Pretty well moribund

Dorsetmike

Member
I tend to blame "social media" like Farcebook and the like for much of the loss of members over the last 5 or 6 years.
 

John Watt

Member
oh no... oh no... sometimes I type a new posting,
just because I'm seeing my name for too long on the forum for the same thread.
I was actually a little happy to see "elderpiano" here instead of me,
but now I feel compelled to comment just because you and "Dorsetmike" did.

I hope the both of you aren't thinking in the back of your mind that it's my fault.
If you do, that can only get worse.
I just put up three YouTube videos of me playing electric guitar for the first time.

I can easily, not queasily, agree with you about new members and their numbers,
and that's the members who log in and start threads and post comments.
However, I'm surprised at the number of people who don't log in and just look.
I see these forums as having many guests, what the thread information calls them.
And that's just the English section.

I had a semi-hemi-excitamento moment this past weekend.
When I was hanging out with my friend at his buy and sell store,
I heard a couple with an unusual accent who were looking around,
leaving a taller and older man (I'm six foot and he had to be six foot four)
that I took for granted was their grandfather.
We got into a very animated conversation after he said they were from Denmark.
He said his house was beside the summer house for the Queen, called Schlassen,
and that's me spelling it as if I remember.
He said he was hired as a gardener in the summer,
and she sat behind him in church some times, not having any security.
He also talked about the unusual heavy rains they were having.
When I told him about Magle.dk being the only music forum I visit,
he agreed to write my name and the information here,
so he could send Frederik Magle a message that he met me here in Canada.
Not only do I find many happy hours typing away here, and reading,
this domain has brought international excitement to my life.
Beyond typing about myself, always my favorite topic,
I'm watching onacarom, putting up more new threads and postings than me,
because his poetic music and expressive videos are very inspiring.

When I told the gentleman from Denmark I was a professional musician,
guess who he wanted to know about? Did I see Elvis?
He was surprised I could pronounce Magle correctly, not ma-gull or may-gull, but mow-luh.

There definitely is one member who used to post a lot here, gone for many years,
that I really miss, and that's Corno Dolce.
I also wonder where my friend from New Zealand, JHC, is.

I'm thinking of a Lake Erie photo I took that might convey your mood.
It could be looked at as a lonely photo, the mist so thick even the sun seems distant,
but that also portrays my impression of this domain... with members of symphonic and orchestral abilities...
I have to look past my rock music experiences to find new musical horizons.

I have a suggestion for the both of you, that might make you want to start new threads,
and release a flood of new hand moves with their musical energies the moment you try.
How about starting to play a guitar with the bass strings on the bottom with the highs on top,
as if you are playing a left-handed guitar upside-down?
And if you find a left-handed violin, please, let me know.


Dec10'15'68.JPG
 
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elderpiano

Member
Mr. Watt, each to their own type of music, No offence, but I have not the inclination whatsoever of picking up an electric guitar and start strumming it. I have never been in to rock or heavy metal music etc. not because of getting older, even when I was younger It never appealed to me, but having said that I used to marvel at and respect Jimi Hendix's wonderful natural and technical ability, to produce the sounds he did from his guitar. But I never bought one of his cd\s because to me it is a one time listen to kind of music. You either like it or you don't.
I know I am selective in music and mostly It , classical, baroque or renaissance, romantic, soothing stuff.

I'm surprised you say this is the only forum you go on and wonder why with your great talent, that you have not set up your own website so you can enthuse or teach/inspire others with similar interested guitar playing . don't you feel you are wasting your time here with no one to discuss your talents with? especially if your favourite topic is talking about yourself, as quoted. You hinted at the problem with the lack of posts may be your fault, why is that? You are very friendly and chatty, but a bit long winded at times.
My apologies if I cannot get enthused with rock music, or similar videos. :eek:





 
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John Watt

Member
Please, you don't have to apologize to me, and here offline, as I always say,
if you start apologizing to me it never ends.
You know why I'm such a Jimi Hendrix fan, after seeing him live in Toronto?
He had two amps for guitar and bass on each side of the drums.
He had two mikes on his vocal stand, each aiming sideways, he would move between.
There were two tables with two roadies in front of the stage,
each one having what looked like a copper album in front of them.
There were no P.A. speakers onstage, wires going to the four corners of the arena.
When Jimi moved to one side, the roadies would turn the copper discs,
and the sound moved that way.
When the angel flew away at the end of Little Wing everyone was looking up at the rafters.
He had the seats arranged in sections so everyone was part of this quadraphonic... axis of sound.

