~gd~ Not Music of the Last Century no. 33 - Variations on a Theme: Septuagenarian Song Forms - February 11, 2019
Continuing a theme that I had started on the previous week's Music of the Last Century, this was my chance to present Sol Mogerman's triplet to the world!
My 87th program for The Station - Not Music of the Last Century no. 33, Variations on a Theme: Septuagenarian Song Forms – February 11, 2019
Special note: on the day that I am posting this, I will on the evening of June 27th, 2025 (at the Spiral Café in Victoria West) be joining Sol Mogerman for the world premiere performance of us as a duo named 2Thirds. More details on this as there will be a video of the gig and there have been videos of our rehearsing the tunes, my first experience in actually rehearsing material (quite an interesting activity!).
Monomix archival recording of the program:
Transcript
x-♪ 0:00 Electronic dance music from the ending of the previous program, Megawatt Hour. I had to coach Matt on how to pronounce “septuagenarian”!
0:31 program promo
1:35 advertisement
2:08 gd: And good evening! My name is Georges and this is Variations on a Theme, and ah, we are in the middle of a storm, as you might be aware. Ah, and so there is this very important announcement, especially for University of Victoria students.
Ah, “due to forecasted weather conditions, all classes are cancelled. They’ve been cancelled since ah, three thirty this afternoon. Campus services, ah, will close at four thirty, so that’s happened, until further notice. Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning for Greater Victoria starting this afternoon and persisting overnight into Tuesday.” I’ll give you a little bit more details on that later.
Ah, and UVIC will monitor conditions on campus and provide an update, ah, by seven a.m. tomorrow morning, February 12. So please, please use caution in your travels. I came in from Colwood, ah, and it’s safe to be on a bus, but ah for one thing, don’t stand close to the stop because the buses when they come, they’re coming to a full a stop even at ten kilometers an hour, but they go an extra three or four feet that cannot be avoided because of the icy conditions.
Doubly applicable if you’re walking. Little steps, keep your center of gravity. If you have a cane or an umbrella it will help you, to balance you if you, if you have to test the ice and you don’t have winter boots like me.
3:23 Um, check for UVIC information on extreme weather, including information about assignments and exams at UVIC dot c-a, slash emergency. Or you can go to the University of Victoria Twitter site.
So today’s program um, is yes, septuagenarian music, brand new recordings. One by Sol Mogerman – actually, three by Sol Mogerman which we received a couple of weeks ago, ah and um, I’m going to stretch that into the last couple of years because Bob Dylan – is I think 77 now, 76, 77? – he has in the last four years released five albums, although one called Triplicate is three album concepts in one triple album package. From Triplicate, well, here’s the most appropriate tune that I’ll be playing today. Stormy Weather
♪ 4:24 Bob Dylan Stormy Weather
(I flubbed the opening which distorted, so I stopped it)
4:50 gd: No, no, that wasn’t right. I should do that much better now because um, I believe in take two, especially with the right amount of volume. Don’t want to make Bob that scary. Let’s try that again.
♪ 5:04 Bob Dylan Stormy Weather
♪ 8:03 Sol Mogerman Are You Lonely?
♪ 10:46 Peter Stampfel and the Atomic Metapagans Mister Love
13:17 gd: Peter Stampfel and the Atomic Metapingins – pegans! Ah, which is a new release that we received about a month ago, ah, and I have the privilege to say that the co-singer on the album, Peter Stampfel is accompanied on many tracks by Shelley Hirsch and that was somebody that I actually shared the stage with in my one and only musical performance, paid, ah, back in 1995.
And I was glad to see that there are people still releasing albums, coming out with stuff, ah, that I’ve actually encountered in my own fifty-nine years. Sol Mogerman was before that with Are You Lonely and that’s from one of his three recordings that I’m going to be talking about a little bit later in the show.
Ah, and before that, Bob Dylan from his Triplicate album and the most appropriate tune, Stormy Weather. I’ll be back after this.
14:09 advertisement
14:41 gd: So, um, Bob Dylan came out with five albums since 2015. Three of them, three separate concept albums, ah, were packaged together as Triplicate and two other albums, um, which appeared also with music from the Great American Songbook, ah, are Fallen Angels and Shadows in the Night and I’ll see if I can fit in a lot of that too in this hour.
I had done on my program, Music of the Last Century another program, ah a couple of weeks about septuagenarian music ah, people in their seventies creating incredibly interesting stuff. Ah, and this is kind of an overflow. Most of, ah, I think all of that I’m going to be playing today wasn’t on that program, but I think there’s still a lot more to be said.
And I’ve talked to Sol Mogerman, or I’ve been in contact with him by email and I’m hoping to be able to talk to him in the near future. But for now, let’s try and get a lot of this music, ah, to try and take our minds off the snowstorm. And another one from Bob Dylan. You know this one, Sentimental Journey, originally a hit for Doris Day.
♪ 15:56 Bob Dylan Sentimental Journey
19:04 gd: Bob Dylan and Sentimental Journey from Triplicate. Here’s Peter Stampfel again, with the Atomic Metapagans and ah, two tunes, Feeding the Cats and Queen Mary – ah, Queen Marie of Romania and in between those two, another song, Kitty by Sol Mogerman.
