Saturday, December 31, 2022
REALBILLY: On Tennessee Brando, Tyler Childs, and Authenticity
I did a short post on Tyler Childers the other day. I probably paid more attention to the controversies he's involved in than I should have, and I certainly should have explained that many of these controversies go back two years or longer.
Here to help set the record straighter is country singer and songwriter Tennessee Brando. I'm a big fan of his, and I hope that you will be, too. Look for him on Youtube to start with.
Neil Young Can Hang Around
Now please listen to the next two together:
Brando’s Realbilly Revue- “Twisted Rhymes”
Portzelky---New Year's fried dough balls
I heard more about making portzelky this year then I have in the past. Maybe its becoming more popular, or perhaps people are looking to try something traditional. I thought of portzelky as a Slovak or Hungarian dish common to certain industrial regions of Appalachia, but I was wrong. It's a dish that is more correctly associated with Mennonites. Portzelky are made and eaten on New Year's Day. They remind me of the Italian zeppole that are commonly eaten on St. Joseph's Day on March 19 or May 1, May 3, May 11 or early September.
I have a few recipes for portzelky but none really work well. What you see below is a recipe adapted from the more authoritative menno neechie kitchen website. Really, that website is a great source for many recipes. The picture below comes from that website. I have added a few of my own notes along the way as cautions or possible additions.
This is complicated, and it can be messy, but it isn't impossible and it is certainly worth the effort. Read the directions first and go to the website for clarity.
You're going to need 4 beaten eggs, 2 cups of milk, 2 tablespoons and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, 4 tablespoons of melted butter, 3 or 4 cups of black raisins, 4 1/4 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 cup of warm water, and 1 package of quick rise yeast. I add a bit of vanilla as well, you're going to want icing sugar or powdered sugar at the end.
You want your raisins clean and mostly dry but moist.
Mix together 1/2 cup of warm water, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and 1 package of yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons). This needs to sit and get foamy on top. I think that two of my mistakes have been having my water too warm and the kitchen too hot, or perhaps I have measured my yeast wrong.
Mix together 4 cups of your flour with 2 rounded teaspoons of baking powder. Add 2 tablespoons of your sugar, 3/4 teaspoons of salt, 4 tablespoons of melted butter, the eggs, and 2 cups of warm milk. Again, I may have had my milk too warm. The suggestion on the website is to warm your milk in a microwave for one minute. Mix everything up. You want a thin batter at this point.
Put the raisins in a bowl and add your remaining 1/4 cup of flour for 3 cups of raisins or some more flour if you're working with more raisins. Again, this advice comes from the website. My other recipes use less raisins, but I like more. Whatever you're doing, make sure that your raisins are covered by the flour. This is why you don't want your raisins too wet or too dry, and you sure don't want the raisins sinking to the bottom and burning. I have heard of people using chopped dates instead of raisins for these reasons but I have never tried that. Anyway, you want to add the raisins to the batter and mix them in.
Here's another place where I mess things up. The website says to cover your batter and let it rise for one hour, or until it has doubled. Either I'm not waiting long enough or the batter hasn't risen enough for me at this point. Be more patient and careful than I am here.
I use a pot of oil for portzelky, as I do for zeppole, but the smart person doing the website prefers a deep fryer. Her deep fryer hits 340 degrees before she starts frying. I imagine that a pot of oil should be just as hot, but I go by sight and smell and I drop a bit of dough into the oil to test.
Like zeppole, I use a teaspoon to drop the dough in. And also like zeppole, shape and appearance don't really matter. The person doing the website uses one spoon to scoop with and another spoon to scape it off with. That sounds like a great idea, but I have never needed that, and if no one is around I use my fingers if needed. I'm more worried about getting burned than anything else.
Everyone agrees that you want to fry these for 5 minutes on each side, flipping them over. I use a slotted spoon for that. You will want to transfer these to a plate with paper towels on, but I like mine a little greasy and hot. You can sprinkle icing sugar or powdered sugar on or put them in a bowl with the sugar and move them around. It doesn't hurt to sprinkle on a little cinnamon.
This is complicated, and it can be messy, but it isn't impossible and it is certainly worth the effort. Read the directions first and go to the website for clarity.
