Thank you for sharing this captivating piece. I'm currently deeply focused on the intersection of music and transformation, and my jaw dropped while reading this story!
On Sound. Have you discovered ye the remarkable Margaret Watts Hughes and her “Voice Figures”. She and Charles Kellogg would have appreciated one another.
Of course he was friends with John Muir. It gives me hope that there are human beings with such sensibilities in this world. There are dimensions we have yet to explore. Rare people like Kellogg have found the path to such wonder.
This story has left me awestruck! I really liked that you’ve mentioned Tansen. The legends say that Tansen could lit lamps. They call it ‘Raga Deep’. What’s more interesting is that, when he performed this feat, his wife sang ‘Raga Megh Malhar’, summoning rain, in an attempt to save Tansen from being engulfed by the fire.
I’m glad to have found your newsletter. More power to you!
A cricket and a dime! Amazing story and person. You might have heard the following. This somehow brings to mind what Joel Dorn wrote about Most Allison telling him that his epitaph could well read 'Irony is my albatross'. A prominent white educator studying Hopi culture found it strange that almost all their music was about water and asked why. The Hopi man explained that because water was what they had the least of. And then he told the white man "Most of your music is about love."
Ted, I simply LOVE this posting. Thank you for bringing Charles Kellogg and topics with this kind of imagination and urgency to the fore. Several years ago while concertizing in Italy, David Peat introduced me to a similar legacy which had been nurtured and sustained by a single environmentalist who had survived WWII. That man had died shortly before I arrived but the villagers wanted me to see his notebooks: reams of birdsong scores. Deeply moving! I remember the days when even well intentioned instructors with tenure track professorial appointments once framed that which was white, Western, symphonic and scored by male composers as serious music, real music. They inadvertently dismissed much of what flourished outside that grid as inferior, lacking in seriousness. So thrilled that more informed, generous and respectful scholarship has allowed bias to crumble during our lifetime! BRAVO on bringing Kellogg to your readers! Loved reading this.
Another fascinating piece, Ted! I am confused, however, by Richard Zuelch's bizarre comment, his accusation that Charles Kellogg was a fraud and his attempt to tell you what to spend more time writing about. In his own Twitter profile, Mr. Zuelch placed this quote by Samuel Johnson: "A man ought to read just as inclination leads him, for what he reads as a task will do him little good." The same might apply to writing as well! Ted can write about whatever he wants to write about.
Thanks. I'm open to suggestions for writing topics. But I know that some of the topics I'm planning to address here will be unconventional from the perspective of music journalism. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, but at least readers are forewarned and can take precautionary steps.
Great piece. Is Charles Kellogg related to Kellogg cereal by any chance? The French writer Raymond Roussel in the 19-teens also had an early version of the RV as well. But unlike Kellogg, he paid someone to build it for him. Nevertheless, I really enjoy your article. And ignore Mr. Zuelch's letter down below (or above). Keep writing on what you want to write about. And Mrs. Miller was pretty cool!
It looks like he is not directly related...his father's name was Henry Kellogg; but I suppose a little genealogical investigation might shed some light on it.
There's no mention of the cereal in Charles Kellogg's book, as far as I can recall—and the book came out in 1930 when the cereal was very well known. So he would have probably mentioned a connection. But there is a noticeable convergence of worldviews between the cereal maker and the naturalist musician. They were both vegetarians and practitioners of holistic lifestyles, etc. So who knows?
I did go on Ancestry.com and went back 2-3 generations on both gents, back to the 18th century, and saw no obvious connections. Probably they would be DNA matches though.
Thank you for sharing this captivating piece. I'm currently deeply focused on the intersection of music and transformation, and my jaw dropped while reading this story!
Wonderful article. I read it in Peter Gabriel’s i/o tour program where it’s a Focus feature. Love the whole program too!
I've heard too many 'songs' that extinguished my fire.
When I play shakuhachi in the park, the people usually pass by but their dogs come and sit in front of me.
On Sound. Have you discovered ye the remarkable Margaret Watts Hughes and her “Voice Figures”. She and Charles Kellogg would have appreciated one another.
I don't know about her—but I will check this out. Thanks for the lead.
