Two blaas

A blaa is a doughy, white bread bun (roll) speciality which, according to a writer in The Irish Times^[1] is currently particular to Waterford City and County, Ireland.^[2], but historically, the blaa is also known to have been made in Kilkenny and Wexford.^[3] The blaa, often misspelled as "bla" or "blah", is usually very soft and covered with white flour. This variety of blaa is more chewy, while the second popular variety has a crusty but tasty exterior. Blaas are sometimes confused with a similar bun, known as a bap, which is often served with less flour. They are square in shape and are most notably identified by the white flour shaken over them before the baking process.

Eaten mainly at breakfast with butter^{[citation needed]}, they are also eaten at other times of the day with a wide variety of fillings, including a type of luncheon meat often referred to as red lead^[4] (or Ballybeg ham^[5]) for its distinctive red colour. Corned beef is also a popular filling. The breakfast blaa (egg, bacon rasher and sausage) is more common than the breakfast roll in Waterford. Blaas quickly lose their freshness and are best consumed within a few hours of purchase.

Said to have been introduced to the city at the end of the 17th century by the Huguenots^[6], the word is thought to have been derived from the French word for white, blanc^{[citation needed]}. This theory is disputed because although white flour existed in the 17th century^[7], it was not widely used until mass production of the industrial revolution. Another possibility is a derivation from the French word blé, which is used for certain types of flour, or the Latin root "blandus" which gives the English word "bland" and the Spanish word for soft^{[citation needed]}.

Recipe[link]

Waterford Blaa^[8] (Yields 8)

Ingredients[link]

• 500g baker's flour, plus extra for dredging
• 10g salt
• 10g butter
• 20g fresh yeast
• 10g sugar
• 275g water, tepid

Method[link]

1. Sieve dry ingredients.
2. Rub butter and dry mixture together.
3. Dissolve yeast and sugar into water.
4. Add wet to dry ingredients, mix until combined. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic.
5. Proof for 45 mins. Knock back. Rest for 15mins. (The short rest times gives the gluten time to relax, making shaping easier)
6. Divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.
7. Rest for 5 minutes, covered.
8. Roll out to an oval shape. You can also flatten them slightly, or place the balls side by side in a square baking dish to proof. Dredge with flour.
9. Final proofing for 50mins. Dredge with a little extra flour.
10. Bake for 15-20mins at 210c.

Note[link]

• For the soft type it's baked without moisture as this forms a crust.
• For a crust put some boiling water in a pan at the bottom of the oven prior to baking.

References[link]

See also[link]

• Cuisine of Ireland

Rune Klan
Born	(1976-10-15) 15 October 1976 (age 35) Silkeborg, Denmark

Rune Klan,(born October 15, 1976 in Silkeborg) is a Danish comedian and magician. He has conjured since 1987 and has released an instructional video for magicians called Three Pieces of Silver. Klan has lived in the Middle East and in Canada and has toured in the U.S. where he has taught other magicians. In 2008 he was awarded the Tribini Prize by Bakken, for "his extraordinary ability to combine stand-up comedy with magic (...) and has managed to renew traditional entertainment, and also being able to convey it to the younger generation"

Rune Klan and Mick Øgendahl, have together made the show Tak for i aften and Tak for i aften on Tour.

Rune Klan had a show called Hokus Fucking Pokus, which was broadcast on Danish TV, on Channel 5 in 2009.^[1]

Rune Klan hosted the show "Zulu Award" in year 2009.^[2]

Author Joshua Jay wrote Rune's World, published by Vanishing Inc. Magic in April 2010.^[3]

Rune has toured Denmark with the shows "Rune Klan Går Large" and "Det Blå Show" who both show his unique combination of magic and stand-up comedy. These shows were great successes and almost every show sold out. Both have been released on DVD.

References[link]

External links[link]

• IMDb's profile
• Official website

This Danish biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

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Doc Watson
Doc Watson at Sugar Grove Music Festival in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Arthel Lane Watson
Also known as	Doc Watson
Born	(1923-03-03)March 3, 1923 Deep Gap, North Carolina
Died	May 29, 2012(2012-05-29) (aged 89) Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Genres	Blues, bluegrass, country, folk, gospel
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, banjo, harmonica
Labels	Folkways, Vanguard, United Artists, Flying Fish, Sugar Hill

Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson (March 3, 1923 – May 29, 2012) was an American guitarist, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. Watson won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded. He performed with his son Merle for over 15 years until Merle's death in 1985, in an accident on the family farm.^[1][2][3]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Watson was born in Deep Gap, North Carolina. According to Watson on his three-CD biographical recording Legacy, he got the nickname "Doc" during a live radio broadcast when the announcer remarked that his given name Arthel was odd and he needed an easy nickname. A fan in the crowd shouted "Call him Doc!" presumably in reference to the literary character Sherlock Holmes's sidekick Doctor Watson. The name stuck ever since.^[4]

An eye infection caused Doc Watson to lose his vision before his first birthday. Despite this, he was taught by his parents to work hard and care for himself. He attended North Carolina's school for the visually impaired, The Governor Morehead School, in Raleigh, North Carolina.^[5]

