User:Hucktunes

1951

1951 was a very bad year for the fishing community of Monterey Bay, in Old California. Cannery Row collapsed because the anchovies did not appear as they had every year since time immortal. It became common for folks to order their pizza without anchovies.

Old Time Music

Part of the attraction of old time music is the antiquity of the material and the controversy about the origins of the tunes. With the advent of recording in the 1920s many tunes were attributed to the recording artists of the day, when in fact the tunes are much older. It is fun for the old time musician to tell stories about the tunes in his or her repertoire, and in many cases to make up a 'bonehead dissertation' such as...........

The Origins Of Old Time Music In America

In 1798 Napoleon, the great leader of the French Republic and the Grand Army, led 38,000 troops as well as civilian archaeologists into Egypt and commenced to digging around the pyramids and the Sphinx. Buried deep under the feet of the Sphinx he uncovered tunes dating back to the very beginning of civilization, music as old as Egypt herself. Things did not go well in Egypt and he still had the world to conquer, so he decided to sell the tunes and some land to the United States in order to finance his plan to spread the ideals of Democracy to all of Europe. President Thomas Jefferson was a great lover of music and was excited to give these great tunes to the American people as a gift, so in 1803 he purchased these tunes and the land from Napoleon for 15 million dollars. As the tunes were paid for with public funds, these tunes are public domain and belong to every American to do with as we please. My thanks go to Napoleon, Thomas Jefferson, and all the great old time musicians and musicologists that have studied and interpreted these fine tunes from ancient Egypt, these great American Fiddle Tunes.

Fiddle Or Violin?

Both words, Fiddle and Violin, come from a common source. The source for these words is the Old Roman Latin word Vitula. Vitula was one of the many Roman Holidays celebrated by the ancient Romans. Roman Holidays were a time of fun and merry making, in some instances the slaves served by their masters. More than half of the Roman calendar was honored with a Roman Holiday. The word Vitula seems to be in honor of a goddes of life, or liveliness. It's related to the word Vitus, Life. The day was celebrated by the musical accompaniment of stringed instruments played with a bow. These were fairly quiet instruments, as the sound post had not yet been invented, and were used mostly for their rhythmic quality. So both the Germanic word Fiddle, and the French-Italian word violin come from the same source and are equally correct. To my ears Fiddle sounds closest to the source, so I prefer that word. And besides, I don't speak French.