Common Ground on the Hill

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  Amsterdam, Netherlands
Saturday, April 22, 2006

High, everybody, it's really the 30th of April in Amsterdam but I'm a little behind due to my thrill-packed trip to Rome last week, which I'll report on in the next two posts. These entries are datelined as they are to keep the red lines on the TravelPod map in the right timeframe. Anybody who knows my writing and poetry knows that I'm obsessed with the precise dating of the work done...but so what?

I want to use this entry to talk about Common Ground on the Hill, the folk arts camp on the campus of McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland where I'm in residence (since 1999) during the first week in July.
The 2006 Common Ground on the Hill catalog is a beautiful thing, "juicy with information" as Lord Buckley used to say, and it's posted on the website www.commongroundonthehill.org as it appears in its printed form.

If you would like to receive a printed 2006 catalogue and really check out Common Ground, let me know (along with your land address) and I'll ask Walt Michael to have one mailed to you, or you can write him at Walt Michael, Executive Director: Common Ground on the Hill, 2 College Hill, McDaniel College, Westminster, MD 21157. Phone: 410-857-2771. E-mail: cground@qis.net

From the 2006 Catalog

Common Ground on the Hill is an organization for traditional music and arts that offers quality learning experiences with master musicians, artists, writers and craftspeople while exploring cultural diversity in search of a common ground among ethnic, gender, age and racial groups. The Baltimore Sun has compared Common Ground on the Hill to the Chautauqua and Lyceum movements in American history, precursors to this exciting program.

We invite you to join us in searching for common ground. This summer, our 12th year, we offer two separate weeks of classes, workshops, concerts and events on the campus of McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland as well as a Music & Arts Festival July 8-9 at the nearby historic Carroll County Farm Museum.

As a Common Ground on the Hill student, participant and festival-goer, you may choose from a broad spectrum of the arts- instrumental music, singing, dance, acting, fine arts, spoken and written word-springing from a wealth of traditions including Appalachian, African American, Native American, Latino, Celtic and Middle Eastern.

2006 Traditions Weeks Highlights include instruction in Guitar, Bass, Percussion, Harmonica, Hammered Dulcimer, Mountain Dulcimer, Latin Guitar, Celtic Harp, Bagpipes, Piano, Whistle, Bluegrass Fiddle, Oldtime Banjo, Autoharp, Wooden Spoons, Afro-Cuban Singing, Scottish & Immigrant Song, Family Folklore, Poetry and Performance, Appalachian Story/Song, Gospel Choir, Children's Choir, Black Stringband, African Dance and Masks, Native Flute Playing, Traditional Flute Making, Songwriting, Recording, Music Management, Photography, Painting, Drawing, Watercolor, Pottery, Knitting, Needlepoint, Weaving, Spinning, Beading, and Metalsmithing.

Special offerings this year include Thoreau & Nonviolence, South Appalachia through a Literary Lens, Yoga Rhythmics, Digital Painting and Collage, and Islamic Art.

The annual MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL will be staged July 8th and 9th at the Farm Museum featuring Richie Havens,?Tom Chapin, Guy Davis, Walt Michael & Company and many more artists and performers drawn from the Common Ground staff and participants, including Bill Troxler, Ken Kolodner, David Lindsey, Fraser Spiers, Scott Ainslie, Patricio Acevedo, Jo Morrrison, Sharon Knowles, Wayne Morison, Steve Bloom, Cary Wolfson, John Sinclair, Sara Grey, Jack Beck, Lee Francis IV, Fraser Shaw, Mike Chapdelaine, A.J. Bodnar, Les Woodie, Lydia Martin, Dave Bing, Jesse Heffernan, Harry Orlove, Mike Baytop, Ernie Hawkins, Amy Ferebee, Bryan Bowers, Shelley Ensor, Bob Lucas, Sankofa Strings, Sankofa Dance Company, Rip Off Con Artists, Dr. Loco, Staci Cuellar, Steve Hickman, Sakim, Norm Sartorius, Howie Bursen, Wale Liniger, David Essig and a cast of hundreds. EVENING CONCERTS will be held every weekday evening from July 2-14 at Little Baker Chapel, The Forum, or The Carroll Art Center at 8:00 pm and are open to the public.

Walt says: "Now is the crucial time of year when 'word of mouth' helps us enroll the critical amount of students. So, please email your fan/student base and let them know that you and Richie Havens will be at Common Ground this summer! Refer them to the website, and encourage them to enroll and attend. Word of mouth results in 90% of the attendance. Spread the word!"

* * * * *

If you saw my last entry (#25) about The Dopecast from Dopefiend.co.uk, here is the url for the program I was on from The Dolphins:

The Dopecast #20 from Dopefiend.co.uk (.mp3)

Also, a note about the Pun Plamondon book from my old friend Peter C. Cavanaugh of Flint, Michigan reminds me that Peter has written a very interesting book about the days of rock & roll in Michigan titled Local DJ that may be ordered directly through www.xlibris.com or amazon.com. For non-surfers, bookstores also work. I recommend the paperback, and more info is available at www.wildwednesday.com.

Peter also writes: "at www.myplace.com/localdj I'm writing my first draft of a new book there as a series of blogs. I started just last week. So far, so good. No one seems to be paying attention. I'm getting away with it. For a good time, try www.96tears.net/movies/html/tenoclock.html."

* * * * *

Finally, as springtime begins to emerge in Amsterdam, several of us have remarked how we keep expecting to see our dear friend Lee Bridges come bopping around the corner and sit down with us and roll up a nice hash joint and pass it around. But Lee passed away last year and we won't see him again in this world, although he lives on in the memories of so many people here in the Dam. I wrote a memorial ode for Lee last spring and then lost the digital manuscript when I started having computer problems on the road.

The other day I was listening to our radio show from What Is Happening Here last June and heard myself reading the poem for Lee 'live' with accompaniment by Harmonica George and his guitarist. So I transcribed the text and got it back in my files, and then the original version turned up on a data disk I was unloading into my new iBook. As soon as I can figure out which text I like better, I'll post it right here, and I think I'll go with the one that's 7 stanzas of 7 lines each for Lee's 77 years on this treacherous sphere:

fromthelonious: a book of monk


#26

"relaxin' with lee"

for larry hayden, henk botwinik & andrew jones


mr. lee bridges was around
for a very long time
& never a square,
he lived 77 years
& carried himself so humbly
all over the world
in his infinite hipness,

never at a loss
for a way to make it
through whatever troubles
might present themselves,
& come out on top
with his dignity intact,
& his splendid wardrobe,

& his beautiful smile, always re-
vealing the radiant warmth
of his personality, & the clarity
& precision of his vision,
hustling his little books of poetry
& his memoirs
& his heartfelt performances,

relaxed & at home
wherever he went
with his 100s of friends
who loved him so madly,
mr. lee bridges
was just about the sweetest man
you would ever want to meet,

from the '40s & '50s
when he followed the music
from detroit to new york city
& all the high points
in between, smoking his reefers
& hanging out with the musicians
& all the cats on the scene,

then making his way
across the ocean
in the early '60s, smuggling hashish
from morocco & the orient
to paris & amsterdam
& reading his poems
in the streets & coffeeshops & cafes-

mr. lee bridges,
the cannabis poet,
a great american
& exemplary human being
who graced our lives with love
like no one else on earth
& lives now forever in our hearts


--detroit
april 18, 2005

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