In a 1989 radio interview with host Terry Gross on the Fresh Air show of National Public Radio (NPR), Watson explains how he got his first guitar. His father told him that if he and his brother (David Watson) chopped down all the small, dead, chestnut trees along the edge of their field, he could sell the wood to the tannery and make money. The brothers did the work and Watson bought a $10 Stella guitar from Sears Roebuck while his brother bought a new suit.^[6] Later in that same interview, Watson explained that his first high quality guitar was a Martin Guitar D-18.^[7]

Watson's earliest influences were the roots of country, including the Carter Family and Jimmy Rodgers. The first song he learned to play on the guitar was "When Roses Bloom in Dixieland", first recorded by the Carter Family in 1930. Watson stated in an interview with American Songwriter that, "Jimmy Rodgers was the first man that I started to claim as my favorite."^[8] Watson proved to be a natural musical talent and within months was performing on local street corners playing songs from the Delmore Brothers, Louvin Brothers, and Monroe Brothers alongside his brother Linny. By the time Watson reached adulthood, he had become a proficient acoustic and electric guitar player.^[9]

Career[link]

In 1953, Watson joined the Johnson City, Tennessee-based Jack Williams' country and western swing band on electric guitar. The band seldom had a fiddle player, but was often asked to play at square dances. Following the example of country guitarists Grady Martin and Hank Garland, Watson taught himself to play fiddle tunes on his Les Paul electric guitar. He later transferred the technique to acoustic guitar, and playing fiddle tunes became part of his signature sound.^[1][10] During his time with Jack Williams, Doc also supported his family as a piano tuner.

In 1960, as the American folk music revival grew, Watson took the advice of folk musicologist Ralph Rinzler and began playing acoustic guitar and banjo exclusively.^[5] That move ignited Watson's career when he played on his first recording, Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley's. Also of pivotal importance for his career was his February 11, 1961 appearance at P.S. 41 in Greenwich Village.^[11] He subsequently began to tour as a solo performer and appeared at universities and clubs like the Ash Grove in Los Angeles. Watson would eventually get his big break and rave reviews for his performance at the renowned Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island in 1963. Watson recorded his first solo album in 1964 and began performing with his son Merle the same year.

After the folk revival waned during the late 1960s, Watson's career was sustained by his performance of "Tennessee Stud" on the 1972 live album recording Will the Circle Be Unbroken. As popular as ever, Doc and Merle began playing as a trio, with T. Michael Coleman on bass guitar, in 1974. The trio toured the globe during the late seventies and early eighties, recorded nearly fifteen albums between 1973 and 1985, and brought Doc and Merle’s unique blend of acoustic music to millions of new fans. In 1985, Merle died in a tractor accident.^[10]

Doc Watson sculpture on the corner of King and Depot Streets in Boone, North Carolina. The plaque on the bench reads "Just one of the People".

Watson played guitar in both flatpicking and fingerpicking style, but is best known for his flatpick work. His guitar playing skills, combined with his authenticity as a mountain musician, made him a highly influential figure during the folk music revival. Watson pioneered a fast and flashy bluegrass, lead guitar style including fiddle tunes and crosspicking techniques which were adopted and extended by Clarence White, Tony Rice and many others. Watson was also an accomplished banjo player and sometimes accompanied himself on harmonica as well. Known also for his distinctive and rich baritone voice, Watson over the years developed a vast repertoire of mountain ballads, which he learned via the oral tradition of his home area in Deep Gap, North Carolina. His affable manner, humble nature and delightful wit endeared him to his fans nearly as much as his musical talent.

Watson played a Martin model D-18 guitar on his earliest recordings. In 1968, Watson began a relationship with Gallagher Guitars when he started playing their G-50 model. His first Gallagher, which Watson refers to as "Old Hoss", is on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1974, Gallagher created a customized G-50 line to meet Watson's preferred specifications, which bears the Doc Watson name. In 1991, Gallagher customized a personal cutaway guitar for Watson that he played until his death and which he referred to as "Donald" in honor of Gallagher guitar's second generation proprietor and builder, Don Gallagher. ^[12] For the last few years, Doc had been playing a Dana Bourgeois dreadnought given to him by Ricky Skaggs for his 80th birthday.

In 1986, Watson received the North Carolina Award and in 1994 he received a North Carolina Folk Heritage Award. Also in 1994, Watson teamed up with musicians Randy Scruggs and Earl Scruggs to contribute the classic song "Keep on the Sunny Side" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization.

Later life[link]

In 2000, Watson was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in Owensboro, Kentucky. In 1997, Watson received the National Medal of Arts from U.S. president Bill Clinton.^[13] In 2010, he was awarded an honorary doctor of music degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.^[14]

In his later life, Watson scaled back his touring schedule. Watson was generally joined onstage by his grandson (Merle's son) Richard, as well as longtime musical partners David Holt or Jack Lawrence. On one occasion, Watson was accompanied by Australian guitar player Tommy Emmanuel at a concert at the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas. Watson also performed, accompanied by Holt and Richard, at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco, California in 2009, as he had done in several previous years.