I know I'm not just long winded.
I'm going to go to my grave thinking I never had a chance to say everything I want to say.
I know my epitaph already. "I shoulda had storage".

As a teenager, I had fifteen jazz albums I would jam with, Elvin Jones "Agape Love" a favorite,
McCoy Tyner and a couple of John Coltrane with Miles Davis "In a Silent Way".
I saw Elvin Jones at that time.
I took out symphony, classical piano, violin, jazz, and pop albums from the public library.
My parents took me to Hamilton so I could buy a set of Koss lightweight studio headphones,
what pros were using in music and stereo magazine articles, and listened to albums with them.
I never had one volume complaint from my parents or brothers.

I never bought a Beatles product, or Rolling Stones, Who, Cream, my pop music being r'n'b.
Even grandmothers with console organs at home had The Golden Beatles songbook.
When I wanted to learn some jazz songs to be jazzy, when I was in grade seven,
I mailed a money order to a New York song house to buy the original sheet music,
getting "Misty", "The Shadow of Your Smile" and "Summertime".

As far as me now making YouTube videos of me playing electric guitar, that's a desperation move.
I'm living alone by myself, and in Welland, there are no local bands playing in public to sit in with.
Do you remember phone sex? There's some of that feeling when I'm recording myself.
If you're younger than me, you might not remember phone sex, maybe into the stalking era.

elderpiano... despite the inspiration Frederik Magle gives to me, why I'm really here...
I have to say, when I was a teenager, McCoy Tyner, doing solo piano, "Naima", on "Echoes of a Friend",
is still my favorite solo piano. That's comfort listening to me, even if I'm not hearing anything new, now.
I spent twenty minutes between sets talking with him in Toronto.
As far as taking albums out of the library, Vladamir Ashkenazy was my favorite solo classical pianist.
My favorite jazz guitarist was and still is George Benson, even if he got too pop and too stage slick for me.
He took me backstage with him in 1970 to help me decide how to play left-handed or left-handed upside down.
If you had his 1955 Gibson L5, I think you'd want to try strumming it a little bit.

When I say a lack of posts is my fault, it could be I see myself as a thread killer.
I don't like seeing my name on top all the time, and create threads just to type away for myself.
You know what my favorite words to hear onstage were?
John... keep playing... play some more solo... don't stop, I'll sing when I want to...
Eventually, I might look around to see where the lead singer went, but that was good for me.
I never did an original Jimi Hendrix song onstage, even if I used a lot of electronics for effects.
I have a really good sound for steel guitar, violin and banjo.

I'm hoping there's something here that you're in tune with, to keep your thread going.
If there's one thing I wonder about, when it comes to piano, was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart left-handed.
In the movie, he sits under the piano facing out and reaches up backwards to play.
I can do that easier than most because I'm left-handed.
I used to sit in front of the TV as a child and play along with pianists on the carpet.
When I showed my parents guitar playing with Jimi Hendrix moves,
my mother would say I should do that in my bedroom.
Life in the Watt house. My mother was lead singer in the adult choir,
for a Scottish church they were founding members of.
Other women said she sang with a savage beauty.

Here's a scan of a photo I used to carry around in my wallet.
It got a little wrecked when I fell out of a canoe and my wallet drifted to the bottom,
scattering stuff around, not too deep. That's when I lost my Jimi Hendrix ticket stub,
and I can only blame the ghost of Nicolo Paganini for doing that.

I like to go advanced. Click it up big!
If you read this far, show me your mailing address because you qualify for a free guitar pick.

John Watt6.jpg
 
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John Watt

Member
I just hafta add, I am full of rock talk and what bars showed on satellite TV,
because playing six-nighters in bars was jobs for me, when the economy was there.
I didn't drink or smoke, so I really didn't fit in.
I went from clearing $98 a week as a steel factory labourer, to making $225 in my first road band.
That was the first band I was in with both bass and drums, with a keyboard player and chick singer.
And because I didn't smoke or drink, I'd get an extra 15 or $20 from the float at the end of the week.
I did that to get out of Welland because criminals had already made me a victim.
 

