The Yonderist

All those who wander are not lost.

Lache pas la musique

2006-02-05

work

Project Description

There is an old saying in south Louisiana: “Lâche pas la patate.” Translated literally, it means “Don’t drop the potato,” but what it really means is “Hold on to what’s important.” Cajun and Creole musics have proved to be of central importance to south Louisiana, to the United States, and to the world, demonstrating as they have not only the possibility for, and importance of, maintaining a vibrant folk culture but also revealing the connections between Louisiana and the rest of the world. That is, the musics of south Louisiana not only underline Africa and Europe as original contributors of people to the American experiment (in addition to the already present First World nations) but also that the American experiment is one of hundreds, if not thousands, of experiments around the world where people mix together to produce new, but still related cultures and musics-in terms of south Louisiana, the connections to the Caribbean and the western Indian Ocean are most striking.

The purpose of this project is to preserve the unique collections of the Archives and Cajun and Creole Folklore in order to (1) stabilize the collections and (2) make them more accessible to researchers, area musicians, and the public. The Archives currently holds almost two thousand reel-to-reel tapes and audio cassettes. While a small number of the reel-to-reel tapes are copies of recordings, which can only otherwise be found in the Library of Congress, all the rest are unique to the collection. A large number of the recordings were done in the field by a variety of trained professionals-thus, the quality is as high as the various media and technology involved allowed.

Most of these field recordings provide intimate glimpses into the past: musicians talking and playing in their own homes. In some cases, only the performer and the fieldworker are present; in other cases they are joined by old friends or by some of the young musicians of the day-e.g., Grammy winner Michael Doucet-who went on to revitalize the tradition. These recordings from the past still hold the keys to the music’s future. Musicians continue to clamber for access to the collections: e.g., David Greeley of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys is a regular listener.

Time has not been kind to any musical archive. Reel-to-reel machine manufacturers are down to two; makers of tape, one. It is clear that for Archives like our own to survive and to continue to play a role in not only keeping history alive but also in making new traditional music possible we must move materials onto formats that are (1) currently in use and will be for the foreseeable future and (2) allow for ready and rapid copying, in a way that tapes did not, so that the collection’s future can be secured-perhaps equally important is that with high capacity hard drives, a lot of material can be kept in a relatively small space.

Collection Contents

The collections in need of restoration and digitization that are unique to the Archives of Cajun and Creole Folklore-which also holds copies of recordings by Alan Lomax and Ralph Rinzler (originals are housed in the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress)-are:

  • The Ancelet Collection: 236 reels, recorded in the 1970s and the 1980s.
  • The Elizabeth Brandon Collection: 9 reels, recorded in the 1950s and 1960s.
  • The Susan Crutcher and Andy Wiskes Collection: 21 reels, recorded in the late 1970s.
  • The Phillip Dur Collection: 46 reels, recorded in the late 1960s.
  • The Donald Hebert Collection: 40 reels, recorded in the 1970s.
  • The Otis Hebert Collection: 7 reels, recorded in the late 1970s.
  • The CRS Collection: 65 reels, recorded in the 1960s and the 1970s.

There are a huge number of recordings of area festivals, like the nationally known Festivals Acadiens, as well as a few unique recordings done at the Festival of American Folklife, all of which are on cassette, but many of which were professionally recorded, in need of restoration. There are also several hundred recordings by students, students who had been trained in proper recording and fieldwork methods.

Transfer Details

The mechanics of the process are straightforward and follow the Academy’s own guidelines as well as those that have been worked out by various other agencies and organizations:

*Reel-to-reel tapes and audio cassettes are played on the appropriate equipment-those familiar with the variety of head arrangements on the former machines will recognize that getting the right equipment is a task in and of itself, fed through an Alesis 1622 mixer, through an Apogee PSX-100 audio-to-digital converter, into a Gateway workstation running Sound Forge Studio.

*Each digitized file is stored in raw form on both a hard drive and a CD, which is stored separately. (For listening purposes, we normalize the files (service copies) and save them using the MP3 codec, in order to enhance listening and to facilitate moving files onto machines dedicated as listening stations.)

Source Material Preservation

All original materials (preservation masters) are kept in climate-controlled conditions in a designated space within the university’s main research library. While a number of other facilities have seen holding onto original materials as a moot point, we do not plan to dispose of our original holdings at any point in the future: we realize that technology is changing quickly and we have an obligation to the future to make it possible for others to revisit either the original materials or their un-enhanced digitized copies, having as they probably will better methods for extracting more information out of either.

Project Personnel

We are a small unit within a much larger organization, a public university to be exact. For the purposes of preserving the materials which we deem most important and the most in danger of suffering further by the hands of time, we have acquired a graduate research assistant whose primary responsibility is to begin digitization of some of the holdings-our grant request is for professional help in this regard because we do not have enough expertise to deal with the more fragile materials. We have also gathered together a part-time team primarily focused on indexing and cataloging the materials: preservation is important, but we must also begin to assess what is being preserved and to make it possible for researchers, musicians, and other publics to locate materials relevant to their own work or project, be it a book, an album, or simply knowledge of times past.

A breakdown of the personnel involved is as follows:

  • John Laudun is Associate Director for the Center for Louisiana Studies and the project leader for “Lâche pas la musique.” He is assistant professor of folklore and English and holds a Ph.D. in folklore studies from the Folklore Institute at Indiana University.
  • Kristi Guillory is a M.A. student in English with a concentration in folklore studies. She is also a native of the area and a working musician, with three CDs to her name. She brings her knowledge of the music and of Louisiana French to our efforts to inventory the holdings of the Archive.
  • Erik Charpentier is a Ph.D. student in Francophone Studies who has spent the last five years working with the Archives of Cajun and Creole Folklore, cataloging the holdings and doing some digitization.

Fieldwork

2006-02-01

work

Verot School Road

--> Guillot Road

    --> Piat Road

Things Seen:

  • Coops for fighting roosters.
  • Vietnamese restaurant off Melancon Road just inside Iberia Parish line.
  • All the gear associated with rice agriculture –> How would I organize such a catalog?
  • Gas stations, diners, lunch houses: all places where work happens.

Mardi Gras trailers.

Louisiana Folk Masters

2006-01-16

work

Below is the prospectus I originally wrote for Louisiana Folk Masters in 2003. It’s an interesting historical document, and I am surprised that in a few short years I had actually done two out of the three things listed here:

Prospectus

Housed in the Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, the Louisiana Folk Masters series spotlights individuals from around the state who represent the very best of what Louisiana’s diverse folk cultures have to offer. While initially focused on the CD series, the project’s larger goal is a portfolio of offerings that will give a wide-range of audiences access to quality, humanities content through the rubric of getting to know particular practitioners of various traditions.