You're going to need 4 beaten eggs, 2 cups of milk, 2 tablespoons and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, 4 tablespoons of melted butter, 3 or 4 cups of black raisins, 4 1/4 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 cup of warm water, and 1 package of quick rise yeast. I add a bit of vanilla as well, you're going to want icing sugar or powdered sugar at the end.
You want your raisins clean and mostly dry but moist.
Mix together 1/2 cup of warm water, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and 1 package of yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons). This needs to sit and get foamy on top. I think that two of my mistakes have been having my water too warm and the kitchen too hot, or perhaps I have measured my yeast wrong.
Mix together 4 cups of your flour with 2 rounded teaspoons of baking powder. Add 2 tablespoons of your sugar, 3/4 teaspoons of salt, 4 tablespoons of melted butter, the eggs, and 2 cups of warm milk. Again, I may have had my milk too warm. The suggestion on the website is to warm your milk in a microwave for one minute. Mix everything up. You want a thin batter at this point.
Put the raisins in a bowl and add your remaining 1/4 cup of flour for 3 cups of raisins or some more flour if you're working with more raisins. Again, this advice comes from the website. My other recipes use less raisins, but I like more. Whatever you're doing, make sure that your raisins are covered by the flour. This is why you don't want your raisins too wet or too dry, and you sure don't want the raisins sinking to the bottom and burning. I have heard of people using chopped dates instead of raisins for these reasons but I have never tried that. Anyway, you want to add the raisins to the batter and mix them in.
Here's another place where I mess things up. The website says to cover your batter and let it rise for one hour, or until it has doubled. Either I'm not waiting long enough or the batter hasn't risen enough for me at this point. Be more patient and careful than I am here.
I use a pot of oil for portzelky, as I do for zeppole, but the smart person doing the website prefers a deep fryer. Her deep fryer hits 340 degrees before she starts frying. I imagine that a pot of oil should be just as hot, but I go by sight and smell and I drop a bit of dough into the oil to test.
Like zeppole, I use a teaspoon to drop the dough in. And also like zeppole, shape and appearance don't really matter. The person doing the website uses one spoon to scoop with and another spoon to scape it off with. That sounds like a great idea, but I have never needed that, and if no one is around I use my fingers if needed. I'm more worried about getting burned than anything else.
Everyone agrees that you want to fry these for 5 minutes on each side, flipping them over. I use a slotted spoon for that. You will want to transfer these to a plate with paper towels on, but I like mine a little greasy and hot. You can sprinkle icing sugar or powdered sugar on or put them in a bowl with the sugar and move them around. It doesn't hurt to sprinkle on a little cinnamon.
Some of the beauty around us
Sunset over the Greenbrier River by Lynette Deeds Patton. Found on the
Vintage West Virginia Facebook page.
“She wanted to be someone who left you with your words caught in your throat & your mind stuck on her soul. To see her true beauty, you needed to close your eyes and feel her all around you in the quiet of your thoughts. The one your heart can’t forget.” New River Gorge National Park, Fayette County, West Virginia---Peggy Smith Photography
Photo taken in Grant County, West Virginia by Tony Greco/
@WestVirginiaNatureLovers
@WestVirginiaNatureLovers
Railroad track sunset along Rt 2 in Mason County, WV.--
MKS Photography WV
MKS Photography WV
Steve Cline on climbing mountains and our faith journeys
Thursday, December 29, 2022
These marvelous creatures sing of the beauty of creation
This video is taken from the My Columbia Basin Facebook page. This was filmed along Oregon's Cove Highway by Tami Gugin.
Blind Lemon Jefferson and Johnson City, Tennessee
Ward Weems posted the photograph and text below on his great Facebook page recently. Johnson City is in Appalachia, and I remember it as an industrial center with a reputation for tough-living people and good music. I am adding a sample of Blind Lemon Jefferson's music.
Renowned guitarist Walter Davis, who was recorded by Columbia for the Johnson City Sessions, was among those who told of Blind Lemon Jefferson playing at the railroad junction in Johnson City, Tennessee during the early 1920s.
Davis, Clarence Greene and Clarence Ashley seemed to have learned blues and other guitar styles from Jefferson at Fountain Square in Johnson City where three railroads had stations around the square. Walter Davis, later, interacted with Doc Watson.
