Composer offers original song for the ages, of Christmas meaning

Robin Rendell, composer, Carol Forsloff, vocalist and video, Yvalain, music editing, Del Forsloff, accordion

Robin Rendell is one of those composers for the ages, creating a song that is likely to endure, because it represents the melody and the message of Christmas.

Christmas songs are in abundance, with a variety of themes each year.  Albums abound with the Christmas message.  Yet Robin's has the flavor of the past mixed with the modern sounds and the whole feeling people associate with the holidays.  This includes the snow, the bells, the city streets filled with sounds of many people, and the lonely and lost finding peace at the holidays.

Once in awhile a song is created that offers all humanity a glimpse of who we really are, of every color and creed, that brings us together in a harmony that is truly special.  Robin Rendell, an international composer who resides in France, has done that with his vision and lyrics that remind us who we are and need to be not just during the holidays but all the days of our lives.

Rendell writes folk music, both lyrics and melody on many occasions.  In the case of his great creation, "The Day Christmas Came Again," he shares the composition with Neil Preston, whose music puts the lyrics on the wings of the proverbial white dove that can take the song not just to the world but to the very heavens, where angels listen and God may smile.

The song tells us that Christmas means loving others, regardless of where we may be.  It is the kind of love that crosses geographical barriers to penetrate the heart of everyone.  It reminds us that even if we are alone somewhere, we are not alone, for music and the spirit of Christmas is expressed best when we do something for others.  In the video of the song, that expression comes in the form of soldiers with children decorating the Christmas tree and sharing the gifts that Santa brings as well.  The faces in the video, the smiling children together with the loving ones of the soldiers who embrace the occasion of the holiday by giving of themselves, seem to glow in the shining words and melodies the composers bring with The Day Christmas Came Again.

This folk style of music, although sometimes said to be no longer the favored style, in fact has realized an upsurge of popularity in recent years.  This song, "The Day Christmas Came Again," is the type of song that has that feeling of lasting value, the words representing the best of the folk style.

It has the universal appeal as well, for every person can visualize the scenes described in the lyrics, while the melody has its own magic and enticement for the listener.

Enjoy the best of Christmas music as you watch and listen to Robin Rendell's artistry come alive in this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMcPKy1a6GY&list=UUevhEjRpy3xqz8mmpzSPTdQ

Portland, Oregon: A night of music, roses, and everything good abouttown

The garden in the park

Carol Forsloff--Every year Portland spreads out its skirts, with roses dancing upon the flounces of green that stretch through the town's parks, but even more wonderful is all of that with a night of music that represents every good thing about town.

You can watch and listen and stretch out on the grass with the large crowd that gathers, many families with children, with picnic lunches or a sandwich and soft drink from one of the vendors that serve the festival guests.

The Johnsons, enjoying the concert

Or you can be a first-class observer, and offer an example of how to enjoy the best while bringing the best along with you as one couple did, to the amazement and amusement of many, and those many somewhat envious as well.

Pink roses in gardens of Portland, Oregon

It's summer festival time, and at Washington Park, home of the magnificent International Rose Test Gardens and the Japanese Gardens, one can hear music nearly every night, each evening of a different variety.

Folk band at concert in Portland, Oregon

Folk band[/caption]

Folk music, music of African origin, symphonies and solosits bring their voices and instruments to perform in the warm ambiance of a friendly crowd with the scent of roses everywhere and the view of the city below that brings people to gaze in wonder.

The view at sundown in the Rose Gardens in Portland, Oregon

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But this is something better told in pictures, for it is in them one feels like being there.  So this photo essay brings to you those roses, that stage, the music and the view from the hillside that offers you, the reader, a glimpse of that something special that makes Portland the green capitol as well as the rose city that brings beauty home for everyone.

Modern music are the new historians, establish folk music of tomorrow

[caption id="attachment_16077" align="alignleft" width="300"] John Denver memorial[/caption]

Carol Forsloff — Today's music is the folk music of tomorrow. This means the best will be preserved, even as other music that is meant for a short turn dissolves with time. Some tunes, however, are done so well they are remade again, not just because of their copyright-free status because of their age but the message rendered that is eternal.