♪ 19:25 Peter Stampfel, Shelley Hirsch and the Atomic Metapagans Feeding the Cats
♪ 20:08 Sol Mogerman Kitty
♪ 23:19 Peter Stampfel, Shelley Hirsch and the Atomic Metapagans Queen Marie of Romania
25:06 gd: Shelley Hirsch and Peter Stampfel and the Atomic Metapagans, ah and ah that album is – oh it’s got a title but I – see if I can try to remember the name. Ah, I’ll – I’ll worry about that later.
Ah, you are listening to Variations on a Theme. My name is Georges. I’m filling in ah for this week and my regular show is on Wednesdays between two and three p.m. called Music of the Last Century.
And there’s a snowstorm, and here is our official announcement again, in case you missed it at the top of the hour. Um, due to forecasted weather conditions, all classes at University of Victoria have been cancelled. That ah, took effect at three thirty, so if you had a four o’clock and you couldn’t make it, ah, you didn’t miss it.
Campus services have closed since four thirty p.m. and they will until further notice. Hopefully ah this will be all over by the morning. Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning for Greater Victoria starting this afternoon and ah persisting overnight and into Tuesday, so UVIC will monitor the conditions on campus and they will provide everybody with an update, ah, tomorrow morning at 7 a.m.
26:14 So, if you want to look up UVIC dot c-a slash emergency, or if you use that Twitter thing, ah, UVIC has got information there too. And I would like to ah, well, first a message and then we’ll be right back after this.
26:37 advertisement
♪ 27:11 Ashley MacIsaac and Quinn Bachand – Sleeping Maggie (live version)
I couldn’t find the video that featured this selection, but on the other hand, I discovered a video that had been taken two days prior to the storm according to the you tube date!
(faded to background at 28:32) gd: And the voice that you hear, of course, and the music is of Ashley MacIsaac and that is in company of Quinn Bachand and ah they are obviously doing Sleeping Maggie, a more recent version because this is from 2012, from the ah Beacon Ridge Productions official you tube website, and I’m going to let this play a little bit.
Ah, after the four minute mark though, they kind of break free from the song form and they get into Celtic improvisation and that is one of the reasons why if you can safely, you should try and make it, if you have a ticket to the concert tonight. Ah, Ashley MacIsaac and Quinn Bachand are performing at the St. Andrews Presbyterian Church and I talked to, ah, one of the representatives at about four, four o’clock this afternoon and they told me that they are going on as scheduled at seven thirty.
But ah, they had originally said that doors would open at six thirty, but they are looking at opening the doors as soon as anybody arrives, ah probably six o’clock would be the best time. Ah, so take your time in getting there. Ah, and it’s at 924 Douglas Street.
Do not go if you don’t have a ticket because it’s a sold out concert so the only way you’re going to get a ticket if you know somebody who’s got one and they don’t want to go through the storm. It’s possible. You can do this very – take the bus – I mean, if you still have the time enough to do it. Ah, but that is tonight’s performance.
There is one other thing that was on our calendar, Cinecenta had pres-, pred-, prepared a (chuckles) copy of The Magic Flute by Ingmar Bergman. They were going to be playing that tonight ah as part of their regular series on Bergman but that has been cancelled, so do not come on campus tin-, ah, to see the thing at the Cinecenta tonight. So I’ll leave you a little bit more Ashley before I let go. He does not of course fall into the septuagenarian concept of this particular hour, but I thought you’d want to hear a little bit more of it.
♪ 30:43 Ashley MacIsaac and Quinn Bachand Sleeping Maggie + a bit from Wing-Stock live in concert
32:57 gd: (fading music into background again) And a couple of other announcements here. Um, I have just gone on to the website for BC Transit and this is ah the latest four thirty p.m. routes affected. Ah, “the BC Transcit announces that snow is starting to fall. Roads are very slick, buses may be delayed during, ah, due to road conditions.”
There are - and you have to go online if you want to try and find out the exact details, but the routes that are being affected right now, ah, number six, number eleven, number thirteen, number fourteen, that one comes up here ah, is taking a detour. Ah, number sixteen, number twenty-two, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, or actually twenty-four, twenty-five and twenty-six are regular routes.
Ah, there are slight differences on route number twenty-seven, number thirty-two, ah, thirty-five and forty-three are closed, fifty two doesn’t go down to the Esquimalt Lagoon, fifty-three has been cancelled, fifty-four and fifty-five doesn’t go to Duke Road, slight – ah, no William Head Prison access. Ah, fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-nine and sixty have also been affected. Sixty-one is a regular route so far. Sixty-three is not serving the Whiffin Spit. Sixty-four is not serving the Llanilar Loop. Seventy-two, ah, Mount Newton instead of Island View in both directions. Seventy-five, eighty-one affected, eighty-two is a regular route and eighty-three is not servicing Verdier Loop.
34:25 Again, if you want to try and find out more information about that, go to the “alerts” button on BC Transit dot com. Be safe out there.
