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Size | About 1,320 items (8.5 linear feet) |
Abstract | Billy Faier of Woodstock, N.Y., taught himself to play the five-string banjo and was later involved in the folk music revival as a performer, songwriter, observer, writer, and radio disc jockey. Faier was a prominent member of New York City's Washington Square folk scene in the late 1940s and of the folk music scene on both coasts during the 1950s and 1960s. The collection documents the personal and professional activities of Billy Faier. There are also more general materials collected and generated by Faier about the folk music revival, the counter-culture movement, and other interests. Included are correspondence, writings, artwork, and other materials relating to Faier's work with Pete Seeger; song writing and theatrical performances; music; Woodstock, N.Y.; juggling; games; bicycling; hitchhiking; and alternative lifestyles in general. Audio recordings include live and studio performances of Faier and other musicians; interviews with Aunt Molly Jackson and Frank and Ann Warner; recordings of Faier's radio shows; documentation of social and political events; and dubs from old records. |
Creator | Faier, Billy. |
Curatorial Unit | Southern Folklife Collection |
Language | English. |
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
Billy Faier was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on 21 December 1930. He moved to Woodstock, N.Y., with his family in 1944 at age thirteen. Faier had his first contact with folk music in Woodstock and taught himself to play the five-string banjo. Dropping out of high school to pursue his music, Faier traveled with Ramblin' Jack Elliott across the country and was a prominent member of New York City's Washington Square folk scene in the late 1940s. In 1957 and 1958, Faier recorded Art of the Five String Banjo and Travelin' Man for Riverside. Involved with the folk music revival scene on both coasts during the 1950s and 1960s, Billy Faier worked in night clubs, wrote songs, transcribed music for Pete Seeger, performed and taught banjo, performed as an on-stage musician in theater productions in New York City, hosted radio shows on Berkeley's KPFA and New York City's WBAI, and wrote for and eventually edited Caravan: Folk Music Magazine.
Despite time spent in New York and Berkeley, Faier's home base for a large part of his life has been the town of Woodstock and the surrounding area where he built his home in Lake Hill, N.Y., and became an active community member and renowned as a local street musician. From this home base, his music career experienced a revival in the 1980s with performances at folk music festivals; a self-produced recording, Banjos, Birdsongs, and Mother Earth; and a self-produced re-release of his earlier albums on cassette.
Throughout his life, Faier has opted for a non-mainstream, alternative lifestyle. Besides song writing and playing banjo and guitar, Faier's eclectic interests include juggling, traveling, hitchhiking, Rubik's Cube, the game of Go, sailing, folklore, and writing.
Back to TopThe collection documents the life of Billy Faier as a musician, songwriter, and player of the five-string banjo and his role as observer, writer, and documenter of culture, particularly of the folk music revival and the counter-culture. The collection reflects both Faier's professional and personal experiences and his eclectic interests and collections. It contains material relating not only to Faier but to the events, ideas, and interests of an era and generation as well.
Correspondence, 1959-2003, includes letters from Faier's girlfriends, friends, fans, fellow musicians, tenants, and individuals he met while traveling and performing. It documents Faier's music career encompassing song writing, including transcription work for Pete Seeger's The Goofing-Off Suite and Faier's published songbooks; roles as an on-stage musician in theatrical performances, including The Unsinkable Molly Brown on Broadway; prose writings about music and the folk revival; and promotional and business materials, including programs, publicity photographs, and mail order and sales records for his self-produced tapes. Audio recordings include live and studio performances of Faier and other musicians; interviews with Aunt Molly Jackson, Frank Warner, and Ann Warner; Faier's radio shows; social and political events; and dubs from old records. Material on Faier's general interests and collections includes the folk music revival, including an interview with Faier by Ronald D. Cohen; collected writings and artwork by others; games, such as Rubik's Cube and Go; fanzines, including Gigline, Rainbow Family of Living Light, and The Realist; and hypnosis and Silva Mind Control. Faier's skills and interests are reflected in material on juglature, a method he invented of transcribing juggling moves, classes he taught, and multiple drafts of two juggling books. Faier's active involvement in his most consistent home community, as well as personal material relating to his house, sailing vessel, and legal matters, are included in the Woodstock, N.Y., files. Also included are articles on traveling with a bicycle across the country, hitchhiking as a means of alleviating the energy crisis, and a personal journal from 1974.
