photo by Jack Casey
My father was seventeen years old when he got a chance to play trumpet with Rudy Vallée at the Brooklyn Paramount, just as The Great Depression was, well, depressing. My lovely mother a mere lass of fifteen waited at the stage door to meet this handsome talented Brooklyn-born new member of the Connecticut Yankees. Morris (Larry) and Sophie (Sonnie) loved music, they loved each other, and rumor has it they loved me. As a youngster I was told that if I practiced diligently I could get to Carnegie Hall. Well the old joke aside, I got to Carnegie Hall, usually to listen to performers and friends I knew or wrote about… so technically, the old saw came to pass. Tom Goodkin of the Washington Squares did announce from the venerable stage that I taught him a “great new banjo lick” which he played as the crowd applauded. My first ovation at Carnegie Hall. And my last ovation at Carnegie Hall. They were opening for Richie Havens a year or two before I had that opportunity. On national television John McEuen of The Dirt Band (while recounting a story of our meeting) mentioned me on Nashville Now, not by name, but as “the guy from the magazine.” All of this is close enough for folk. I have performed for crowds as large as ten thousand and written articles and columns for “audiences” at least as large. Through it all, I made it a point to dissuade any and all fifteen-year-old groupies hanging out at the stage door. Still – I write, I perform. And, yes, I play accordion. Few know the sound of that particular treat. Welcome to this web site. I hope you enjoy. Mom and Dad would have been proud, Lawrence Welk somewhat less so. In the words of Rudy Vallée, “My Time Is Your Time.”
– Be well, The guy from the magazine; Roger Deitz
A present to The Folk Music Community
on Pete Seeger’s Birthday
(May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014)
15 Years of RagTag
It’s been three years since the publication in book form of 15 Years of RagTag – a collection of essays and columns originally appearing in Sing Out! Magazine between 1995 and 2010, written by Roger Deitz and illustrated by Ed Courrier.
While print books remain, and certainly digital books could yet be sold, Ed and I have made the judgment to share our collaboration of these 56 columns with our community. And to let fly on Pete Seeger’s birthday, as a nod to the inspiring musician and activist we knew and admired.
This in tribute to Seeger, and to Sing Out! Magazine, founded in 1950 by Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Paul Robeson and a host of others. Sing Out!, where editor Mark Moss encouraged me to write these columns and features, and Ed to illustrate them. Art and Commerce. In a world where the line is often blurred, it is better to be read than on the remainder table. No puns intended.
Enjoy, and thank you for reading! Please share the book with your friends.
Download your copy here. Happy Reading!
From ace music journalist Roger Deitz, (tagged by Billy Edd Wheeler; “The Shakespeare of Sing Out! columnists”) comes 15 Years of RagTag illustrated by Ed Courrier. A book so bold it dares to blow the lid off the contemporary acoustic music scene. 15 years of great humor writing with 56 collected RagTag columns from Sing Out! containing a few of folk’s dirty little secrets and a tomato crate of commentary and laughs. A primer for teaching everything you need to know about the lighter (and darker) side of folk music matters.
We have passed the one-year mark since Roger’s passing on 12/17/2023. Roger’s friend Rick Ilowite has run a gofundme to raise funds for a memorial plaque and granite base for Roger’s grave at King Solomon Memorial Park in Clifton, NJ. There is a Deitz family section there, and he is at rest with his beloved sister, Sandy, Sandy’s husband, and Roger’s Uncle David.
We are “close enough for folk” with the funds raised and it may be closing soon. If anyone is so inclined to contribute while it’s still up, that would be most welcome.