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Subject: Faith Petric From: Joe Offer Date: 30 Sep 02 - 06:37 PM There was an article about Faith Petric in the San Francisco Chronicle today, and I thought Mudcatters might like to see it. -Joe Offer- PROFILE Faith Petric It's all about the song for folk club's queen Lifelong activist's repertoire has 'em all beat
Monday, September 30, 2002 ©2002 San Francisco Chronicle
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/09/30/MN15227.DTL
It was getting on toward midnight, and the old Victorian in the Haight was crackling with music. In the front parlor, a dozen musicians jammed and hooted about hometowns and heartbreak, while bass, guitar and harmonica players cranked out swing music in the basement. And strumming away in the living room was Faith Petric, the 87-year-old grande dame of the household and presiding elder of the full-blown banjo- and guitar-laced sing-along. "If there were no poor and the rich were content," she sang in her papery voice, "it could be a wonderful world, oh yes, it could be a wonderful world." The assembled loyalists know Petric as the Fort Knox of folk music -- a one-person San Francisco institution who has been holding jam sessions in her renowned fortress on the hill for the past 40 years. The octogenarian has been collecting music since childhood and protesting from the left since the Spanish Civil War. She plays host on alternate Fridays to the San Francisco Folk Club, writes a column in Sing Out! magazine, sings at demonstrations with the Freedom Song Network and occasionally takes calls from folk legend Pete Seeger, who calls her "one of the most extraordinary people in the world." Since retiring in 1970 -- yes, 1970 -- she's been an off-the-true-vine, full-time folkie, traveling, performing and singing about injustice, mother nature and, when she's feeling salacious, the unnecessary fuss over "wee-wees." "Faith, to me, is a model of a folk singer. I mean someone who sings songs from our tradition, from common property that belongs to all of us," said storyteller and folk star Utah Phillips, whose first West Coast performance was in Petric's living room. "And she has been a role model as an activist. . . . She gives all of us who are younger than her the courage to forge ahead." But please refrain from asking Petric whether music keeps her young -- or expect a dash of her signature saltiness. "When I'm introduced as 86 years young, I could murder," she said on the eve of her 87th birthday bash jam. "I am not youthful. I'm oldful. "The idea that youth is the only time you're vital and interested -- that myth makes millions of dollars for people who want to make you feel there's something wrong with you. . . . Youth is all right, but that's only part of life." Sometimes, she sings a song to this effect, one that friends love and routinely mention. "We'll march again confound them all, don't quibble at my age," the final chorus of "Grandma's Battle Cry" goes, "I'll shield you with my brittle bones, I'll nourish you with rage." Later, she discovered cowboy songs -- dusty, sometimes wistful tunes about adventure and the Wild West. At one time, as a child trooping from one small Idaho town to the next, she imagined she could learn all the songs in the world. By the time she was 13, her parents had split up. "I had what might be called a dysfunctional family," she said. She was sent away to live in a boarding house before heading off to Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. After graduating, she made her way to San Francisco, and, like many women at that time, slipped in and out of the labor market for years. She worked for the state, then for a marketing research firm and, briefly, in a shipyard in Hoboken, N.J. In 1945, she moved to Mexico for the year to give birth to her daughter. "Now, very few people blink an eye," she said, "but at that time, an illegitimate child was still a bugbear." She did marry once, when her daughter was 3, but it didn't last. "Ruined a good friendship," she said. All the while, music and activism shaped her life. In the '30s, as the Depression dragged on and the civil war in Spain raged, she became an unreconstructed "left-winger." She added anti-war and union songs to her music bank. She learned to play the guitar. Later, she marched for civil rights in Selma, Ala. She was the first one to stand up for the openly gay couple who moved into her neighborhood. She co- founded the Freedom Song Network and, with her like-minded, left-leaning cohorts, enlivened hundreds of protests with hopeful songs about peace and justice. "If you learn a song, it stays with you," she said. "You don't remember a pamphlet." That said, she gets awfully huffy at the suggestion that folk music begins and