Women's Way of Ohio and Kentucky

I did a reading for Women's Way of Ohio and Kentucky last Saturday night. The "salon" was held in the Women Writing for (a) Change building  on Plainfield Road in Silverton.  It was a congenial group, meeting on the Eve of Mother's Day, and I read the piece I wrote for Cincinnati Magazine about my mother and my struggle with her decline:  at the age of 88 she thinks she has the right to decline her own way.  The pain, as they say, is in the conflict.  After I read, we formed a large circle and each woman in the circle talked about her own mother.  One woman teared up.  Her mother had recently died, and she was  thankful for the women in the circle because they had come every day with food and support.  Overall it was an intimate feeling which I hadn't expected.

This particular group has been meeting for 2 and ½ years, growing and changing, morphing into what its founders call a "salon," a meeting to discuss ideas.  Founder Beverly Bowers, who is a great supporter of women artists, says she is not aware of any group like it, and anyone who has something to say is welcome to attend.

I will read again this Thursday night at the Mercantile Library with a group of writers who have contributed to a volume called The Cincinnati Anthology.  And we will read again on June 12th at Joseph-Beth Booksellers.  I hope to see you at one of these upcoming events.

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GURNEY NORMAN: KENTUCKY WRITER

A small volume of Gurney Norman's "Kinfolks" rests on my bedside table, well-thumbed, the spine broken.  Norman, a Kentucky writer, evokes the rural south with as much grace and generosity as any writer could do.  His characters are the people I grew up with, the soft vowels and warm hugs of the aunts and uncles whom I was lucky enough to know, and who loved me without reservation.  Let me share these few lines from his story, The Favor.

...he saw the lighted windows of the house.  There in the kitchen 
was his grandmother, standing by the stove.  "Grandma," Wilgus thought. 
"There she is." And when his grandfather came out of the barn and the two of 
them started walking together toward the house he thought:  "Grandad.  Here 
he is." And there it was again, a feeling, deep inside, trying to occur, an 
idea that Wilgus would be a long time knowing.   But that was okay.  Let it 
take its time.  He was a patient man.  Just knowing that one day he would 
know was quite enough for now. 

If Mr. Norman is ever in Northern Kentucky I plan to invite him to guest on the radio show, and I can be very persuasive.

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Hear something you liked on Sunday's show?  Click on the banner above to go directly to our playlist and -- if you want to own or gift some tunes -- please consider clicking on the Amazon link under each song.  It won't cost you a penny more, but will benefit this great radio station, WNKU.  Pssst: Playlist displays in reverse order.

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Mary Ellen Tanner died this week, and Lee Hay, my old friend from WVXU, and I attended what we used to call (in the south) the “viewing.” Really, it's a chance for friends to gather and share their sadness. Sure enough, the place was packed: Just about everyone in the jazz world was there. Mary Ellen's life partner, John von Ohlen, the magnificent drummer who put the Blue Wisp Big Band together back in the 70's, Lee Stollar, Mary Ellen's long-time accompanist, along with the horn section of the Big Band. I haven't seen many of the guys for years, and everyone (including me) seems to have faded, like the negatives of old photographs. 

Mary Ellen was a real band singer and a significant solo singer. I knew her from the old Bob Braun Show on Channel 5. The Katie Laur Band made frequent trips with the Braun Show troupe, and on one of these excursions, to West Virginia, I think, I sat behind Mary Ellen and Nancy James (another Braun Show singer). They were young and lovely, and I was too shy to talk to them, but I overheard their conversation. Mary Ellen was complaining about her high heels (which I suppose she did until the end of her life), and they were both bummed out by the cost of clothes for the show, which they had to pay themselves.

I remember thinking, “They're just people, just girl singers like me,” and from then on I was less intimidated. In fact I did a story on Mary Ellen for CityBeat. And I watched her grow as a singer, from the Braun Show to the years her trio played the Celestial in Mt. Adams. She knew her lyrics, had great pitch and knew how to deliver a ballad, something by Gershwin or Cole Porter or Rogers and Hart, and those weren't easy songs to sing. I don't suppose we'll see another like her. You can take your high heels off now, Mary Ellen; thanks for the memories.

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It's Almost Mother's Day

Detail from illuminated text, Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Milan: Philippus de Lavagnia, 1475.

It's almost Mother's Day weekend, and sure enough the rosebuds are getting ready to pop wide open.

When I lived on Main Street the place to be for the blooming of the roses was at Sycamore and 14th Street, on the fence that stood in back of the old School for Creative and Performing Arts.

I was told there were over 33 varieties of roses on that fence, everything from sleek straight-stemmed flower-shop roses to old-fashioned damask varieties, soft pink, the petals as soft as velvet and heavy with fragrance.

Put Mom in the car and take her to see this magnificent display. I don't know why everybody assumes all Mothers will like roses, but there you are. Sometimes it's best to conform.

