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Log inGetting here from there . . . 50 years of Bert and I
Getting here from there . . . 50 years of Bert and I
by Outspoken on Sun Aug 24, 2008 8:46 am
Getting here from there . . . 50 years of Bert and I
In 1958, Marshall Dodge and Robert Bryan raised Maine humor and storytelling to an art form.
By RAY ROUTHIER
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
Today, the phrase "You can't get there from here" feels pretty cliched.
It seems anybody looking for a quick laugh with a Maine accent uses that line. Most Mainers don't even react when they hear it, as they've become numb to it over the years.
But when the phrase was recorded on a vinyl album in 1958, it was fresh -- ground-breaking, even. It was the cleverly ironic punchline to a story on the now-legendary "Bert and I" album by Marshall Dodge and Robert Bryan.
The two non-native graduate students at Yale University put Maine storytelling and the rural Maine sense of humor on the modern pop-culture map.
The album not only let people outside the state hear traditional Maine stories, it became an added attraction for tourists and helped influence at least a couple generations of Maine humorists.
"It really stands as a milestone in the preservation of the Maine storytelling tradition," said Tim Sample, a nationally known Maine humorist whose work is in the "Bert and I" tradition. "After that, you had a lot of local storytellers putting out their own records. It really sparked something."
The original "Bert and I" album has never been out of print, and continues to show up in the media. Recently, "Bert and I" and the follow-up, "More Bert and I," showed up on a list of the top 12 favorite comedy albums of Penn Jillette, half of the comedy team Penn and Teller.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the first album, Maine-based Islandport Press has put out the first compilation since 1977 of Dodge and Bryan's recordings on CD, "The Best of Bert and I ... Celebrating 50 Years of Stories from Down East."
The 34 stories on the CD come from five albums by Dodge and Bryan and from a 1970s special on Maine Public Television. Priced at $16.95, the CD is for sale at stores around the state, including chains such as Borders and Bull Moose Music.
The new album was conceived by Dean Lunt, founder of Islandport Press, a publisher of Maine books. A former reporter at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, Lunt knew that 2008 was the 50th anniversary of the first "Bert and I" record, so he sought out Bryan to discuss a compilation project.
Dodge, who was the more celebrated of the two performers and went on to found a statewide arts celebration called the Maine Festival, died after being hit by a car while on his bicycle in 1982.
Neither Dodge nor Bryan was from Maine, but both had a knack for the accent and an appreciation for the wry local humor. For one of their subsequent albums, the pair gathered material by recording locals telling stories in a barber shop in Brooklin, on the Blue Hill peninsula.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=206114&ac=Audience
Courtesy Islandport Press
In 1958, Marshall Dodge and Robert Bryan raised Maine humor and storytelling to an art form.
By RAY ROUTHIER
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
Today, the phrase "You can't get there from here" feels pretty cliched.
It seems anybody looking for a quick laugh with a Maine accent uses that line. Most Mainers don't even react when they hear it, as they've become numb to it over the years.
But when the phrase was recorded on a vinyl album in 1958, it was fresh -- ground-breaking, even. It was the cleverly ironic punchline to a story on the now-legendary "Bert and I" album by Marshall Dodge and Robert Bryan.
The two non-native graduate students at Yale University put Maine storytelling and the rural Maine sense of humor on the modern pop-culture map.
The album not only let people outside the state hear traditional Maine stories, it became an added attraction for tourists and helped influence at least a couple generations of Maine humorists.
"It really stands as a milestone in the preservation of the Maine storytelling tradition," said Tim Sample, a nationally known Maine humorist whose work is in the "Bert and I" tradition. "After that, you had a lot of local storytellers putting out their own records. It really sparked something."
The original "Bert and I" album has never been out of print, and continues to show up in the media. Recently, "Bert and I" and the follow-up, "More Bert and I," showed up on a list of the top 12 favorite comedy albums of Penn Jillette, half of the comedy team Penn and Teller.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the first album, Maine-based Islandport Press has put out the first compilation since 1977 of Dodge and Bryan's recordings on CD, "The Best of Bert and I ... Celebrating 50 Years of Stories from Down East."
The 34 stories on the CD come from five albums by Dodge and Bryan and from a 1970s special on Maine Public Television. Priced at $16.95, the CD is for sale at stores around the state, including chains such as Borders and Bull Moose Music.
The new album was conceived by Dean Lunt, founder of Islandport Press, a publisher of Maine books. A former reporter at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, Lunt knew that 2008 was the 50th anniversary of the first "Bert and I" record, so he sought out Bryan to discuss a compilation project.
Dodge, who was the more celebrated of the two performers and went on to found a statewide arts celebration called the Maine Festival, died after being hit by a car while on his bicycle in 1982.
Neither Dodge nor Bryan was from Maine, but both had a knack for the accent and an appreciation for the wry local humor. For one of their subsequent albums, the pair gathered material by recording locals telling stories in a barber shop in Brooklin, on the Blue Hill peninsula.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=206114&ac=Audience
Courtesy Islandport Press
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
