Welcome to the johngorka.com website!
Whatever brought you here I thank you for stopping by. I check into the site every now and then but most of my time and energy goes into making music in the non-virtual world. That means a lot of traveling, coming up with new songs, recalling or learning old songs and making new recordings. I hope that you will find something here that’s worth your time and I hope to provide more fresh content than I’ve managed in the past.
All the best,
John Gorka
Uncategorized | 5.01.2007 23:16 | 11 Comments
2007 Top Ten Favorites *
by John Gorka, Folksinger
In no particular order except for #1
- Favorite CD Mavis Staples’ We’ll Never Turn Back
- Favorite New Club: Ragamuffin Music Hall, Roswell, GA
- House Sound Kerrville Folk Festival
- Seeing Anais Mitchell Live
- Visiting the Woody Guthrie archives
- Collaborating with Woody Guthrie
- Collaborating with William Stafford
- One of my all time favorite singers liked my CD
- Beginning the “Longing for Eliza” show with Cliff Eberhardt, & Eliza Gilkyson
- The Sierra Leone Refugee Allstars DVD– should be required viewing for every over-privileged US musician.
- Cowboy stories where the good guys fight and win
- Which means any of the 30 odd Louis L’Amour stories I’ve read this year
- Didn’t have to vote against anyone this year
- Seeing Jonathan Byrd Live
- Finding out that slightly overweight people live longer
- Releasing a hi-def, high resolution surround sound DVD
- Hearing it on my brother-in-law’s home theater system because I do not have one.
- Didn’t get abducted by aliens this year
- Singing with Antje Duvekot
- Getting to hear Cape Breton and other Nova Scotia songwriters & musicians at Stan Rogers Festival, Canso, Nova Scotia
- 360 or so naps taken
- Finding out nappers live longer
- Didn’t bomb Iran yet
- Playing in Jersey City, NJ (land of my people)
- Singing with Rose Cousins
- Public finding out the dangers of optimism
- The bright side of pessimism coming to light (things generally turn out better than you thought they would).
- Angelina, Britney and Paris agreeing not to call more than once a week.
- Seeing, hearing and performing with Michael Manring.
- My Mom turned 90.
- Having more favorites than I can remember
- Our kids still like us
- Singing and doing shows with Meg Hutchinson, Drew Nelson and Amilia Spicer
- Concert for Bob Feldman, St. Paul, MN
- One of my songwriter heroes learning one of my songs
- Seeing how vast and varied the country is and marveling that it is not more divided and fragmented than it actually is.
*Surplus due to writers’ strike –
Uncategorized | 1.01.2008 4:59 | 4 Comments
I was honored to be a part of the celebration of Woody Guthrie’s music entitled “In Woody’s Words” at WXPN’s World Cafe Live in Philadelphia yesterday. The cast also included, Tom Paxton, Jonatha Brooke, Cathy Fink and Marcie Marxer, Sara Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion. Nora Guthrie and Gene Shay were the hosts. It was big fun. There was a short but moving film about Woody’s impact on the world of music. Arlo also visited by video. The program featured the debut of new songs which combined unpublished Woody lyrics and new music by the participants. We had been asked to say something about what Woody meant to us.
This request triggered a memory I didn’t even know I had in me. Here it is below:
Woody, Cisco and Me
I first met Woody Guthrie in Chico, CA in late July, 1938. He and Cisco Houston had been invited to play at an afternoon rally for a new fruit pickers union. I attended and hovered around afterwards but didn’t have the nerve to try and say hello. Later that evening I followed Woody, Cisco, and a small group of hangers on as they moved to a bar in downtown Chico. The place had an Irish sounding name as I recall — Muldoon’s or Mulrooney’s. Several people offered to buy them drinks. ”Well,” Woody said, “I only drink in two situations — when I’m alone or with somebody.” Since it was a warm evening in July both the front and the backdoors were open so I was able sneak a peek and listen to the grown-ups even though I wasn’t old enough to go inside. After eating sandwiches at the bar they moved to the back room and out came the instruments. I moved to the back entrance to listen and I remember hearing Gypsy Davy, and what would become some of Woody’s dustbowl ballads (recorded in Camden, NJ, 1940). At one point Cisco came out the back to have a smoke and he saw me there and asked if I had eaten lately and would I like a root beer. I said I’d had some jerky and peanuts but I would love the root beer although I didn’t have the money to pay for one. Cisco said “Don’t worry about it kid,” got me the root beer and went back inside to make some more music.
