March-April 2008

Ash Grove 50th Anniversary Concerts

By Bernie Pearl

In the summer of 1958 my brother Ed opened a coffeehouse/gallery/folk concert room and called it The Ash Grove, after a Robert Burns poem. In its 15 years of existence it introduced some of the greatest American musical artists, all of whom were regarded as being on the fringe of popular culture, to a couple of generations of Americans, and the world was never the same again. Lightnin' Hopkins, Doc Watson, Bill Monroe, Skip James, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Alberts Collins and King, Flatt and Scruggs, all came through the club regularly on their way to Musical Legendhood. Many of us were there to soak it up, week after week. Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal, Canned Heat, The Byrds, and tons more graduated from the Ash Grove "university".

On the weekend of April 18-20 2008 at UCLA, there will be concerts and workshops featuring many of those who were there. The two major concerts in Royce Hall will be on Friday, April 18, "Folk & Country", with Ry Cooder, Mike Seeger, Roland White, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and many others, and Saturday, April 19 "Blues and the Spirit." with Taj Mahal, Bernice Reagon and the Freedom Singers, and more soon to be announced.

I have been asked to head the backup band on the Blues show, and will do so with Mike Barry, bass, Albert Trepagnier, drums, and Dwayne Smith, piano. The show will be emceed by my old friend and bandmate Dr. Demento.

The complete roster of artists will be announced shortly, as will the schedule of the workshops and other related events, but rest assured it will be a monumental weekend. Tickets for the two major concerts are on sale now and are, as they say, going fast. UCLA Concerts has a very large subscriber base, and they are buying.

Here's the ticket link: www.uclalive.org/event.asp?Event_ID=490

CURRENT SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

www.ashgrovemusic.com

Royce: Friday night: April 18

Dave Alvin

Bob Neuwirth

Ramblin' Jack Elliott

Laura Love

Old Time Music wiith Mike Seeger, Roland White and Ry Cooder

15-20 MIN. INTERMISSION

Culture Clash

Holly Near, with emma's revolution

Ashley Maher

A World Music Tribute to Mike Janusz: Barry Fisher & the Ellis Island Band, John Bilezikjian, Michael Alpert, Stuart Brotman, Selaidin Mamudoski, and Ethel Raim.

Royce: Saturday night: April 19

Bernie Pearl & his Blues Band

Barbara Dane

Dwight Trible

Bernice Reagon & The Freedom Singers

Taj Mahal

15-20 MIN. INTERMISSION

The Watts Prophets

Michelle Shocked

*** Special performer, to be announced in March

A tribute to George Smith with Bernie Pearl (prod.), & Band, James Harman, Johnny Dyer, Rod Piazza.

There will be outstanding rhythm sections for both nights. Dave Alvin has recruited Greg Leisz (multi-instruments), Bob Glaub (bass) and Don Heffington (drums) for Friday night.

Dr. Demento (Barry Hansen) and Anna DeLeon will mc.

Daytime Free Concerts and workshops -April 19 & 20

Saturday, April 19

11:00am - Schoenberg Hall:

A Sing Out: Songs of Protest and Resistance, with:

Len Chandler, Guy and Candie Carawan, Roy Zimmerman, Ross Altman (producer) .

Noon, Choral Room - Hillbilly Fever: From Old Timey to beyond Bluegrass, with a special tribute to Clarence White: Roland White, Mike Seeger, Phil Boroff, Herb Pedersen, moderator and performer Peter Feldmann.

Noon - Band Room:

Women's Culture of the 1960s/'70s (panel).

Terry Wolverton, Vicki Randle, Cris Williamson, Cheri Gaulke and Johanna Demetrakas. Producers Irene Wolt & Patricia Hoffman. Co-sponsored by UCLA's Center for the Study of Women.

12:30pm, Jan Popper Theater:

The Ash Grove: Roots and Legacy (panel).

Barry Hansen, Anna DeLeon, Taj Mahal, Gordon Alexandre, Bernie Pearl, Barbara Dane, Moderator Jerry Kay.

1:30pm - Band Room:

Holly Near: Art and Activism -Demystifying Activism.

Holly Near speaks of her work as an artist and teacher in social change movements over the last 40 years.

1:30pm - Choral Room:

New Songs Swap: Dave Alvin, Peter Case, Van Dyke Parks, and others TBA.

2:00pm - Schoenberg Hall:

World Music concert with Conjunto Jardin; Huayucaltia; Halina Janusz, Michael Alpert, John Bilezikjan, Ether Raim, Catherine Foster, Barry Fisher (producer) and others TBA.

