Notes on Notes
Behind “History’s Stories” Tuffy Hicks Unearths Little known Facts about FXBG
songwriter’s workshop for local musicans
By emily hollingsworth
By A.E. Bayne On the last Thursday of the month in the spacious wood lined room above Picker’s Supply, you’ll find a small group of songwriters working out melodies, jiving about bridges and diminished chords, rhythms and rhymes. This amiable bunch of troubadours has made a routine of meeting monthly to listen to and critique each other’s work, an opportunity that is open and free to songwriters in Fredericksburg. Tres Seaver, organizer of Picker’s Songwriter’s Showcase, has been facilitating the group for the past six years. Initially, he was looking for a place to share his ever-expanding selection of songs and to give and receive feedback from fellow musicians. Much like a poetry workshop, the song sharing sessions require only participation and a willingness to listen. Each musician brings five or six copies of a song they are working on and plays it for the group. Group members take turns giving their opinions about the best parts of the song and some constructive critique about ways to improve things rhythmically, lyrically, or melodically.
Seaver says, “Songwriting is a bit like poetry and the other arts, except it’s even more ephemeral. You kind of abandon a poem when you think it’s done in some written form, such as after you’ve published it. The thing with a song that’s really different is that the written song isn’t the thing; it’s the performance. So everything gets even more ephemeral. For instance, one of the very common things for me is I don’t sing it the way it’s written on the paper. Either I don’t remember what I wrote on the paper, or I’ve changed my mind, or I’m trying to find the phrasing to make it fit. It’s a different process than bringing in something for people to look at. I mean, poetry should be read aloud, really, but normally the poet doesn’t change the poem while she’s reading it aloud. In that way songwriting is more like a spoken word performance than a poem written on a page for publication.” Jim Ramsbotham, a frequent attendee of the workshops, says he enjoys bringing songs that are older so he can rework them with the group. He enjoys hearing other people’s songs, too. He says,
“It makes a huge difference. A couple of the best songs that I’ve ever heard have been right here at this workshop.” Another regular, songwriter Robbie Keelin, was on the Board of Directors for the Songwriters Association of Washington for four years and offered a similar critique group up in Northern Virginia before moving to Fredericksburg. He says the input he receives from this type of group is important, because the group will hear things and see things that he doesn’t while he is writing and signing. He adds, “I think the more the merrier. I’m welcoming of comments. I don’t always take all the suggestions, but I thank people for them. If I’m not open to hearing people telling me where my songs need improvement then I should stay home.” Seaver considers the benefits of a critique group, saying, “One of the important things you can get out of a session like this is knowing if the song is done. You may have a sense that something’s missing, but you don’t really know what it is. Then somebody will say
no, reassuring you that you’re fine. You abandon a song and don’t play it anymore because the song exists as a thing performed rather than a thing said, so you have to get it to the place where you’re comfortable with it and would be willing to go out and play it for a group who are not as supportive and warm as a group like this is supposed to be. Yet, you have to get there, and getting feedback can really help.” Want to go? Bring your instrument and five copies of your latest song to Picker’s Supply on Thursday, August 25th at 7 p.m.. The workshop is located in the open space above Picker’s Supply. Call Tres Seaver at (540) 4290999 for more information. A.E. Bayne is a writer, visual artist and educator. She publishes the Fredericksburg Literary and Art Review.
Tuffy Hicks primarily looks for Fredericksburg history that is less visible. His interest in history began as early as Elementary school. What drove his aim to look below the surface for stories about Fredericksburg began in 1956, when Hicks was 12 or 13 years old. According to Hicks, he started to walk through Civil War battlefields in the area, searching for arrowheads or Civil War artifacts. A few of his friends shared his interests and often scouted the area with him. His mother had also purchased a metal detector for him, something that fueled his search. “I’ve always been interested in Fredericksburg history. All different parts, even back to Colonial times,” Hicks said. His love of studying and writing about Fredericksburg history eventually led him to write for The Fredericksburg Times Magazine, formerly on Williams Street starting between 1975 and 1980, penning Civil War trivia. After continuing to write for Fredericksburg Times and becoming Town Manager in Colonial Beach, Hicks returned to Fredericksburg in 2010, where he met Rob Grogan at a coffee shop and agreed to write a column about Fredericksburg
history for Front Porch. After approximately 5 years with Front Porch and having written more than 400 articles in his career, Hicks continues to revisit material he has written in the past, and search for new material for his column “History’s Stories.” Hicks hopes to keep area residents and visitors informed and pique their interest in Fredericksburg history. “I try to be a little unique in what I talk about and it keeps local people involved,” Hicks said. Though sometimes challenging to find material each month, Hicks said the search makes it worthwhile. “I like the challenge and it keeps me busy,” Hicks said. Some of his favorite articles have included an investigation of underground tunnels below downtown Fredericksburg streets and the grave of a soldier killed during the Vietnam War who was buried in the Confederate Cemetery. The tunnels, approximately five feet high and tall, lining George Street, William Street, even to Hurkamp Park, remain much of a mystery, according to Hicks, with little written documentation about it outside of the research Hicks and
Roy Fredericksburg resident Butler, now deceased, conducted. Hicks says he still gets questions from residents about the phenomenon. “Not a week goes by without someone asking ‘Hey Tuffy, what are the tunnels?’” Hicks said. The soldier buried in the Confederate Cemetery, named Vorin Whan, had written and published a book about the Fredericksburg area called “Fiasco at Fredericksburg.” He was killed in Vietnam in 1968 and buried with a white gravestone in the Confederate Cemetery, close to the statue of the confederate soldier. His wife, who had died a few years ago, was buried with him. Whan is also featured in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Arlington. Hicks hopes to draw attention to little-known facts and other aspects of Fredericksburg history through writing, something he encourages writers to do as well. “Just bring it to people’s attention. There is a mantra I [definitely] hold that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it,” Hicks said.
He also encourages historian to make use of all of the resources in the area as well, through archives at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library, Central Rappahannock Heritage Center, Chatham Manor, the Civil War Battlefields and White Oak Museum. Emily Hollingsworth is a recent graduate of the University of Mary Washington and profiles artists, photographers and members of the Fredericksburg community.
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August 2016
Front porch fredericksburg
front porch fredericksburg
August 2016
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