Charlie Ipcar aka Charley Noble
I was born in mid-coast Maine back in 1942, growing up on a working dairy farm. My parents, former New York City residents, always loved folksongs, and there was many a song party at the house with our neighbors and the folks from across the cove. My brother and I used to sneak out of bed late at night and listen to what they were singing from the stairwell. What we heard were old ballads, music hall songs, sea shanties, lumberjack songs, cowboy songs, and drinking songs. Quite an earful!
When I hit college in 1960 I formed my first folk singing group, learned to play the 5-string banjo, and after four years barely managed to get good enough grades to be accepted to graduate school. I then dropped out of that graduate school and spent three years in the Peace Corps, teaching science and geography to secondary school students in Ethiopia. After the Peace Corps, I was accepted at Michigan State University for graduate work in geography, eventually completing my Ph.D. in 1974. Meanwhile I was continuing to sing folksongs and protest songs with new friends there, and learning how to chase fiddle tunes with the banjo. The Elderly Instruments store extended family and the Ten-Pound Fiddle coffeehouse were major support structures.
In 1982 I returned to Maine, resettling in Portland, and helped reorganize the Portland Folk Club. We had a glorious run for about 12 years putting on concerts, hosting music swaps and organizing special musical events.
In the early 1990's some of us Folk Club members got together for a songs of the sea concert, calling ourselves Roll & Go (in honor of sea music collector Joanna Colcord). We are now a seasoned group of singers who specialize in traditional and contemporary songs of the sea with a strong emphasis on group harmonies and strong leads; some songs are backed up with guitar, banjo, concertina, washtub bass or penny whistle. Our first CD, Roll & Go: Outward Bound, was released in 2002. Our second CD is Rolling Down to Sailortown, 2005. In 2006 we were featured at the MYstic Sea Music Festival. More information about Roll & Go can be accessed from our website: www.rollandgoseasongs.com
Charley Noble, my nickname on the Mudcat Forum, is the name sailors traditionally call the chimney fitted where the galley fires were lit to take the smoke above decks aboard ships. Of course, any greenhorn sailor as part of his initiation rite was soon instructed to carry an important message to Charley, and if he were not immediately found on deck, to ask politely for help from the more experienced sailors. The search then generally led up to the main top, back down and up forward to the chain locker, down the main hatch and into the depths of the hold, a rare and wonderful exercise.
My wife and I now live in Richmond, Maine, a quiet river town some twenty miles up the Kennebec River from the coast. We share our household with two cats.
I was born in mid-coast Maine back in 1942, growing up on a working dairy farm. My parents, former New York City residents, always loved folksongs, and there was many a song party at the house with our neighbors and the folks from across the cove. My brother and I used to sneak out of bed late at night and listen to what they were singing from the stairwell. What we heard were old ballads, music hall songs, sea shanties, lumberjack songs, cowboy songs, and drinking songs. Quite an earful!
When I hit college in 1960 I formed my first folk singing group, learned to play the 5-string banjo, and after four years barely managed to get good enough grades to be accepted to graduate school. I then dropped out of that graduate school and spent three years in the Peace Corps, teaching science and geography to secondary school students in Ethiopia. After the Peace Corps, I was accepted at Michigan State University for graduate work in geography, eventually completing my Ph.D. in 1974. Meanwhile I was continuing to sing folksongs and protest songs with new friends there, and learning how to chase fiddle tunes with the banjo. The Elderly Instruments store extended family and the Ten-Pound Fiddle coffeehouse were major support structures.
In 1982 I returned to Maine, resettling in Portland, and helped reorganize the Portland Folk Club. We had a glorious run for about 12 years putting on concerts, hosting music swaps and organizing special musical events.
In the early 1990's some of us Folk Club members got together for a songs of the sea concert, calling ourselves Roll & Go (in honor of sea music collector Joanna Colcord). We are now a seasoned group of singers who specialize in traditional and contemporary songs of the sea with a strong emphasis on group harmonies and strong leads; some songs are backed up with guitar, banjo, concertina, washtub bass or penny whistle. Our first CD, Roll & Go: Outward Bound, was released in 2002. Our second CD is Rolling Down to Sailortown, 2005. In 2006 we were featured at the MYstic Sea Music Festival. More information about Roll & Go can be accessed from our website: www.rollandgoseasongs.com
Charley Noble, my nickname on the Mudcat Forum, is the name sailors traditionally call the chimney fitted where the galley fires were lit to take the smoke above decks aboard ships. Of course, any greenhorn sailor as part of his initiation rite was soon instructed to carry an important message to Charley, and if he were not immediately found on deck, to ask politely for help from the more experienced sailors. The search then generally led up to the main top, back down and up forward to the chain locker, down the main hatch and into the depths of the hold, a rare and wonderful exercise.
My wife and I now live in Richmond, Maine, a quiet river town some twenty miles up the Kennebec River from the coast. We share our household with two cats.
- Last seen 47 minutes ago. Member since February 7, 2006.
- I am a 65 year old man from Maine (United States)
- When I'm not writing, I'm Consultant.
- Visit my homepage at home.gwi.net/~ipbar/
- I help out as a moderator
- I am in the groups Moderators
- I have 164 comments, 18 poems
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- Thanksgiving (1961) at allpoetry
It is quiet now. - C. Fox Smith at allpoetry
C. Fox Smith was a poet most prolific, She crossed the Atlantic to the Pacific; - Propane Bill at allpoetry
Driving down Stone Bridge Lane,
Just see old Bill running propane –
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on If This Were All by Edgar Albert Guest, 1 day ago
Let Me Go Funeral Poem?
Would this be the right poem:
Miss Me, But Let Me Go
When I come to the end of the road
And the sun has set for me
I want no rites in a gloom filled room
Why cry for a soul set free
Miss me a little - but not too long
And not with your head bowed low
Remember the love that we once shared
Miss me - but let me go
For this is a journey that we must all take
And each must go alone
It's all a part of the Master's plan
A step on the road to home
When you are lonely, and sick of heart
Go to the friends we know
And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds
Miss me - but let me go
Charley Noble -
on Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold, 1 day ago
Love?
Is not in the last stanza the poet's hope that at least "love" is enduring, unlike everything else in the world?
Charley Noble -
on Captain Stratton’s Fancy by John Masefield, on October 25I do like a good pirate song, and Masefield is a master of the genre. He thoroughly enjoys fleshing out this old pirate, and yet there's also a dig at those "pirates" who manage to fly under the radar, "the mort of wicked rogues that live in good reputes." Evidently this old bold mate was more in love with the good life than gratuitous violence.
I'll drink to that!
Charley Noble
"Harmonica Player"
It took me over a year to finally find via Google an appropriate header graphic for this poem.Miss C. Fox Smith had a good ear for sailor and soldier talk and most likely spent a lot of time as a volunteer in London at the local facilities where soldiers were recovering from their wounds.
Charley Noble