ends with protest songs. Folk music, she'll intone with a straight spine, includes love songs, cowboy music, ballads, lullabies, jazz, blues and bluegrass. "It tells the truth about history -- not just lessons from school about generals and robber barons and politicians. It's about the lives people lived and what happened to them. The tragedies, hopes, dreams -- all of that. . . . Folk music is what folks sing." Or another way of putting it: "I ain't heard no horses singing it." The club has never advertised or so much as listed itself in the phone directory. It's just one of those under-the-radar San Francisco things. On a Friday night years ago, Greg Jones crawled into a cab with his guitar and directed the driver to the Haight. "Going to Faith's?" the cabbie asked. That's how it is: You play in the park or get in the right taxi and eventually, someone sends you to Petric's house. Musicians know they can learn songs or just jam all night, when the impulse strikes. The sessions end when the last person leaves. "It's kind of like extended family in some sense. It's like people hanging out, playing on their porches," said Richard Rice, 43. "You don't find that much anymore." With a folk revival stirring, several dozen people and half as many guitars will materialize on a busy night. Sixty showed up for Petric's birthday celebration last week. Still, it pales in comparison to the old days, when as many as 100 folkniks regularly would crowd into five sweaty rooms, playing bluegrass in one, swing in another, country-western music somewhere else. "There'd be so many people in the living room, you couldn't sit down," Petric said. At one such meeting in 1972, Petric first decided to become a performer. In her kitchen late one night, five folk clubbers dreamed up the Portable Folk Music Festival. They bought an old school bus, and 15 people and one dog set out to tour the country. They returned some months later with 18 people and two dogs. "I got bit by the bug. I loved it," Petric said. "From then on, I became a traveling folkie." Since she retired at 55 from a job at the former state Department of Rehabilitation, she's devoted as much as half the year to playing at festivals, clubs and protests around the world. She traveled through England with another Folk Club entourage, Frisco Fire Band. She's a fixture at folk gatherings such as the Old Songs Festival and the Hudson River Revival. In 1998 and 2001, she toured Australia. "All of your life, someone dictates what you have to do," she said. "Then you retire and at last you can do what you want to do." This summer, Petric played at the Oregon Country Fair. She traveled to Puget Sound for a guitar workshop. She sang at an anti-nuclear protest on the anniversary of Hiroshima. As she has for 20 years, she toured with the Chautauqua Group, which brings a variety show to small towns that have little live theater. Her voice has thinned, and she plays just enough guitar to accompany herself. Nothing fancy, she says. But underneath the long, gray hair and the workaday glasses is a natural performer who knows just when to bend a note or raise an eyebrow. She likes to trot out on stage and zing the audience with lyrics like, "If you haven't got a penis, you can't become a priest" or 'It's only a wee-wee, so what's the big fuss?" "She can go on in a crowded place where people are talking. Very few acts can do this. Suddenly, she gets the crowd quiet," Rice said. "Who can explain that quality? She looks at you when she's singing. She's got that look on her face. She's right there. She knows how to work that room." To boot, her ability to remember tunes is legendary. "She knows so damn many songs," Phillips said. "If you get stuck for a song -- you remember a fragment or heard a rumor, you can call up Faith and chances are that she knows it." Or if she doesn't, he added, she can probably find it in her extensive collection of folk records, books and publications. Petric claims her memory occasionally confounds her these days. "Before, any song I wanted to sing was there," she said. There were hundreds and hundreds. "Now I have to rehearse songs before I go on stage." Nonetheless, she knew more -- many, many more -- lyrics than anyone else at the recent Friday night folk gathering. As always, when someone stumbled with the words, she'd gently pick up the loose strand and nudge him along, singing "The bankers and the diplomats are going in the army," or "We're gonna keep on walking forward . . . never turning back." The banjo and the guitars flickered in and out. The fire in the living room blazed. Sometimes a smile played on her lips. There was a tune she particularly brightened at, the one about the Buenos Aires mouse who chewed through the cables and brought business to a halt -- a