  • The Louisiana Folk Masters CD Series draws from the extensive collections of the Archives of Cajun and Creole Folklore, which houses thousands of recordings, representing the collecting and preservation activities of several generations of folklorists, ethnomusicologists, linguists and other cultural resource management professionals. The oldest recordings contained in the collection are on wax cylinders and the newest were collected with the latest in high-quality digital recording techniques. Recordings are as intimate as a living room in Mamou to the stage of the American Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C.
  • The Louisiana Folk Masters in Profile Series is a planned cooperative effort with the local press, the Daily Advertiser being the first, to feature individuals drawn from the community who are practitioners of folkways of either already established interest or deserving interest. Reporters will work with Research Associates from the Center who will act not only as field guides but appear as experts within the piece. (We would eventually like to extend this model to other media, such as television.)
  • The Louisiana Folk Masters Publication Series encourages writers to extend the treatment individuals receive in the profile series. The medium for doing so are a series of books, each of which will be a compilation of individuals based either on region, tradition, or group. Such a publication series can, on a smaller level, be produced through the Center itself; larger projects will be handled by a press.

The Louisiana Folk Masters project reflects the Center’s vision that all of us necessarily create the future out of the past here in the present and that our best resource in guiding us to our creation of the future is each other. We encourage all inquiries.

Fooba Wooba

2005-12-25

work

The Bluegrass Messengers Frog in a Well- Version 7 

Frog in a Well/Kitty Alone

Traditional Song and Dance Tune- US and British Isles, Widely known

ARTIST: From unknown on-line source;

CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes

DATE: “Froggie Went A Courtin’” branch- 1549; “Martin Said to His Man” branch-1588

OTHER NAMES: “Who’s the Fool Now?,” “Old Blind Drunk John,” “Fooba-Wooba John,” “Johnny Fool,” “Kitty and I,” “Frog in the “Well,”

RELATES TO: “Martin Said to His Man,” “Froggie Went a Courtin’,” “Limber Jim,” “Kemo Kimo/Sing Song Kitty.”

ORIGINATES FROM: Two main sources of origin are: “A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go” and “Martin Said to His Man.”

SOURCES: Kinloch-BBook XIV, pp. 50-54, “The Man in the Moon” (1 text) Randolph 445, “Johnny Fool” (2 texts); Wyman-Brockway I, p. 22, “The Bed-time Song” (1 text, 1 tune) Lomax-FSNA 136, “Hurrah, Lie!” (1 text, 1 tune); Chappell/Wooldridge I, p. 140, “Martin Said to His Man” (1 text, 1 tune)

RECORDING INFO: Beers Family. Seasons of Peace. A Great Family Sings, Biograph BLP 12033, LP (1970), cut#B.03; Bradley, Hank; and Cathie Whitesides. American Fogies. Vol. 2, Rounder 0389, CD (1996), cut#18a; Hills, Anne; and Cindy Mangsen. Never Grow Up, Flying Fish FF 671, CD (1998), cut# 1. Martha Hall, “Kitty Alone” (on MMOK, MMOKCD)

Old Blind Drunk John -Feldmann, Peter. Barnyard Dance, Hen Cackle HC 501, LP (1980), cut#A.05 (Fubba Wubba John); Mitchell, Howie. Howie Mitchell, Folk Legacy FSI-005, LP (1962), cut#B.01 (Kitty Alone); Seeger, Mike. Music From the True Vine, Mercury SRMI-627, LP (1972), cut# 8;

We’re A’ Jolly Fu’- MacColl, Ewan. Scotch (Scots) Drinking Songs, Offbeat OLP 4023, LP (196?), cut# 1

Kitty Alone- Beers Family. Seasons of Peace. A Great Family Sings, Biograph BLP 12033, LP (1970), cut#B.03; Bradley, Hank; and Cathie Whitesides. American Fogies. Vol. 2, Rounder 0389, CD (1996), cut#18a; Hills, Anne; and Cindy Mangsen. Never Grow Up, Flying Fish FF 671, CD (1998), cut# 1

NOTES ON KITTY ALONE: “Kitty Alone” is branch of the “Froggie Went Courtin’” and “Frog in the Well” songs. For detailed notes see: “Froggie Went a Courtin” and “Kemo Kimo.” It is also related to the “Old Blind Drunk John/Martin Said to His Man” songs and the text is found in the “Limber Jim/Buck-Eye Jim” group of songs.

NOTES ON KITTY ALONE- FROGGIE ORIGIN: One origin of the “Kitty Alone” text is the “Frog in the Spring/Frog in the Well” songs which is the “Puddy in the Well” offshoot of “Froggie Went A Courtin’.”

“A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go” or “Froggie Went a Courtin’” in the US: The air for this song (which Horace M. Belden believes is the most widely known song in the English language) first appears in Thomas Ravenscroft’s “Melismata” (1611). It is an early version of the song (“Froggie Went A-Courtin'”) famous in British and American traditional folklore and folksong, of which the earliest appearance was in Wedderburn’s “Complaynt of Scotland” (1549) where it is called “The frog cam to the myl dur.” Another early version is found in a broadside text of 1580, called “A moste Strange weddinge of the ffrogge and the mowse” (Rollins).

From David G. H. Parsons The History of “The Frog’s Courtship” A Study of Canadian Variants: Tolman and Eddy document another group of texts from the Scottish tradition that contain a “Cuddy alone” burden or variation such as “Kitty alone.” The origin or meaning of this burden remains a mystery. Here’s a typical verse:

 

There lived a puddy in a well,

Cuddy alone, Cuddy alone

There lived a puddy in a well

Cuddy alone and I

 

There lived a puddy in a well

And a mousie in a mill

Kickmaleerie, cowden down

Cuddy alone and I.

 

Here’s a typical verse from “The Frog” in the Well:”

 

There was a frog lived in a well,

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

There was a frog lived in a well;

Kitty alone and I!

 

There was a frog lived in a well,

And a merry mouse in a mill.

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.

Many “Kitty Alone” versions of “Froggie” have been recorded, some are mixed in with the “Kemo Kimo” versions of Froggie.

