Rickyho na ČT 2

A friend emailed me this link to “Na Plovarne s Ricky Skaggsem – An interview with Ricky Skaggs by Marek Eben.”

They must have recorded the segment when Ricky was in town this summer for his show at “Music in the Park”. (see Marek Eben is a musical personality who has been working as a TV “redaktor” / interlocutor for a while. Before coming across him here, I last saw him as one of the hosts of “Stardance,” an instance of the “reality show” where Czech stars are paired with pro dancers and pushed out on the parquet for our amusement.

Here’s his introduction to the interview:

Dobrý Večer.
Když jsme ještě jezdili na Portu, tak se v Portovným žargonu děleli muzikantí na kotlikářem. To by trampy. Pak na hledače nebo pro roky to byli folkáří. A pak na pytlikačí a to byli bluegrassové muzikantí.

Ovšem jsou pydlikáčí a pydlikači. A když za pydlikání dostanete hned dvanáctkrat Americkou Grammy, už to musíme brát vážně. Máme dnes to velké potěšení přivitát na Plovárně absolutné špičku Amerického bluegrassu. Multiinstrumentalistu, spěváka, skladatele, Rickyho Skaggse.

Here’s some English:

When we used to go to Porta, in Porta jargon musicians “děleli na kotlikářem,” [referring--I think-- to the kotlik or pot that tramps used on their rambles.] Those were tramps. Then… This just gets tangled – he is using a lot of funny words…any of the Czechs in the audience care to adda comment below, to explain all this?

I can add a bit of context. Porta is a distinguished festival founded in Ústí nad Labem in 1967; it’s still going strong. The festival’s name comes from the Latin phrase describing its hometown as the “Porta Bohemica,” or “gate to Bohemia.” The event’s original subtitle was “Celostátní festival country western music“…that is, Country-wide festival of…well, country western music. So you see why I’m interested. Eben’s list of folks involved at Porta ends with bluegrassers, the “pytlikače.” Another bit of “jargon” from that Porta scene – something to do with little bags…? Google helps me none here, but I get the sense that this is something like “picker,” an emic term for someone who “picks” a banjo or guitar or mandolin. Inflection can give the word extra emphasis; as Eben says, and Americans too, there a pickers, and there are pickers. When, for their picking, someone wins 12 Grammy awards…you take them seriously. Then he goes on to introduce Ricky and the interview progresses.

I haven’t seen the whole thing yet, but I did notice Eben making what seemed to me a forced smile and some over-nodding as Ricky talks in the first few minutes about music coming from God. Maybe I’m forcing this cynicism on Marek, but at the very least…I can’t imagine he would use similar American-evangelical-style “blessing-from-God” speech to describe his own music-making. Jirka, the colleague who sent me the link to this internet version of the show, stressed that it was about bluegrass and God. I’m curious how he and other Czechs deal with such strenuous testimonies to the sacred aspects of bluegrass musicking?

There’s much more to be done here – now I just have to find a copy of this interview that is not translated over with Czech dubbing…

from Ohio to Plzen

What took me to these two exotic locales?  Two words:  ACADEMIC CONFERENCES.  What a glamorous, jet-setting life.  Sure felt that way waiting in the DC amtrak station on my outgoing trajectory to Charlottesville.  It all went very well.  Thanks to the current residents of 111a Maywood I snuck into the attic, got some photos I needed for my presentation, and Dorothea took TOO good care of me.  Then, the car trip to Ohio.

Columbus, Ohio hosted this fall’s Society for Ethnomusicology meeting; an auspicious location for my big-time conference debut.  To boot, the guy before me on my Saturday morning panel didn’t show, and there was a 30 minute hole before I was supposed to go on.  But as Tim Cooley put it, that meant that the folks who trickled back in really wanted to see my paper.  And it gave me a chance to blast some CZ tunes to warm up the room, and get ready to go.  It felt like I was getting ready to teach.

The paper soared, everything flowed, and Q&A was fun.

So, laded with a nearly ungodly amount of camera equipment to keep the fieldwork efforts going, I headed home.

And set out the next day for Plzen and another conference!  This time in company of Emily.  Which made it a lot better.

The conference (antropoweb – a grad student anthro group from western bohemia university) was well-organized, cozy, collegial.  The papers and conversation were good, if hampered by language (either their English of my Czech).  In methods, jargon, etc. it often seemed like an “American” academic scene–but there were plenty of charts and statistics to remind me that this was still the conservative Czech Republic, and that my background is ultra-qualitative.

The hotel was paid for, we got lots of free food, a chance to see Plzen’, meet a bunch of Czech and regional anthropologists.  AND they’re going to publish the “acta” proceedings…my first article!  Heck, this is how all conferences should be.  Maybe with a bit less drinking.  As Michal Svoboda put it in his goodbye – “i look forward to further collaborations!” (with US and CZ folks…)

Kozlová Stodola – coming soon…

I can’t find a version of the invite online, so here’s a handmade e-version of the hard-copy “pozvanka” extended to all of you faithful readers and googlers:

For non Czech readers: The goat barn festival 2007 happens this Saturday September 8, beginning at 3pm, at the Hajovna Cejkovna-Nekolovka near Lhotka, a town near Telc.

I think you’ll all notice that my name features prominently in the announcement. This is because Bob (the organizer) decided that my participation in the “old time jam” suggested by Zdenek merited marquee-level recognition. I’m looking forward to it – come on out if you can, it’s a lovely spot.