Watson hosted the annual MerleFest music festival held every April at Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The festival features a vast array of acoustic style music focusing on the folk, bluegrass, blues and old-time music genres. It was named in honor of Merle Watson and is one of the most popular acoustic music festivals in the world, drawing over 70,000 music fans each year.^[15]

In 2010, Blooming Twig Books published "Blind But Now I See" by Dr. Kent Gustavson, the first comprehensive biography of the seminal flatpicking guitarist.

Personal life[link]

In 1947, Doc married Rosa Lee Carlton, the daughter of popular fiddle player Gaither Carlton. Watson and Rosa Lee had two children — Eddy Merle (named after country music legends Eddy Arnold and Merle Travis) in 1949 and Nancy Ellen in 1951.^[5]

In late May 2012, Watson was listed in critical condition but was responsive at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, after undergoing colon surgery.^[16] Watson fell at his home earlier in the week, after which he was sent to Watauga Medical Center in nearby Boone, NC. Watson was not seriously injured in the fall, but an underlying medical condition prompted the surgery which required him to be airlifted to Winston-Salem.^[17] Watson died on May 29, 2012 at Wake Forest Baptist at the age of 89.^[18]

Discography[link]

Awards & honors[link]

Grammy awards[link]

• 1973 Best Ethnic Or Traditional Recording (Including Traditional Blues): Doc Watson for Then And Now
• 1974 Best Ethnic Or Traditional Recording: Merle Watson & Doc Watson for Two Days In November
• 1979 Best Country Instrumental Performance: Doc Watson & Merle Watson for Big Sandy/Leather Britches
• 1986 Best Traditional Folk Recording: Doc Watson for Riding The Midnight Train
• 1990 Best Traditional Folk Recording: Doc Watson for On Praying Ground
• 2002 Best Traditional Folk Album: Doc Watson & David Holt for Legacy
• 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2006 Best Country Instrumental Performance: Bryan Sutton & Doc Watson for Whiskey Before Breakfast track from Not Too Far From The Tree by Bryan Sutton

References[link]

External links[link]

• Doc's Guitar : A site dedicated to the guitar and music of Doc Watson
• Podcast of Doc Watson and Jack Lawrence performing live at the 1996 Florida Folk Festival from the Florida Folklife Collection (made available for public use by the State Archives of Florida)
• Live 1977 recording of "The Cuckoo Bird" by Doc and Merle Watson from the Florida Folklife Collection (made available for public use by the State Archives of Florida)
• Live 1996 recording of "Shady Grove" by Doc and Jack Lawrence from the Florida Folklife Collection (made available for public use by the State Archives of Florida)
• MerleFest
  • MerleFest official website
  • "Doc's orders: No heavy metal at MerleFest" 2007 article in the Hook weekly
• National Public Radio
  • Guitarist Arthel 'Doc' Watson Interview on NPR's Fresh Air
  • Morning Edition's Bob Edwards interview Doc Watson from 1985
  • Morning Edition's Bob Edwards interview Doc Watson from 1989
• Prairie Home Companion
  • Doc Watson & Taj Mahal August 9, 1986 (db.etree.org)
  • October 23, 1999
  • February 14, 2004

Article on Doc Watson and other western NC guitar players [2]

Bryan Sutton is an American musician. Primarily known as a flatpicked acoustic guitar player, Sutton also plays many other instruments including mandolin, banjo, and electric guitar.

Sutton first came to prominence as part of Ricky Skaggs' bluegrass band Kentucky Thunder. Sutton eventually left the band to focus on session work. In addition to Skaggs, Sutton has toured with the Dixie Chicks, Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Béla Fleck, Hot Rize, Chris Thile, Tony Rice and others.

In 2007, Sutton toured with Chris Thile & The How to Grow a Band, filling in for Chris Eldridge while he was on tour with the Infamous Stringdusters.

In 2011 Sutton began teaching guitar online at the School of Guitar, as part of the Academy of Bluegrass.

Gear[link]

Sutton endorses guitars built by Dana Bourgeois. He plays a Bourgeois "Country Boy Deluxe" model dreadnought and also has his own signature model, the "Banjo Killer" slope-shouldered dreadnought. He also regularly performs with a 1940 Martin D-28.

Discography[link]

Solo albums[link]

Awards[link]

• 2000 - IBMA Guitar Player of the Year
• 2003 - IBMA Guitar Player of the Year
• 2004 - IBMA Guitar Player of the Year
• 2005 - IBMA Guitar Player of the Year
• 2006 - IBMA Guitar Player of the Year
• 2007 - Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance for Whiskey Before Breakfast w/ Doc Watson
• 2011 - IBMA Guitar Player of the Year ^[1]

References[link]

1. ^ "STEVE MARTIN & THE STEEP CANYON RANGERS NAMED IBMA ENTERTAINERS OF THE YEAR". http://ibma.org/node/280. Retrieved 2011-12-08. 

External links[link]

• BryanSutton.com, Official site
• Bryan Sutton Interview
• Bryan Sutton with Martin Taylor
• Academy of Bluegrass
• School of Guitar with Bryan Sutton