true story, someone said. "Hurray for the little mouse who f-- up the clearing house!" She giggled there before drawing out the last line. "If one little mouse can set them all awry --" Beat. "Why not you and I?" |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: Glade Date: 30 Sep 02 - 06:56 PM thanks for inputting the great article, Joe. |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: kendall Date: 30 Sep 02 - 07:14 PM I have hoped for many years to meet her. |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: harpgirl Date: 30 Sep 02 - 07:19 PM ...she is a great role model! I'd like to be like Faith when I get old. But I won't be able to retire at 55 unless someone wants to keep me.....hg |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: Art Thieme Date: 30 Sep 02 - 07:21 PM Faith is a wonderful person and a true inspiration. Good to see her home town give her the roses while she can smell 'em. Art Thieme |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: Dave Swan Date: 30 Sep 02 - 07:24 PM It's always a treat to be anywhere near Faith. A couple of years ago we sang just ahead of her at an event in San Francisco. About halfway through our set I looked offstage, and there stood Faith in the wings, making goofy faces at us, just for the hell of it. Cracked me up. She's the best in many ways. D |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: Leadfingers Date: 30 Sep 02 - 07:50 PM Sounds like a nice lady.It would seem America DOES have one or two things to be proud of. |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: Charley Noble Date: 30 Sep 02 - 08:01 PM Wonderful article, Joe. Thanks for posting it for those of us away. I'm also pleased that I was able to bring some long-time friends to one of Faith's gatherings when I was in California a few weeks ago. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: Mark Cohen Date: 01 Oct 02 - 12:50 AM While living in Portland and Seattle in the 80s, I made friends with folkies from Victoria to L.A. I remember one year at Camp Harmony, the San Francisco Folk Music Club's New Year's gathering, saying to Faith how wonderful it felt to be part of this folk music community that stretched all the way up and down the coast. She just looked at me and shook her head, smiling. "It's all over the world," she said. What a great lady. Long may she wave! Aloha, Mark |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: GUEST,Boab Date: 01 Oct 02 - 02:58 AM Hey Joe!---I tried a thread some time back in which I asked if anyone knew of the doings of a group called the "'Frisco Fire Band" in which FAITH PRETIC was a leading light. No takers---probably because of my mis-spelling of the Lady's name! I am delighted to find this thread, and to know that the lady is still going strong. Around the mid-sixties, when I was sharing the "mc's " spot with a guy called Jimmy "Greg" Milne in Hexham, a bunch of Americans joined us one club session night,{"We're just off the boat at Liverpool"], and asked if they could have a floor spot.They called themselves the "Frisco Fire Band". A breath of fresh air, they were too. Faith [for indeed it was She] sang my old man's favourite song that night--"Home in Pasadena". We very promptly "booked" the band for a guest evening, and were privileged to have a ninety-minute performance. Faith [was she "shooting a line"?]told us that she was part Cherokee. Is that truly the case? |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: Ballyholme Date: 01 Oct 02 - 09:33 AM I had the honour of meeting Faith at the Belfast Folk Festival many years ago. She is a great performer and a wonderful person. Her recording of "The Colorado Trail" is one of the greatest tear-jerkers I've ever heard. |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: Rick Fielding Date: 01 Oct 02 - 11:17 AM Thanks Joe. I've never met Faith, but her name's been a part of my little world for many years. Feels like she's a buddy. Rick |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: radriano Date: 01 Oct 02 - 11:56 AM It's good to hear Faith getting such praise. She deserves every word said about her. |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: EBarnacle1 Date: 01 Oct 02 - 02:46 PM When I saw Faith's name posted, I was worried that it might be an obit. Joe, please change the name to Faith Petric--Alive and Strong or some equivalent. Eric |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: kendall Date: 01 Oct 02 - 07:13 PM She sounds like my good friend, Helen Schneyer; another American treasure. |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: Coyote Breath Date: 02 Oct 02 - 12:39 AM Wow what a great tribute to Faith! I was in her living room (actually living and dining because of the crowd) the night U. Utah