Folk music is no longer the popular genre as it was in the 1960's, but there are folks who in looking for their personal roots find that the old music supports it. Music tells of the times in which it was written. Music was used, and still is, to record history. In that sense, the musician one passes on that street corner in a city somewhere in the world may be doing something that will last for centuries, when elements of the new technology have long faded.

The musicians of great renown know this, as Elvis Presley recorded not just the modern rock and roll songs with which we are familiar but the old-time music as well, including "Old Shep" and the gospel songs that were part of his personal roots. Bruce Springsteen is another of the relatively new artists of today who looks for certain types of root music to perform, then gives it that modern twist or two that identifies it as his personal sound.

Many songs, when they have been rearranged, change so significantly that the meaning of the author has been lost. The song  "Letter Edged in Black" became known by the country artists of the 1950's through Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, but its different theme in modern lyrics took away from the writer's story of how family estrangement can cause pain for generations. This is an eternal message, even as the war protest words were that were later written to the melody and known  in later years. But the history of time and the idea that we continue to learn from our history only when we know it, and the messages it gives, is lost when too much of our original music is lost as well.

So for those looking for their ancestry and building scrapbooks to identify a family, include with it a scrap of music from that same time. Look beyond the words of today in looking for the good of yesterday that we can all enjoy again.

When we speak of traditional values, traditional music needs to be included in that definition, so long as its meaning remains what identifies us all as a community of individuals with one thing in common — our humanity. John Denver was a composer/musician who wrote many songs reflecting the value of human experience and the simple life.

As for modern music, it too has a distinctive place in that it records the events of the day and in time will become roots music of future generations.  It shares, in that regard, those old melodies that remain because we care. So those folks on America's Got Talent may be looking for their dreams to be fulfilled, and we can look at them with new eyes when we recognize how valuable music becomes when time has passed from what we knew of simpler times.

Older musicians making a joyful noise on world's major music site

Angelo Marinosci Jr with his Guild guitar

Carol Forsloff — About 15 years ago a Honolulu newspaper featured separate stories about Neil Diamond and Joan Baez, referring to Diamond, 56 years old at the time,  as a youthful entertainer and Baez, also 56, as an aging folk singer. Ageism remains one of the barriers in the music and entertainment industry overall, but some folks, like Angelo Marinosci, are stepping out to make a difference on a site called Fandalism that describes itself as one that features the world's greatest musicians.

Angelo Marinosci Jr. is a singer - composer , age 65+, with a magnetic personality, resonant voice, and clever acoustic guitar style that brings both men and women to acclaim the talents brought about by the seasoning of time, talent and practice that puts Marinosci front and center on a site of more than half a million musicians. The site was created by Philip Kaplan, aka Pud, a drummer and entrepreneur.

Marinosci tells us, on his Fandalism page, that he was " self taught as a boy... play some guitar and like to sing a bit and enjoy writing... never fancied myself much of a guitarist but use it to accompany my vocals to get my songs heard a bit." Most of his fans would take that self deprecation as hardly defining the maestro of music who is able to take a simple life event and wrap a song around it in a package worthy of gifting anyone who loves good tunes.

A man of numerous talents, that include painting and public performances, Marinosci  has performed in such big and small venues as the North Port Folk Festival of about 4,000 plus people and in small coffee houses with a small, family-friendly atmosphere. Marinosci writes most of his own music and when asked what inspires him in his writing, he said,

"Everything drives me. I have a burning need to express myself, in all media... I've often said that my photography is about the outside world... my painting is about my inside world... and my music is the glue that holds my universe together."Life experience is also one of the benefits for finding themes, according to Marinosci. He explains, "I cannot imagine a life, my life , without music. I like writing and performing my own stuff and drawing from my own life experiences and perceptions and conclusions ... the things I know about: bad times, friendship ... love failed or made right again ("I PROMISE"). .. both joy and sorrow and the human condition in general ... emotions are often in the forefront of what I write, but I also try to see things from above the fray... philosophically, sometimes historically ("PARA TIKAL").  There's also the world view that I like to share or make known... telling a story can be in the most obvious form or the more metaphoric or onto the purely symbolic ("SILENCE AT THE BOW")...