The Addition of April 2016 contains papers, photographs, and audiovisual materials related to Billy Faier's music career, general interests, juggling hobby, and home base of Woodstock, N.Y. Papers consist of personal correspondence, lyrics, sheet music, banjo tabs, business correspondence related to compact disc (CD) and tab orders, promotional materials, tape and song indexes compiled by Faier, printed materials and clippings, juggling notes and juglature drawings, and writings by Faier, including a copy of his 2003 manuscript, Whorehouse Fantasies. Faier's correspondents include girlfriends, friends, fans, and fellow musicians, including Martin Gardener, Frank Proffitt, and Pete Seeger. Photographs depict music performances, music festivals, including Woodstock, as well as Faier's personal life. The addition also contains Faier's Rubik's Cubes, oversize materials, including a one-page scrapbook, scattered printed materials, and a sketchbook containing drawings by Faier. Audiovisual materials consist of audio recordings of live performances, demos, radio programs, and dubbed albums by Faier and others; videotapes of Faier, including home movies, interviews, live performances, and footage of family reunions; and related documentation, such as notes and memos, found with the audiovisual materials. Notable artists found on the recordings include Moses Ash, Bob Dylan, Albert Grossman, John Herald, and Pete Seeger. Audio recordings are on audiocassette and 1/4" open reel, while videotapes are on VHS and Betacam.
Back to TopCorrespondence consists largely of letters to Billy Faier with some carbon copies of Faier's letters interspersed. The period covered spans from 1959 to 2003, with the bulk of the material dating from 1980 to 1999. Letters reflect not only the relationships and events of Faier's life, but also provide something of a portrait of a generation for those who were involved in and influenced by the folk music revival, counter-culture, and alternative lifestyles. While it is often difficult to make clear distinctions between personal, fan, and business correspondence as friends help arrange gigs, sponsors and fans become friends, fans and fellow musicians become correspondents, and fans offer business propositions, this series focuses on personal correspondence. See Series 2. Music Career for correspondence directly related to business matters. Faier's correspondents include girlfriends, friends, fans, fellow musicians, tenants, and individuals he met while traveling and performing, including hitchhikers he picked up. Correspondents of both short-term and long-term duration are included. Correspondence of note, either for its duration or the correspondent's relationship to Billy Faier, is separated out from the general correspondence and includes: Gloria "Cosmo" Charles (whose correspondence with Faier dates from the 1970s), Gerry Faier (Faier's mother), Christopher Nicklaus Wand (Faier's son), and Landlord-Tenant Correspondence (for Faier's Lake Hill, N.Y., house, which he often rented when he traveled).
Gloria "Cosmo" Charles is a former girlfriend who traveled with Faier to the west coast in the 1970s. She retained a strong and enduring friendship with Faier as evidenced through their correspondence, which dates from the late 1970s. Additional references to Cosmo Charles in the collection can be found in Other Writings and Audio Recordings.
Folder 1 |
Charles, Gloria "Cosmo" #20380, Subseries: "1.1. Charles, Gloria Cosmo, 1979-1997 and undated." Folder 1 |
Gerry Faier is Billy Faier's mother.
Folder 2 |
Faier, Gerry #20380, Subseries: "1.2. Faier, Gerry, 1981-1999." Folder 2 |
Christopher Nicklaus Wand is Billy Faier's son with Barbara Wand. He started his correspondence with his father as a young man.
Folder 3 |
Wand, Christopher, Nicklaus #20380, Subseries: "1.3. Wand, Christopher Nicklaus, 1985-2000 and undated." Folder 3 |
Billy Faier periodically rented out his house in Lake Hill, N.Y., when he went on extended travel for music performances and pleasure. Correspondence relating to these rental transactions is included here.