Clarence Ashley’s rediscovery had a important role in kicking off the folk revival period. His recording of ‘Coo Coo Bird’ played a significant part in this.
Ashley also taught ‘House of the Rising Sun to Roy Acuff who recorded it in 1938.
The image of Blind Lemon Jefferson is by Kimiaki Ishisuka who created a figurine and drew the image of the figurine. It is based on the only known photograph of Blind Lemon Jefferson. Ishisuka’s image of Jefferson is added to a photograph of the Fountain Square area of Johnson City.
Renowned guitarist Walter Davis, who was recorded by Columbia for the Johnson City Sessions, was among those who told of Blind Lemon Jefferson playing at the railroad junction in Johnson City, Tennessee during the early 1920s.
Davis, Clarence Greene and Clarence Ashley seemed to have learned blues and other guitar styles from Jefferson at Fountain Square in Johnson City where three railroads had stations around the square. Walter Davis, later, interacted with Doc Watson.
Clarence Ashley’s rediscovery had a important role in kicking off the folk revival period. His recording of ‘Coo Coo Bird’ played a significant part in this.
Ashley also taught ‘House of the Rising Sun to Roy Acuff who recorded it in 1938.
The image of Blind Lemon Jefferson is by Kimiaki Ishisuka who created a figurine and drew the image of the figurine. It is based on the only known photograph of Blind Lemon Jefferson. Ishisuka’s image of Jefferson is added to a photograph of the Fountain Square area of Johnson City.
Quaker Oats Cookies
I have heard a good bit of talk recently about the cookie recipe that used to appear on the Quaker Oats box and no longer does. If you're of a certain age you likely grew up with these cookies. Someone found the recipe and posted it and its making the rounds on social media. Here it is.
The beauty within us and around us
I did a post yesterday about the wonderful work done by Ms. Diane Briggs. The picture of the painted rock that appeared here caused me to meditate a bit on creation and beauty and where they come from, and the post also got many positive comments. Ms. Briggs was pleased enough with this to tell me that she lives in Western Kentucky and she sent me a photograph of another one of her great works that I am posting here. A friend of hers was kind enough to send along a picture of a painted beehive that she did as well. The beehive adds a utilitarian dimension to Ms. Briggs' work, meaning that her creativity extends in a direction that most of what we take as "art" doesn't. Some of her work has a purpose beyond being beautiful in and for itself. I believe that this is unique in these times, when "art" is given a price tag and is identified as something separate from our daily lives. Ms. Briggs is building a bridge and invites us to cross a chasm.
This post is part of an on-going series. Please click "Beauty" in the tags to see similar additional posts.
BUT THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE by Timothy Wheeler
The post below comes from Timothy Wheeler, a lifelong socialist activist and journalist who grew up on the Left and has continued his commitment and work as a socialist movement elder and teacher. I'm posting this with two groups of people in mind. First, I have many conservative Christian friends who can't see where religious faith or spirituality and the Left might intersect and I hope that this will give them something to consider. This post is also intended for young people and others who are trying to find a place in the Left and who may be looking to the elders for direction.
My father, Donald Niven Wheeler, was an atheist. Yet among the lessons he taught me is that the Christian doctrine of love is a profoundly revolutionary idea.
He was thinking of Saint Paul’s First Epistle to Corinthians, so lovely in its poetic imagery that it sends chills up and down my spine. Think of the power of seeing truth “as through a glass darkly.” It is worth quoting at length: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom all knowledge and if I have faith that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
St. Paul continues: “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always hopes, always perseveres.”
“And now these three remain: Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
It is a contradiction that St. Paul’ sublime vision of universal love was so corrupted by evil empires, starting with the Roman Empire. First the Roman Emperors crucified Christians, including the Apostle Paul. Then Emperor Constantine in 313 A.D. issued the “Edict of Milan” decriminalizing Christianity. From then on, the ruling classes have used Christianity as a weapon of ruthless conquest. Think of the conquistadors who pillaged the New World, murdering hundreds of thousands, driven by an insatiable greed for gold. And following right behind them was the Holy Roman Catholic Church subduing and indoctrinating the Aztecs, Mayans, Incans, as round two of the conquest.
