posting for Doc south blog

I had moved to Anchorage from Idaho in 1978 and had been teaching myself how to play fiddle for about a year. I was delighted when I found out Doc South and his family band were regularly playing music at The Bridge. I went for awhile and listened and then I started bringing my fiddle just in case I got brave enough to try and join in. I remember how surprised I was when I thought I could join a tune and then found I still couldn't play it fast enough to keep up.
Those jam sessions finally got me working on one of my most important lessons... how to play music with other people. Doc was always so welcoming and inclusive and encouraging.
It was at those sessions that I met a couple of other beginning fiddlers, Linda Milunzi and Marlene Miller, and we became life-long fiddling friends. We attended the first Talkeetna Folk Festival together and also the Alaska Folk Festival in Juneau.
Thank you so much, Doc, for all you have done to spread the joy of fiddling and folk music.

Marsha Schoeffler
Moscow, Idaho

My story of Doc South

Well, I was introduced to Doc only once, at Galway Days which I attended from here in Whitehorse, Yukon, where I came to be invited up to Anchorage by two musicians who had come to Whitehorse over the years to play and attend music festivals that were going on here - Richard Gelardin and Ken Karabelnikoff..... Ken told me many fond stories of Doc.....that he  loves music so much, he shares that passion with so many people in an informative and humble way. There is a spirit in music, I believe, and I have been given to understand, from my distant, yet neighbourly perspective here in the Yukon Territory, that Doc has been one of the true harbingers of the joy  inherent in the playing and learning our music that has provided us with so many gifts over the decades of our lives that may otherwise have been spent in absence of this fun and delight.  Not to mention the many talents he has fostered  and nurtured to flourish by simply keeping music so prominently in his life, his heart and soul. Music is one of the things that keeps the colours in our lives from turning grey, and Doc has been instrumental in promoting the technicolour we have experienced from his efforts in promoting this wonderful enrichment.  Many thanks, Doc South!   From Marg Tatam Musician and MusicTeacher Whitehorse, Yukon Canada

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Doc South blog

    When I first came to Alaska in 1977 on vacation, a friend told me that I really needed to look up Doc South if I made it to Fairbanks.  So I did, and the rest is history!  We've been playing tunes and enjoying comraderie ever since.  In the early 80's, Doc moved to Anchorage to be the head of API, the Alaska Psychiatric Institute.  Most people didn't expect that such a folky looking gentleman could be in such a high-powered job.

    Doc was the magic behind the Monday night dance and music sessions in Mountain View for years.  Every Monday I'd head over to the Mt. View Community Center to play for dances, and hang out with friends.  I was new to dance fiddling, and had a lot to learn.  At the time I thought you had to play the same tune for ten minutes at a time, which could be kind of boring.  But at the sessions I learned about stringing tunes together in a medley, so that both musicians and dancers would be happy.

   Doc was always extremely patient with beginning musicians, and welcomed newbies into the group.  Eventually I played some gigs with him calling.  One of the most fun was down in Homer where the dancers extended the party til the wee hours.  Doc never ran out of dance calls or energy!

   For his 80th birthday, we gathered at the Train Depot in Palmer and ate, drank and were merry to a full house.  His family was there in support; Louise, Kathleen and her son Tyler, and Dan who even played some tunes onstage.

Doc says that when people asked him what brought him to Alaska, he said "insanity".  It took me awhile to realize that his job (working with people who needed psychiatric help) could be defined as that.  Or... like the rest of us, some sort of insanity brought us here and kept us here.  And we're sure glad that Doc has been such a rich part of our lives!

a picture for you

From the early days in Anchorage...

Doc South Family band 1979

Photo taken by Timothy Kendall

a picture for you

 

Doc South at Granite Creek Picker's Retreat 2009

Photo by Deb Wessler

Dear Harold

Dear Harold,

The time draws near for both your honoring and much, much fun at the Alaska Folk Festival in Juneau...As you already know, I will not be able to make it, but will be there in spirit (as will Dave, William, and Louise; Karen Rosene, and others who have gone before us).  Of that I am certain.

I trust that you will be encircled by the musical love you have helped to create, and that your influence will be witnessed by yet another generation of musicians, dancers, and callers.

Music is a timeless magic that tells the story of humankind...

Sincerely,

Deb Wessler
Singer, Songwriter, Guitar & Banjo Player
(former and always member of the Doc South Family Band)

PS  For God sakes, somebody please send me the link to youtube or wherever, when all the fun is said and done.