I use a mixed bag.  I may start with the sounds that trigger something, a note, a chord... a guitar speaking to me about something important.  Or maybe a particular key word(s) or an idea may cling to the roof of my mind and work its way out.  When "creatives" work they should think more like a cat running through the forest ... alert, sensitive, curious, in tune with everything ...running wild ...filled with contradiction and fears and daring the mysterious to take them on. What  write, sing and express is all real to me on some level..about my life, your life or life in general... but it has to be about what i know, where I've been.

Much of what Marinosci performs is in the folk music genre, as he has, and continues to, perform in the folk music venues of the Northeast where he lives. He was asked to define the value of folk music and his interest in it. He responded,

"There are real layers (not media hype) of musical notions that withstand the big tests of musical time. We can still hear an old Irish Shanty tune and relate to it ... or chanting... or a blues piece from 100 years ago and be impacted by it in it's most unfiltered form."

That music that stands the test of time is further explained by Marinosci as reflecting "sincere traditions and values , not right or left, those things that are important ...even important enough to disagree about ... folk music is certainly a real vehicle for us to keep that "debate" alive and well .... "This Land Is Your Land" was not originally intended as a national anthem of sorts ... it was a reaction to the hard times at a particular junction in our history..."The Times They Are a Changing" was almost a call to arms against war and poverty and corruption."

Finding in folk music a favorable vehicle for expression of human values and needs, Marinosci tells us more of how experience and perception continue to drive his music,

 "I'm a real believer in aesthetics... the principles of beauty... design... reason... and I'm no exemption.  I drank from every well I came to... listened to what intrigued me... struggled like everyone else to find where I belonged and as i became more comfortable, mature... the music began to roll out of me almost on its own."

New music sites, like Fandalism, have recently been developed that are driven by social media. Marinosci finds it in some ways a barrier, since many people, he says, might rather look at a pretty or handsome face while listening to the music. And furthermore the sites are often driven by the whims of the owners mixed with people with their own biases. Still,  it has its benefits as well, as he maintains,

"The advantage of a Music Social Network: it offers a wide range of musicians a safe-haven to perform in a pluralistic environment that is receptive to what they are doing... there is always that social component there ... but it's about the music... and the feedback... and being appreciated in ways that the rest of the world may be negligent about."

Marinosci is saddened for the lack of opportunities for live music performances.  In that "ocean of people" he describes as the community of wannabes and professionals, things can be difficult.  But he emphasizes being creative and paying attention to what people want and also new ways of delivering music that has wide appeal.  His advice?

" I try to encourage people along the lines of attainable goals, believable expectations, and redefining what they think success really is. There's loads and loads of people who demonstrate talent in many forms... they have to make themselves marketable in some way if they really want to make a go of it.

Some of those creative ventures for Marinosci have included collaborations with young musicians, which he enjoys. He explains,

"Collaboration is maybe the best form of validation there is... that another artist would share their talent sand their feelings from such an inside place...wonderful, wonderful, wonderful."

With an eye to growing with young musicians and yet continuing to use life experiences and maturity to express ideas, Marinosci demonstrates that age may be a barrier but not one that is insurmountable. His advice for himself and others is this,

" It's more important for young folks to believe in themselves and not to expect those around them to carry their burden or to be constantly reinforcing what they want to do. Pick your direction, make the sacrifices and do what you can do.... but most important , keep writing, singing, playing, practicing, learning and growing.

Music, mathematics of the universe, the nectar of the gods and the water that runs through our audible fingers... drink from the fountain as often as you can and begin making your contribution as soon as you can so you can receive the torch, carry the torch and then in time pass the torch on; it's all part of the human experience.

So as media sites continue to grow, and the sheer numbers of musicians continue to increase, Marinosci has found his niche by using the experience gained from time and the new tricks that a wise person can use from the vigor and vision of the young, a great combination for continuing success in music.

Modern music and the new historians

[caption id="attachment_15252" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Taylor Swift"][/caption]

Today's music is the folk music of tomorrow.  This means the best will be preserved, even as other music that is meant for a short turn dissolves with time.  Some tunes, however, are done so well they are remade again, not just because of their copyright-free status because of their age but the message rendered that is eternal.

