A member of the Springfield chapter of the Audubon Society has identified the aforementioned JazzBird as a white throated sparrow. This syncopating tweeter has since moved on to Canada for a series of gigs on the summer festival circuit. He plans to return in the fall. Photo credit: PEIBIRDER / Photobucket.
In the video, Heinrich Grohe talks about his grapes and wine in response to questions from my friend, Steve Koehler.
In a recent tour of wineries in central and eastern Missouri, we visited Heinrich Grohe at Heinrichshaus Vineyards and Winery near St. James, Mo. Heinrich was our first stop, but if we’d known his wines were best, we’d have placed his visit at the end. All subsequent wineries had something to enjoy, but we could not avoid a small feeling of letdown as we realized, over and again, that nothing we tasted the rest of the way quite measured up.
Heinrich expounded on his minimalist approach to winemaking.
"What I’m giving you is the real McCoy," he said. "I want to see what the grapes are capable of doing if left on their own."
So, the "real McCoy" line is not a boast but an expression of humility. In the face of a wine industry dominated by advanced biochemistry and aggressive marketing, Heinrich is just letting the grapes to their thing.
By tasting, I find he’s clearly doing something different.
His Cynthiana achieves a sublime balance of spice and gentle oak.
His Traminette has a trace of floral quality, unlike other Missouri Traminettes I’ve tasted with powerful floral essence that announces itself at a great distance from the nose. At first, I was almost disappointed by the slight aroma. But, upon tasting, I understood that he’d somehow stuffed all that fragrance back into the wine itself, from which it explodes on the tongue.
Was the Traminette acting independently, or did it have help? Heinrich wouldn't say. He loves to talk about wine, but he guards his winemaking secrets.
He poured samples of Prairie Rouge, an off-dry red. What grapes did he use to make this wine?
"Good grapes," Heinrich said.
Below: Heinrich in the doorway of his tasting room. Click on the photo for a larger, clearer image.
It's springtime, and the JazzBird has returned to my back yard. Does anyone know the common name of this remarkably swinging warbler? I love the way it integrates long and short notes and approximates the jazz 4/4 triplet pulse.
This audio clip includes several of its solos spliced together. Kind of like the way Dean Benedetti recorded Charlie Parker solos, only I have provided noise reduction ...
Please listen to the clip and leave a comment if you recognize this mysterious avian hipster.
In my Intro to Journalism class on Wednesday, April 21, I showed a news video by KYTV in Springfield, Mo., about a fire at an apartment complex on Sunday, April 18, in the nearby town of Republic. I showed the video as part of a lecture about the leveling effect of the Internet for news presenters of all media. However, the lesson from the video took on an ethical dimension.
The KYTV report gave details about the fire: no injuries, 16 residents displaced after losing nearly all of their possessions.
The video included an interview with a couple who lost their home and property. The reporter set up their appearance on camera:
The flames spread pretty quickly, leaving several families without almost everything.
The couple then appeared in the video, each of them draped in a blanket. The man had this to say:
All we grabbed was my shoes, her purse and a cell phone — and my dog. And that was it. That’s all I got. We just lost our premature twins two months ago, and they’re sitting in urns on a stand in there, and it’s gone. It’s gone. What am I supposed to do? I just lost everything I own in there.
The “premature twins” remark, coming out of nowhere, provoked nervous laughter in the classroom, along with eyes popping and jaws dropping. It was a “TMI” moment, so to speak, a strange and unexpected glimpse into the lives of these two people. Several students said, in more colorful words, that the presentation made the couple look foolish.
Did the news video have to have this effect? In the reporting and editing of that video, could the man’s confessional moment have been treated in a way that preserved his dignity and also drove home the emotional impact of loss?
If the answer is yes, then the solution would be to expand the voice-over set-up in this way:
In one case, the fire intensified the sense of loss for a couple who were already grieving.
I think this extra line would have put viewers on notice that something unusual was coming. It’s a simple solution to this ethical problem of fairness. In any news presentation, you can’t just switch people on and let them talk. All quotes — print, broadcast or online — need context; otherwise, they can’t make sense.
By the way, I respect KYTV’s news department. This kind of thing could have happened to any news organization in the heat of deadline. The rarity of such an event at KYTV demonstrates the quality of its work.
Also by the way, I flubbed the teachable moment in the classroom. I’m writing this post to catch up to what I should have said at the moment when eyes popped and jaws dropped.
Video scenes: Banjo solo by Glen Dale Robertson; Eddie Goins singing "This Ole House" with Kerre Thompson. Ending photos: Denise St. Clair with Kerre Thompson; Phil Baker as Willie Makeit; Jess Grimes.
Last week we tried something new, the Oldfield Opry. We’d known about it as an Ozarks mainstay of traditional music. We’d driven by it during fall color and spring blossom tours. Then, our friend Jane Toben invited us to go. And so we went.