Where was the love in this wholesale genocide?
Yet tens of millions of oppressed people reject the deliberate distortion of the Holy Gospel by the religious demagogues, fake evangelism pouring out a litany of lies.
Among the clearest in exposing these lies is the African American people. They saw in Jesus’ teachings a path to freedom. I think St. Paul, the African American people----and my dad----were right: “Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
He was thinking of Saint Paul’s First Epistle to Corinthians, so lovely in its poetic imagery that it sends chills up and down my spine. Think of the power of seeing truth “as through a glass darkly.” It is worth quoting at length: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom all knowledge and if I have faith that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
St. Paul continues: “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always hopes, always perseveres.”
“And now these three remain: Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
It is a contradiction that St. Paul’ sublime vision of universal love was so corrupted by evil empires, starting with the Roman Empire. First the Roman Emperors crucified Christians, including the Apostle Paul. Then Emperor Constantine in 313 A.D. issued the “Edict of Milan” decriminalizing Christianity. From then on, the ruling classes have used Christianity as a weapon of ruthless conquest. Think of the conquistadors who pillaged the New World, murdering hundreds of thousands, driven by an insatiable greed for gold. And following right behind them was the Holy Roman Catholic Church subduing and indoctrinating the Aztecs, Mayans, Incans, as round two of the conquest.
Where was the love in this wholesale genocide?
Yet tens of millions of oppressed people reject the deliberate distortion of the Holy Gospel by the religious demagogues, fake evangelism pouring out a litany of lies.
Among the clearest in exposing these lies is the African American people. They saw in Jesus’ teachings a path to freedom. I think St. Paul, the African American people----and my dad----were right: “Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Scotty Moore
Scotty Moore's birthday fell on December 27. I believe that he would have been in his early 90s had he lived. Moore was one of the great postwar guitar players and had much to do with the creation of rockabilly as a musical genre. He has been overshadowed in the public mind by Elvis Presley, Chet Atkins, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison. He taught all of them a thing or two, but he never grabbed and held onto the spotlight as he could have. He was a working guy.
Scotty Moore - Mystery Train
When a picture says much more than one thousand words
Ella Watson, Washington, D.C., August 1942 in a photograph by Gordon Parks
for the Farm Security Administration, Library of Congress
Wednesday, December 28, 2022
A face of hope
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We all know hope.
The story attached to this photograph is that it comes from Greece or Turkey and that the cat saw people paying for fish and paying and wanted some fish as well;. The cat showed up with a leaf and the owner of the fish market was interested and took the leaf and gave him a small fish. The cat has continued to bring leaves and the owner has continued to accept the payment and give him a bit of fish
This is believable to me. I saw fish sellers and fishermen in Turkey give cats bits of fish many times. This is also believable to me because I think that most creatures know hope.
The beauty within us and around us
Diane Bridges painted this scene on a rock for a Christmas gift. She is quite good at doing this work, and when I saw it I thought of two things. First, this work fits into the posts that I put up on this blog about the beauty that is within us and around us and that is not in the first place about making money. It's not just the painting here that speaks to me, but that Ms. Bridges did this on a rock and did it as a gift. She enjoyed doing it. She built bridges with this.
The second thought that occurred to me when I first saw this is the many places in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles where there are passages talking about rocks and stones. The theologian Richard Rohrs says in one of his books that it's difficult for us to begin our faith journeys by loving God and that it is a good idea for most of us to start with loving something small and immediate first, and he suggests rocks and building our love from there. We refer to God as our Rock. Psalm 18:46 says "The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!" In Luke 19:28-40 Jesus speaks of stones crying out and testifying. He was not using a passing or common expression when he said this. This beautiful adornment of a rock as a gift carries with it a real theology. In raising up something simple and ordinary in the way that Ms. Bridges has we are reminded of the beauty and testimony of creation, where love begins, and the gifts that we have been given.