3:00pm - Band Room:

Cultural Politics of the 1960's: Author Mike Davis, Gordon Alexandre, Carol Wells, Paul Krassner, Favianna Rodriguez, Sandy Carter, Lamont Yeakey.

3:00pm - Choral Room:

Poetry and the '60s Revolution: Linda Albertano, Michael C. Ford, John Harris, San Francisco Poet Laureate Jack Hirshman, Laurel Ann Bogen, Mel Weisburd. .Moderator Sherman Pearl.

Sunday, April 20

11:00am - Schoenberg Hall:

A Mighty Sound: Gospel Concert, with The Eddie Kendricks Gospel Choir, and others TBA.

12:30pm -outside Schoenberg Hall

Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi Klezmer music

1:30pm - Schoenberg Hall - Finale Concert:

Roy Zimmerman , Cris Williamson, Vicki Randle, Suzy Williams and the Backboners, Ken Edwards, Sheila Nichols, Mandy Steckelberg, Paul Krassner, Laraine Newman (mc) and other artists TBA.

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All daytime events will take place in the

Schoenberg Music Building Schoenberg Hall

1100 Schoenberg Music Building Jan Popper Theater

1200 Schoenberg Music Building Choral Room

1325 Schoenberg Music Building Band Room

1345 Schoenberg Music Building

Schoenberg Music Building Location & Directions

Parking: $8 in Lot #2 (corner of Hilgard and Westholme Blvds)

Free Parking is available at the Federal Building on Wilshire Blvd., at Veteran; the #2 blue bus (75¢) goes from there to UCLA (Hilgard and Strathmore).

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All of the free workshops and concerts are funded by the Ash Grove Music Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization whose purpose is to present ongoing, activities combining music, culture, politics and history. Donations are gratefully accepted.

***

Beneath the Surface

by Ed Pearl

The Ash Grove played a leading role in the culture of the 1960's generation.

It was founded and run with a few assumptions: That music communicates across cultural barriers, that the vast majority of people throughout time were not literate, their music was great and contained their histories, values and aspirations, that many of those qualities are shared by most other human beings, and that people will be the better for the sharing and realization of commonality.

So, the tasks of the club were to find the greatest expositors of folk/traditional culture, to present them in a respectful atmosphere, to amplify their music with photographs and other documentation of the particular culture of each performer and to show as full a picture as possible of the culture. Artists were shown displays of their cultures. We received only praise, often from the stage. Whatever their 'politics'

With all the craziness of the 1960's, the club offered a solidity of respect for all ages and cultures. And it drew 'their' people, whether Cajuns, hillbillies, Latinos, Black people from South LA, Irish or whatever, as well as hippies, beats, politicos and every variety of the young and rapidly changing of that explosive era, as well as middle class music lovers. The mixture was unique, healthy and maintained pretty much throughout its 16 year history.

One powerful effect was to produce some of the deepest and finest artists who learned from and followed the greats, including Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, Bernie Pearl, John Hammond, Ry Cooder and many others. We presented musicians/artists, without stardom excess and people like Mick Jagger were happy just to be there with their own beloved teachers.

The rest was dynamic interaction of students, performers, staff and the energy of the times. The club became a microcosm of perhaps the most dynamic era of the century. However they ended up, people could not but be affected by constant rubbing with people of different cultures, ages, sexual orientations, political, non and anti-political ideas constantly discussed, argued over, sometimes resolved and sometimes not. The club was a role model for engagement and enough resolution to live together. Sexual passion and love flowed with the music and young people changed profoundly. The only violence came from outside, from people who saw the Ash Grove as a threat to their own, violent politics.

When Canned Heat, the Byrds, Taj Mahal and others united to raise funds to rebuild the club after a 1970 arson attack, the media asked them why they were doing this. They all spoke of its great musical and social value, but, to my surprise, the first thing out of their mouths was that each had met their mate there. The music, the social and the very personal were interwtined. Every time I go to a musical event and very often to anything else, people come up and want to say how much the Ash Grove meant to them.

Since the closure of the club no institution has seriously attempted to emulate it, though it is more needed than ever in today's fractured, hostile and incomprehensible society. Dividing people I know and love into red and blue divisions is not only false, but dangerous. Gaps must be bridged and the Ash Grove created a powerful, beautiful agency. I often felt that we'd be more effective as a role model in a better society of the future.