Folder 4 |
Landlord-Tenant Correspondence #20380, Subseries: "1.4. Landlord-Tenant Correspondence, 1993-1998." Folder 4 |
Correspondents include girlfriends, friends, fans, fellow musicians, and individuals Faier met while traveling or performing. The letters reflect not only the relationships and events of Billy Faier's life but provide something of a portrait of a generation for those who were involved in and influenced by the folk music revival and alternative lifestyles. While it is often difficult to make clear distinctions between personal, fan, and business correspondence as friends help arrange gigs, sponsors and fans become friends, fans and fellow musicians become correspondents, and fans offer business propositions, this series focuses on personal correspondence.
The creative aspects of Billy Faier's accomplishments as a musician are highlighted here in his song writing, theater performances, and music writing. The business aspects can be found in the promotional photographs, posters, business correspondence and writing, contracts, and Winnipeg Folk Festival material. Of particular note are the music transcription and notation work Faier did for Pete Seeger for The Goofing-Off Suite and Faier's involvement with Caravan: Folk Music Magazine. Additional material relating to Billy Faier's career as a musician and the folk music revival can be found in Series 3. Audio Recordings and Series 4.1. Folk Music Revival.
Songs written, composed, arranged, or transcribed by Billy Faier, as well as compositions by other composers that Faier collected. Included are complete scores of Faier's own songs, the first and second edition folios of banjo music selections from his album The Art of the Five String Banjo, and commercially published banjo music scores. Of particular note is music transcription and notation work Faier did for Pete Seeger, specifically for The Goofing-Off Suite.
Songs written, composed, or arranged by Billy Faier. Though much of the general material is unsigned, the songs in this series are presumed to be composed, arranged, or transcribed by Faier. Faier's work includes: arrangements and adaptations of other composers' songs, handwritten and typewritten lyrics, music in various stages of composition, and completed songs with lyrics accompanied by music notation organized by individual song titles. Compositions that clearly appear to have different authorship are included in 2.1.4. Collected Song Writing.
In the 1950s, Billy Faier did music transcription and notation work for Pete Seeger, particularly for The Goofing-Off Suite. Along with the music transcription, this series incorporates, as originally received, their correspondence on the project, which includes reference to the McCarthy trials Seeger was dealing with at the time. See also FT-11344 for a tape of music by Pete Seeger that Faier used for his transcription project.
Folder 41 |
Music Transcription for Pete Seeger #20380, Subseries: "2.1.2. The Goofing Off Suite, 1956-1960 and undated." Folder 41 |
Copies of Billy Faier's first and second edition folios of banjo music selections from his album The Art of the Five String Banjo.
Folder 42 |
Banjo Selections from The Art of the Five String Banjo #20380, Subseries: "2.1.3. Billy Faier's Banjo Selections." Folder 42 |
Commercially published banjo music scores were collected by Billy Faier, as well as handwritten and typewritten lyrics and music compositions by other musicians and friends.
In addition to composing and performing as an individual musician, Billy Faier appeared in a number of theatrical productions, often as an on-stage musician. Material relating to these productions includes newspaper reviews, photographs, scripts, correspondence, and playbills. Faier played the part of Jib in A Christmas Story, a one-act play by Monica Beebe, which appears to have been a community production, possibly in Woodstock, N.Y. Faier was an on-stage musician in the 1963 production of In White America by Martin B. Duberman, which was performed at the Sheridan Square Playhouse in New York City, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown by Meredith Willson, a Broadway show in 1960 starring Tammy Grimes.
Billy Faier's writings about music and the folk revival date from 1958 to 1968 and 1997. Much of the earlier material comes from his involvement with Caravan: Folk Music Magazine. This popular fanzine also involved Lee Shaw, Lee Haring, and Roger D. Abrahams, among others. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Faier was first a contributor and assistant editor and then editor-in-chief of the magazine. Full issues of the magazine are in the Southern Folklife Collection's serial collection. Faier also wrote for Gardyloo, Folk Music Magazine, and The Week. His writings include letters to the editor, reports and comments on the folk music scene, record reviews, a report on the 1958 December meeting of the American Folklore Society, and an article on "Style and the Phonograph Record." In 1997, Grant Alden wrote a plea for the re-discovery of Billy Faier in the letters section of No Depression. He subsequently corresponded with Faier with the result of the publication of Faier's memories of Townes Van Zant in the letters section of the magazine.
