music and storytelling as part of healing...

jason, i am going to start a new thread for this general subject matter just so others can easily find it if they are interested. the initial thread for those who may be interested is in the 'issues' thread that was started prior.

regarding what you shared about cris… you said 'you asked' and i say 'i did ask and i am glad i did share so much of how you were shaped by her work.' thank you for sharing. well worth the time to read your journey with her as a musician.

i think storytelling is a wonderful part of folk music and there is a lot of potential in that genre.

i went to a utah storytelling festival last year and found it to be quite incredible. black people telling stories, a native american woman, irish woman. in one pod we talked about having gay storytelling festivals. one of my favorite guys was a guy named david massengill who sang songs that touched me and also was very into creativity with kids.

a lot of what he reflected on was stuff from his youth and various experiences he had that touched him or shaped him in some way or stories he had heard in one form or other that touched him. he performed them with music, which added that different dynamic. the way music can stick in our head and come to us at different times is interesting. also he played a dulcimer which was a unique instrument which added another dimension to things as well.

for me, so much soul exists in folk music that doesn't exist in the same way in other kinds of music. not that it cannot exist and does not, but it just feels to me like it gets to the heart differently. country music can have soul to it as well. a different depth. and gospel music. it all seems to go more to the authentic and the caring vs. the glossy and precision of some of that sort of thing. the difference between honest and considered vs. so glossy and precise that it lacks something in the midst of all the perfect technique.

a lot of gay artists seem to be about the fronting of an image and being funky. freddy of course was interesting and i think erasure has a lot of heart and has clearly touched a lot of people.

Re: music and storytelling as part of healing...

somebody i think is also interesting for gay people as an icon is pete burns from dead or alive and boy george. i think as far as a phase of rebellion from gay people that they as well as people like sylvester and divine made sense and in a world that was going through that fifties to seventies phase of things. then of course we had the 80's and 90's. i think our own evolution as a gay community should be factored into the evolution as to what is going on in the world now.

this is an age of oprah and 'o' magazine. this is the age of 'the secret' and 'what the bleep' mixed with the age of more and more influence from bollywood and india. china has a middle class, the war with the middle east over things. to just factor in our issues without looking at ourselves in relationship to the globe is not to see the full picture. there are a lot of social movements occurring. holistic studies are getting more and more mainstream acceptance. enron and other business scandals are pushing people to look at other ways of running businesses and the motivating factors involved with such scandals.

buddhism has been on the cover of time magazine. india has been as well. we are definitely in interesting times and this is the climate that much of these issues are being worked out in. christianity in this country is getting an influx of other influences as well. we have the web, cable tv, satellite tv, all relevant.

-d