As many of you know through my blogging, I live near a community associated with Woody Guthrie. Because ol' Woody's values don't exactly match those of the Texas Panhandle, though, and because there are still folks alive who remember Woody in a less than favorable light, the Woody Guthrie Center around here is not exactly  hub of activity. Oh, they get their share of folks, but most of those folks are not the town fathers or the community leaders.

Now, let me give you some background on the good folks that run the Guthrie Center. They're mostly old ladies with an average age of something like 82, and they will have "their" center run exactly the way THEY want it. But they can't even seem to figure out what exactly it is that THEY want. Their board meetings degenerate into geriatric cat fights, and everything has to be just so. A fair amount of hair pulling and scratching goes into every executive decision.

But the one thing they have begun to do in the community is a community sing, where folk musicians of all skill levels get together to play and sing. This is where I come in. On the "all skill levels", I'm about a .02 on a scale of 0-10. I'm a little past "Mary had a little lamb", but you get me anywhere past my basic 8-10 chords, and I'm lost. But last night was my big debut, As I've finally worked "Roll on, Columbia" to a point of being fairly competent (my goal was to have it ready for the big Guthrie tribute in October), and have about a 5-6 song repertoire. So I was ready to offer something up to the group every time my turn came around. I've been working with a friend on the music, and have had him working to help me on my main song, so that I don't sound totally lost.

So, anyway, I get there, and my least favorite board member was, unfortunately, manning the center last night. Now, to understand why I don't like her, you need to understand the fact that she's celebrating the life of a man widely considered to be a general miscreant and a bum, a guy who didn't raise up a single one of his kids. Yet, this woman's nose is so high up in the air that she looks down on "peasants" like me because of my long hair and ragged jeans...and doesn't feel my children are up to her standards of perfection, as they so often have unkempt hair and unwashed faces from their numerous excursions in the fields near our home. But, I was there for the music, so I figured I'd head up on the stage and do my thing (we play in an ensemble).

I figured out something pretty quickly. I didn't know half the songs and have a lot to learn about the chords, but I quickly discovered I could play a basic rhythm using the "G" chord to a lot of the songs that wasn't entirely unpleasant or out of place. So I did it. Then, when my turn rolled around, I brought out "Yellow Rose of Texas". My friend wasn't there yet to help on "Roll on, Columbia", and "Yellow Rose" is pretty simple. So simple, in fact, that I nailed all the changes despite only having worked through the song about 3 or 4 times previously. And my singing wasn't half bad, either. Ol' Bluehair sat in stony faced silence, her arms crossed and her lips pursed.

We played around the group again, and my turn came up. My friend was there, but wasn't in a playing mood, so I decided I had to break out "Roll on, Columbia", anyway. We had arrived late and I knew some of the folks would be leaving shortly. I made a few mistakes throughout, and almost completely forgot the last verse, but caught up quickly. All in all, not a horrible job, considering my skill level. In the entire time I was there, though, it was the only one of Woody's songs played (besides a couple others I taught the other fellows as we were winding down). But again, stony faced silence from the blue hair. When I played, her arms never left the sternly crossed position of an unapproving matriarch.

I find it funny that these folks can't figure out what's happening to their group. I can tell them pretty quickly. When a fellow comes in and plays that doesn't fit their cookie cutter mold, they're as unapproving and harsh as the very people they criticize within the community for holding the same attitude. I'll be back to play regularly, if only to tick ol' bluehair off, but I don't doubt there've been not a few others chased away by their ridiculous attitudes.

Meanwhile, it has inspired me on a song I'm piecing together. A song I fully intend to debut at one of those group sings.