HAPPY NEW YEAR! FREE Volume 2 Number 1 January/February 2002 A BI-MONTHLY NEWSPAPER ABOUT THE HAPPENINGS IN & AROUND THE GREATER LOS ANGELES FOLK COMMUNITY QUILTING...“Don’t you know that Folk Music is illegal in Los Angeles?” –Warren Casey of the Wicked Tinkers Putting It All Together BY VALERIE COOLEY few years ago a Los Angeles couple stayed too long been wool, cotton, cat tail fibers, or dried grass. in Central Oregon, leaving only one day to get back Whatever it was, it would have inevitably home and to work. Vowing to stop for nothing but slumped to the hems, leaving the top of a garment gas, food, and restrooms, they left Bend at full thin and cold and the bottom lumpy. Someone speed. The man drove the first shift and the woman figured out that additional “hems” all over the fell asleep. Turning into the quaint little town of garment would separate and stabilize the insula- Sisters, he saw a sign heralding “The World’s tion Thus basic quilting was invented. These A Largest Outdoor Quilt Show” quilted fabrics became shoes, petticoats, jackets, “Thank God she’s asleep”, he muttered. Then he saw the first blankets, rugs, and even armor for soldiers. colorful wave of quilts hanging from the wooden buildings and In fact, it was probably soldiers that inadver- said “I can’t do it.” He pulled over, shook her awake, handed her tently introduced the western world to decorative a camera, and said “It’s a quilt show; you have half an hour.” quilting. Soldiers wore quilted garments as light, He was a good man and he knew, instinctively, what mattered. protective armor or as padding against the weight The Sisters’quilt show – just one of many every year – is a sign of heavy metal armor. They even sandwiched of the enormous popularity of quilts and quilting. Even the unini- sheets of iron between the layers of weskits to tiated man from Los Angeles saw in a flash that this was some- deflect arrows or spears thing big. If you don’t know what quilting is all about, or if you just When the Crusades to save the holy land want to learn more, go to a quilt show. They are a good place to began in 11 A.D., the soldiers headed east wear- see lots of quilts in a wide range of styles. You’ll see brilliant dis- ing clothing of wool and linen, the only fabrics Artist: Dorthy Taylor plays of American patchwork, rich examples of Amish-style quilts, that Western Europe produced. When their gar- and gorgeous picture quilts. You’ll rapidly become familiar with ments tore, they patched them with any scraps of well known patterns like double wedding ring, log cabin, stars and fabric they could find. These patches would have grown more crosses, Sunbonnet Sue, Texas star, tumbling blocks, and more. If exciting as the soldiers trudged farther east and closer to the you are a contra or square dancer or a folk musician, some of the home of Asia’s elegant silks and cottons. The Crusaders incor- names will be like dances and tunes you know. porated the new fabrics and ornate embroidery stitches into their Quilt shows occur all over the county, all year long. Some are clothing and brought home a new art form as well as a hunger big and some are small, but they’re all wonderful. In Southern for the new materials. California you can probably find at least one show a month put By the 17th century, much European clothing was elegant, on by quilting groups, museums, church bazaars, county fairs made of fine cottons and silks embroidered in gold. Quilted bed- and art galleries. Watch for them in your newspaper’s calendar. coverings were also made of fine fabrics and lavishly embroi- Besides being just plain fun, they’ll give you a feeling for the dered in patterns adapted from Far Eastern ones. The colonists skill, inventiveness, cultural heritage, color sense, and artistry of left this abundance and came to America where there was very the local quilters. little fabric, elegant or otherwise. Women trying to keep their If you can’t wait for a show to see quilts, visit your local quilt families warm were forced to use and re-use all the fabric they shop. Find a quilting guild and see what they’re working on. Go had, the pieces growing ever smaller. They redesigned their Old to the library. World patterns to accommodate the smaller pieces and, out of Quilting has been around for thousands of years or more, but scarcity, American patchwork was born. fabric is fragile. It hasn’t lingered to tell the stories we’ve learned Americans quilted routinely from colonial days till around from the more durable tools, pottery, and bones of our ancestors. the Second World War, then took time out. With central heating, An “ancient” example of quilting – a Mongolian rug – was found electric blankets, and television, who needed quilts or had time in 1924, well preserved in a tomb. It was a little over 2000 years to make them? Mainstream America flowed on, giving little, if old, just a baby compared to a million-year old Stone Age axe. any, thought to quilts. For all they knew, quilts were extinct. We can speculate, however, that when people began using But the quilters had started traditions that wouldn’t die just IN THIS ISSUE woven fabrics instead of animal fur, they got pretty cold before because their quilts were no longer needed for survival. Survival EDITORIAL ................................... 