Material used to promote or document Billy Faier's career as a musician, including clippings and reviews, programs from performances and festivals, publicity photographs, posters and fliers, and event and biographical promotion pieces.
Clippings and reviews include material that features, includes, or mentions Billy Faier. Concert and album reviews and announcements are particularly prominent. There are also newspaper and fanzine articles featuring Faier.
Folder 52 |
Clippings and Reviews #20380, Subseries: "2.4.1. Clippings and Reviews, 1957-1981 and undated." Folder 52 |
Programs from performances and festivals in which Billy Faier participated.
Folder 53 |
Performance and Festival Programs #20380, Subseries: "2.4.2. Performance and Festival Programs, 1955-1990 and undated." Folder 53 |
Photographs of Billy Faier taken on stage or for publicity purposes. Though undated, most appear to derive from Faier's early career, probably the late 1950s or early 1960s. The later career photographs probably date from the 1980s.
Posters and fliers promoting performances and recordings by Billy Faier and others.
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-20380/2 |
Oversized Posters and Fliers #20380, Subseries: "2.4.4 Posters and Fliers." OPF-20380/2 |
Folder 54 |
Posters and Fliers #20380, Subseries: "2.4.4 Posters and Fliers." Folder 54 |
Event and biographical promotion pieces presumed to have been written by Billy Faier. Also included are liner notes to Faier's albums, Travelin' Man and The Beast of Billy Faier.
Folder 55 |
Promotional Writing #20380, Subseries: "2.4.5. Promotional Writing." Folder 55 |
Folder 56 |
Album Liner Notes #20380, Subseries: "2.4.5. Promotional Writing." Folder 56 |
Business material focuses on the contractual and monetary aspects of Billy Faier's work as a musician. Included are business letters, particularly relating to Faier's recording and performing arrangements, 1957-1992; mail order correspondence and sales records for his self-produced tapes, Banjos, Birdsong, and Mother Earth and The Art of the Five String Banjo/Travelin' Man, 1987-2002; contracts for recordings, song publication, transfer of ownership of Caravan: Folk Music Magazine, and performances; and material relating to being hired for and performing at the 1981 Winnipeg Folk Festival.
Business correspondence directly relating to Faier's work as a musician, especially with regards to recording and performing arrangements. The correspondence ranges from 1957 to 1992 with the bulk from the 1980s. Included is correspondence with record producers, festival organizers, BMI, and tape producers. Correspondence from fans ordering tapes by mail order directly from Faier is filed separately in 2.5.2. Mail Orders and Sales Records of Tapes.
Folder 57 |
Business Correspondence #20380, Subseries: "2.5.1. Business Correspondence, 1957-1992." Folder 57 |
In 1987, Billy Faier self-produced a new tape, Banjos, Birdsong, and Mother Earth. A few years later, in 1990, Faier re-released on one tape the two albums he had made in 1958 for Riverside, The Art of the Five String Banjo and Travelin' Man. These tapes were only available by mail order directly from Faier. This series includes the mail order correspondence for these tapes, 1987-2002, and Faier's record of sales for Banjos, Birdsongs, and Mother Earth until, as he wrote in the front of his sales record book, he stopped keeping records.
Contracts are primarily Billy Faier's recording contracts, but also includes song publication, transfer of ownership of Caravan: Folk Music Magazine, and performance contracts.
Folder 60 |
Contracts #20380, Subseries: "2.5.3. Contracts, 1957-1990." Folder 60 |
Material relating to the 1981 Winnipeg Folk Festival, which Faier attended as a featured performer. It provides a fairly complete overview of one of Faier's performance gigs through the span of material, which includes the early phone messages, contract, travel arrangements, performance schedule, and festival information for performers. Faier's participation in the Winnipeg Folk Festival was part of a revival of his performance and recording career that he initiated in the 1980s. The Winnipeg Folk Festival was one stop on a tour of festivals and concerts, which also included the Vancouver Folk Music Festival and Kerrville Folk Festival. Promotional performer buttons for these festivals have been transferred to the North Carolina Collection Gallery. Additional material related to this tour can be found in Series 1. Correspondence, especially folders 1 and 8, and Series 7. Other Writings.