Two more Canadian variants have this “Kitty alone” burden. Helen Creighton collected one in which the burden is altered to “Kitty in the kimeo” and another where it is “Kitty me love.” In both cases the informants remembered only one verse. Tolman and Eddy give a detailed list of the published variants of this family and mention several developments. A burlesque using the ‘kimo’ burden was once popular on the African-American minstrel stage, and there is a different song, but still “Keemo kimo,” on a British broadside, though obviously American in origin. (Parson)

Here is an example of the nonsense syllables in the Kemo Kimo chorus:

Keemo kyemo dell ray hi hoe

Rumpity Rump

Periwinkle soap fat

Link horn nip cat

Hit ’em with a brick bat

Sing song kitty catchy kye me oh

NOTES ON KITTY ALONE- MARTIN SAID TO HIS MAN ORIGIN: In a long note on this song, Professor G. L. Kittredge shows that the “Old Blind Drunk John” songs derive from “a famous old English song, ‘Martin Said to His Man,’ and entered in the Stationers’ Register in 1588.” It is a lying song—“I saw a louse run a mouse…. I saw a squirrel run a deer…. I saw a flea kick a tree…, in the middle of the sea.” One Scottish version cited says, “Four and twenty Hilandmen chasing a snail,” etc.

Referred to in Dryden’s 1668 play “Sir Martin Mar-all, or the Feign’d Innocence” (act IV). It seems to have been very popular in the century prior to that. The American versions can generally be told by their narrative pattern, “(I) saw a ( ) (doing something),” e.g. “Saw a crow flying low,” “Saw a mule teaching school,” “Saw a louse chase a mouse,” “Saw a flea wade the sea.” Other names for “Kitty Alone” are “Who’s the Fool Now?,” “Old Blind Drunk John,” “Johnny Fool,” and “Fooba-Wooba John.”

Here’s an example of the Martin Said to His Man- Kitty Alone:

 

Saw a crow a-flying low

Kitty alone, kitty alone.

Saw a crow a-flying low,

Kitty alone, alone.

Saw a crow a-flying low

And a cat a-spinnin’ tow.

Rock-a-bye baby bye, rock-a-bye baby bye.

FINAL NOTES: It’s not difficult to distinguish the difference between the “Froggie Went Courtin’” and “Martin Said to His Man” versions. It’s more confusing to sort through and identify the numerous variants of the popular “Froggie” and categorize them.

Here’s a version of “Kitty Alone/ Frog in the Well:”

 

There was a frog lived in a well,

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

There was a frog lived in a well;

And a merry mouse in a mill.

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.

 

This frog he would a-wooing ride,

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

This frog he would a-wooing ride,

And on a snail he got astride,

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.

 

He rode till he came to my Lady Mouse Hall,

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

He rode till he came to my Lady Mouse Hall,

And there he did both knock and call.

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.

 

Quoth he, “Miss Mouse, I’m come to thee,” –

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

Quoth he, “Miss Mouse, I’m come to thee

To see if thou canst fancy me.”

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.

 

Quoth she, “Answer I’ll give you none,” –

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

Quoth she, “Answer I’ll give you none

Until my Uncle Rat comes home.”

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.

 

And when her Uncle Rat came home,

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

And when her Uncle Rat came home:

“Who’s been here since I’ve been gone?”

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.

 

“Sir, there’s been a worthy gentleman,” –

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

Sir, there’s been a worthy gentleman,

That’s been here since you’ve been gone.”

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.

 

The frog he came whistling through the brook,

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

The frog he came whistling through the brook,

And there he met with a dainty duck.

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.

 

This duck she swallowed him up with a pluck,

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

This duck she swallowed him up with a pluck,

So there’s the end of my history-book.

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.

 

Subject: LimberJim/Buck-eye Jim History

From: GUEST,Richie

Date: 17 Nov 02 – 12:50 PM

I wanted to share this with you.

There’s been some extensive research on Buck-eye Jim and Limber Jim in several threads. I’m posting my notes on Limber Jim for Turtle

Old Man and others that are interested. Any comments or additional info would be appreciated.

NOTES: The Limber Jim Songs originated from and combined with various 1800 minstrel song adaptations of the “Froggie Went a Courting/Martin Said To his Man” songs including the “Kemo Kimo” songs, “Kitty Alone” songs and “Goodbye Liza Jane” songs.

Some titles of the “Kemo Kimo” songs are “Keemo Kimo” “Sing Song Kitty (Won’t You Ki-Me-O);” “King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O;” “Kyman-I-Doe;” and “Beaver Creek” which are variants of the old “Froggie Went Courting” songs.

Here are some excerpts from two “Kemo Kimo” songs:

King Kong Kitchee:

 

Ki-mo, kemo, ki-mo, kee

Way down yonder in a holler tree

An owl and a bat and a bumblebee

King kong kitchie kitchie ki-me-o

 

Sing Song Kitty:

 

Way down yonder and not far off,

Sing song kitty can’t ya kime-e-o.

A jaybird died with the whoppin’ cough,

Sing song kitty can’t ya kime-e-o.

 

Way down yonder on Beaver Creek,

Sing song kitty can ya kime-e-o.

The gals all grow to be six feet,

Sing song kitty can ya kime-e-o.

 

The Limber Jim Songs are also related to the “Kitty Alone” songs which are variants from the “Martin Said to his Man” and “Froggie Went a Courting” songs. “Limber Jim” relates to the “Martin Said to his Man” branch of “Kitty Alone.” In a long note on this song, Professor G. L. Kittredge shows that the “Old Blind Drunk John” songs derive from “a famous old English song, ‘Martin Said to His Man,’ and entered in the Stationers’ Register in 1588.” It is a lying song-“I saw a louse run a mouse…. I saw a squirrel run a deer…. I saw a flea kick a tree…, in the middle of the sea.” One Scottish version cited says, “Four and twenty Hilandmen chasing a snail,” etc. Other names for “Kitty Alone” are “Who’s the Fool Now?,” “Old Blind Drunk John,” “Johnny Fool,” and “Fooba-Wooba John.”

 

Here’s an example of the Martin Said to His Man- Kitty Alone:

 

Saw a crow a-flying low

Kitty alone, kitty alone.

Saw a crow a-flying low,

Kitty alone, alone.

Saw a crow a-flying low

And a cat a-spinnin’ tow.

Rock-a-bye baby bye, rock-a-bye baby bye.

 

There are also Froggie variants that introduce the “weave and spin” line commonly found in Limber Jim/Buck-eye Jim.

 

FROGGIE: From Mrs. Ford Kent of New York

 

A frog he would a-wooing go

A-too-re-lal, a-too-re-lal,

He went into Miss Mouse’s hall

And there he loudly rapped and called,

He said, Miss Mouse, are you within?

She said, I sit and spin.

