jt Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 The Kalamazoo Gals journey continues! I spent this weekend with BBC radio, which is producing an hour long documentary based on my book. In addition, in my ever-continuing Gibson journey, I also chatted yesterday with Margie Bellson, the 101 year old widow of Julius Bellson, Gibson's personnel director during WWII and author of he 1973 book, "The Gibson Story." Mrs. Bellson is a delight and rightly proud of her minty early 1930s Uke 3: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuanCarlosVejar Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 John , Sweet it's incredible to see how your project has grown and I take my hat off to you for making an effort to share the magic of the banner years ... as a gibson acoustic fan it's a thrill to see where you started and where you are now . thank you and the best of luck for what is yet to come =)! JC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 How cool is that. The guy I wish had put something down on paper was General Manager Guy Hart. It was his design team that came up with the SJ-200 and all those wonderful instruments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted September 30, 2013 Author Share Posted September 30, 2013 Thanks JC & Zomby! I always have twin thoughts when I encounter significant figures in Gibson history: 1) I wish that I had started my research earlier and 2) I'm glad that I at least started when I ddi. I think that the BBC documentary will be extraordinary. We spent hours wandering about the old Gibson factory, handling machinery that dates to Orville's time, recording Banner Gibsons in the empty, cavernous spaces of the building, and chatting with the surviving Gals. At the very least, it was an amazing weekend for all of us involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GotTheSilver Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Thanks JC & Zomby! I always have twin thoughts when I encounter significant figures in Gibson history: 1) I wish that I had started my research earlier and 2) I'm glad that I at least started when I ddi. I think that the BBC documentary will be extraordinary. We spent hours wandering about the old Gibson factory, handling machinery that dates to Orville's time, recording Banner Gibsons in the empty, cavernous spaces of the building, and chatting with the surviving Gals. At the very least, it was an amazing weekend for all of us involved. JT, this is amazing. Beyond that fact that you are finding good information, documenting it and making it available to everyone, you must be having an incredible time doing all of this! It is fantastic for you that you get to spend so much time having such great experiences and working with something you love so much. Congratulations on that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullmental Alpinist Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 I'm about half-way through the book now. While I came to read about guitars, I'm finding the women's stories so compelling to read. Reminds me a lot of talking with my grandmas: they're long since gone but through the women of the book I hear them answering questions I never got to ask. Thanks for you hard work jt. FMA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted September 30, 2013 Author Share Posted September 30, 2013 Thanks, folks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorick Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Thanks, folks! That's exciting, John. I'm glad the BBC picked up on this great story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 John, great to hear that your story is spreading even further!! I hope to see you in my neck of the woods again sometime in the future. Apart from the new documentary, do you have a clear vision of where your reseach will take you next, or do you "play it by ear?" Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 I'm assuming you will give us a bit of notice when the BBC programme is being aired ? Did they give you any idea ? Are we going to be waiting until next year or do these things happen quicker ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted October 1, 2013 Author Share Posted October 1, 2013 I'm about half-way through the book now. While I came to read about guitars, I'm finding the women's stories so compelling to read. Reminds me a lot of talking with my grandmas: they're long since gone but through the women of the book I hear them answering questions I never got to ask. Thanks for you hard work jt. FMA, Thanks so much for the kind words. The people are what I, too, value in the story. That their stories also involve a mystery and Gibson guitars only made the project more compelling for me. Thanks, again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted October 1, 2013 Author Share Posted October 1, 2013 I'm assuming you will give us a bit of notice when the BBC programme is being aired ? Did they give you any idea ? Are we going to be waiting until next year or do these things happen quicker ? BBG, The show will air sometime early next year. The BBC is lining up a very well known female rock musician to narrate. I'll keep folks posted. Thanks for asking! John, great to hear that your story is spreading even further!! I hope to see you in my neck of the woods again sometime in the future. Apart from the new documentary, do you have a clear vision of where your reseach will take you next, or do you "play it by ear?" Lars, Thanks for asking! My next book will be about the history of the US/Mexico border (working title: One Hundred Years of Solitude, Struggle, and Violence: A Social and Cultural History of the Communities along the Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico Borders (American History Press, 2015, or so)). Then the next guitar-related book, either depression