Italian Tomato And Bread Soup
You're going to need:
* 4 T. of extra-virgin olive oil
* 3 T of Italian basil, chopped up (keep extra basil on hand as well)
* 1 large can of San Marzano tomatoes with juice
* 8 Roma tomatoes
* 2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
* One-half of a yellow or white onion diced
* 4 cups of water
* 1 tsp. of sea salt
* 1 tsp. of fine ground black pepper
* At least one-half of a loaf of day-old crusty Italian bread cut into medium-sized pieces
The measurements above are approximate. I end up using a little less bread and more basil and onion, more of thee Roma tomatoes and a bit more water and pepper. It's not hard to find cans of San Marzano tomatoes. The bread needs to be at least one day old; I like mine stale for this recipe, and I like using garlic bread. Don't be afraid to add other ingredients. Some people fry cubes of seasoned eggplant and add them. Some people sprinkle with cheese before serving.
Preheat your oven to 400. Get a large pot out and heat your olive oil and add in your basil as the olive oil starts to get hot. Let that simmer 'til you can start to smell it doing its thing. Add the San Marzano tomatoes, garlic, onion, water, salt and pepper. "Simmer" is the word here; don't let the food cook to the point that the onions and garlic and basil are fighting with each other or burning. Cut your Romas in halves, clean out the seed and place the meaty parts on a cookie sheet, coat with oil and salt and pepper, and place in your oven and bake 'til the edges of the tomatoes start to brown. Keep an eye on this. Remove the sheet and add it to your pot. Don't let it cool. It really helps to let the Romas brown just a little. Stir everything together. Taste using a cube of bread and adjust your seasonings. Add your bread to the pot and stir. When you serve this you should add just a bit of extra-virgin olive oil and basil on top in each plate.
* 4 T. of extra-virgin olive oil
* 3 T of Italian basil, chopped up (keep extra basil on hand as well)
* 1 large can of San Marzano tomatoes with juice
* 8 Roma tomatoes
* 2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
* One-half of a yellow or white onion diced
* 4 cups of water
* 1 tsp. of sea salt
* 1 tsp. of fine ground black pepper
* At least one-half of a loaf of day-old crusty Italian bread cut into medium-sized pieces
The measurements above are approximate. I end up using a little less bread and more basil and onion, more of thee Roma tomatoes and a bit more water and pepper. It's not hard to find cans of San Marzano tomatoes. The bread needs to be at least one day old; I like mine stale for this recipe, and I like using garlic bread. Don't be afraid to add other ingredients. Some people fry cubes of seasoned eggplant and add them. Some people sprinkle with cheese before serving.
Preheat your oven to 400. Get a large pot out and heat your olive oil and add in your basil as the olive oil starts to get hot. Let that simmer 'til you can start to smell it doing its thing. Add the San Marzano tomatoes, garlic, onion, water, salt and pepper. "Simmer" is the word here; don't let the food cook to the point that the onions and garlic and basil are fighting with each other or burning. Cut your Romas in halves, clean out the seed and place the meaty parts on a cookie sheet, coat with oil and salt and pepper, and place in your oven and bake 'til the edges of the tomatoes start to brown. Keep an eye on this. Remove the sheet and add it to your pot. Don't let it cool. It really helps to let the Romas brown just a little. Stir everything together. Taste using a cube of bread and adjust your seasonings. Add your bread to the pot and stir. When you serve this you should add just a bit of extra-virgin olive oil and basil on top in each plate.
Tyler Childers
Are you familiar with the country musician and singer Tyler Childers? This is an introduction if you are not familiar with him. I don't agree with everything that he has to say, but I think that he represents something good within country music, and hopefully among the people who listen most to country music. He is certainly controversial. The first video is Tyler Childers addressing some of what makes him controversial. I'm including a Black man's reaction to the music because of the controversies, although most of the criticism comes from other sources. I fully appreciate what he has on the line and how he keeps going and keeps giving back. It is no small matter that he is in recovery and is open about that because this sets such a good example for all of us. Beyond that, this is just good music.
"Long Violent History" with lyrics
The Old Country Church / Take My Hounds to Heaven (Live at Farm Aid 2021)
TALE OF THE TIMES! TYLER CHILDERS-LONG VIOLENT
HISTORY! REACTION!!
White House Road
Some things to smile on, some things to ponder on
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"And I thought that was just a figure of speech!"
Floyd County, Kentucky. Photograph by Tony Kidd, found on the
Appalachian Americans Facebook page
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