Tag Archives: Jack Beck

Mr. Smith Goes to Big Stone Gap

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In Jack’s weekly blog, he announces his intention of making the world a better place. Or a certain part of it, anyway.

Small towns are amazing places at times, and this one is no exception.

On Saturday morning our good friend Gary (who appears in Wendy’s book under another name) reminded me that I’d been talking about possibly running for a place on our Town Council. That meant gathering the necessary forms and getting at least 125 signatures of registered voters resident in the town to support my application.

Now please recall that this conversation took place in our bookstore about 5:30 pm. At Church next morning at 11, one of our congregation congratulated me on running! Then on Tuesday, when Wendy went to the County courthouse to get the forms, the lady there said “we’ve been expecting you”. No need for the Internet around here when the jungle drums are alive and well.

So now I have three weeks or so to get those signatures and there’s really only one way to make sure they are really resident in town – knock on doors. Because when I trailed around local offices and businesses on Wednesday I was surprised by how few of the people who work here actually live here.

One difference between Scotland and the US when it comes to local democracy concerns party allegiance. In Scotland, even at town level, folk stand on a party ticket and follow the party ‘line’. But, unless I’m much mistaken local democracy here is much more about individuals, and that seems healthy to me.

So – I need to have a ‘platform’! Fittingly enough, I announced mine on Facebook – “I’m not a member of any political party, I’m a good listener, I want BSG to be ready to welcome visitors with something to see and do when the movie comes out, I support local businesses, I am an advocate of lifelong learning and education. How can I not do all in my power to support and represent the citizens of this town who stood beside me in the courthouse and cheered me on as I became a US Citizen?”

I remember the day I became an US Citizen, when every single official there encouraged us ‘newbies’ to become involved in the democratic process. I’m following their advice! And I’m offering a willingness to hear the concerns of the town residents (whether they vote for me or not); a desire to support any initiative that will make the town a place to visit and spend time in; an understanding of the issues that concern the owners of a small business; and over twenty years as a college professor who believes passionately in the value of education.

Plus shortbread for everyone. :] That’s my platform, and I’m standing on it.

Play it Again, Mike

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heritageJack’s weekly guest blog
For more than fifteen years I was the lead singer and back-up guitarist in a Celtic band called ‘Heritage’. Although we were never more than middle-weights in the traditional music scene, we had a lot of fun traveling Europe’s musical gig trail.
The glory days are over and we’ve gone our separate ways, yet some band members keep in touch. Our piper/whistler/keyboard player Mike Ward, who still lives in Scotland, came for a month’s visit to the bookshop two years ago.
Mike has always had a special affinity for Brittany (in NW France, one of the seven recognized Celtic Nations) so has kept up with friends there since the tour days. He recently sent a news report about the sad fate of Pontivy Castle, one of the places where we had played. A lengthy downpour undermined a section, and it collapsed.
This sad event led to much reminiscing between us about the various times we’d been to Brittany – including playing the biggest Pan-Celtic festival in the world, at Lorien. Ah, the magnificent sound of Bagad Kemper, with its combination of highland bagpipes, bombardes, binious and drums; hurdy-gurdy bands of women in regional costumes; wonderful food and drink; and the warm hospitality of Bretons toward their Celtic cousins.
Of course Mike, who studied for the priesthood, never lets me forget the time I stumbled in my faulty French through requesting that two young women pose for a photograph ‘au naturel’ (in other words, nude). We recalled the late great piper Gordon Duncan sitting backwards astride a motorcycle, playing the pipes like a child of Pan as the bike roared through the Lorien’s main streets. Perhaps our favorite was the gig at the Palais de Congress, where the sound desk smoked and sparked all the way through. (Or maybe that’s just the gig we’re most grateful to have survived–no, that would be the one where we kept throwing our cigarettes behind us as we played on a German naval boat, only to find afterward that munitions were stored in that space.)
As you can tell from these memories, we were never equal to the Beatles, but we had some fine musicians on board and even merited an article in the US folk music magazine ‘Dirty Linen,’ by Steve Winick. It was Steve that I met for the first time in person, at my birthday dinner last week in DC.
Which is really the reason behind this blog. Who knew that a castle in 1980 would lead to two friends connecting in the US in 2014? Yet there sat Steve with his lady Jennifer, chatting away with Wendy and me as though we’d know each other since birth. I love these connections through my music, and that so many of them continue. Like books, music keeps the world at large turning, and my personal circle of connections turning in very happy ways. I am a blessed man.