Singer to perform songs with history
Gary Eller, a noted singer, songwriter and guitarist, will perform and interpret historical folk songs with roots in Idaho, at the Bayview Community Center, Sunday, at 2 p.m. on the lawn, weather permitting, or inside if not.
Bring your banjo, guitar, fiddle or whatever, and share your sheet music and songs with Eller. There will be an old-fashioned jam following the performance. Bring a lawn chair or blanket and be part of the show or a spectator. The show is free. This show is sponsored by the Bayview Community Council and the Bayview Historical Society.
Noting that most states own vast collections of these old tunes, Eller discovered that Idaho was severely lacking in them or they just weren’t recorded in the pages of history. Eller is a retired nuclear scientist with a doctoral degree in chemistry. Born and raised in the hills of West Virginia, he learned banjo from a grizzled old “ ’bacco-spittin’ ” hillbilly. He currently plays five-string banjo, acoustic guitar and specializes in old folk and historical songs.
One is the song, “Are They going To Hang My Papa?” Based on the Stuenenberg trial and written about by the “Wobblies,” this song was sung about a man who was on trial for setting a mailbox bomb on former Gov. Stuenenberg, who had declared martial law when the Industrial Workers of the World, or as they were known in those days, “Wobblies,” struck the Silver Valley, stole two trains and set several fires, in a wage dispute with the mines. The former governor had been retired for eight years when he was visited with revenge that was fatal.
William “Big” Bill Haywood, defended by Clarence Darrow, beat the rap. There were two strikes of this nature, one in 1892 and again in 1899. Another is “Up Farragut,” not a real old tune, but one that was a campfire favorite among the recruits that were going through boot camp at Farragut Naval Base in the early ’40s. Charles Lish, a recruit from those days, asked about that song, said, “Hey, we didn’t get to do much besides work from sunup to sundown. Some big bands came through, but I never saw any of them.” Collecting old songs has become a passion for Eller who loves to discover, collect and perform them.
A grant from the Idaho Humanities Council allowed Eller to head out on a one-year quest for these old Idaho songs, followed by more research on his own. Many were protest songs, ranging from labor disputes in the early days, to later protests against dam building and other progress. Some of these songs that you can hear are: “Old Hells Canyon/What’s a River For?” by Pete Seeger; “Elk City” by Toney Mann, a rockabilly song about everyone packin’ a gun; “While Away From Whiskey, Wild Women and Beer,” written by a prisoner in the old Territorial Penitentiary, Harry Silvey and many others.
Other venues, if you miss the Bayview show, are Friday at the Bonners Ferry Museum; Monday, at the McConnell House in Moscow. Eller’s current sponsor is the Museum of North Idaho. Times and further schedules can be obtained by calling the museum at 664-3448.
Back by popular demand, The Captain’s Wheel presents The Keep, Saturday night, starting at 8 p.m. Waterford Park’s Buttonhook Restaurant has announced the seasonal closure of the restaurant Sunday, leaving just two for the winter season. Terry’s Cafe for breakfast and lunch and the Captain’s Wheel for lunch and dinner.
Meanwhile …
In other Bayview news, the Bayview Chamber of Commerce invited developers of a proposed golf course development to be built on the back side of Bernard Peak near Good Hope Road and Twete Road to its meeting of Sept. 16. The meeting was also attended by a Kootenai County Sheriff deputy and County Commissioner Rick Curry. Things went downhill when president Jim MacDonald cut the question-and-answer period short, citing his not feeling well. He chased them outside during an already surreal period where power was out, with scarcely a dozen people left in attendance.
•A motion was made by Skip Wilcox granting $960, the proceeds of the fireworks raffle, to the Community Center foundation. The motion was backed by treasurer, Kathy Ellis, who claimed the Idaho State Lottery Commission mandated that 90 percent of the proceeds had to be given away, in order to avoid a $10,000 fine. The motion was quickly. It must be noted that Wilcox, Ellis and her husband, are directors of the Community Center foundation. They did not recuse themselves.
A further development came when Ralph Jones, vice-president who objected to the motion, cited a conflict of interest and called Boise the next morning. Sure enough, he claimed that Lynette Cravens of the commission told him that no such conversation happened and that they don’t care what is done with the funds, short of outright fraud, with the proceeds of a raffle netting $1,000 or less. Supposedly, a letter to this effect was sent to Jim MacDonald and is in the hands of the secretary, Claire Cosgrove. As of deadline, these officers have not allowed Jones to see the contents of this letter.