Kevin Derrow, The Dutchman (Mad Sailor of the North Atlantic) Music, Life, and Community

Titles and subtitles, so much to be said here in so little space... (but several photos at the very end)

 

The ‘Big Idea’ is that people these days – that is, many of you and certainly I – have too often forsaken authentic Community and Folk in favor of commercial culture: radio and internet music, television and movie stories, ‘successful’ authors, etc; and that tradeoff impoverishes us all.

 

Kevin Derrow (GHS '74) brought this home to me in a big way when we met recently (for the first time) in Ashley to discuss an upcoming Garrett Sixties Music Festival (Sat Aug 16, Kevin will be managing a music stage and open mic).

 

Driving home I listened to some of Kevin’s songs (he just happened to have some of his CDs and poetry with him), and was astonished by:

·         How good the songs were – lyrics and music – very good.

·         And how much more meaningful lyrics and music are when you and the artist are linked by community.

 

While we had not previously met:

·        Kevin’s mother Becky Derrow was my kindergarten teacher.

·        My own wife Kathy Koons Rowe taught Kevin as a junior in ’72-’73.

·        More fundamentally, we have shared the same community.

 

 

And as I had read several of Kevin’s essays on Facebook in the past two years, I also sat down and read the Mad Sailor of the North Atlantic poems he gave me. Not nearly as mature or polished as his excellent songs, still these poems contain many, many lightening flashes of insight and expression; Kevin is indeed a poet.

 

 

Now, back to the Big Idea: Reading Kevin’s Mad Sailor poems, and especially listening to his original songs and music, colored now by the context of personal contact and shared community, was a very powerful experience, which I can intimate only per the notion of alchemy – an almost mystical transformation of base material into gold.

 

And then I knew ...

                                   What we have lost...

                                                                         Abdicated...

 

To commercial literature, entertainment, song, dance, and art.

 

 

There are so many others in the community with so much to share...

 

But when the ‘community’ does not commune, our experience is base...

 

Though we are unaware,

 

as if born blind, deaf, and dumb. 

 

 

 

 

 

 



The Mad Sailor, February 2014

 

 

Stephen Rowe welcomes correspondence of all sort at StephenRowe.OriGraphics@yahoo.com (watch for the period between Rowe and OriGraphics), and can be found on Facebook by first logging in, and then typing ArtMissionary  (all one word) into its “Search for people” form, or by clicking on https://www.facebook.com/#!/ArtMissionary.

 

 

 

Garrett's Centenary Era (and Other Anniversaries)

Garrett is now in the midst of a centenary era:

·         City Hall was built in 1913, (now) 101 years ago,.

·         The Public Library was built 100 years ago, in 1914.

·         The old High School’s first harvest graduated 92 years ago, in 1922.

 

These three major civic buildings, then, were built within a 10-year span one century ago, roughly 40-50 years after the 1871 railroad survey that ultimately birthed the town.

 

It is almost, if not entirely impossible to imagine how exciting this development must have been “back in the day.” We imagine the century-old past in tones of grey; so different from our own more vibrant and colorful past...

 

 

 

If you are interested, click on Garrett’s GrowthFrom 1871 to 1936, from the Garrett Clipper’s January 20, 1936 Anniversary Edition.

Blast from the Past

Speaking of our own past…

If Garrett is in the midst of a Centenary Civic Era, the rest of America is in the midst

of a pop culture celebration – every day is the 50^th anniversary of something Sixties...

           

 

   

 

 

 

 

And we all were there...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Though perhaps

 

                some of us

 

                       more than others...

 

  

  

 

 

     While one GHS ’70 classmate 

 

 

 

 

                       Rick Elder

 

 

 

 

                                        was there in a HUGE way...

 

 

 

Rick sent me this photo a couple weeks ago, we had been corresponding about music and The Saga of Geezer Blue (perhaps more on that later, but only if you are interested). Anyway, Rick plays, and he sent this photo to prove it. I was skeptical at first, but then he sent additional photos of himself with the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and more, so like the Monkeys said, “Now I’m a believer...”





Rick with Bob Dylan, date unknown

            Thanks Rick


             for the fun



 Stephen Rowe welcomes correspondence of all sort at StephenRowe.OriGraphics@yahoo.com (watch for the period between Rowe and OriGraphics), and can be found be found on Facebook by typing ArtMissionary(all one word) into its“Search for people” form.

GHS '70 Legend in the Winter of 2014 (and the Mystic Portal)

(Excerpt from the February 2014 GHS '70 Newsletter)

Just in case you missed it, the January 27^th GHS '70 Luncheon will become a legend.

 

It was the worst day of the worst January of the worst winter in the recorded history of northeast Indiana. My (Steuben County) road was completely impassable, and according to WLKI radio: three semis were jackknifed at three different I-69 Dekalb County mile markers; there was a seven car pileup on SR 427; 40 mph winds, whiteouts, a code red throughout multiple counties; and who nows what else?

 

But nothing could stop the stoutest heart in Garrett’s Class of ’70: Lauren Fike, and ONLY Lauren, made it to the Peking Buffet (as I learned from two different Peking Buffet managers).

 

The frames and backgrounds used in the image above are derived from art hanging in the Peking Buffet’s back room where we gather for the GHS ’70 luncheons, and if you look carefully, the background’s gold characters suffuse with Lauren’s being. The reason for this effect is that Lauren has thereby stepped through the GHS ’70 Mystic Portal ... a mind-bending time warp that is open to anyone who chooses to share himself or herself with the class ... Open to all who say “Yes!”

 

Lauren has a big heart, and has been saying “Yes!” in a big ever since these luncheons began, heading toward two years now. Thank you Lauren, for being there, so many times.

 

 

 

 

Stephen Rowe welcomes correspondence of all sort at StephenRowe.OriGraphics@yahoo.com (watch for the period between Rowe and OriGraphics), and can be found be found on Facebook by typing ArtMissionary (all one word) into its“Search for people” form.