Hear Ye Hear Ye

Here you can find my various written ramblings, some from my old flyers and newsletters, a new Blog, see some Video things, anything I can think of really. It will expand with time. You can also post yourself, so grab a soap box and join in or say hello.

Ramblings of an Old Fiddler

The Responsibility of Heros 

 Ken Myle posted a Pic of John Hartford on my Facebook timeline last week and a flood of memories came back. I was thinking today about how when you idolize some one and you're in such awe of them, but then you get to know them and some of that goes away. Then they do something that reminds you of why they were one of your heros in the first place... Hartford took me canoeing one time and when we were paddling around on the Cumberland, he was picking his nose and started laughing and said, "I guess it's not the greatest thing to see your hero picking his nose!" He washed his finger off in the river water. So I was just thinking... if you're some body's hero, be sure and don't be picking your nose or farting or any of that stuff in front of them. We need our heros and you gotta be aware of your responsibility.

Try to Imagine... 

The analogy I've been using for Japan is; try to imagine a Tsunami hitting New Jersey right around Toms River. A 13 to 33 foot wall of water comes in 5-10 miles inland wiping all those shore towns right off the map. Not like a flood, more like a billion bull dozers. They're just flattened and the debris piles up on top of piles with sand and mud that entire distance. The roads are impassible all down the coast. Then the Oyster Creek Nuke Plant suddenly starts spewing radioactivity towards Philadelphia. Then Philadelphia and Camden water starts to get radioactive and all the people who were NOT drowned or lost there homes start moving into your area in school auditoriums and gymnasiums. The Electric gets flaky. It's 32 degrees out and snowing and raining and everybody in that whole corridor starts to run out of gasoline, oil heat, food, water, medicine and supplies of all kinds. That's what it's like in Japan right now and it's not getting any better very fast. They have pretty good relief systems in place, but like Katrina it's just overwhelmed by the magnitude of the thing.

But.... everything is OK. 

The latest from Japan is very troubling, but now I have a slightly better understanding of the problems at the Nuke plants. NHK ( Nippon Hoso Kyokai. It's the National Public TV & Radio network of Japan) just had a section explaining it in better detail. Apparently the control rods were put in place but the rods are still hot enough to melt everything. When the cooling system failed and the back up cooling failed, they some how poured sea water into the reactors to try and cool them, but the rods are still so hot that the water was separated into it's basic molecules and Hydrogen collected inside the building and blew the roof off. They said, "That's OK, Don't Worry.... but every body had better evacuate within a 12 mile area" and then... it happened again just last night with another one of the reactors. So they've got two nukes with the roofs blown off, but everything is OK. The American Navy moved their war ships out of the area this morning.... but everything is OK. The Russians are monitoring Radiation along their coast, but everything is OK. (The Wind is blowing everything east so far) About 200 people have been stripped naked and washed surrounded by folks in Hasmat Suits from three countries, but everything is OK....

In the mean time, all the major news teams are sending reporters Into the
area.... what idiots.

Music Player and Store 

 I didn't become a musician to sit all day at the computer, but I'm trying to devote more time to the web site here. We'll see how it goes. Don't forget I have a music player down on the left of each page where you can hear complete recordings from my modest recording career. You can actually buy tunes in the General Store too, just like iTunes. That helps me eat. We hope to add even more stuff as we go along.

Strangers in a Strange Land Originally posted May 2009 

There is also a big civil war re-enactment over in Schwenksville today I wanted to visit. I keep forgetting though and it's 10:58 already. That started at 10am I think at the old Pennypacker Mansion and Park. That seems so strange. Tokoyo, my wife, used to play Bridge with Penny Pennypacker and my friend Lee Ann Maley kept her horses and pet skunks there. When Penny died, they made the property into a State or National Park. Her family has lived there since the revolutionary war times and hosted Washington and his Troops. The Pennypacker Mill was turned into a Restaurant in the 1940's and when my Dad got out of WWII, he bought it and I lived there until I was 8 years old. My parents ran the restaurant and we lived upstairs. Later the Mill burned down and now it's just an empty lot. It all seems strange they made it into a Park and you have to go there as a tourist now and of course hardly anyone I used to know is left in Schwenksville and I'm treated as an outsider. I went to Elementary School, High School, and Church there. My first job was as a dish washer at the Smorgasbord upstairs over the Schwenksville Fire House. Almost every one in town was related and had lived there for generations. Both my Grandparents owned houses in town. Two sets of Aunts and Uncles and Cousins lived in town. Now most of the people in town are from some where else and we are the strangers...

Here is a link you might want to check out
http://www.fieldtrip.com/pa/02879349.htm

Niki's Dishwasher 

I don't think this is nearly as funny as my wife does, so I guess this is a woman's story. It is a true story...

Niki works in a near by Dental office. 25 years ago, her and her husband Jeff bought a house. He got her a brand new dishwasher. It was delivered and left on the porch in its original shipping crate. Jeff kept saying he'd get around to installing it pretty soon...

The kids were born, they grew up. Flower beds came and went. They painted the house a couple times, new driveway, new cement walk, etc. etc. It sat there still. Jeff even fixed the porch once. He had to shove the crate out of the way, but he put it back when he was done...

One day, Jeff's Aunt Rita died. Jeff went to the funeral, but Niki stayed home. He called her from his Uncle's house. "Uncle Don says he'll sell you Aunt Rita's Royal Doulton China. It's a complete set of 12 place settings. He only wants $300."

"Sure, " She said, "go for it..."

"Remember," He added before he hung up, "You won't be able to put them in the Dishwasher..."

When he got home, the locks were changed, and all his belongings were out on the lawn....
 

Film Preservation 

I've got old movies on the brain and the Music that goes with them. I just got back from Capitol Fest in Rome, NY. One of two film festivals of old movies I attend. Both of these, Cinefest in Syracuse and Capitol Fest in Rome feature very rare early sound and silent era films of all sorts, plus the people who work to preserve and present our motion picture heritage. I've been attending these two Festivals for many years now and I'm getting to know most of the regulars and it's still trilling to me to realize I'm in a room full of the Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroes of film preservation. You can't get any closer to the world of film preservation than that in my opinion. These folks are right there and generous with their time and knowledge and we get to see some of their finest preservation work and often their newest projects and even some half completed projects. I love old movies almost more than Music and at some point I need to create a couple pages here dedicated to my film collecting. I've recently started hosting a Course through the Chester County Night School system. Look for me in their next Catalog. I show old films from my collection and talk about and answer questions about the films and history. I use 16mm Projectors too. The true industrial grade High Definition system of the last 100 years!

Ted the Hoarder... 

I haven't written much because I'm devoting most of my time to trying to clear all the junk I've acquired out of the house and into the trash or the hands of people who might want some of it. I've had the good, or bad according to my wife Tokoyo, Fortune of meeting some really interesting older men with similar interests who give me stuff. Now I'm waiting for my young man to arrive....   And tell him to bring a truck!

It took me 30 plus years to collect all this stuff, it's taking almost as long to sort through and get rid of it. Or at the very least, downsize and consolidate. I'll keep you posted.

Ted The Fiddler Music  103 S Main   Spring City, PA 19475-1820    610-948-0345    tw@tfiddler.com