 

BUCK-EYE JIM:

Chorus: Buck-eyed Jim, you can’t go

Go weave and spin, you can’t go

Buck-eyed Jim

 

From Children Of The Levee, published by the University of Kentucky Press in 1957. It is a reprint of the original articles written by Lafcadio Hearn in 1874-1877 for the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Cincinnati Commercial. Hearn: “But the most famous songs in vogue among the roustabouts is “Limber Jim,” or “Shiloh.” Very few know it all by heart, which is not wonderful when we consider that it requires something like twenty minutes to sing “Limber Jim” from beginning to end, and that the whole song, if printed in full, would fill two columns of the commercial! The only person in the city who can sing the song through, we believe, is a colored laborer living near Sixth and Culvert streets, who “run on the river” for years, and acquired so much of a reputation by singing “Limber Jim,” that he has been nicknamed after the mythical individual aforesaid, and is now known by no other name.

 

Here’s an excerpt of Limber Jim from Hearns, March 17, 1876:

 

Chorus: Limber Jim,

[All.] Shiloh!

Talk it agin,

[All.] Shiloh!

Walk back in love,

[All.] Shiloh!

You turtle-dove,

[All.] Shiloh!

 

Went down the ribber, couldn’t get across;

Hopped on a rebel louse; thought ’twas a hoss,

Oh, lor’, gals, ‘t ain’t no lie,

Lice in Camp Chase big enough to cry,–

 

Bridle up a rat, sir; saddle up a cat,

Please han’ me down my Leghorn hat,

Went to see widow; widow warn’t home;

Saw to her daughter–she geve me honeycomb.

 

Jay-bird sittin’ on a swinging limb,

Winked at me an’ I winked at him.

Up with a rock an’ struck him on the shin,

G-d d–n yer soul, don’t wink again. (posted by Masato)

 

The origin of the closely related “Buckeye Jim” song is obscure. According to the Library of Congress, Fletcher Collins collected “Buckeye Jim” (aka “Limber Jim”) from Mrs. J.U. (Patty) Newman in 1939, at Elon College, in North Carolina, which is the first documented version.

 

The “Limber Jim” group of songs includes “Buck-eye Jim” and “Shiloh”. There are connections with other fiddle tunes such as “Seven Up”. The “Seven Up,” “Charlotte Town is Burning Down,” “Shiloh,” and “Goin’ Down to Cairo” are all related to the large body of “Goodbye Liza Jane” songs.

 

This fiddle tune has floater verses and many variants. There are two distinct versions: the “Way Up/Down Yonder” versions (see also: Jim Along Josie), and the “Weave and Spin” (Limber Jim) versions. There are also versions that include “Shiloh” which appears to be a slang word for a type of dance or dance step in connection with the tune.

 

-Richie

 

[http://www.ceolas.org/]

MARTIN SAID TO HIS MAN. AKA – “Fooba-Wooba.” English, Air (3/4 time). C Major. Standard. One part. Chappell (1859) reports the song appears with its music as one of the Freeman’s songs to three voices in Deuteromelia (1609) and the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Regarding those songs, in the life of Sir Peter Carew by John Vowell, he says “For the King himself (Henry VIII) being much delighted to sing, and Sir Peter Carew having a pleasant voice, the King would often use him to sing with him certain songs they call ‘Freeman’s Song’s.'” Registered as a ballad with the Stationers’ Company in 1588, it seems a satire on the tellers of marvelous tales, much in the vein (says Kines) of such traditional songs of exaggeration such as “Tom-a-lyn,” “Paddy Backwards,” “The Darby Ram,” “Amhran na mBreag,” and “I was born 1000 years ago.” A much later derivative of “Martin Said to his Man” was written by William Courtright, published in 1877 and called “Flewy, Flewy.”

Martin said to his man, fie, man, fie

Martin said to his man, who’s the fool now?

Martin said to his man, fill thou the cup and I the can,

Who hast well drunken man, who’s the fool now?

Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time), Vol. 1, 1859; pg. 140. Kines (Songs From Shakespeare’s Plays and Popular Songs of Shakespeare’s Time), 1964; pg. 91.

 

 

 

Foobawooba Notes

2005-12-24

work

The Bluegrass Messengers

Frog in a Well- Version 7

Frog in a Well/Kitty Alone

Traditional Song and Dance Tune- US and British Isles, Widely known

ARTIST: From unknown on-line source;

CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes

DATE: “Froggie Went A Courtin’” branch- 1549; “Martin Said to His Man” branch-1588

OTHER NAMES: “Who’s the Fool Now?,” “Old Blind Drunk John,” “Fooba-Wooba John,” “Johnny Fool,” “Kitty and I,” “Frog in the “Well,”

RELATES TO: “Martin Said to His Man,” “Froggie Went a Courtin’,” “Limber Jim,” “Kemo Kimo/Sing Song Kitty.”

ORIGINATES FROM: Two main sources of origin are: “A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go” and “Martin Said to His Man.”

SOURCES: Kinloch-BBook XIV, pp. 50-54, “The Man in the Moon” (1 text) Randolph 445, “Johnny Fool” (2 texts); Wyman-Brockway I, p. 22, “The Bed-time Song” (1 text, 1 tune) Lomax-FSNA 136, “Hurrah, Lie!” (1 text, 1 tune); Chappell/Wooldridge I, p. 140, “Martin Said to His Man” (1 text, 1 tune)

RECORDING INFO: Beers Family. Seasons of Peace. A Great Family Sings, Biograph BLP 12033, LP (1970), cut#B.03; Bradley, Hank; and Cathie Whitesides. American Fogies. Vol. 2, Rounder 0389, CD (1996), cut#18a; Hills, Anne; and Cindy Mangsen. Never Grow Up, Flying Fish FF 671, CD (1998), cut# 1. Martha Hall, “Kitty Alone” (on MMOK, MMOKCD)

Old Blind Drunk John -Feldmann, Peter. Barnyard Dance, Hen Cackle HC 501, LP (1980), cut#A.05 (Fubba Wubba John); Mitchell, Howie. Howie Mitchell, Folk Legacy FSI-005, LP (1962), cut#B.01 (Kitty Alone); Seeger, Mike. Music From the True Vine, Mercury SRMI-627, LP (1972), cut# 8;

We’re A’ Jolly Fu’- MacColl, Ewan. Scotch (Scots) Drinking Songs, Offbeat OLP 4023, LP (196?), cut# 1

Kitty Alone- Beers Family. Seasons of Peace. A Great Family Sings, Biograph BLP 12033, LP (1970), cut#B.03; Bradley, Hank; and Cathie Whitesides. American Fogies. Vol. 2, Rounder 0389, CD (1996), cut#18a; Hills, Anne; and Cindy Mangsen. Never Grow Up, Flying Fish FF 671, CD (1998), cut# 1

NOTES ON KITTY ALONE: “Kitty Alone” is branch of the “Froggie Went Courtin’” and “Frog in the Well” songs. For detailed notes see: “Froggie Went a Courtin” and “Kemo Kimo.” It is also related to the “Old Blind Drunk John/Martin Said to His Man” songs and the text is found in the “Limber Jim/Buck-Eye Jim” group of songs.

