If I’m not mistaken, his nickname came from the diddley bow, which consisted of a wire attached to the side of a barn and strung to a wood plank. To play it, you step on the plank to vary the wire tension while you bang out a rhythm on the wire with a stick, kinda like a washtub bass: “bomp-bomp-bomp–bompbomp.”
Video from the TNT Show 1966. Here’s to the Bo Diddley Beat.
Bluegrass has its roots in northern Britain according to my ear. The chord patterns of early country music from Appalachia follow those of Scottish and Irish reels. In the immigration wave of the early 1800’s, the Scottish and Irish tended to venture southward, away from the constrictions of the north, to where they could work their own land. No wonder that early southern recordings sound similar to those of Ireland and Scotland.
Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys popularized it and gave the style it’s moniker: Bluegrass. This song (video from 1956) is a tribute to Pendleton Vandiver, Monroe’s uncle. Monroe joined his uncle Pen’s band as a kid; his sound dates back to the turn of the century.
The Dillards were the Darlings clan on the Andy Griffith show. The Dillards decided that L.A. had more to offer than the Missouri Ozarks, and advertised themselves on the streets in the early 1960’s.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band were influenced by the Dillards, and took Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. BoJangles” for a ride.
What I was really looking for when all this linkyness began was New Grass Revival‘s version of “Steam Powered Aeroplane,” one of the prettiest bluegrass songs I ever heard:
"Well I went away on a Steam Powered Aeroplane.
Well I went and I stayed and damn near didn't come back again.
Didn't go very fast on a steam powered aeroplane,
The wheels went around, up and down, and inside and then back again.Sittin' on a 747 just watching them clouds roll by,
Can't tell if it's sunshine, if it's rain.
Rather be sittin' in a deck chair high up over Kansas City,
On a genuine old fashioned oil finish Steam Powered Aeroplane.Well I'd could be PILOT on the Steam Powered Aeroplane.
I'd pull that pilot wheel 'round, then back again.
And I'd wear a blue hat, YEAH, on the Steam Powered Aeroplane,
With letters go 'round the brim and then back again.
Sittin' on a 747 just watching them clouds roll by,
Can't tell if it's sunshine or if it's rain.
Rather be sittin' in a deck chair high up over Kansas City,
On a genuine old fashioned oil finish Steam Powered Aeroplane."
Here’s the songwriter, John Hartford, with Tony Rice, Vassar Clements and others. (Yeah, his vocals don’t do justice for the song.)
Great pre-sunrise morning roadtrip music, just like Pat Metheny’s “New Chataqua Highway,” or anything by Django Reinhardt and Stephan Grappelli.
[Bunk’s compiling his roadtrip list for next month. Lemme know your favorites.]
It all started when anti-war protesters from off-campus showed up by Friday, 1 May 1970 to host a May Day protest rally. That night, a handful of idiots decided that it was a good idea to get drunk and start trashing Water Street. The police quelled the violence within an hour.
The Police Department contacted the Mayor who contacted the Governor of Ohio who contacted the National Guard.
The next day, the National Guard was on campus. That Saturday night another handful of idiots decided to set fire to the ROTC building, and sabotaged Fire Department’s efforts to stop the blaze by slashing the hoses.
The National Guard was made up of young men the same age as the students. Not much happened on Sunday, 3 May.
On Monday, 4 May, the agitators cranked it up a notch, and someone in the National Guard gave the order to shoot across the Prentiss Hall parking lot from the front of Taylor Hall, the School of Architecture Building. Four students were killed, nine wounded.
There was a lot of overreaction on 4 May 1970, but who lit the fuse? The handful of vandals that started throwing rocks and bottles on Water Street, or the handful of idiots who burned the ROTC building on campus? What about the rally organizers who were neither students nor residents of Kent, Ohio, and arrived by the busload? Unless I’m mistaken, none of them were ever brought to trial. It was entirely the National Guard’s fault. Right.
Although the sub-genius that produced this video and posted it on the Utoobage got the date wrong (a lot of the “documentaries” have blatant factual errors) it still has the requisite soundtrack: “Ohio” by CSN&Y.
[There’s a pretty good 2nd hand factual account of the KSU tragedy here. Wikipedia also has an entry.]
[Update 4 May 2009: It appears that the soundtrack has been altered from the original utoobage. Now the video’s even more obnoxious than before. – Bunk]
Tacky Raccoons 