That music went on and on and eventually I fell asleep listening. When I woke up I had my head on my pack and someone had put a red and white checkered table cloth over me as a blanket. I stirred as they left the bar, still singing. Woody and Cisco’s ride to Los Angeles never showed up so a guy who wrote under the name “Mick Inkmann” for the local paper said he could give them a lift out to the main highway. From there they planned to hitch hike to Los Angeles or at least to Sacramento. The newspaperman’s car had a rumble seat that was open & unoccupied so I jumped in and kept my head out of sight. At a railroad crossing the car stopped for a freight train moving slowly south out of town. At the north end of the train we saw a boxcar door open and 4 men jumped out looking like certified hoboes. Woody and Cisco quickly decided a change of plans was in order, jumped out of the car, thanked Mick and hopped up through the open boxcar door. I scrambled out, startling the Local Press, and ran for the train. Woody saw me and pulled me up into the car. They asked my name and I told them and we sat and talked or rather shouted over the sounds of the moving train. I told them of the many places I had been and all the people I had met but that more than anything I wanted to do what they were doing. It quickly dawned on Woody that the account of my travels was not technically factual and he stopped me and said “How old are you kid?” I said that “strictly speaking I won’t be born for another 20 years or so”. There was a pause then Woody said “What’s a preconceived notion like you doing on a train like this?” I said that “the musical standard that you and Pete and Leadbelly were setting was so high that the aspiring folksingers of the future needed to get as early a start as possible. So that’s why I’m here – to observe my heroes up close and personal, even though it did take some doing to make the arrangements.” Woody looked at Cisco. Cisco looked at Woody. Without saying a word they both picked me up and heaved me out of the boxcar door.
Somehow they must have known they could not harm my immortal soul in the process.
As I tumbled eastward down the embankment they yelled that I should be more careful in picking my heroes. I waved and sang a little bit of the chorus of “So Long It’s Been Good to Know You” which prompted rude, synchronized gestures from the two of them.
I smiled to myself and continued to roll slowly and steadily to the east, rolling up the Sierras and down through the desert, then up the Western Slope of the Rockies and down into the Plains, only stopping on a summer Sunday afternoon in Newark, NJ where I was born, again – so to speak, bound to sing, if not actually bound for glory.
John Gorka
December, 2007
Uncategorized | 17.12.2007 16:53 | 5 Comments
Greetings Visitor,
Hello. I just wanted to drop a quick note to let you know “The Gypsy Life” DVD is now available here at the www.johngorka.com website store. All will be personally signed by “the artist” as is everything that is sent out from this bustling center of music making and mayhem. The website store will now be accepting credit card orders from around the world. Previously we only shipped to the US and Canada. I was thinking calling this post “Gorka Goes Global” but I thought better of it.
“The Gypsy Life” is a 2 DVD set produced by AIX Records. The centerpiece of the set is a 19 song performance recorded in high definition video and high resolution audio at the Zipper Auditorium at the Colburn School of the Performing Arts downtown in Los Angeles last December. The show features some longtime musical cohorts and friends Michael Manring on bass, Russ Rentler, from the Razzy Dazzy Spasm Band on mandolin, Amilia Spicer on vocals and Susan Werner on piano, guitar and vocals. Recorded in a beautiful hall without a live audience the effect is like a private concert. One disc is a 2 sided video dvd and the other is a dvd-audio in surround sound on one side and cd audio on the second side. The “interactive” side includes this performance, and other sections with interviews, a photo gallery, discography, artist bios, song intros, and some live club footage recorded at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. The second side of the video disc is what I’m calling the “Linear Show” which puts parts of all of the above and more into a single 2 hour long program. I still don’t really know how to talk about this thing yet. If you have a home theater set-up I think you will be pleased with the quality of the video and audio. I don’t have one of these systems so I might have to come to your place to watch it. For more information about “The Gypsy Life” please visit http://www.aixrecords.com
Special thanks to Mark Waldrep of AIX for making this whole thing happen. The DVDs ordered from AIX are signed and numbered. The DVD is also available from http://www.redhouserecords.com
I’ve been working on new songs on my own and with some interesting collaborators. I hope to record the songs next year and put them out in early ‘09 if not sooner.
All for now,
John G.