NOTES ON KITTY ALONE- FROGGIE ORIGIN: One origin of the “Kitty Alone” text is the “Frog in the Spring/Frog in the Well” songs which is the “Puddy in the Well” offshoot of “Froggie Went A Courtin’.”

“A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go” or “Froggie Went a Courtin’” in the US: The air for this song (which Horace M. Belden believes is the most widely known song in the English language) first appears in Thomas Ravenscroft’s “Melismata” (1611). It is an early version of the song (“Froggie Went A-Courtin'”) famous in British and American traditional folklore and folksong, of which the earliest appearance was in Wedderburn’s “Complaynt of Scotland” (1549) where it is called “The frog cam to the myl dur.” Another early version is found in a broadside text of 1580, called “A moste Strange weddinge of the ffrogge and the mowse” (Rollins).

From David G. H. Parsons The History of “The Frog’s Courtship” A Study of Canadian Variants: Tolman and Eddy document another group of texts from the Scottish tradition that contain a “Cuddy alone” burden or variation such as “Kitty alone.” The origin or meaning of this burden remains a mystery. Here’s a typical verse:


There lived a puddy in a well,

Cuddy alone, Cuddy alone

There lived a puddy in a well

Cuddy alone and I


There lived a puddy in a well

And a mousie in a mill

Kickmaleerie, cowden down

Cuddy alone and I.


Here’s a typical verse from “The Frog” in the Well:”


There was a frog lived in a well,

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

There was a frog lived in a well;

Kitty alone and I!


There was a frog lived in a well,

And a merry mouse in a mill.

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.

Many “Kitty Alone” versions of “Froggie” have been recorded, some are mixed in with the “Kemo Kimo” versions of Froggie.

Two more Canadian variants have this “Kitty alone” burden. Helen Creighton collected one in which the burden is altered to “Kitty in the kimeo” and another where it is “Kitty me love.” In both cases the informants remembered only one verse. Tolman and Eddy give a detailed list of the published variants of this family and mention several developments. A burlesque using the ‘kimo’ burden was once popular on the African-American minstrel stage, and there is a different song, but still “Keemo kimo,” on a British broadside, though obviously American in origin. (Parson)

Here is an example of the nonsense syllables in the Kemo Kimo chorus:

Keemo kyemo dell ray hi hoe

Rumpity Rump

Periwinkle soap fat

Link horn nip cat

Hit ’em with a brick bat

Sing song kitty catchy kye me oh

NOTES ON KITTY ALONE- MARTIN SAID TO HIS MAN ORIGIN: In a long note on this song, Professor G. L. Kittredge shows that the “Old Blind Drunk John” songs derive from “a famous old English song, ‘Martin Said to His Man,’ and entered in the Stationers’ Register in 1588.” It is a lying song—“I saw a louse run a mouse…. I saw a squirrel run a deer…. I saw a flea kick a tree…, in the middle of the sea.” One Scottish version cited says, “Four and twenty Hilandmen chasing a snail,” etc.

Referred to in Dryden’s 1668 play “Sir Martin Mar-all, or the Feign’d Innocence” (act IV). It seems to have been very popular in the century prior to that. The American versions can generally be told by their narrative pattern, “(I) saw a ( ) (doing something),” e.g. “Saw a crow flying low,” “Saw a mule teaching school,” “Saw a louse chase a mouse,” “Saw a flea wade the sea.” Other names for “Kitty Alone” are “Who’s the Fool Now?,” “Old Blind Drunk John,” “Johnny Fool,” and “Fooba-Wooba John.”

Here’s an example of the Martin Said to His Man- Kitty Alone:


Saw a crow a-flying low

Kitty alone, kitty alone.

Saw a crow a-flying low,

Kitty alone, alone.

Saw a crow a-flying low

And a cat a-spinnin’ tow.

Rock-a-bye baby bye, rock-a-bye baby bye.

FINAL NOTES: It’s not difficult to distinguish the difference between the “Froggie Went Courtin’” and “Martin Said to His Man” versions. It’s more confusing to sort through and identify the numerous variants of the popular “Froggie” and categorize them.

Here’s a version of “Kitty Alone/ Frog in the Well:”


There was a frog lived in a well,

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

There was a frog lived in a well;

And a merry mouse in a mill.

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.


This frog he would a-wooing ride,

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

This frog he would a-wooing ride,

And on a snail he got astride,

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.


He rode till he came to my Lady Mouse Hall,

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

He rode till he came to my Lady Mouse Hall,

And there he did both knock and call.

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.


Quoth he, “Miss Mouse, I’m come to thee,” –

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

Quoth he, “Miss Mouse, I’m come to thee

To see if thou canst fancy me.”

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.


Quoth she, “Answer I’ll give you none,” –

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

Quoth she, “Answer I’ll give you none

Until my Uncle Rat comes home.”

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.


And when her Uncle Rat came home,

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

And when her Uncle Rat came home:

“Who’s been here since I’ve been gone?”

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.


“Sir, there’s been a worthy gentleman,” –

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

Sir, there’s been a worthy gentleman,

That’s been here since you’ve been gone.”

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.


The frog he came whistling through the brook,

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

The frog he came whistling through the brook,

And there he met with a dainty duck.

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.


This duck she swallowed him up with a pluck,

Kitty alone, Kitty alone;

This duck she swallowed him up with a pluck,

So there’s the end of my history-book.

Cock me cary, Kitty alone,

Kitty alone and I.




Subject: LimberJim/Buck-eye Jim History

From: GUEST,Richie

Date: 17 Nov 02 – 12:50 PM


I wanted to share this with you.


There’s been some extensive research on Buck-eye Jim and Limber Jim in several threads. I’m posting my notes on Limber Jim for Turtle

Old Man and others that are interested. Any comments or additional info would be appreciated.


NOTES: The Limber Jim Songs originated from and combined with various 1800 minstrel song adaptations of the “Froggie Went a Courting/Martin Said To his Man” songs including the “Kemo Kimo” songs, “Kitty Alone” songs and “Goodbye Liza Jane” songs.


Some titles of the “Kemo Kimo” songs are “Keemo Kimo” “Sing Song Kitty (Won’t You Ki-Me-O);” “King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O;” “Kyman-I-Doe;” and “Beaver Creek” which are variants of the old “Froggie Went Courting” songs.