Doc South

I remember a time at the Howling Dog Saloon during the winter of ‘74/’75.  I had met Doc and Louise through Gil Monroe when I was stationed at Eielson.  I wasn’t much of a musician so I mostly benefited from all the great music by being out in the crowd and dancing as often as possible.  During one of those typical 20 below nights at the Dog a whole bunch of young G.I.’s from Ft. Wainwright came in through the door.  I recognized the suspicious looks on their faces as they looked around at the hippie crowd.  I knew that it wouldn’t take much to make them seriously unhappy with consequences that I didn’t want to think about.  Remember, this was a time when soldiers were often treated very poorly.  Anyway, Doc and the band came back from a break and the music started and people started to dance and the regular crowd was having a great time.  Perhaps as a dare, but probably because they really wanted to, a couple of these troops asked some of the young ladies if they would dance, and they did.

They danced very well and really enjoyed themselves.  As I recall, when they left it was in a really happy state.  I would be willing to bet that they remember their time at the Howling Dog that night as well as I do.  I give the credit to Doc and the band.  They always brought people together and made the place and the time something special, something unforgettable.  Thank you Doc.

 

Bruce Erickson

 

for blogspot

I remember when Doc South's Family Band played at the Bridge, a small coffee shop on Northern Lights in Anchorage many years ago.  At the time, there wasn't much happening in Anchorage, and people had to make their own amusement, and bluegrass jams were pretty popular at the Bridge and a couple of other local spots, especially in winter.  Doc was always friendly, reaching out to people, and everyone got a chance to play, whether they were proficient or rank beginners.  Doc used to call square dances too, and play his fiddle at dances.  There wasn't a lot of callers around then, as now.  Hooray for Doc South.  He made a big impression on a lot of people back then, and we are still playing our guitars and banjos.  Ellen Lockyer  Anchorage

Doc South Blog

Thanks, Doc

 

I first met Doc South in the mid 1970s at one of his University of Alaska - Fairbanks music workshops, thereafter followed his playing at places like the old Howling Dog Saloon in Ester and at festivals that started up in the 70's. I think my brother Doug first dragged me along with him to one of Doc's classes. Before moving to Alaska in 1974, I had been learning banjo on my own where I grew up in Pennsylvania, using Pete Seeger's classic book, How to Play the Five String Banjo. That was an OK start for hootenanny – type folk music, but Doc opened my eyes and ears to a much wider universe of old-time and American traditional music and dance.

 

As I recall, Doc was putting together a pickup band for one of the University dances and he saw me standing there in the corner. I was probably 100 times more shy about playing in front of people than I am now, and was undoubtedly hoping in my own twisted way that he wouldn't notice me (and whether or not I could actually play the banjo back then would have been a liberal interpretation of the concept "play").

 

That encounter with Doc went something like this:

Doc: "whataya got in that case?" (an answer he obviously knew).

Me: "a banjo" (duh)

Doc: "Well what the hell good is it doin' in that case? Get it out and play it!"

 

Through one means or another, Doc was great at getting people to play and making us all feel included, regardless of our experience or ability (inclusiveness -- a legacy of Doc's that we all need to remember).

 

Another observation…. After I interviewed Doc last spring for the Old Time Herald article, one thing that struck me was the irony of Doc's move to Alaska in about 1970. As it became very clear during the interviews, Doc had been very active musically in his native Indiana before heading north. He played ("just bring your music" they used to say, referring to all traditional styles, rather than breaking it out as old-time, bluegrass, Irish, or folk as we tend to now), called dances, performed on radio and TV, and spread his enthusiasm through teaching. The irony was that the Indiana music and dance scene took off like a rocket in the early 1970s, just after Doc left (see, for example, John Bealle's 2005 book on the Bloomington music scene, Old Time Music and Dance: Community and Folk Revival). Based on his huge impact on Alaska's traditional music scene in the 70s and 80s, I'm totally certain Doc would've been at the core of the Indiana music revival had he remained there.

 

No complaints, obviously – their loss was our gain.

 

--Pete Bowers

Doc Stories

 
I first met Doc at a jam-session in Anchorage in the early eighties, and we've been  friends since then.
 
Distance and time never allowed us to share as many tunes, songs, dances, and stories
as I would have liked, but I have great memories of the few gigs we played together when Doc was with The Muldoon Ceili Band, and John Walsh invited me along for the
Saint Patrick's weekends.  (I still think of Doc, John, and Kenny when the two jigs,
Tripping up the Stairs and My Darling Asleep are aired.)
 
My warmest congratulations, Doc!  I KNOW you'll enjoy every minute ... just wish I could
be there to celebrate with you, and join the queue for a waltz....
 
Thanks for being wise, wonderful you!
 