Of course he was friends with John Muir. It gives me hope that there are human beings with such sensibilities in this world. There are dimensions we have yet to explore. Rare people like Kellogg have found the path to such wonder.
This story has left me awestruck! I really liked that you’ve mentioned Tansen. The legends say that Tansen could lit lamps. They call it ‘Raga Deep’. What’s more interesting is that, when he performed this feat, his wife sang ‘Raga Megh Malhar’, summoning rain, in an attempt to save Tansen from being engulfed by the fire.
I’m glad to have found your newsletter. More power to you!
I hadn't heard that story about the rain raga—thanks for sharing it.
I’m also trying to build my newsletter. I’m absolutely a rookie. Whenever you find time, check: https://varunyadav.substack.com/
I could use your guidance. :)
Nice piece on Kellogg by Ian Nagoski in the December 2020 issues of Sound American: https://soundamerican.org/issues/folk/charles-kellogg
Amazing topic and story. Thank you.
A cricket and a dime! Amazing story and person. You might have heard the following. This somehow brings to mind what Joel Dorn wrote about Most Allison telling him that his epitaph could well read 'Irony is my albatross'. A prominent white educator studying Hopi culture found it strange that almost all their music was about water and asked why. The Hopi man explained that because water was what they had the least of. And then he told the white man "Most of your music is about love."
That should have read "Mose Allison". I found the typo two years later
Oh how telling! It makes a sad sort of sense ... thank you.
Sadly true. I believe that there is love in the world but the soul of the world could use a bit more.
That Hopi story is lovely. I will remember it, and share it in the future.
What an amazing story. Thank you!
Ted, I simply LOVE this posting. Thank you for bringing Charles Kellogg and topics with this kind of imagination and urgency to the fore. Several years ago while concertizing in Italy, David Peat introduced me to a similar legacy which had been nurtured and sustained by a single environmentalist who had survived WWII. That man had died shortly before I arrived but the villagers wanted me to see his notebooks: reams of birdsong scores. Deeply moving! I remember the days when even well intentioned instructors with tenure track professorial appointments once framed that which was white, Western, symphonic and scored by male composers as serious music, real music. They inadvertently dismissed much of what flourished outside that grid as inferior, lacking in seriousness. So thrilled that more informed, generous and respectful scholarship has allowed bias to crumble during our lifetime! BRAVO on bringing Kellogg to your readers! Loved reading this.
Therese, be prepared, you're going to be featured here.
Absolutely fascinating!
Another fascinating piece, Ted! I am confused, however, by Richard Zuelch's bizarre comment, his accusation that Charles Kellogg was a fraud and his attempt to tell you what to spend more time writing about. In his own Twitter profile, Mr. Zuelch placed this quote by Samuel Johnson: "A man ought to read just as inclination leads him, for what he reads as a task will do him little good." The same might apply to writing as well! Ted can write about whatever he wants to write about.
Thanks. I'm open to suggestions for writing topics. But I know that some of the topics I'm planning to address here will be unconventional from the perspective of music journalism. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, but at least readers are forewarned and can take precautionary steps.
Why did all those guys at turn of century wear those high tight fitting boots?
Great piece. Is Charles Kellogg related to Kellogg cereal by any chance? The French writer Raymond Roussel in the 19-teens also had an early version of the RV as well. But unlike Kellogg, he paid someone to build it for him. Nevertheless, I really enjoy your article. And ignore Mr. Zuelch's letter down below (or above). Keep writing on what you want to write about. And Mrs. Miller was pretty cool!
It looks like he is not directly related...his father's name was Henry Kellogg; but I suppose a little genealogical investigation might shed some light on it.
The cereal guy was Will Keith Kellogg.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kellogg_(naturalist)
There's no mention of the cereal in Charles Kellogg's book, as far as I can recall—and the book came out in 1930 when the cereal was very well known. So he would have probably mentioned a connection. But there is a noticeable convergence of worldviews between the cereal maker and the naturalist musician. They were both vegetarians and practitioners of holistic lifestyles, etc. So who knows?
The story of John Harvey Kellogg and his cereal is interesting in its own right. But I don't believe Charles Kellogg was related.
I did go on Ancestry.com and went back 2-3 generations on both gents, back to the 18th century, and saw no obvious connections. Probably they would be DNA matches though.