Here are some excerpts from two “Kemo Kimo” songs:


King Kong Kitchee:


Ki-mo, kemo, ki-mo, kee

Way down yonder in a holler tree

An owl and a bat and a bumblebee

King kong kitchie kitchie ki-me-o


Sing Song Kitty:


Way down yonder and not far off,

Sing song kitty can’t ya kime-e-o.

A jaybird died with the whoppin’ cough,

Sing song kitty can’t ya kime-e-o.


Way down yonder on Beaver Creek,

Sing song kitty can ya kime-e-o.

The gals all grow to be six feet,

Sing song kitty can ya kime-e-o.


The Limber Jim Songs are also related to the “Kitty Alone” songs which are variants from the “Martin Said to his Man” and “Froggie Went a Courting” songs. “Limber Jim” relates to the “Martin Said to his Man” branch of “Kitty Alone.” In a long note on this song, Professor G. L. Kittredge shows that the “Old Blind Drunk John” songs derive from “a famous old English song, ‘Martin Said to His Man,’ and entered in the Stationers’ Register in 1588.” It is a lying song-“I saw a louse run a mouse…. I saw a squirrel run a deer…. I saw a flea kick a tree…, in the middle of the sea.” One Scottish version cited says, “Four and twenty Hilandmen chasing a snail,” etc. Other names for “Kitty Alone” are “Who’s the Fool Now?,” “Old Blind Drunk John,” “Johnny Fool,” and “Fooba-Wooba John.”


Here’s an example of the Martin Said to His Man- Kitty Alone:


Saw a crow a-flying low

Kitty alone, kitty alone.

Saw a crow a-flying low,

Kitty alone, alone.

Saw a crow a-flying low

And a cat a-spinnin’ tow.

Rock-a-bye baby bye, rock-a-bye baby bye.


There are also Froggie variants that introduce the “weave and spin” line commonly found in Limber Jim/Buck-eye Jim.


FROGGIE: From Mrs. Ford Kent of New York


A frog he would a-wooing go

A-too-re-lal, a-too-re-lal,

He went into Miss Mouse’s hall

And there he loudly rapped and called,

He said, Miss Mouse, are you within?

She said, I sit and spin.


BUCK-EYE JIM:

Chorus: Buck-eyed Jim, you can’t go

Go weave and spin, you can’t go

Buck-eyed Jim


From Children Of The Levee, published by the University of Kentucky Press in 1957. It is a reprint of the original articles written by Lafcadio Hearn in 1874-1877 for the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Cincinnati Commercial. Hearn: “But the most famous songs in vogue among the roustabouts is “Limber Jim,” or “Shiloh.” Very few know it all by heart, which is not wonderful when we consider that it requires something like twenty minutes to sing “Limber Jim” from beginning to end, and that the whole song, if printed in full, would fill two columns of the commercial! The only person in the city who can sing the song through, we believe, is a colored laborer living near Sixth and Culvert streets, who “run on the river” for years, and acquired so much of a reputation by singing “Limber Jim,” that he has been nicknamed after the mythical individual aforesaid, and is now known by no other name.


Here’s an excerpt of Limber Jim from Hearns, March 17, 1876:


Chorus: Limber Jim,

[All.] Shiloh!

Talk it agin,

[All.] Shiloh!

Walk back in love,

[All.] Shiloh!

You turtle-dove,

[All.] Shiloh!


Went down the ribber, couldn’t get across;

Hopped on a rebel louse; thought ’twas a hoss,

Oh, lor’, gals, ‘t ain’t no lie,

Lice in Camp Chase big enough to cry,–


Bridle up a rat, sir; saddle up a cat,

Please han’ me down my Leghorn hat,

Went to see widow; widow warn’t home;

Saw to her daughter–she geve me honeycomb.


Jay-bird sittin’ on a swinging limb,

Winked at me an’ I winked at him.

Up with a rock an’ struck him on the shin,

G-d d–n yer soul, don’t wink again. (posted by Masato)


The origin of the closely related “Buckeye Jim” song is obscure. According to the Library of Congress, Fletcher Collins collected “Buckeye Jim” (aka “Limber Jim”) from Mrs. J.U. (Patty) Newman in 1939, at Elon College, in North Carolina, which is the first documented version.

The “Limber Jim” group of songs includes “Buck-eye Jim” and “Shiloh”. There are connections with other fiddle tunes such as “Seven Up”. The “Seven Up,” “Charlotte Town is Burning Down,” “Shiloh,” and “Goin’ Down to Cairo” are all related to the large body of “Goodbye Liza Jane” songs.

This fiddle tune has floater verses and many variants. There are two distinct versions: the “Way Up/Down Yonder” versions (see also: Jim Along Josie), and the “Weave and Spin” (Limber Jim) versions. There are also versions that include “Shiloh” which appears to be a slang word for a type of dance or dance step in connection with the tune.

-Richie

[http://www.ceolas.org/]

MARTIN SAID TO HIS MAN. AKA – “Fooba-Wooba.” English, Air (3/4 time). C Major. Standard. One part. Chappell (1859) reports the song appears with its music as one of the Freeman’s songs to three voices in Deuteromelia (1609) and the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Regarding those songs, in the life of Sir Peter Carew by John Vowell, he says “For the King himself (Henry VIII) being much delighted to sing, and Sir Peter Carew having a pleasant voice, the King would often use him to sing with him certain songs they call ‘Freeman’s Song’s.'” Registered as a ballad with the Stationers’ Company in 1588, it seems a satire on the tellers of marvelous tales, much in the vein (says Kines) of such traditional songs of exaggeration such as “Tom-a-lyn,” “Paddy Backwards,” “The Darby Ram,” “Amhran na mBreag,” and “I was born 1000 years ago.” A much later derivative of “Martin Said to his Man” was written by William Courtright, published in 1877 and called “Flewy, Flewy.”

***

Martin said to his man, fie, man, fie

Martin said to his man, who’s the fool now?

Martin said to his man, fill thou the cup and I the can,

Who hast well drunken man, who’s the fool now?

Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time), Vol. 1, 1859; pg. 140. Kines (Songs From Shakespeare’s Plays and Popular Songs of Shakespeare’s Time), 1964; pg. 91.