Folk music is no longer the popular genre as it was in the 1960's, but there are folks who in looking for their personal roots find that the old music supports it.  Music tells of the times in which it was written.  Music was used, and still is, to record history.  In that sense, the musician one passes on that street corner in a city somewhere in the world may be doing something that will last for centuries, when elements of the new technology has long faded.

The musicians of great reknown know this, as Elvis Presley recorded not just the modern rock and roll songs with which we are familiar but the old-time music as well, including "Old Shep" and the gospel songs that were part of his personal roots.  Bruce Springsteen is another of the relatively new artists of today who looks for certain types of root music to perform, then gives it that modern twist or two that identifies it is his personal sound.

Many songs, when they have been rearranged, change so significantly that the meaning of the author has been lost.  The song  "Letter Edged in Black" became known by the country artists of the 1950's through Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, but its different theme in modern lyrics took away from the writer's story of how family estrangement can cause pain for generations.  This is an eternal message, even as the war protest words were that were later written to the melody and known  in later years.  But the history of time and the idea that we continue to learn from our history only when we know it, and the messages it gives, is lost when too many of our original music is lost as well.

So for those looking for their ancestry and building scrapbooks to identify a family, include with it a scrap of music from that same time.  Look beyond the words of today in looking for the good of yesterday that we can all enjoy again.

When we speak of traditional values, traditional music needs to be included in that definition, so long as its meaning remains what identifies us all as a community of individuals with one thing in common---our humanity.

As for modern music, it too has a distinctive place in that it records the events of the day and in time will become roots music of future generations.  It shares, in that regard, those old melodies that remain because we care.  So those folks on Americas Got Talent may be looking for their dreams to be fulfilled, and we can look at them with new eyes when we recognize how valuable music becomes when time has passed from what we knew of simpler times.

The many lives and traditions of Bob Dylan who remains forever young

[caption id="attachment_15218" align="alignleft" width="300"] Bob Dylan and Joan Baez[/caption]

When some folks think of Bob Dylan, they think of protest music, of Joan Baez,  and his early romances; but his is the music that will endure, like Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie and even Stephen Foster.  That's because he wrote of the human experience, both good and bad, and in ways that will endure.  That includes one of his most beautiful songs, "Forever Young."

Dylan was known as a songwriter as well as a performer.  His songs were performed by many folk musicians of the day, often publicly, as these were the days before the copyright issues came into prominence.  He appeared at a time when music infused the social conscience of the nation, when singers presented music with a multitude of verses in the story form of old.  Dylan was that type of writer and that type of entertainer.

When Dylan crossed over into the world of the electrified instruments, the folk music world was shaken.  When he moved into the born-again world of Christians, folks wondered what had happened to the long-haired protestor and vagabond king.  When Joan Baez sang of her great love, in somewhat hidden ways, in words of her own creation, those who had followed both of these great musicians knew she wrote and sang of Bob Dylan.  She too remains active in both live concerts and recording, at age 71 just a few months older than her old friend Dylan.

I heard him sing on a sunny day in Hawaii.  He and I are of the same age, both of us born in 1941,  the same kind of folks who move through life and all its changes.  He is now an old man too, but his life will continue on with its great music in ways many of us will long remember.  Perhaps he will become part of the greatest of our musicians in the mind of others, as Woody Guthrie's music has passed through decades and continues to be "This Land is My Land" in its message to the people he wrote for and about.

Dylan continues to write and record music,  although he as he is moved from boy wonder to a music sage, he has lost much of his audience as time has moved along.    He continues to stay on the circuit, and as one concert site declares:  "The Never Ending Tour is the popular name for Bob Dylan's endless touring schedule since June 7, 1988."

For those of us who remember, and those who discover him now, Dylan is, and will always be, as he wrote himself, "Forever Young."  The song is done here by this old folksinger,  just as it was done by others, in its entirety because the message must remain whole,  as a journalistic presentation, to honor the man and his music.  The whole of the message asks us again to remember our youth and the hopes we had for every tomorrow  and to remind people that Dylan is a national treasure for what he has brought to us with his music and what will likely become part of his legend long after he has gone.