John Watt

Member
I'm starting to wonder if elderpiano and Dorsetmike have been smoking medical marijuana,
and got so laid back they formed a heap. Or was it Ontario buck-a-beer?
 

Albert

New member
I also am finding this site moribund. I check it at least once a day, and without my fellow Canuck John Watt, not much ever happens. How can we revive it?
 

John Watt

Member
Albert! I just got an email from an old Welland boy who moved to B.C. a long time ago.
That's three high school friends and a business friend who invite me to visit and stay with them.
I'll make it out there some day.

I found Magle.dk through an ad in St. Catharines Kijiji.
That was a surprise, seeing a Danish music domain being advertised in the Niagara Peninsula.
You're right about the log-in members, new threads and postings,
but I think there are a lot of viewers all the time for all time zones.

I better look up moribund before I keep agreeing with it.
 

Krummhorn

Administrator
Staff member
ADMINISTRATOR
I also am finding this site moribund. I check it at least once a day, and without my fellow Canuck John Watt, not much ever happens. How can we revive it?

By word of mouth mostly. Tell friends about this site which has a very diverse subject matter for all music genres, albeit rather inactive for the past couple years. I'm still here, now in my 11th year as a member and part of the administrative team to boot.

I too would like to know where everyone went that was here 4 or 5 years ago ... in fact, I have tried to contact those people without any success.
 

John Watt

Member
If there's one member I'd like to see again, it's Corno Dolce.
He told me his real name when we shared some serious private email,
but I don't have that computer any more. I'd search for him if I could.
I did the classic Welland thing and threw it into the canal from the middle of the Main Street bridge.
The next laker or ocean goer would have churned up the silt to bury it forever,
but the downtown canal is now bypassed.
Maybe that's what happened to departed members, they bypassed us.
 
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Ella Beck

Member
By word of mouth mostly. Tell friends about this site which has a very diverse subject matter for all music genres, albeit rather inactive for the past couple years. I'm still here, now in my 11th year as a member and part of the administrative team to boot.

I too would like to know where everyone went that was here 4 or 5 years ago ... in fact, I have tried to contact those people without any success.

It's a shame. I hope some new people join and the site revives.
 

John Watt

Member
I'm not thinking this thread is quite so moribund any more.
Ella Beck makes me want to wear a cumberbund.
 

Ella Beck

Member
I'm not thinking this thread is quite so moribund any more.
Ella Beck makes me want to wear a cumberbund.

If you think it would suit you, go ahead - well, that's if you meant 'cummerbund'.
'Cumberbund' sounds a bit restrictive...

I must admit in the 24 hours since I joined, it does seem as if the OP had a point. :cry:
 

Ella Beck

Member
My second day - and things are perking up a little.
Either the green shoots of recovery, or a last magnificent flowering before the tree dies.
 

John Watt

Member
You keep posting and I'll back you up.
Norwich, ex-Glasgow.
My mothers' father served a seven year sign-painting apprenticeship in Glasgow and Edinburough.
That's "eden-burra", in English, "the eden of the north". His name was Randle Fairfoull.
I still have and use some of the stencils he brought over with him before the first world war.
I still use a piece of luggage his wife brought over.

I'm not always picking up, because I'm very picky, both up and down and all around.
 

Ella Beck

Member
All good things come to an end, and everything has its season.

If MIMF has to fade, let it do so with grace and honour. With friendly posts - reaching out to others, not egocentric - and with posts which are mainly about music, since this is a music forum.

Nobody will join the forum, and nobody will return to it, if the posts don't interest them.

And the posts won't be interesting, unless they are saying something in a sensible and civil way.

That's the way I see it, anyway.

Live long and prosper - anyone who's reading.
(Well, you never know! :) )
 
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John Watt

Member
There is a poster, a magle.dk poster, who comes from far away,
her postings are new each day,
and now I'm reading, my heart is heeding,
what this new member has to say.

For the fields of font aren't so empty now,
they're descriptive now, a new field to plow,
let your words flow like they're blowing chaff,
and we'll all glean what we can.

there is a poster, a brand new poster...
 

Ella Beck

Member
One thing that intrigues me is that there are often said to be 20 people looking at the pipe organ forum and 17 looking at the classical music forum, but as there are so few new posts, what can they be a-doing of? :confused:
 
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