Field Research Documentation

2005-11-11

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I have, over the years, created a number of forms both for myself and for my students to aid in doing survey work as well as more intensive forms of documentation. I have made all of those forms available on Scribd, which keeps them very tidy — and also doesn’t consume my bandwidth for something that has proved pretty popular over the years:

  • If you are doing what Fred Kniffen once described as “windshield survey” work, you might want to keep a field log sheet on the seat next to you. I have also forgotten such sheets in my office when I headed out, but making myself fill it out as soon as I got back was a sure way to make sure I wrote everything down while the memories were fresh — I am always surprised by how quickly memory decays.
  • If I have made any kind of recording — and I usually work with audio — I like to create a log sheet of the contents while I listen. Again, just having the sheet is enough to make me do the work on most occasions.
  • Finally, while working with the Center for Louisiana Studies, we tried to come up with an archive accession form that would respect the folklore fieldwork practice, and I think the eventual draft we came up with does a decent job. Feel free to adapt it to your circumstances, or archive.
  • You may also be interested in my collection of interview tips.

Rich the First Time

2005-10-12

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When I joined two area tourism commissions to brainstorm ways to facilitate richer, more compelling interactions and experiences for tourists coming to Acadiana, what everyone wanted was something new. They imagined that technology would solve their problems, and for a while they locked onto the newest device in museum exhibit design, the visiguide, which is essentially a highly-customized handheld computer. Bu what I heard Gerald Breaux describe to us as he imagined a future was the frustration he had with the past and its collection of one-off products — films, kiosks, brochures — that lined the shelves of his closets and was either outdated or unusable for a variety of reasons — some of which had to do with the fact that he didn’t have permission to pull apart a film he had in fact paid for.

As I sat and listened to Gerald talk, I imagined an ideal arrangement in which humanities scholars — faculty and students — would engage in field research whose contents would be of a nature — as good textual descriptions and narrations, as high-quality audio, video, and images — as to be immediately usable in various commodities meant for tourists: audio CDs (for driving tours), CD-ROMs, DVDs, on-line web pages, print-on-demand booklets, maps, and guides, among other possibilities.

Gerald Breaux got it, and funded a first iteration that led to a maintenance grant overseen by another faculty member. The first time around, I ended up calling the project Rich the First Time: A Media Infrastructure for Tourism. The text below is what the proposal looked like:

Summary

The Center for Louisiana Studies/ Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism propose a multi-platform media infrastructure for delivering interpretive information to an underdeveloped portion of the tourism market. By taking advantage of evolving information technologies, this flexible system is designed:

  1. to meet the need for new forms of interpretive materials among visitors to this region and,
  2. to add value to the unique tourism assets of communities and businesses presently struggling to attract visitors.

Challenge

To enhance the quality and variety of tourism experiences offered in the Lafayette area and to meet the growing demand among tourists for unconventional encounters with distinctive places, peoples, cultures, communities, heritage, and history.

Without an interpretive infrastructure to meet this demand, many of our greatest assets are never matched with the tourists who value them most. Over the years, Louisiana has worked successfully to strengthen and sustain its conventional tourism infrastructure, such as museums, parks, restaurants, and visitor centers. At the same time, however, we have also witnessed the tremendous expansion of a tourism market sector interested in a decidedly different kind of experience. This market brings to Louisiana visitors seeking firsthand:

  • a unique and authentic sense of place, often in remote locations;
  • a more, independent self-guided interaction with their surroundings;
  • a sense of active discovery in a place, instead of a passive display;
  • a ready access to the smaller stories that give real texture to a place and its people;
  • an experience scaled to suit the visiting individual or family (typically in their own automobile), rather than a guided group;
  • a means of learning and experiencing whereby a visitor can pursue those topics that interest him most, and in as much depth as he desires.

In general, Louisiana’s traditional tourism infrastructure is quite familiar and accessible to visitors and, within its own scope, it succeeds. But for that growing portion of the tourism market seeking the more unconventional experiences found in folk culture, for instance, or in remote rural environments, visitors often do not have the resources and tools they need to find what they are looking for. Conversely, local communities and businesses that can offer such experiences to visitors do not have a ready means of attracting and engaging them.

In short, many of our greatest cultural and historical assets are never shared with the visitors who value them most.

Strategy

Apply the unparalleled resources of the CLS to develop focused, structured interpretations of this region, delivered through multiple media platforms and designed to satisfy the demand for both conventional and unconventional tourism experiences. Such a strategy would rely on the effective use of advances in information technology. (See “Developing a Tourism Media Infrastructure.”)

Good tourism depends on good information. The information that Lafayette provides to visitors works to structure and guide their interpretation of the people, places, and things that make this area worth visiting. But equally important is how that interpretive information is mediated and delivered.

In the case of our own local cultures and histories, the issue is not necessarily a lack of documentation. Rather, it’s a matter of getting that information into the hands of tourists in a way that satisfies their demands, as those demands arise. (Think of this as just-in-time inventory control for interpretive information.) Traditional vehicles for this kind of information delivery have included:

  • Brochures
  • Maps
  • Historical markers
  • Driving tour guides
  • Video kiosks at fixed locations

We are not suggesting that any of these be abandoned. Far from it, there is a generous supply of tourists for whom these forms satisfy all their needs. Instead, we are suggesting that the LCVC take advantage of advances in information technology to develop a wider portfolio of interpretive materials, well-researched and professionally produced, that can be delivered on multiple media platforms and serve multiple functions-that is, one input with multiple outputs. Designed to for maximum adaptability, this model is something we call Rich Structured Data (RSD).

With an emphasis on those tourists most interested in a self-guided, interactive experience of the region, those RSD outputs could include, but are not limited to, the following:

Print

  • Brochures
  • Maps
  • Guidebooks
  • Posters

Audio

  • CD’s
  • Downloadable or streaming MP3’s (“podcasts”)

Image (stills and video)

  • DVDs (linear as well as interactive)
  • VisiGuide handheld computers
  • Television
  • Video clips and stills, for download or streaming

Interactive (blending text, audio, and image)

  • Interactive CD-ROMs
  • Internet (conventional and wireless)
  • VisiGuide handheld computers (with or without GPS features)

Services

Guided by LCVC, the CLS project team designs and executes a series of focused, structured tourism experiences. The CLS is capable of providing three tiers of service in executing these projects.

Tier One: Survey

  1. CLS inventories and catalogues extant historical, cultural, and ecological resources with potential value for tourism.
  2. Independently, the LCVC team works to identify market needs, with assistance from CLS-provided consultant.

Tier Two: Asset Acquisition and Assembly

  1. A group composed of both LCVC personnel and the CLS project team decides on three tours/experiences to be developed.
  2. The CLS project team researches, collects, and produces the necessary content, formatted to suit the Rich Structured Data model. Content would consist of text, images, audio recordings, and video recordings, catalogued and organized into a database ready for production. Content is then configured for multiple output platforms. The model allows for the adaptation, updating, and reconfiguration of content as necessary.*

###Tier Three: Structured Outputting

CLS conducts post-production structuring and assembly of digital assets for the desired output platform, ready for uploading to the target medium.