era guitars and musicians or turn-of-the-twentieth century Chicago guitars and musicians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 BBG, The show will air sometime early next year. The BBC is lining up a very well known female rock musician to narrate. I'll keep folks posted. Thanks for asking! Lars, Thanks for asking! My next book will be about the history of the US/Mexico border (working title: One Hundred Years of Solitude, Struggle, and Violence: A Social and Cultural History of the Communities along the Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico Borders (American History Press, 2015, or so)). Then the next guitar-related book, either depression era guitars and musicians or turn-of-the-twentieth century Chicago guitars and musicians. Congratulations on the BBC documentary! I was about to ask the question that BBG asked. I hope our TV shows it before 2020 - they can be really useless here, so I also hope you will have dvd copies for Gibson Acoustic Forum members. And you are really going to have to get a shorter name for the next book or you will run out of wind saying that name above every time you are doing your interviews....(perhaps Border Music??; Border Blues???; The Border Incident etc etc something quick, catchy and EASY!) BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Congratulations on the BBC documentary! I was about to ask the question that BBG asked. I hope our TV shows it before 2020 - they can be really useless here, so I also hope you will have dvd copies for Gibson Acoustic Forum members. And you are really going to have to get a shorter name for the next book or you will run out of wind saying that name above every time you are doing your interviews....(perhaps Border Music??; Border Blues???; The Border Incident etc etc something quick, catchy and EASY!) BluesKing777. Its a radio show BK . And yeah , that book title is bordering on the ridiculous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted October 1, 2013 Author Share Posted October 1, 2013 CAnd you are really going to have to get a shorter name for the next book or you will run out of wind saying that name above every time you are doing your interviews....(perhaps Border Music??; Border Blues???; The Border Incident etc etc something quick, catchy and EASY!) Well, that's why I called it a "working title." :) I agree with you: it's now more abstract than title now. but it's gonna take me several years to get the oral histories on both sides of the border and in both English and Spanish. So, I'll have plenty of time to refine it. I'm taking a Spanish course now in an attempt to regain that language and I'll be living this summer down on the border. Should be interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Well, that's why I called it a "working title." :) I agree with you: it's now more abstract than title now. but it's gonna take me several years to get the oral histories on both sides of the border and in both English and Spanish. So, I'll have plenty of time to refine it. I'm taking a Spanish course now in an attempt to regain that language and I'll be living this summer down on the border. Should be interesting. Not that much has changed along that border. It was dangerous then, and it still is. Be careful. Speaking Spanish is little protection. (This from someone who has lived in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona..... but not Mexico.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted October 1, 2013 Author Share Posted October 1, 2013 Not that much has changed along that border. It was dangerous then, and it still is. Be careful. Speaking Spanish is little protection. (This from someone who has lived in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona..... but not Mexico.) Nick, It has changed a lot! I grew up on that border. My Grandmother homesteaded in very southern Arizona in the early 1920s. I was born in 1955 and our ranch got electricity (and running water) in 1964, courtesy of Lyndon Johnson and the Rural Power Act. I grew up speaking English and Spanish at a time when there was no border: families roamed freely back and forth. I have spent a lot of time in Mexico. IMHO, there are few places in the world that have changed as much in the past century. The rise of demand in the US for illegal substances has transformed the US/Mexico border. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted October 1, 2013 Author Share Posted October 1, 2013 Another photo of Mrs. Bellson, with her husband's book, "The Gibson Story" as she plucks a few notes on his ukelele: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojorule Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 BBG, The BBC is lining up a very well known female rock musician to narrate. Does she come alive down in Devil Gate Drive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Man, what a guy. You are great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 Does she come alive down in Devil Gate Drive? BBG, You're good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 Man, what a guy. You are great. Thanks, Murph! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojorule Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 BBG, You're good! I'm good, but I'm not BBG. Suzie Q does have a well-established sideline in interesting BBC radio documentaries on musical themes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 I'm good, but I'm not BBG. Suzie Q does have a well-established sideline in interesting BBC radio documentaries on musical themes. Uh, sorry, Mojo! She hasn't yet etched her name in stone, but she seems committed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Don't apologise to him. I knew it v was gonna be her anyway :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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