Dagmar (the Band) - DAGMAR - BLOG

AT ALICE'S RESTAURANT

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:09:05 -0800

The Guthrie Center, Great Barrington, MA -- Last night, in our Dagmar travels from "here to where", it was 2 1/2 hours out and 2 1/2 hours back to get to this fabled hootenany in the Berkshires at the site of Arlo Guthrie's "Thanksgiving Day Massacree" and his timeless Viet Nam protest song "Alice's Restaurant". Each hour we had there there was worth many more than the hours spent getting there and back on the "Stockbridge to Boston" road made famous in James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James". It felt, as one might predict, like a trip down memory lane and into the annals of truly great modern American "folk" music history. There was no red VW microbus, half ton of garbage, shovels, rakes or other implements of destruction, but there was a roomful of gentle and earnest people in a gorgeous building trading songs in a circle with friendly ghosts all around for an audience. Our host George Laye, who runs the center, was weary and drained after a trying day, but welcoming, kind and gracious. It's one of those things that make you grateful to be doing what you're doing, to have the the world at arms length and glad to be alive.

60's culture died an ugly death and was buried in a landslide of cynical hippies-turned-investment bankers climbing over one another in a rush to "get theirs" and get out. The world of flower children turned into an avaricious and hedonistic "me" generation that with materialism and capitalism run amuck, has now left wounds that will take generations to heal. But in these places one finds the best of what that culture was, populated by people who have a broad understanding of what it was really about, what they were doing at the time, and who remain dedicated to the best of the principles it stood for.

The "restaurant" in the song title that was never THE restaurant (that was a few miles away, in Stockbridge) -- which in any case, as the song points out, was never called "Alice's Restaurant" -- was a deconsecrated church, built in 1829, that Alice Brock and her husband Ray bought for $2,000 in 1964 and turned into their home. Arlo Guthrie bought the church in 1991, and it is now a non-denominational, interfaith meeting place with peace symbols lighting the bell tower. A plaque inside reads: "One God -- Many Forms / One River -- Many Streams / One People -- Many Faces / One Mother -- Many Children". The "chapel" is now an airy, gorgeous music room where the "Troubadour" series of concerts takes place from Memorial Day to Labor Day every year. Alice Brock moved to Provincetown, MA and owns an art studio and gallery there at 69 Commercial Street. Thank you, Wikipedia, for this information.

-- Jim Bauer, March 12, 2010

AZIZ GIVES US THE RIFLE

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:08:21 -0800

Several years ago, my son Lewis brought his college band, "Johnny Divine and the Nines" from Philadelphia to New York City to "open" for DAGMAR at GALAPAGOS ART SPACE in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. A year later, Lewis' close friend Aziz, who was the keyboard player in "Johnny Divine", an eloquent writer and utterly unique, soulful individual, wrote about that experience on his blog, reflecting back on the occasion when hearing the Dagmar song "Give Me The Rifle" for the first time. His writing is a joy to read, and his take on "Rifle" still, after several years, puts a lump in my throat. You'll find it on his blog here:

A NECESSARY REPLY TO THE INDIFFERENCE OF YOUTH

The most satisfying lyrics are those that offer multiple meanings, and allow the listener the opportunity to overlay their own point of view. Thank you, Aziz . . . beautifully, thoughtfully done.

I dedicate today's blog entry to my mother Kaki, who died three years ago today; to parents trying to do right by their kids.

-- Jim Bauer, Feb 23, 2010

WHEN YOU BELONG AND WHEN YOU DON'T

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:10:32 -0800

VALENTINES DAY, 2010, MARBLEHEAD, MA--You know when you're in love and when you're not, when you belong and when you don't, whether you're a member of a club or not, and whether you've paid your dues (or not). There's rarely any guesswork involved. We will never cease to be amazed by the odd protected pockets and weird hidden corners of the world we find in our somewhat random travels from here to where.

Last night, DAGMAR made its first, last and only visit to the KING HOOPER CAFE open mic, the final installment of this 10-year-old monthly event hosted by the wife/husband team of songwriter/music healer ANGELA MASCIALE and sculptor/poet DAN ZAMPINO that has taken place in the third-floor ballroom of a colonial mansion built in 1728 and which now houses THE MARBLEHEAD ARTS ASSOCIATION. The 18th-century home of ROBERT "KING" HOOPER -- a wealthy shipping merchant who learned all about the joys and bounties of unfettered capitalism long before America became The United States of The Bank of America -- is perched curb-side in the tangle of many narrow, winding, horse-and-buggy-friendly streets in the historic heart of a "ye olde towne" town that defines the terms "quaint", "New England", "seaside village" and, since the go-go 90's, "Yuppieville". A large collection of the unique people who have regularly attended this open mic -- including feature performer BEN BLUM, who specializes in ocarina "improv" -- were there to commemorate the occasion of its closing and bid their fond farewell as only they know how, to a place that has been a safe house and sanctuary for them, a place where people go who have very few other places they can go and feel "at home", a place where, as was mentioned several times, you are "free to express yourself", a place where, as we discovered, the terms "art" and "artist" can be tossed loosely and gaily about.

We started out #21 on a list of 26 performers, and over the course of the evening, as old friend after old friend kept getting inserted onto the list as "2a and b" and "8b" and "17c" and so forth, we ended up more like 35-ish out of 39-ish, along with a couple of other newcomers. We arrived at around 5:30, set up our stuff, watched and listened for four and a half hours, played our one song ("You Said Yes", our only true "valentine") at around 11 -- which seemed to break some ice -- chatted with the hearty ones who lingered, offered our humble congratulations to the hosts, and left at around 11:30. It was a full night's work as challenging, long and surreal as they come in the land of open mics, one which, if you happen to be alert, has something to do with patience, compassion and respect.

We wish Dan and Angela the best in whatever their next chapter might be . . .

-- Jim Bauer 2/15/10