Budget

Personnel

  • Project Director: Oversee all three field teams and coordinate production personnel to maximize their time spent in the field. 10 hours. $65/hr. ($650)
  • Senior Field Team Leader: Design and develop research and writing particular to the tour-experience specifications. Establish schedule for production personnel. 40 hours. $65/hr. ($2600)
  • Junior Field Team Member: Research and write tour-experience details, prepare shooting script for any production necessary, and crew productions. 120 hours. $32.50/hr. ($3900)
  • Field Production Personnel: Produce publication quality audio, still, and video materials for use in tourism products. 40 hours. $130/hr. ($5200)

###Totals

  • Subtotal: $12350.00
  • Contingency (15%): $1852.50
  • Total: $14202.50

Usage fees and rights to be determined.

(VERSION: 2005-10-01. Original author: John Laudun. Revision authors: John Laudun and Charles Richard.)

The Net and Higher Education

2005-10-04

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It seems to me that the “vision” offered by what was supposed to be a provocative issue of the Tomorrow’s Professor listserv, the excerpt from Burck Smith’s “Higher Education: The Vision [2015],” was neither a vision nor provocative. It is in fact merely a fuller, more imaginative articulation of what has really become a cliche, that the net is THE place for realization of the corporate mentality’s belief in “more, better, faster, with less,” especially at the level of knowledge production — or at least knowledge inculcation.

While I am, as well as others like me, more than tempted to scribble a Swiftean counter-statement, along the lines of “A Modest Proposal” or “Gulliver’s Travels,” I think it’s even more telling to make a counterfactual argument, one that reveals just how low our pants have been pulled down: there is no desire for knowledge for the most part in corporations. One need only look to the exponential increase in third-party consulting groups to see the dynamic at work: any and all undesirable consequences are in the end deferable to consultants, who as certified bearers of knowledge, should have all the answers. (Of course, the lovely irony here is that consultants always have the opportunity to rage about how clients did not follow through.)

Certification, or deferment, is exactly the point here. Quite often employers are not looking to hire the best and brightest but simply those who have been certified as being the shiniest, either by class ranking, school ranking, or both. No one has time anymore, since the internet is now the speed of business (to jumble a couple of ad campaign slogans together), and so there is no time for human interaction, interaction which would reveal the fit and fitness of individuals within organizations. Everyone is too busy checking off boxes. (Anyone who has suffered any contact with the paper end of HR departments will know exactly what I mean.)

Now along comes the internet, which would seem to offer the exciting possibility of no real human contact, but unfortunately it does not offer us the certification processes that most corporations want out of an institutionally-backed diploma. This leaves business, which is the driving force behind much of the net’s recent expansion, in a real quandary. How do they know that the person who lists off twenty internet courses actually learned anything without having a crimped transcript in front of them? Horrors. They would have to talk with them.

Human interaction, then, has to occur at some point in the process in order for the system to bear up, either in the form of professors engaging students in the classroom or HR personanel engaging applicants in the interview. My preference would be for this happening all along the way, but all the visions I have so far seen go in precisely the opposite way, which I believe most humbly is the wrong way.

Then again, what do I know? I left a well-paying job as a management consultant to become a folklorist. I actually like talking with people and finding out what they know, much of which has never graced the screens of the internet.

Evacuation

2005-09-25

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So now I know. I know two things. First, what is it is like to be part of an evacuation. Second, that I am not going to do it again. Or, to be clear, next time I evacuate it is going to be because it is a mandatory evacuation because there is a Category 5 storm headed straight for Lafayette, the city in which I live.

Last time a storm headed our way, it was Hurricane Lili in September of 2002. I was just coming off my usual dog days of Louisiana summers sinus infection, and in fact prepared for the storm riding the crest of a steroid injection. It also meant that I spent much of the night awake as the storm built to full fury only to zonk out during the storm’s “peak” — I’m still wrestling with the notion of what the peak of a hurricane is, because it is pretty much all bad.

After Lili, my wife turned to me and said, quite clearly, “The next time a storm like that comes our way, we are leaving.”

I took her at her word, and as Rita slowly nudged her expected path eastward, I began to prepare to move out. By Thursday morning, September 22, the Louisiana governor had issued mandatory evacuations for most coastal areas as well as other low-lying areas further inland apt to flood. Lafayette was under a voluntary evacuation.

But this time around it’s not just me and my wife, and we would probably have stayed and weathered the storm, as they. We now have a one year old, and I just could not rationalize taking any kind of chance with her, so into the car went the three of us as well as clothes and stuff to keep us occupied for a few days. (Okay, dumb optimism on my part. We did not pack for anything serious to happen to our house. Stupid, but we’re going to get to boneheadedness in a moment, so please be patient with the story so far.) And we headed east to Baton Rouge, which our governor had also asked us folks not to go to, but since I have family in Baton Rouge, I figured we were in the right to go there.

Now, the problem with all these grand evacuation plans, or lack thereof if you are of that school of thought, is that they depend upon there being decent evacuation routes. And with over fifty years of bad planning and “not in my back yard” mindsets and taxpayers who think taxes only support welfare moms and not things like roads, there just aren’t that many evacuation routes. Lafayette has three major highways that serve it: I-10, I-49, and Route 90.

I-10 heads east and it heads west, and no one wanted to go west. Route 90 heads west and it heads south, to New Orleans. Mmmm, nah ah. I-49 heads north.

And everyone was headed north. We saw miles and miles of cars as we passed over I-49 headed east on I-10. And we made good time, until we got to the usual snafu on that bit of highway between Lafayette and Baton Rouge, the Atchafalaya Basin Freeway, or as it is better known around here, “the basin bridge” aka “the basin overpass” aka “the overpass.”

Archiving Literature

2005-08-11

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In a conversation with Debbie Clifton, she recommended the following texts, which she has on her shelves in her office at the Natural History Museum:

  • Cataloguing Cultural Objects
  • The Classification of Pictures and Slides (at the LSU library)
  • Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (highly recommended)
  • The Revised Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging

Software used at NHM: PastPerfect (appeared to be running on a Windows 98 machine, so I don’t know if it’s cross-platform or still in development).

At some point in the near future, we need to determine if and how we are going to inventory the diverse collections of the Center. I would love to see a single (obviously flexible) database that would allow a user to search the entire contents of our collections. Currently we have Filemaker as our backbone (if we can get it running for everybody), but at some point, if we grow, I would love to see us have something with more transparency for us as designers — something like MySQL, which would allow us to have a web interface, and even serve to the www, without the steep price tag that FM wants for that function. (Oh for the time to learn PHP, etc.)

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