Hey man watcha’ reading?

So other than listening to, talking and writing about music, I also read a lot about music. So here are some books that I’ve read recently, am currently reading or will be reading soon.

Are you Famous? by Ken Waldman

Just finished this one. This is Ken writing about his life, how he became an Alaskan Traveling Poet, and his life on the road. If you want to know what it's like to be a travelling musician, this is the book to read. It tells you the ins and outs of the music business from an independent fiddling poet.

Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, CSNY and the Lost story of 1970 by David Browne

Also just finished this one. This is the story of 1970 and the demise of the the Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel. The ups and downs of CSN&Y, and the rise of James Taylor and soft rock. I've been a Beatle fan for a long time, so the part about the end of the Beatles was familiar. The parts on CSN&Y were also familiar. I had heard about their problems long before reading this book. I hadn't read too much on Simon and Garfunkel or James Taylor, so it was interesting to read about how Simon and Garfunkel had their problems and how much of a junkie James Taylor was. One of the interesting things was how incestuous the rock world was at the time, Over the space of a couple of years, Graham Nash, David Crosby and James Taylor were all involved with the same woman...read the book to find out who.

Alan Lomax: Assistant in charge: The Library of Congress Letters, 1935-1945 by Alan Lomax

Still reading this one. This is a collection of letters sent by Alan Lomax when he was out collecting songs for the LoC. It shows what life was like in the 1930s, and how "cheap" it was to live. $50 was enough to keep him on the road collecting songs for weeks.
And

Woody Guthrie, American Radical by Will Kaufman

Just borrowed this and haven’t started reading it yet. I read Woody's Bound for Glory years ago, so I think this will offer a new perspective on the man.

Ken Waldman

In this day and age of overproduced music, it’s good to hear someone who isn’t part of the “commercial pop” aspect of music, but who is out there making a living playing music the old fashioned way, with fiddle, mandolin guitar, and banjo. I just happened to meet someone like this the other day at work. I received a phone call from one of the music professors saying that this guy who was on campus speaking to classes and performing, would stop over to talk to me about some books and CDs he has out that might be of interest to the library. Well, in comes Ken Waldman carrying a fiddle case and a big bag over his shoulder. We get to talking, and had an interesting hour or so discussion on music, poetry, Alaska, the life of a touring musician/poet, and other stuff. Being a “musical instrument junkie” I asked what all he had and he pulled a mandolin and banjo out of his bag, and a fiddle. We noodled around a little bit on the banjo and mandolin, and then Ken played some of his tunes on the fiddle. Later that night, I took my family over to see the show, and had a really enjoyable time. In his show, Ken, who bills himself as an Alaskan Fiddling Poet, plays old-time fiddle tunes—both traditional, and ones that he has composed. Along with the music, Ken tells stories about his life in Alaska, and recites his poems. On the night that I saw him, he had other musicians with him: the Druckenmillers, who played fiddle, guitar mandolin and banjo; and Mark Tamsula who played banjo, fiddle, and guitar. All five of them played together, then they played some tunes in smaller groups of two and three. It was a really good show, and just reminds me that there’s more to music than what you hear on the radio. Good music is out there and sometimes you have to hunt it down, but other times it finds you.

 Check out some videos

And here's a video I took of Ken and Mark playing Miss Renee's Waltz (well the last minute of the tune)