Cilla Skrade

The South Family Band at the Howling Dog, Ester, AK 1974

This is the only photo I have of Doc. This is the South Family Band in the winter of 1974 at the old Howling Dog Saloon when it used to be in Ester, AK. Pictured here are Robin Dale Ford (Banjo), Brent Edwards (Banjo), Bill or Danny South? (Guitar), and you can just see a little bit of Louise South's hand on her guitar....and Doc with the fiddle.  This may be the first and only documentation of a band with two banjos. What a wonderful way to spend a bitter-cold winter evening! 

 robin dale ford

Doc Memories

Hanging out around the fringes of the bluegrass music scene in the 70s I couldn't help hearing of and hearing the South Family Band. They always seemed to attract a good crowd of partiers...

 

Years later when I tentatively joined a session group at Meads Coffee House in Wasilla Doc was there, encouraging all who came. He called me by name, recalled stories of my family from the 70's, remembered tunes he had heard me play at obscure times in the past and played along reassuringly as I sawed or plucked away.

 

His warmth and inclusiveness along with an attitude that it is 'only music and s'posed to be fun' are some of the reasons I am active in music today.

 

I am sure Doc has forgotten more tunes than I will ever know, and he doesn't seem to forget much. His mental library expands back through a couple of generations for sure.

 

He is the most generous musician you could ever want to play with (Shonti Elder is on par and we all know it, but we're honoring Doc here....) and for his contribution to the music scene in Alaska he deserves much honor and praise.

 

You're awesome Doc! Enjoy your accolades!! Find some purty gals to waltz with down there and just soak up all the attention!

 

Rose Hendrickson

A-Tunes and a Couple in G

Oh, we’re making lists and checking it twice J  Harmonizing with Louise (RIP) was glorious; and I suppose I remember more of the songs than the tunes—but there were a bazillion of those tunes.  The first two I could remember out of the many, actually differentiate, were Over the Waterfall and 8th of January.   

 

South

Ashes of Love

Louise

I Still Miss Someone

I Know You Rider

Big Ball in Boston

Cotton Mill Girl

Good-Hearted Woman

Love Come Home

Detour

Fast Train (written by Bill South, RIP)

Cluck Old Hen

Another Night

Salty Dog

Devil’s Dream

Flop-eared Mule

Uncle Pen

Egyptian Swing Bop (written by Daniel)

 

 

Wow, what a great and well deserved honor for Doc, although I always called him Harold.  When I ran into Kenny Karibelnikof several years after college he told me about a jam session at The Bridge—I went and that road sent me on a fabulous adventure into music.  What I think is Harold’s best trait is his inclusiveness and encouragement.  He’d always ask people new to the jams if they had a song they wanted to sing or to play; he was always happy to learn a new song; and was always pulling out some song or tune from that amazing memory that he hadn’t played in thirty years!  I was ecstatic when I joined the band to play the washtub base in September 1979—and through the years was inspired to learn the mandolin, banjo and bass, as well as improve on my guitar.  And I’m not the only one—there are many fine musicians who got their start at the Bridge jams. As a band we didn’t just play music—we hiked, went on picnics, cross-country skied, and checked out every 2^nd hand store and dump on any route we travelled! And the stories on long drives up and down the rail belt...rambling topics of all sorts and lots of laughter and some tears.  Being a member of the South Family Band was the best—everything else is gravy.  I am happy and very gratified to see ‘Doc” get the recognition he so richly deserves.   

 

Stephanie Bissland

 

The State Fair Photo was taken by a photographer from the Frontiersman.  The other by a friend of mine.

 

 

energizer bunny of old time music

It was the early 70's and I was a lonely folk singer in Fairbanks.  I tried to stay lonely but people like Clyde Boggan introduced me to the Pine Hill Ramblers, and the Doc South Band.  The place to be was definitely Ester at the Howling Dog.  Hot Subs and rampaging bluegrass.  And if you could play, you were dragged to the stage for a song or two. 

 

Many a night, after closing the place, we would gather under the Northern Lights (always out in those days) and decide where to continue the jam.  One night, my cabin seemed the place.

 

The Dog closed about what -  3, 4 am?  So by 5 am we were still jamming in my cabin. It was a mite crowded, but by 7am it was just me, Clyde, and Doc.  I would drift off and just listen to Clyde and Doc. Clyde would nod off at his violin.  Doc would still be going strong.  By 10 am I would have to ask Doc and Clyde to leave. I think they would then go over to Clyde's and continue.

 

When I moved to Anchorage and we would have jams at my house, Doc would always out stay us all.  And with such vitality and energy.

 

And I have not even touched on how kind he was to us beginners.  He was kind.  Thank you Doc for including me in the music, as you do everyone you meet.  You made a great difference in my life.

 

 

 

Marrianne Bacon

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