Museum Item MU-20380/1-4
MU-20380/1MU-20380/2MU-20380/3MU-20380/4 |
Promotional Buttons #20380, Subseries: "2.5.4. Winnipeg Folk Festival, 1981." MU-20380/1-4 |
Folder 61 |
Winnipeg Folk Festival, 1981 #20380, Subseries: "2.5.4. Winnipeg Folk Festival, 1981." Folder 61 |
Recordings made by and of Billy Faier, as well as recordings collected by him. Some of the recordings in this series were previously part of the Billy Faier Archives compiled by Mitchell Blank and Jeff Friedman and have previously been given identification numbers (BF-AT-###). The original archive order has been only partially maintained as the Billy Faier Archives was not received in its entirety and other, previously unarchived, tapes are also included in the collection. However, previous identification numbers are noted in parentheses where applicable and can be matched to the archive notes made by Blank and Friedman. Written documentation, including the previous archive notes and photocopies of the boxes, is available for most of the recordings. Documentation includes glosses by Faier identifying recordings and noting particularly good versions of his songs both at the time of recording and at a later date.
Recordings on open reel tapes and acetate discs of Billy Faier and/or his songs recorded in concert, in the studio, or in his home, mostly as a solo performer. Includes 1990 professional remasters of earlier 1957 and 1958 Riverside Long Playing Record albums Travelin' Man and The Art of the Five String Banjo and a professional master recording of Banjos, Birdsong, and Mother Earth, as well as the commercial cassettes Billy Faier produced of these titles.
Field notes for FT-20380/11303-11414 and FS-20380/6904-6905 reside in Folders 977 and 372 within the Southern Folklife Collection Field Notes Collection (#30025).
Recordings featuring musicians other than Billy Faier, as well as interviews and other current events. Faier is included on some of these recordings as interviewer or interviewee, playing in a band or for other musicians, or, notably, as a lecturer. However, he is not featured as a solo musician in any of these recordings. Of particular interest are recordings of Pete Seeger playing for Faier so that he could transcribe The Goofing Off Suite, interviews with Aunt Molly Jackson, Frank Warner and Ann Warner, and Archie Green, and several "sign of the times" recordings from the 1960s and 1970s featuring demonstrations, political candidates, and talking to a friend while she's tripping.
Field notes for FT-20380/11303-11414 reside in Folder 977 within the Southern Folklife Collection Field Notes Collection (#30025).
Billy Faier worked as a disc jockey presenting radio programs featuring folk music on several radio stations, including Berkeley's KPFA and New York City's WBAI. Open reel recordings of some of those radio shows, most notably "The Midnight Special" radio show on WBAI, are included, as well as an acetate recording of Dillybean Radio Spots.
Field notes for FT-20380/11303-11414 reside in Folder 977 within the Southern Folklife Collection Field Notes Collection (#30025).
Most of the recordings are unidentified beyond reel number and "disc dubs," but they appear to be recordings of old albums, presumably 78 rpms.
Field notes for FT-20380/11303-11414 reside in Folder 977 within the Southern Folklife Collection Field Notes Collection (#30025).
Items relating to the folk music revival, mental challenges and activities, alternative lifestyles, and peace, as well as his collections of manuscript writings, poetry chapbooks, and artwork. This series is particularly reflective of the counter-culture interests arising out of the 1950s and 1960s. Besides being a participant in the folk music revival, Faier collected material relating to it, including clippings on the folk music scene, generally and on individual musicians; song books, particularly those of a socialist and labor bent; and material relating to or generated by Ronald D. Cohen, Archie Green, Aunt Molly Jackson, and Casey Jones, individuals significant to the folk music revival as researchers, folklorists, activists, performers, and folk figures. Manuscripts and chapbooks collected by Faier include poetry; a banjo book; a short story by his brother-in-law, Bob Peterson; and an autobiography of May Picqueray, a self-ascribed revolutionary. Artwork collected by Faier includes drawings, paintings, and photographs, presumed to have been created by his friends and acquaintances. Faier's research, recreational, and cultural interests include games such as Rubik's Cube and Go; music; hypnosis; overcoming consumerism; Silva Mind Control; peace; and alternative lifestyles. Many of his interests are reflected in fanzines, such as Gigline (for and by veterans against the Vietnam war), Rainbow Family of Living Light, Pearls Before Vinegar, and The Realist.
