Other Cool Birds

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Other Cool Birds

March 2, 2014 by redtreetimes

“If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing.”

– Coco Chanel

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There is a new website, Other Cool Birds, out there in the inter-tubes that has all forms of artwork– visual, musical, performance and literary–that features a bird as its central theme. It is a unique labor of love from multi-talented writer Lafayette Wattles, who also maintains an eponymous and entertaining website devoted to his own writings. There is also a character always hovering around Lafayette named Dave DeGolyer who I first came in contact with a year or two back when he interviewed me for another website. Lafayette took parts of my interview and has put it to good use as he has graciously selected me to be the first Featured Artist on the Other Cool Birds site, an honor for which I am highly appreciative.

I urge you to visit this site and the Lafayette Wattles site. Both are entertaining and informative, plus if you are (or aren’t) an artist, writer, photographer, dancer or musician of any sort, Lafayette is always looking for another cool bird to include in his gallery. Let your wings show!

I’ve gotten accustomed to having some music on Sunday mornings so here’s one of my favorites from the bluegrass kings, Flatt & Scruggs. I just finished watching the film Bonnie and Clyde after waking way too early and the strains of their Foggy Mountain Breakdown had me digging for a version of a Bob Dylan song they covered years ago, Down In the Flood. I probably have a soft spot for Flatt & Scruggs because of their appearances on The Beverly Hillbillies but this is a great version and shows off the versatility and willingness to venture outside their own neighborhood.

Hey, have a great Sunday!

Posted in Biographical, Music, Neat Stuff | Tagged Bluegrass, Bob Dylan, Bonnie and Clyde, Dave DeGolyer, Flatt & Scruggs, Lafayette Wattles, Music, Other Cool Birds, The Beverly Hillbillies | 6 Comments

6 Responses

on March 2, 2014 at 9:21 am | Reply shoreacres

I love that Coco Chanel is being quoted more and more these days. In a world of Lady Gagas and Miley what’s-her-namers, #5 and a little black dress can be pretty refreshing.

I looked at the “Birds” site and look forward to exploring it a bit later. It looks like you’ve got some pretty good neighbors there. And I just discovered a new musician last night I wanted to commend to you — if you don’t already know him. Jack Rose’s “Rappahanock River Rag” is pretty good Sunday morning music, too.
- on March 2, 2014 at 10:05 am | Reply redtreetimes
  
  Thanks for the great link. It is a good Sunday morning choice. I didn’t know about Rose but was saddened to see that he had died at a relatively early age, 38. But it was interesting to see the scope of his short career, in this wonderful guitar rag to what seems like the other end of the spectrum with his work with the drone band Pelt. Thank you again for pointing him out.
on March 2, 2014 at 9:51 am | Reply tomgeorgearts

Flatt and Scruggs – geniuses!
- on March 2, 2014 at 10:01 am | Reply redtreetimes
  
  I like to think so.
on March 2, 2014 at 5:31 pm | Reply WOL

I love your painting with its clean lines and simple design. I’m going to put it in my wallpaper program so I can see it on my desktop. Flatt and Scruggs were two tremendous talents in a musical genre that has long been as undervalued and ignored as the people who gave birth to it. I’m glad to see it finally finding its place alongside blues as an original American genre. The poor whites of Appalachia were the other side of the coin of the poor Blacks in the Mississippi delta. The musicians may have been unlettered and unsophisticated, but the music certainly isn’t. It’s as intricate and complex as anything that ever came out of Europe. The banjo is an American invention, and Flatt and Scruggs are masters of both the instrument and the music it gave rise to. I’m glad to see the mainstreaming of the music by the likes of Vince Gill (who started out as a session man on guitar), Ricky Scaggs, Alison Krauss. Mark O’Connor, Jerry Douglas, and so many others. But they could not have done it without the leg up given to them by Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, and the generation of giants that preceded them. I live next door to South Plains College, which has a a nationally known bluegrass and country music program.( https://www.facebook.com/spcbluegrass ) Finally, it’s legit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYhlXdxbAXc&list=PL5FD4BA2DFE4371C3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlcX6NAdptI

Enjoy!
- on March 3, 2014 at 9:41 am | Reply redtreetimes
  
  Yes, bluegrass has attained a certain recognition and legitimacy, thanks to everyone you mentioned. Thanks for all the videos! And speaking of bluegrass, don’t forget longtime mainstays Ralph Stanley or Del McCoury– two of my favorites!