The music
The Oldfield Opry Band struck up promptly at 7 and played a variety of country, folk, gospel and traditional Americana tunes. It was clear from the beginning that the players and the listeners were fully committed to the music, in a fun way. Shouts, whoops and hollers of encouragement spiced the performances, but no one went nuts. Carpet covering the walls assured best possible sound quality, and concrete floors provided a perfect surface for clogging. The stage, the room and the people cooperated to maintain a low-key, relaxed atmosphere.
The musicians on March 27 were: Hank Thompson: lead guitar Dave Thompson and Steve Beyers: rhythm guitar Glen Dale Robertson: banjo Eddie Goins: bass and MC Jess Grimes: fiddle, pedal steel, dobro Denise St. Clair and Kerre Thompson: voices Other musicians who appear regularly include Dwight Armour, Tonya Gardner and Doyle Yoder, Goins said.
Each musician brought distinct talent to the group. Among the my memorable moments:
Robertson’s elegant banjo solos.
Grimes’ understated delivery of melodies on violin.
Beyers’ yodeling.
St. Clair and Thompson’s masterful harmonies.
After intermission, guests are welcome to play or sing with the band. Jane Toben sang, in a honeyed alto, "Don’t Forbid Me," a tune that was a hit for Pat Boone.
Assorted surprises
Phil Baker, performing as Willie Makeit, provided hillbilly stand-up heavily perfumed with bathroom references. He played a guitar constructed of plumbing and toilet materials. I love bathroom humor.
Storm: For a short time, a torrent of rain rumbled on the metal roof like unknown manufacturing machinery. Then, when a tune ended, the downpour kept thundering like berserk arena applause.
Cloggers: Throughout the evening, the Pride And Joy Cloggers filled the aisles with smartly chiming foot-strokes. For the closing tune, "Orange Blossom Special," a clogger who looked about 8, with "Cameryn" on the back of her Pride And Joy T-shirt, took a solo turn, down one aisle, across the space in front of the stage, and up the other, her heels and toes shuddering with jingling blasts against the concrete floor.
The cat aloft in a box
The open rafters of the building invite the eye to look up. Among the network of roof supports, a box with no bottom perched, a stuffed toy cat dangling from within. Eddie Goins said the inspiration for the cat in the box came from a song.
"Several years ago one of the band members started singing an old novelty song called ‘The Cat Came Back’," Goins wrote in an e-mail. "Someone got the idea of tying a cat on a string and dropping it down when he sang the line ‘the cat came back.’ " Goins said “The Cat Came Back” is one of their most requested songs.
There's room for about 200 people in classic theater seats.
The food
Served by volunteers, the fare was simple and plentiful: hot dogs, cheesy dogs, chili dogs, nachos, popcorn and pie. No one needed to fear making a mess of a meal while sitting in one of the old theater seats. Dinner was served on a big plastic platter, big enough for a Thanksgiving turkey. I don’t know what kind of hot dogs they were, but mine was more softly plump and richly textured than any ballpark dog. Dinner for two — including chips, drink and pie — cost less than a single standard issue Major League Baseball wiener.
About the Oldfield Opry
The band is an established institution that dates back to 1977, according to the opry’s flier. The regular Saturday night performances are the band’s presentations, not jam sessions.
Location: The fork in the road at Missouri highways 125 and T. Follow this link to a Google map.
Background: Local musicians Hank Thompson, Bill Gardner, Steve Beyers and Johnny Walker established the opry in 1977 at a vacant Oldfield store owned by Walker. Supporters launched a fundraising drive to build a new building across the road, where the opry moved in 1990. Source: the Oldfield Opry flier.
On the Web: Find the opry on Facebook.
Video: See two blog posts with video by Chris Brewer, a video reporter who worked briefly for the Springfield News-Leader. Unlike me, Chris is a professional videographer; I just shoot video for fun. I highly recommend his two blog posts: The Oldfield Opry is a real Ozarks gem My return to the Oldfield Opry
A note to my jazz friends
I’m sure you are asking what I see in the Oldfield Opry. The answer is: A community of like-minded people formed around the commonality of music. Same as in jazz, but without the chord substitutions. Surely you can accept this much. (As Louis Armstrong said, "If you have to ask, you’ll never know.")
I did find some elements that jazz shares. For example, the opry band has many interchangeable players, making for a slightly different lineup each night. This format is not unlike the Mingus Big Band in New York, which has a depth chart of three or four deep for each chair to account for the unpredictable schedules of the players.
Also, the Oldfield Opry Band has a theme song, similar in function to the "52nd Street Theme" that some jazz groups play to close their sets. The Oldfield song has lyrics, though. One verse goes like this:
Come on out to Oldfield on a Saturday night. You won’t see no drinkin’ and you won’t see no fights. Just good friends and neighbors; they’ll sure treat you right, at the Oldfield Opry on a Saturday night.
There's room for about 200 people