Billy Faier was not only a participant in the folk music revival, he wrote and lectured on it and collected material related to it. The material Faier collected includes clippings on the folk music scene generally and on individual musicians (most notably Barbara Dane and Frank Proffitt); song books, particularly those of a socialist and labor bent; and material relating to or generated by Ronald D. Cohen, Archie Green, Aunt Molly Jackson, and Casey Jones, individuals significant to the folk music revival as researchers, folklorists, activists, performers, and folk figures. Ronald D. Cohen's material includes a transcript from an 8 August 1992 interview with Billy Faier about his involvement in the folk music revival as well as a copy of his book, "Wasn't That a Time!": Firsthand Accounts of the Folk Music Revival. The Archie Green material consists of booklets he wrote for the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations at the University of Illinois on labor topics. The Aunt Molly Jackson material includes transcripts of interviews Billy Faier and Archie Green conducted with her on 5 May 1958 and Faier conducted with her on 19 May 1958. The Casey Jones material includes an article relating to Casey Jones' widow. Other related material received from Billy Faier but retained in the Southern Folklife Collection general periodical holdings rather than this individual collection are issues of the folk music fanzines Caravan and Gardyloo.
Manuscripts and chapbooks written by others and collected by Billy Faier. The banjo book manuscript does not list an author but, based on the handwriting, is presumed not to be by Billy Faier. "Duck Caller (and the Hemingway Hex)" is a short story written by Bob Peterson, Faier's brother-in-law. "May: The Revolutionary, for my 81 years of anarchy" is by May Picqueray and translated by Malkine Dattorre and Michael Dattorre. Poetry chapbooks include "Guide to the City" by Michael Grieg, "1001 Ways to Live Without Working" by Tuli Kupferberg, "Elegies" by Herschel Silverman, and "Nite Train" by Herschel Silverman.
Artwork collected by Billy Faier includes drawings, paintings, and photographs, which are presumed to have been created by his friends and acquaintances. Most of the works are unsigned. Signed artwork includes works by H. J. Nicholes, John G. Ernst, and Kenneth Matt Hewes. This collection includes some drawings with Faier as the subject and calligraphy of one of Faier's juggling mottos: "You Can't Learn to Juggle Without Dropping Balls."
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-20380/4 |
Oversized Drawings #20380, Subseries: "4.3. Collected Artwork." OPF-20380/4 |
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-20380/5 |
Sketchbook #20380, Subseries: "4.3. Collected Artwork." OPF-20380/5 |
Folder 73 |
Collected Artwork #20380, Subseries: "4.3. Collected Artwork." Folder 73 |
Faier's research, recreational, and cultural interests include games such as Rubik's Cube and Go, music, hypnosis, overcoming consumerism, Silva Mind Control, the secret government, peace, and alternative lifestyles. Many of his interests are reflected in fanzines such as Gigline (for and by veterans against the Vietnam war), Rainbow Family of Living Light, Pearls Before Vinegar (a zine of clippings and articles from other sources), and The Realist. The almost complete collection of The Realist, 1959-1970, is particularly interesting for the intellectual skepticism and questioning by the counter-culture that shaped Billy Faier and others of that era.
One of Billy Faier's passions is juggling. After several earlier false starts in his life, he taught himself to juggle and then came up with the juglature, a way of notating juggling maneuvers similar to music notation. Faier wrote a number of book-length manuscripts on how to juggle using his juglature notation and actively engaged in submitting his manuscript for publication and in teaching juggling. Included are Faier's research notes and material, his juglature drawings, correspondence pertaining to his juggling manuscripts and classes, and his juggling manuscripts, including "Balls!" and "One Ball Meditation: A Juggling Primer."