Phillips, the Golden Voice of the Great Southwest performed. He sang "Goodnight- Loving Trail" and "They're Running the Bums Out of Town" among others. I still have the note paper with the latter song's words on it that Faith gave me when there was a spare moment. I brought my kids to the SFFMC gatherings up on Clayton (885 or is it 887?) and to Kirby Cove to eat stone soup. Those were wonderful days, full of music. On Sundays some would go off to one side of the campground and sing "holy" music and some of us would go to the opposite side and sing "unholy" songs, these usually instigated by Herb Jager. A couple of years ago she sang Geritol Gypsy on a PBS documentary about the traveling retirees. The Portable Folk Music Festival included Larry Hanks who told the story about an older guy in Oklahoma who, after seeing this long haired furry fellow from 'Frisco aksed; "Are you one of them hoopers that smokes that LDO?" I don't remember Hank's answer. I'm glad she's still around. CB |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: Peter Kasin Date: 02 Oct 02 - 01:51 AM CB, what kind of "LDO" was THAT guy on? Faith is such a treasure. Thanks, Joe, for posting the article. Chanteyranger |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: GUEST,Canberra Chris Date: 02 Oct 02 - 03:41 AM What a privilege to see Faith Petric perform in Australia at our National Folk Festival 2001. The Shiny Bum Singers kept a front seat for her and gave her a copy of our song-books, when we found she was coming to hear us. What a wicked, mischievous, young mind! She had an elaborate decorative motif on her T-shirt, which on closer inspection read 'Womens' Sewing Circle and Terrorist Organisation'. Some little old lady! If you have any more, send them over. Chris |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: RoyH (Burl) Date: 02 Oct 02 - 06:45 AM I have only been to California twice, back in the 1980's, but each time it was my good luck to meet Faith Petric. These were unforgettable meetings with an unforgettable person. She is aptly named, for to spend time with her gives, or restores, faith in humankind and it's chances of survival. With luck I'll be in Calif next year and I do hope to meet her again. Of late, faced with the prospect of turning 70 next year,I have been greatly caught up with thoughts of getting old. Faith Petric can cure me of that. |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 02 Oct 02 - 08:59 AM Faith is fantastic - her singing of Womanchild several years ago at our folk club (The Loaded Dog, the best acoustic venue in Sydney) is something I will never forget. The audience is famous for singing along & can raise the roof with a good chorus song, but that quiet song was accompanied with exquisite soft harmony. Magic. I want her back there next time she tours. On her next tour she told her Festival audience that her CDs wouldn't work unless she signed them!! I have passed on her remark to several artists when getting them to sign CDs. Some have assumed she is a friend, & I wish she was. (ps. all the CDs do work well with signatures!) She was collecting parodies on her last visit & the Shiny Bum Singers (Public Servants who sing the songs of the Public Service while dressed in authentic work suits!) gave her several (hello, Chris). Their songs include the Mentoring Song (to the tune of Ce Sera Sera - chorus "Cover your a###", and The Office Fridge Song (Tanenbaum - Chorus "The office fridge is full of slime...") They will be appearing at The Dog in November. Sandra |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: Ferrara Date: 02 Oct 02 - 11:41 AM Joe, what a wonderful article. I met Faith at a San Francisco get-together in about 1978, mudcatter Barbara introduced us as a matter of fact. Had already heard much about her, but this article is splendid and says so much more. |
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Subject: RE: Faith Petric From: Coyote Breath Date: 04 Oct 02 - 11:33 AM I dunno Chanteyranger, good old Oklahoma LDO, naturally. The house on Clayton also has an extensive collection of old records. When I knew I was going to move I took all my 78's over to be kept up on the second floor (or third?). These included the recording of Haywire Mac singing "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" as used in "O Brother...". There was a very extensive lyric and sheetmusic collection. Hard copy all. I had learned what I wanted from the records and knew that moving back to Missouri was risking them getting broken. I visited Herb Jager this May and forgot to ask after Faith. When next out to 'Frisco, I'll get over to a "meeting". I wonder if Irish musicians are still consigned to the basement, anyone know? CB |
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