LISTEN TO KATIE READ PESTER'S LETTER FROM THE "O MOTHER, WHERE ART THOU?" FESTIVAL

Just click on the "PLAY" arrow at the left end of the black bar.

From our show of Sunday, May 4, a letter from the archives (Sunday, May 23, 2010).

Pester Flatt writes to tell us about the events at this year's festival and Harry Sparks chimes in with his own story.  Give a listen.

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Hear something you liked on Sunday's show?  Click on the banner above to go directly to our playlist and -- if you want to own or gift some tunes -- please consider clicking on the Amazon link under each song.  It won't cost you a penny more, but will benefit this great radio station, WNKU.  Pssst: Playlist displays in reverse order.

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Skillet Skills

Despite the digital age in which we live, the ability to properly season a cast iron skillet is one of those skills handed down in the oral tradition of our people.  It falls somewhere between "How to Tie a Four-in-Hand Knot" and the derivation of the name "Four-in-Hand."  So check out this handy link to a Katie Laur original essay from the archives of CityBeat.

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fred bartenstein:

Katie Laur's program on Sunday evenings is one of those events in the life of a bluegrass fan that they seek out and make sure that they're there for.

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Additional thoughts from Fred, Katie and others in the video segment below:
(If you don't see the video, click on the "Older" link in the lower right corner of the page).

Above: Katie featured on Public Television's "OUR OHIO"

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O MOTHER, WHERE ART THOU?

Y'know, everybody's always talking about the Appalachian Festival, but there's another big event that, frankly, does a better job of tailoring itself to Mother's Day Weekend.

All your favorite mother acts: the Stanley Mothers, the Delmore Mothers and the Louvin Mothers, to name just a few.

Plus, this year's dulcimer toss will be emcee'd by our old friend, five-time winner and reigning world champ, Mad Anthony Wayne Clyburn.

Get your picture taken with the first man to hurl a lap dulcimer into a low-earth orbit.

It's all happening May 9-11 at the Festival & Camp Grounds in Tepid Spring, KY.

Click on the image to see posters from previous years.

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Listen to Katie read "The Idea of Porter at the Opry"

Just click on the "PLAY" arrow at the left end of the black bar.

From our show of Sunday, April 27, 2014, Katie reads the Walleye Stevens poem written upon the passing of Porter Wagoner.  We followed Walleye's work with Johnny Cash singing Porter's hit, Satisfied Mind and followed Cash with Porter and local-girl-made-good Pam Gadd singing, Somethin' to Brag About.

Read along with the text in the previous post and, if you'd like to own any of the music, please consider purchasing through the WNKU website. It won't cost you a penny more, but it will benefit this great Public Radio station.

At the WNKU website, click on the "SHOP AMAZON" tab at the upper right of the page.

P.S.  The poem mentions "Nudie Suits" and you may already know the term comes from "Nudie" Cohen, the Russian-born tailor who got his nickname because he began his career stitching sparkling outfits for strippers before he applied his appliqué and embroidery skills to suits for some of the greatest music artists of the 20th century -- Hank Williams, Sr., Lefty Frizzell, The Flying Burrito Bros., Elvis Presley and local-boy-made-good, Leonard Slye (better known as Roy Rogers).

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The idea of porter at the Opry

A poem by Walleye Stevens

He sang, bound by gardenias of sequins.
The thin man from West Plains barely filled his suit.
Like a marionette, his gestures made larger
By half-empty sleeves; he and Nudie greeted us
With gaudy cries of cheatin’ and drinkin’.
He was ours and we were his. At once, all, 
Veritable Hillbillies of the Ozarks.

The suit was not a costume.  Nor was the hair.
As loud as the embroidered curlicues,
Tall as his cotton-candy pompadour,
He was a sign in bold-face archetype
Readable from the last row of the Ryman;
Visible on a Crosley radio.
He knew he was somethin’ to brag about.

For he was the maker of the song he sang.
The ever-sparkling, ever-tragic heart 
That triumphed with each stomp of his blue boot.
For now, dim the stars -- and the house lights, too.
The Opry upstairs says “Company’s Comin’”
Tonight, Nudie Suits will scour the sky
Lookin’ for some other mind to satisfy.

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Who's That Knockin' at My Door?

Spring is knocking at the screen door, and overnight the world seems to have
turned topsy-turvy.  The mailman is smiling, in spite of himself, and my
neighbors are just a little friendlier, open to a few minutes of
conversation or to give my little pug dog, J.D., a pat on the head and a
kind word.

Our new co-host on Music from the Hills of Home, Oakley Scot, is working out
so well the show is running like a well-oiled piston, and if you haven't
listened in awhile, tune in again this Sunday, when we're going to do some
unusual bluegrass and old-time country music from the likes of Ed Cunningham
and Buddy Miller, Kathy Kallick and Dolly Parton.