Juggling Notes includes Faier's early juglature drawings, notes on particular juggling moves, an outline for an article, and early notes and thoughts on juggling.
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-20380/8 |
Juglature Notes #20380, Subseries: "5.1. Juggling Notes." OPF-20380/8 |
Folder 104 |
Juggling Notes #20380, Subseries: "5.1. Juggling Notes." Folder 104 |
Folder 105 |
Juggling Notebooks #20380, Subseries: "5.1. Juggling Notes." Folder 105 |
Juggling research includes the clippings and other research materials that Faier collected.
Folder 106 |
Juggling Research #20380, Subseries: "5.2. Juggling Research." Folder 106 |
Juggling business primarily consists of correspondence relating directly to publication queries and responses on Faier's manuscripts and to juggling classes that Faier taught.
Folder 107 |
Juggling Business #20380, Subseries: "5.3. Juggling Business." Folder 107 |
Faier's juggling manuscripts include different drafts of his manuscript "Balls!," a short juggling manuscript, and several drafts of "One Ball Meditation: A Juggling Primer," including a sealed copy designed to serve as his "poor person's copyright."
Billy Faier moved to Woodstock, N.Y., with his family in 1944 at age thirteen and had his first contact with folk music at that time. Though he traveled extensively and lived elsewhere, including New York City and California, his home base for a large part of his life has been Woodstock and the surrounding area. He built a home in nearby Lake Hill and became an active member of the community, participating in area politics, controversies, and the local art and music scene, including becoming a locally renowned street musician. This series reflects Faier's integral involvement in his community with clippings, community publications, including assorted newspapers from 1959 to 1992, and writings on the tower controversy. Material relating to Faier's personal business affairs based in Woodstock include plans and documents concerning his house; the purchase and sale of the vessel, Dark Companion of Sirius; a copy of a 20 April 1988 last will and testament; and documents pertaining to a harassment charge.
Billy Faier's involvement with the general community surrounding Woodstock, N.Y., is represented through clippings, publications, and manuscripts about the community, including writings by and about Faier. Of particular interest in the clippings section are Faier's letters to the editor and copies of his articles from the local papers. The Woodstock publications include copies of assorted local newspapers from 1959 to 1992, a 1990 yearbook of the town, and a 1962 Woodstock Folk Festival program book. In the early 1980s, Faier became an outspoken critic against the building of a tower on Overlook Mountain. Writings relating to that controversy are included.
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-20380/9 |
Woodstock Clippings #20380, Subseries: "6.1. General Community." OPF-20380/9 |
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-20380/10 |
Woodstock Publications #20380, Subseries: "6.1. General Community." OPF-20380/10 |
Folder 114 |
Woodstock Clippings #20380, Subseries: "6.1. General Community." Folder 114 |
Folder 115 |
Woodstock Publications #20380, Subseries: "6.1. General Community." Folder 115 |
Folder 116 |
Woodstock Tower Controversy Writings #20380, Subseries: "6.1. General Community." Folder 116 |
Material relating to Billy Faier's personal business affairs based in Woodstock, N.Y. "Histoire de Harassment" is Faier's title for the material relating to an accusation of harassment made against him by a local hitchhiker he picked up. Legal paper work and Faier's written notes in his defense are included. Also included are legal documents and plans relating to Faier's Lake Hill, N.Y., house and his sailing vessel, Dark Companion of Sirius, and his last will and testament, dated 20 April 1988. See also Series 1.4. Landlord-Tenant Correspondence and Series 1. Correspondence, particularly from Gloria "Cosmo" Charles for other references to the Lake Hill house and the sailing vessel.
