John Fahey at Rockpalast - Hamburg Uni, Hamburg, West Germany - 1978-03-17and otherwise on YouTube

October 22, 2006 8:10 AM

John Fahey in concert: Beverly (aka Indian Pacific Railroad Blues) Poor Boy (Which is a variation on Booker White's Poor Boy Long Way from Home)
posted by y2karl (19 comments total)

Found films set to John Fahey music by kkerins on YouTube:

America

Desperate Man Blues

Tell Her To Come Back Home

I'm Gonna Do All I Can For My Lord

Fight On Christians! Fight On!

Dance of the Invisible Inhabitants of Bladensburg

See also The Fahey Tablatures
posted by y2karl at 8:10 AM on October 22, 2006

This is terrific. Great to see Fahey in the late 70's, a period you don't see as much.
posted by gcbv at 8:54 AM on October 22, 2006

Great stuff. My first exposure to Fahey was in constructing this post.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 9:05 AM on October 22, 2006

This video has been removed by the user.
posted by the cuban at 9:30 AM on October 22, 2006

You can still get the torrent for the 3.9 GB PAL encoded (European tv format) dvd that someone in Germany transferred from their original tape of the broadcast at www.dimeadozen.org... the video and audio quality are remarkably good. Free membership is necessary -- they used to have a limit for the number of users, and if at first you don't succeed try registering at another time... run the search in the dropdown menu under "Torrents" on the homepage if you can register. There are also a couple Fahey audio torrents available that were more recently posted. dimeadozen specializes in live recordings: bootlegs, radio and video recordings...
posted by indices at 9:47 AM on October 22, 2006

Brilliant, thanks!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:07 AM on October 22, 2006

Great to see Fahey in the late 70's, a period you don't see as much.

I saw him in 1977 myself and I was blown away. That was some powerful music to hear in person. I only wish I had see him more than just once.

Come to think of it, I saw Booker White in 1967 and was blown away by him, too. More so in retrospect, to be sure--I did not appreciate how lucky I was to see him at all. And to be sitting on the floor at his feet at that.

But, man, he had such a gravelly voice and such a country accent and I was so underexposed to such at a time. I couldn not understand a word he said.

On another note, what I don't understand is how the links to Beverly (aka India Pacific Railroad Blues) and Poor Boy are all run together in one line. I had a < br> in between them when I posted. It was there in preview, too. Now it's gone. That is so weird.

posted by y2karl at 11:31 AM on October 22, 2006

Pathetic that this post should get fewer comments, thoughts, appreciations than that for Deal or No Deal.

Keep up the good work, brother karl.
posted by IndigoJones at 5:20 PM on October 22, 2006

Excellent, thanks.
posted by Wolof at 5:38 PM on October 22, 2006

y2karl, this is a stellar post and thread. Thanks for turning me on to some more new stuff, new to me at least.

An anecdote; a few years ago someone at work was bragging about their guitar jammin' skilllz, so I brought in my trusty old flat-top and dropped it to an open D and said, "Anybody every see a guitar played with a stapler?", and proceeded to play pretty much like Booker White did in that vid. I'm no BW, but it was a pretty damn cool parlor trick for all of the office folk who didn't know anything about guitar!

Thanks again!
posted by snsranch at 7:08 PM on October 22, 2006

I was privileged to see Fahey play three times - once in Seattle in the mid 90's, twice in Portland in the late 90's. It was both amazing and tragic to see him in this era; meandering stories that went nowhere, too much beer, my heart in my throat the whole time.

My wife and I made the pilgrimage to his service in Salem, where the highlight was George Winston playing a Fahey tune (on a harmonica, I think). Talking with George after gave me the sense of solace I was searching for about John's passing.

One highlight of the John Fahey legacy that I don't see mentioned often are these phenomenal guitar lessons. His playing in them is great, he plays each song through both at full speed and slowly, and the camerawork and lighting is very good.
posted by dylanjames at 7:36 PM on October 22, 2006

Thanks for the link, and the stories. I was just trying to play some John Fahey tonight, but the stupid CD player was not co-operating. These will substitute nicely.
posted by stinkycheese at 9:41 PM on October 22, 2006

I saw John Fahey at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach CA. The only time I ever saw him, although I LIVED his album America when it came out.

At the Lighthouse, he excused himself to go to the restroom (In retrospect, I wonder if he went to shoot up) and later in his set, someone brought a turtle up and he got on his hands and knees and played with it on the stage. . .a very weird set.

I was a huge fan of his.
posted by Danf at 9:58 PM on October 22, 2006

Thanks for the links. Fahey was one of the great American guitar players, straddling the musical worlds of the traditional and the contemporary with a very personal sense of balance.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:07 PM on October 22, 2006

Thanks y2karl!

John had a wild ride, and I feel he wouldn't have wanted it any other way. In a time already overprivileged with remarkable musicians, he reached into places noone else did.

I also have a feeling there's a lot more Fahey media out there. I like that feeling.
posted by Twang at 6:58 PM on October 23, 2006

Thanks so much for this. I missed it when it was first up, but was actually scrolling back to find another y2k post on politics. Fahey will always get my attention.

I never saw Fahey, but I certainly wish that I had. This may sound strange, but Fahey affects me much as Melville does. I see a lot of parallels between them, including tough lives in pursuit of art, but mostly a kind of evocation and definition of America with which I really agree. God, he's so excellent.
posted by OmieWise at 6:45 AM on October 25, 2006

A recent click on Robot Wisdom led to a page of obscure music with a link to The Hype Machine, which, when clicked on in succession, led to here, where one can find an mp3 of Dark Is The Night, Cold Is The Ground by Loren Connors with John Fahey.
posted by y2karl at 4:16 PM on October 25, 2006

Er, The Hype Machine that is....
posted by y2karl at 4:22 PM on October 25, 2006

John Fahey - Poor Boy / Steel Guitar Rag
The notes read

John Fahey at Rockpalast - Hamburg Uni, Hamburg, West Germany - 1978-03-17.
This video includes the entire Poor Boy > Steel Guitar Rag medley. The older one only had Poor Boy. The really annoying intro has been removed.

It looks like he removed the previous Poor Boy.
posted by y2karl at 6:56 AM on October 27, 2006