Most colorful places in Lehigh Valley (York, Monroe: appointed, homes, unemployment)

[PacoMartin]

The Leather Corner Post Bar in Orefield has to be up there. Have you ever seen a boom-ba?

The Boom-ba is known throughout the Pennsylvania Dutch culture of eastern Pennsylvania. The instrument focuses heavily on loud percussion that is played with a drum stick, that consists of a variety of percussion instruments i.e. tambourines, cowbells, etc. Leading them to be the perfect instrument to play after a few beers!

A boom-ba is closely related to a stumpf fiddle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYG5jMh64C8

Leather Corner Post

[MatildaLoo]

HAHA! I don't even know what to make of this. I thought it was going to be a post about fall foliage

[toobusytoday]

Heck, I know a few people that OWN boom-bas! Here's a closer look at one - Boom-ba - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

When we first moved to Lehigh County the Limeport Inn used to have a kind of open mike jam session for boom-ba's on Friday nights. It was a smoky loud happy mess. I'm not a fan of smoky or loud so was not unhappy when new owners came in and that stopped, but it was the end of an era.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by MatildaLoo

HAHA! I don't even know what to make of this. I thought it was going to be a post about fall foliage

I didn't want to use a more common media term for part of southern culture. I don't really think it is appropriate anyway. There is a Pennsylvania culture that is distinctive.



The official federal definition of the Appalachian Region is pretty inclusive, and includes about 2/3 of the counties in Pennsylvania (including Carbon, Monroe, and Schuylkill) and the Southern Tier of New York state. The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) was established by an act of Congress in 1965. ARC is composed of the governors of the 13 Appalachian states and a federal co-chair, who is appointed by the president. At the time-

• One of every three Appalachians lived in poverty
• Per capita income was 23 percent lower than the U.S. average
• High unemployment and harsh living conditions had, in the 1950s, forced more than 2 million Appalachians to leave their homes and seek work in other regions.

[MatildaLoo]

LOL you are cracking me up today Paco! Love the pic of the "redneck hot tub."

My SO has corrected me since my move to Carbon County: the proper term is "hoofties," apparently.

I do agree though, that it's not accurate of the actual culture, which is rich in history and tradition.

On a side note, could you imagine a band combining the PA Dutch/German tradition of the boom-ba with the NEPA coalcracker-Irish influence of the bagpipes? Bladder instruments indeed

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by MatildaLoo

LOL you are cracking me up today Paco! Love the pic of the "redneck hot tub."
I do agree though, that it's not accurate of the actual culture, which is rich in history and tradition

Thank you, I thought it was pretty funny.

The term hillbilly is traceable to a 1900 New York York journal article that "a Hill-Billie is a free and untrammeled white citizen of Alabama, who lives in the hills, has no means to speak of, dresses as he can, talks as he pleases, drinks whiskey when he gets it, and fires off his revolver as the fancy takes him."

Almost immediately there was a backlash to try and defend the mountain people's culture. Two fronts were commonly used. Since genealogy was part of Scottish tradition most of the people could trace there lineage back to Scottish royalty. In reality, that fact is relatively meaningless, because if you can keep track of a dozen generations, the odds of you not being related to royalty (given the size of the population) are almost nill.

The other front was declaring that Appalachian English was the closest thing to Shakespearean English on the planet. It is only more or less true, because they are both old pronunciations.

The common term now for Shakespearean era English is Original Pronunciation (OP). There is one professor in particular who is a champion of OP, and his son has proven to be very adept at standing up on a stage and entertaining people with stories of OP. You can see Ben Crystal do his renditions of Sonnet 116 in Received Pronunciation and Original Pronunciation. It is actually very good.


Sonnet 116 - Original Pronunciation - Shakespeare on Toast - YouTube

[MatildaLoo]

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

Thank you, I thought it was pretty funny.

The term hillbilly is traceable to a 1900 New York York journal article that "a Hill-Billie is a free and untrammeled white citizen of Alabama, who lives in the hills, has no means to speak of, dresses as he can, talks as he pleases, drinks whiskey when he gets it, and fires off his revolver as the fancy takes him."

Almost immediately there was a backlash to try and defend the mountain people's culture. Two fronts were commonly used. Since genealogy was part of Scottish tradition most of the people could trace there lineage back to Scottish royalty. In reality, that fact is relatively meaningless, because if you can keep track of a dozen generations, the odds of you not being related to royalty (given the size of the population) are almost nill.

The other front was declaring that Appalachian English was the closest thing to Shakespearean English on the planet. It is only more or less true, because they are both old pronunciations.

The common term now for Shakespearean era English is Original Pronunciation (OP). There is one professor in particular who is a champion of OP, and his son has proven to be very adept at standing up on a stage and entertaining people with stories of OP. You can see Ben Crystal do his renditions of Sonnet 116 in Received Pronunciation and Original Pronunciation. It is actually very good.


Sonnet 116 - Original Pronunciation - Shakespeare on Toast - YouTube

Neat stuff

You post the most interesting things, Paco!