Grandfolkies Information Page

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Q.:
Who Are Grandfolkies?

A.:
We thought you'd never ask!

  "Grandfolkies" are (is?) us, Phyl and Walt Robbins. Why the name? We are
people who enjoy hearing and/or playing folk music, particularly of the
"traditional" variety. We lay claim to being proud grandparents of two
wonderful, brilliant, and amazingly attractive young people, speaking
objectively, of course! Also, we happen to think that being folkies is
indeed a "grand" way to increase one's enjoyment of life. 'Nuff said?

The Song Collections

If you attempt the rather difficult task of trying to define what is folk
music, you might easily overlook the silly songs and disgusting (or
"yyucky") ones currently provided on this web site. These kinds of songs
rarely find their way to the top of the charts.But, as they tend to be
passed on in the oral tradition from one generation of yyuckies to the next,
we like to think of them as true songs of some folk.

   With lyrics often spoofing familiar songs, or using time-honoured
melodies, they are a great outlet for the lyric composer lurking in young
and old. This stuff isn't just for kids of a certain chronological age. We
subscribe to the theory that there is a "kid" buried somewhere in all of us
adults, and it's not such a bad idea to let it out once in a while!We hope
you'll find yourself inventing new verses to add to those being offered
here. And, will share them with the rest of us, too! These songs really cry
out for continuous modification.

   (Editor's note: Indeed, some of the yuckier songs in the collection cr
out for oblivion. . .)

   The difference between the "silly" song category and the "yyucky" one,
really more a matter of degree than of kind. All of the songs are silly but
some silly songs are yyuckier than others. All the songs can provide much
laughter and hilarity, provided that your sense of humour is sufficiently
quirky, and somewhat warped!

   Finally, we recognize the fact that our musical efforts are reflection
of our own backgrounds and are heavily skewed toward the cultural bias of
various parts of Canada and the U.S. We have no doubt that the silly and
yyucky song genre of folk music can be found in many other places and in
many other languages. After all, people are people; some silly, and some
more yyucky than others!

Some techie notes or Our high-tech-low-key recording "system"

   The old-timey, home-made, front-porch, corn-cob in the outhouse (Ed no
Hey! Let's keep it clean!) quality of our offerings is truly reflected by
the manner in which (if you will pardon the expression) they were
engineered. The sound files were carefully designed to convey the folksy
touch, with some genuine pops, crackles and surface noise. This difficult
technical feat was accomplished in Phyl's office, by the use of a tape
recorder, a computer with a CD burner and a microphone slung over a desk
lamp.We hope you are properly impressed with the authentically-engineered
pure folklike acoustic results.

About Sparadigm Press

   (On a more serious [unmusical], but even more absurd note), Sparadigm
Press is our book and story outlet which includes that most amusing of all
contemporary subjects: nuclear waste. If you think that songs can be silly,
the attempt by our various governments to deal with this issue are downright
ridiculous.

Other Sparadigm Press offerings found on this site include two childrens'
stories, a curmudgeon's corner for "spleen venting," Phyl's increasingly
popular "Song Swaps" page, Walt's guideline for planning and managing change
and the P&W model railroad--a work in progress. Also, Walt has posted some
of his favourite fiddle tunes for listening and downloading. We like to
think that this is a fairly eclectic home-made web-site!

About Us

   Phyl Robbins
is a folksinger and former early childhood educator in Canada and the U.S.
She has used guitar and autoharp to accompany herself and more recently has
added the mouth harp and banjo to her instrument gallery. She compiled and
arranged this on-line collection of traditional silly as well as rather
disgusting songs for the edification and amusment of kids of all ages, from
0 to 90 and above. The "silly" songs on this web site are part of a larger
collection found in her "Nonsensical, Preposterous, Ridiculous, (as well as)
SILLY! Songbook.
When she began her musical entertainments during the 1960's in Montgomery
County (Maryland) area schools, she was known by many children as "the
singing lady." During the 1970's and 80's, in herWinnipeg, Canada
classrooms, children enjoyed using many of her silly songs for informal
language arts activities, as well as for pure enjoyment.

   While living in the Eastern Townships of Québec, she and Walt were
members of the old-timey band, Six or So, which played at coffee houses and
concerts throughout the region. She is an active gardener, cross-country
skier, and a continuing collector of songs that amuse both young and old.
Currently, she is the Music Committee Chair for the Kingston, Ontario,
Unitarian Fellowship (KUF), and a contributer to some of the infrequent "Off
the KUF" coffeehouses held there.

  Copies of a genuine, hold-in-your-hand non-cyber version of Phyl's
popular Silly Song Book
are still available.

   Walt Robbins:
Born during the "roaring 20's," it is rumoured that Walt emerged with a
violin in his tiny hands. When not taking violin lessons and/or performing
as a child radio actor, he was, unfortunately, required to attend public
schools in Washington, D.C, wherein the major thing he learned was "how to
just get by without working too hard."

   After two years of active service in the U.S. Army Air Corps, he was
honorably discharged in 1946, with the rank of sergeant. He is a graduate of
George Washington University and it was there that he and Phyllis met and
discovered a mutual interest in music of many kinds as well as a shared kind
of weird sense of humour.

   Walt spent several lifetimes working for various agencies of the U.S.
Government in Washington D.C. and for the Government of Manitoba in Canada,
before he decided to join the ranks of the self-employed, and ultimately,
the unemployed. As a human resource consultant, he roamed around the
Canadian Prairies telling people how to run their organizations. Most didn't
listen, but hey! it was a living.

   Basically a trouble maker at heart, he became a spokesperson for the
Committee of Concerned Citizens of Manitoba in January, 1980, and has been
involved with, and written about the nuclear waste issue ever since. And, as
some of the stuff has a half-life of over ten thousand years, he figures
that there's still plenty of time, and much to be said on that subject.

   Previous to their latest move to Kingston, Ontario, he and Phyl "retir
to the Eastern Townships of Québec, in 1988, where they continued their
involvement with both folk music and nuclear issues, including the
controversy over the ridiculously idiotic planned placement of a nuclear
reactor at the major teaching hospital in Sherbrooke, the story of which you
can find in Walt's Great Canadian Nuclear Waste Saga. [2]

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Last revised: 28 October 2016. Conditions of Use.
Copyright © 2001-2016 by The Jack Horntip Collection.

1: http://www.horntip.com
2: http://www.web.net/~robbins