A
25th anniversary letter from Batya Salzman LevyMarch 14, 2003
Well, well, well.
Found to my delight the Wild
Hog website, and immediately was transported back through
TWENTY FIVE years. Read Gordy and Agnes' ten year letter, and
knew I absolutely had to join in, so hang on tight,
campers………………
One of my sweetest
accomplishments is having been an Original Hogger, from the
very start. From endless coffee and free eggs (thanks Peter)
at the late, lamented Spudnuts, to jams that touched heaven
from our living rooms, those years of the early Hog were
magic. Forgive the name dropping, but let's see, it was Peter
Houser, Gordy Hinners, Deb Kmetz, Ken Rineer, Jamie Hascall
and the amazing Agnes and her clan. Plus about thirty others
- I'm a little fuzzy thinking about 1976. For months we
played and performed at the Farmer's Market on Capitol Square,
passing the hat and looking as homeless as we were. Word
spread. Jams weren't enough.
And then that glorious benefit
marathon on Willy Street (August '76??). We begged everything
from everywhere; coffee, chairs, sound equipment. The co-ops
and collectives of Madison gave with a rueful smile; you'll
never make it, those days are over, but take the coffee and
God bless. Michael Heckman (ahh, Michael) brought and worked
the soundboard, then and for months afterwards. I may still
have the poster somewhere, and I know I have the T-shirt!!
The Green Lantern agreed to a partnership and the rest,
apparently, is an astonishing quarter century of cooperation
and great music.
For most of you probably
reading this, I'm a stranger. So, no I never played an
instrument, and my only participation onstage was as emcee or
sometimes singing, my only (modest) musical ability. Mostly I
sung offstage. A clear memory is the night someone gave us a
large ceramic piggybank for the modest pass the hat cash. I
emceed that night, informed the house of the new gift, and
reminded everyone to fill up the pig. Presto, Phillup the Pig
lives!!
It was all about the music, of
course. Madison was - and from what I see on the website,
still is - a magnet for the best backporch musicians in the
Midwest. Pickers, plunkers, and pretty much everyone else.
Ken's broomstick bass, Gordy's banjo, Peter's guitar, Chris
Powers' sweet lightening, Jamie's bones and spoons, somebody's
fiddles and harps. Concerts by Dan and Roxanne, Claudia
Schmidt, Jim Post, and the best pickin' and grinnin', blues
and any eclectic mayhem that would stick together and call
themselves a band for the evening, like Michael M. and Tamin
(ahh, Tamin) …….My mind boggles with the memory of
making so much joyful noise. The friendships were like the
music; we loved each other. We grew into it, learning budgets,
organization, electronics, delegation, city bureaucracy etc.,
while going to class, falling in and out of love, and raising
Sally. 1976 Madison as microcosm - The Churchkey, Club de
Wash, WORT, barndances, Lienie's Bock, the 602, and, as ever,
Spudnuts. And the flow of folks in and out, roommates,
sweethearts, relatives, all willing to bake and haul and just
show up out of compassion for a new performer so they wouldn't
play to an empty room. I think the word is synchronicity -
that sublime twist of luck that puts people and circumstances
in the same room, and a new life form emerges.
I was back to visit in 1981,
then for the last time in 1984, for a Hogger's party. Then
Peter and Jamie went to points northwest, Gordy to North
Carolina, and me, eventually, to Chicago for over 16 years. I
see dearest Deb's name on the website, and send my heart's
hello to her and any other well-remembered co-conspirators
who see this letter. As for me, very briefly and without all
the juicy bits, I have been living in Israel for seven years,
have three nearly grown sons, am now divorced and living with
my sweetheart. We house and feed various and sundry sons, a
dog and cat, and wait for World War III. I teach English,
rarely sing and at the ripe age of this close to 46, have
finally cut my hair.
My email is
letbe50@hotmail.com. Use it!!! Let me know how the fates
have treated you. Many, many blessings for this, the 25th
Anniversary of the Wild Hog, for all of you who have taken up
the reins and pulled. Sing one in my name.
Batya Salzman Levy
