the conservative country music establishment around the Grand Old Opry & the younger generation of folk singers & folk-rockers. He moved freely between them. He played with other master musicians like Ravi Shankar.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
Adrienne Rich, one of the towering poets of more-or-less my parents' generation who made young poets feel we were fated to be forever lightweights by comparison, which was largely true. A radical feminist intellectual, she could be a tough read for men, but her views were consistent across the board, on war, violence, economic justice.
Earl Scruggs, the incomparable bluegrass musician who perfected the 3-finger picking style on the banjo. In the Sixties, famous for the Flatt & Scruggs partnership ("The Ballad of Jed Clampett"), he refused to acknowledge any musical or political barriers between the conservative country music establishment around the Grand Old Opry & the younger generation of folk singers & folk-rockers. He moved freely between them. He played with other master musicians like Ravi Shankar.