♪ 34:34 (more Ashley and Quinn playing Wing-Stock)
34:58 gd: And we’ll say goodbye to Ashley MacIsaac and Quinn Bachand, again, that concert is still going on tonight, ah, but the doors will be opened they said at least at six o’clock to let people in. Nobody’s going to be standing out in the snow.
And let me tell you, I have been to concerts where there have been snowstorms or, or things that have affected the audience participation, and I tell you, the performers when they are professional – and these are two professionals – they really appreciate the audience that will make the effort to come and see them. So that is really going to be, I’m sure, a really great concert tonight.
Um, and again Cinecenta has cancelled the showing of Bergman’s Magic Flute.
Now, back to Sol Mogerman. Now, Sol Mogerman, um, I am familiar with him because my first concert that I had seen when ah, coming to Victoria, somebody of experimental nature, I had come to see Eugene Chadbourne and opening for Eugene Chadbourne were the Tremblers of Sevens, who I have talked about many times on my programs.
36:05 But opening for the Tremblers of Sevens was Sol Mogerman’s first concert, he said in 32 years. Well, he’s come out with three recordings. One is called Feed the Masses, the second is called Was It Fun? And the third is called Chain of Life.
His style, to me is a kind of a talking blues, but talking blues that is accompanied with free-form or experimental or very complex guitar. He’s obviously a very good guitar player and you actually will hear him play regular licks because he quotes the song Tequila in this next song, ah, next track.
Ah but um, he is also an author. He has published two books, one called The Story of Jude and the other is Objects in the Mirror are Closer Than They Appear: Inside Brain Injury. More on him on future programs of Music of the Last Century, ah and probably throughout the year, because now we’ve (chuckles) got three albums to get through of all the wonderful tracks.
I had listened to all three on the weekend and there are many gems here. But this one I picked out because I was there – this was recorded live at Logan’s, Tequila Live is a wonderful story of getting across the border because you’re young and you want to discover Mexico. So here he is, ah, from Feed the Masses, Sol Mogerman with Tequila Live.
♪ 37:36 Sol Mogerman Tequila (Live)
♪ 42:06 Peter Stampfel and the Atomic Metapagans New Football Blues
♪ 44:10 Buffy Ste-Marie with Tanya Tagaq You’ve Got to Run
47:51 gd: Buffy Ste-Marie from her compilation, ah with two new tracks called Medicine Music, ah or Medicine Songs. And that came out I think in January of last year, ah and the two new tracks of course were You’ve Got To Run with Tanya Tagaq who has a new album – we haven’t received it yet but there is a new single if you go to her Facebook website.
Ah, and ah, the other song was – I forget what it was – oh, Power in the Blood, of course, the title of the album ah that she come out before with. Ah, this is going to be the end of ah Music of the Last Century – no, no, this is not Music of the Last Century, this is Variations on a Theme, Music of the Last Century being my program on Tuesdays, Wednesdays I mean. (Chuckles) Ah, this snow is making me crazy.
48:33 Ah, between two and three p.m.. And one more track, ah, from Sol Mogerman, from Feed the Masses. This is another live track ah called Young Man Blues but I also wanted to mention about um, Peter Stampfel who I’ve been playing throughout this hour.
The album is called the atom-, ah his new group is called the Atomic Metapagans but he’s also known for having been one of the original Fugs, ah, was a member of the Holy Modal Rounders, but he’s also performed with, according to Wikipedia, They Might Be Giants, the Roches, Yo La Tengo, Bongwater, Jeffrey Lewis, Michael Hurley, Baby Gramps and Loudon Wainwright III. Ah, and you heard his new Football Blues, kind of late after the Super Bowl but it doesn’t sound like he’s a big football fan.
And before that, Sol Mogerman ah, from Logan’s and if you want to see that concert, it’s actually on line the entire performance of Sol Mogerman m-o-g-e-r-m-a-n, with Tequila Live. You can go to Sol Mogerman dot com, ah, if you want to write to him and find out how to get these albums yourself. But ah, we’re going to be playing them on future programs.
But from again, Feed the Masses, this is Young Man Blues, live.
(I actually posted all three albums for free on my soundcloud account here:
♪49:48 Sol Mogerman Young Man Blues (Live)
(the full concert at Logan’s)
♪ 52:22 Bob Dylan Young at Heart
55:14 program promo
55:46 station tag
56:12 gd: So on Variations on a Theme, this week you’ve been listening to septuagenarian music, music created by people in their seventies, except for Ashley and ah Quinn and ah, a couple of last – I think I can fit one more in if I shut up. Ah, with Sol Mogerman, from Was It Fun, Daykendance and of course the perfect sh-, (chuckles) song to end the program with from Bob Dylan’s Shadows in the Night, The Night That We Called It A Day.
Thank you for listening, again, everything’s been cancelled here at UVIC, do not come on campus because nothing is going to be happening, not even here at the station. So if you want more information, UVIC dot c-a, slash emergency. Take your time, baby steps, be careful out there and thank you.
♪ 56:58 Sol Mogerman Daykendance
♪ 56:11 Bob Dylan The Night We Called It a Day (excerpt)
The Sol Mogerman Triplicate albums on Soundcloud (free downloads):