Natchitoches Jazz Festival comes alive again in the cradle of Americanmusic

[caption id="attachment_14917" align="alignleft" width="300"] Natchitoches Jazz Festival[/caption]

Carol Forsloff - It was one of those special days on the riverbank in Natchitoches, with some of the best of local Louisiana talent stirred together with folks who had traveled for miles to merge their music in that music's American cradle.

North Louisiana represents the heart and soul of music in many, many ways.  The reasons come from the history of this part of the country.  It was the acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase that brought folks from these early-settled lands to follow the route west along the Oregon trail, transforming 13 colonies to a United States.   With that move came the music of people who had settled from various European countries along with the African beats that became one with the other sounds that made American music unique.

In North Louisiana one will find the best of the old-time fiddlers, along with the jazz sounds that folks identify with New Orleans.  But there is far more to the music mix than horns and fiddles.  This is also the place of the country sound, with Shreveport identified with the Louisiana Hayride, along with the new strains of rock and roll that came from Elvis Presley and others.  Louisiana borders Texas and Arkansas, combining the old mountain music of the Arkansas hills, with the Texas twang of cowboys, loves lost and the stories that encapsulated the legends of the times.  The slaves who worked the cotton fields sang of hard times, taking their pain and infusing it into their music, which became the soulful sounds of blues and gospel.

Louisiana is central to folk music, country, gospel, blues and jazz.  As Natchitoches is the oldest town in the Louisiana Purchase, from which people moved to regions west, the core of American music is firmly grounded in its northern Louisiana lands.

This last weekend, musicians of Louisiana honored and shared their musical heritage, bringing once again the magic that comes with spring flowers, the beauty of the winding Cane River, and the sounds of the best variety of music for the crowds who annually enjoy the Natchitoches Jazz Festival.

The North Louisiana Musicians Association has recently formed, with hundreds of members supporting the message of music that is special to the region.  So many fine musicians performed this year,  but given this author's experience in Natchitoches, some of the choicest continue to stand out every year.

Billy O'Con is one of those musicians rooted in the Louisiana soil, whose ambling style and lean, taut frame remain identified with the Jim Croce life and legend.  Croce's plane went down those decades ago in a field in Natchitoches, and O'Con played Croce in a film of the famous musician's life.  Croce was the author of "Time in a Bottle" and "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown," familiar tunes for today's musicians.

Doc Couty is one of those old-time musicians with a history of making music with about every type of musician's group and style.  He can play a guitar and sing strong folk-country, then turn around and do one of those blues numbers that makes a crowd pleaser every year.

Hardrick Rivers is one of the best-known among the local musicians, playing his horn and singing "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" in that sultry way of the South's expression of the Otis Redding Classic.

John Litzenberg is a sideman with a difference.  That difference is his stand-alone style, in that he knows music in every brand Louisiana can produce and adds to this a brand of humor and a voice that can translate country, folk, jazz or blues beyond the ordinary sidekick most bands often have.  In other words, the guy can follow or lead, take your pick.

Other musicians included guitarist and NSU professor Luke Brouillette and his quartet, who brought some really great jazz to the Jazz/R&B festival,  Waylon Salter (with The Justin Merritt Band), Jarrett Bailey, Matt Bailey and Glenn Rainey (with the Glenn Rainey Band), Henry Reggans Sr. (leading the Sidemen) and so many others.

Rodney Harrington becomes "Johnny Earthquake" in his role as the guy who gets things going; and there is always so much shaking going on when he and his crew take the stage that folks have to hang on tight not to be upset from their chairs.  He brings a crew of folks together with their variety of instruments, a motley one most of the time, that includes violin players, guitar pickers, drums and other percussion instruments to get folks dancing on the walkways around the Cane River.  He also has a pair of female singers that create a special appeal with their good-looking moves along with their clear and lustrous voices.  Many times he surprises the crowd with an Elvis special, with James Burton, the famous guitar sidekick of the King, as a featured performer.

Spend a little time here with a listen to the Sidemen and dream a little dream of being there in the sunshine along the riverbank with the sample of some of the best music America can produce.