2 they learned to pad their fabrics with fluff. The fluff could have wasn’t their product anyway. They’d known that all along. They LETTERS ....................................... 2 tucked their babies into bed at night, finished their chores, INTERVIEW................................... 3 brought out their sewing baskets and made ART. They stitched PETER CASE beauty and told stories. They paid homage, saved memories, and KEYS TO THE HIGHWAY .......... 4 said hello and goodbye to babies and friends. They captured the Adventures in Music Theory GOT TO BUY A GIFT .................. 4 patterns and the colors, the joys and irritations of their days. And Tales from the Story Bag they kept their families warm. THE VOICES IN MY HEAD ....... 5 What a blessing it was that quilts were necessary for so long. Fathers of Folklore It gave women time to socialize, to relax, to be creative. It gave CD REVIEWS ............................... 7 them time to develop patterns and traditions and to pass these on. WHAT IS A HURDY GURDY? ... 8 Without this endless, essential task, women would have sacri- ON-GOING MUSIC ficed the creative pleasures of quilting and turned their attention HAPPENINGS ................................9 to more pressing and onerous work. CALENDAR OF EVENTS ......... 10 Somewhere around mid-century, people in the mainstream ON-GOING DANCE HAPPENINGS ..............................12 began to realize what a treasure the old quilts were. Art dealers RANDAL BAYS............................ 13 bought them. Galleries displayed them. Ethnographers, photog- An Authenticity of Spirit raphers, collectors, and folklorists began interviewing quilters BOULEVARD MUSIC ................ 14 and their families and recording their stories. They didn’t just FEATURED ORGANIZATION ..15 learn about patterns and fabric; they uncovered family and social The Arroyo Heritage Theater history. Just as a child learns from the patches on Granny’s old END OF AN ERA AT TOPANGA .............................. 16 quilt what his family wore to work and play, so have the histori- Dorian Keyser Resigns From the Fiddle Contest ans learned about broader patterns and trends. BANJO MANDOLINS ................ 16 Meanwhile, the families that had never stopped quilting kept The Perfect Travel Instrument, Sturdy, Small, Light and Loud on. Now that it was regarded as an art form, classes formed, SPECIAL EVENTS...................... 20 Photo by Valerie Cooley - CTMS Permission Cooley Valerie Photo by Artist: Barbara Miller QUILTS page 18 ➤ PREVIOUS GO TO PAGE 1 NEXT ➤ Page 2 FolkWorks January-February 2002 EDITORIAL an you believe it? It’s been a you gifts. But we need more of you to PUBLISHERS & EDITORS year since we published the become members (remember, your con- Leda & Steve Shapiro first issue of FolkWorks and tribution is tax-deductible). C LAYOUT & PRODUCTION we’ve been very pleased with the We have had a great time producing Alan Stone results. We’ve gotten positive feedback concerts. We started out with John from many people, some who we have McCutcheon and followed that with FEATURE WRITERS known for years and many others who Kevin Burke, Vincent Griffin, Bruce Joanna Cazden we’ve never met. We are also pleased at Molsky, Tom, Dick and Pete (Tom The Voices in my Head the willingness of people to write arti- Photo by Judi Lubeek Sauber, Richard Greene and Peter Harlynne Geisler cles and columns, and others to help us BY LEDA & STEVE SHAPIRO Feldman) and Nevenka. We enjoy being Tales from the Story Bag edit. And we can never give enough thanks to Alan Stone and able to present live music in small venues and plan on doing Roger Goodman Keys to the Highway his family who we’ve all but driven crazy every other month that again this year. this past year. So, it’s a New Year. As is traditional, we all make resolu- Gaili Schoen, Interviews Over the year, we have also learned a lot. Not just what tions. And we try to keep them, at least for a while. Over the Dennis Stone. CD Reviews it takes to publish a newspaper, but what it takes to keep it long Thanksgiving weekend we finally had the opportunity Mike Tackett, Zookman going.