If you are not paranoid, you are not paying attention — JG
Uncategorized | 7.11.2007 19:35 | 3 Comments
I got to see my friend Cliff Eberhardt play in Saint Paul the other night and he was great. I’ve known Cliff a long time and he was as good or better than I’ve ever seen him. He’s been on the road constantly since early May and all those shows have put him at the top of his game. It was a real joy. He asked me to come up and sing at the end of his set and we had much fun. I hope I didn’t overfool around. It’s a very fine line between irreverence and disrespect and I hope I didn’t cross it, and if I did I hope I got back in time. Opening the show was Anais Mitchell. She is so talented and was so good. She has a limitless future. Her new record is called “The Brightness” on Righteous Babe Records. I said to Cliff after the show about Anais “She’s the future. We are not, Cliff. We’re between the future and the pasture.”
I’ve also been listening to Jonathan Byrd, Meg Hutchinson, Antje Duvekot, and Rose Cousins recently. They are just a few names to remember and investigate musically. They are the future or at least the part that gives me hope.
I’ll write soon about the availability of “The Gypsy Life” dvd from this website. If you can’t wait you can go to www.aixrecords.com or www.redhouserecords.com. Those are the only places you can get it that I know of so far.
I also want to talk about the Stan Rogers Folk Festival in Canso, Nova Scotia at some point. They are really growing their own there. It is a very inspiring part of the world. It starts with the fiddle music…
Uncategorized | 22.10.2007 1:23 | 3 Comments
Hello there,
I did make that make-up show in Wisconsin Rapids in August. Thank you to Ron McCabe for giving me a second chance to do so. I haven’t missed any shows since, by the way. The main event of the moment is the imminent release of the Gypsy Life DVD. We are having a DVD release party at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, CA on Sunday, September 16 at 7PM. The number there if you would like to reserve tickets is:310-422-5128. There will be a preview of the DVD at the AIX Studios nearby from 4-7 PM. The number to call at AIX is 310-479-0501. I will be there from 4-5:30 then head over to the soundcheck at McCabe’s. Sorry for the tardy posting. (I just noticed there are a lot of McCabes mentioned in this note.)
All the best,
John G.
Uncategorized | 7.09.2007 13:51 | 1 Comment
My sincere apologies to those of you who ventured to Wisconsin Rapids this evening. I somehow the got it in my head that the show was on Saturday and thus did not make it. The show has been rescheduled for Thursday, August 16. I am sure that if there is a breath in my body I will be there. Again I am very sorry for the screw-up. While I am apologizing I should also say I’m sorry for all the spam on the User Forum. I’m hoping to get that fixed soon.
All the best,
John G.
Uncategorized | 13.07.2007 3:59 | 4 Comments
Hello there,
I just wanted you to know that Mavis Staples new cd We’ll Never Turn Back is now out and it is really something special. It was produced by Ry Cooder and features classic Freedom Songs from the civil rights movement and new songs written by Ms. Staples and Mr. Cooder. It is not only a search for hope. It is the sound of hope itself.
All for now,
John G.
Uncategorized | 1.05.2007 17:10 | 6 Comments
Hello Dear Reader and Listener,
Here are the shows for the rest of April and the first weekend in May. I also wanted to pass along a quote I heard in an interview with the actor Cherry Jones on Minnesota Public Radio recently. During a segment of the interview when they were discussing what it’s like to be an older and more established performer Ms. Jones quoted dancer and choreographer Martha Graham in a letter to dancer and choreographer Agnes DeMille. Here it is as I remember it: “There is no satisfaction, what so ever, at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction.”
All for now,John G.
Uncategorized | 10.04.2007 16:02 | 2 Comments
Greetings Visitor,
We are working out the bugs on the newly updated website which includes this new (to me) blogging format.
So hold on while we get this thing headed in the right direction. We switched over to a PayPal system in the site’s store but will be reverting back to the previous system soon. It didn’t seem right that people who wanted to pay with a credit card should have to start a PayPal account just to buy a record or songbook.
The main creative project at the moment is a DVD which should be out this summer. The final format is still being worked out but I can tell you it will be very high quality video and audio. The main part of the DVD is a performance of 19 songs recorded live without an audience at a theatre in Los Angeles. The players and singers include: Michael Manring on bass, Russ Rentler on mandolin, Amilia Spicer on vocals, and Susan Werner on guitar, piano and vocals. I’m in there as well playing and singing as you might expect. I will post the set list when that is finalized. The DVD is entitled “The Gypsy Life” and the band’s working name is “The Godfrey Daniels Spasm Band”. Anyway, I’ll sign off now and get this up on the site.
The thing I like about this new deal is that when I’ve realized I’ve said something stupid I can delete it or correct it without too much trouble. I can then replace it with something new that I’ll eventually come to regret…
My current mantra is:”No one is above criticism or beyond redemption”.
All for now — John G.
Uncategorized | 17.03.2007 3:07 | 19 Comments