Faier's writings, both personal and intended for publication, not included elsewhere in the collection. In the early 1980s, Faier arranged a cross-country trip of performance gigs and visits with friends. His intention was to travel by bicycle and his actual misadventures and experiences in that attempt are chronicled in an article, "Crossing the USA with Bicycle," published in Bicycle magazine. His manuscript, correspondence with the editor, and the published article are included. Faier engaged in and promoted hitchhiking as a solution to the energy crisis of the early 1980s. His writings on the subject include several short manuscripts, a letter to Russell Baker, and a published article in the Woodstock Times. Among Faier's personal and apparently unpublished writings are a journal from a 1974 trip to California with his girlfriend, Gloria "Cosmo" Charles, and dog, Pizza, and assorted descriptive and informative manuscripts.
In 1981, Billy Faier arranged a cross-country performance tour, including visits with friends along the way. Other references to this trip can be found in Series 1. Correspondence and Series 2. Music Career. His intention was to travel by bicycle and his actual misadventures and experiences in that attempt are chronicled in an article, "Crossing the USA with Bicycle" that was published in Bicycle magazine. His manuscript, correspondence with the editor, and published article are included here. Other material related to this performance tour can be found in Personal and Business Correspondence and Winnipeg Folk Festival, 1981.
Folder 121 |
"Crossing the USA with a Bike" #20380, Subseries: "7.1. Crossing the USA with a Bike, 1981-1982." Folder 121 |
Faier engaged in hitchhiking both as hitcher and as driver. See Series 1. Correspondence for letters from hitchhikers he picked up. During the energy crisis of the early 1980s, Faier passionately promoted hitchhiking as a solution for dependence on foreign oil. His writings on the subject include several short manuscripts, a letter to Russell Baker, and a published article in the Woodstock Times.
Folder 122 |
Hitchhiking #20380, Subseries: "7.2. Hitchhiking, 1980-1981." Folder 122 |
A journal by Faier from a 1974 trip to California with his girlfriend, Gloria "Cosmo" Charles, and dog, Pizza. References to Cosmo Charles and Pizza can also be found in Series 1. Correspondence, Series 2.1. Song Writing, and Series 3. Audio Recordings.
Folder 123 |
Journal #20380, Subseries: "7.3. Journal, 1974." Folder 123 |
Faier's personal and apparently unpublished writings include assorted opinion pieces, memoir writing, descriptive personal experience writing, including a piece on hiking in the Grand Canyon, and prose manuscripts, including a piece on the Saturday Night Barn Dance.
Folder 124 |
Other Writings #20380, Subseries: "7.4. Other Writings, Undated." Folder 124 |
Acquisitions information: Acc. 102560
Arrangement: Audio recordings arranged by format. Papers listed first, followed by oversize materials, photographs, audio recordings, and video recordings. Audio recordings by Faier are listed first, followed by recordings by other artists.
Processing information: Titles for audio recordings compiled from original containers. Titles supplied by processing archivists are in brackets. A tape index and documentation found with audiovisual materials resides in box 10. Documentation has been annotated with the corresponding audiovisual item's call number.
Papers, photographs, and audiovisual materials related to Billy Faier's music career, general interests, juggling hobby, and home base of Woodstock, N.Y. Papers consist of personal correspondence, lyrics, sheet music, banjo tabs, business correspondence related to compact disc (CD) and tab orders, promotional materials, tape and song indexes compiled by Faier, printed materials and clippings, juggling notes and juglature drawings, and writings by Faier, including a copy of his 2003 manuscript, Whorehouse Fantasies. Faier's correspondents include girlfriends, friends, fans, and fellow musicians, including Martin Gardener, Frank Proffitt, and Pete Seeger. The addition also includes Faier's Rubik's Cubes and oversize materials, including a one-page scrapbook and a sketchbook containing drawings by Faier. Photographs depict music performances, music festivals, including Woodstock, as well as Faier's personal life. Audiovisual materials consist of audio recordings of live performances, demos, radio programs, and dubbed albums by Faier and others; videotapes of Faier, including home movies, interviews, live performances, and footage of family reunions; and related documentation, such as notes and memos, found with the audiovisual materials. Notable artists found on the recordings include Moses Ash, Bob Dylan, Albert Grossman, John Herald, and Pete Seeger. Audio recordings are on audiocassette, 1/4" open reel, and compact disc (now listed as digital folders "DF"), while videotapes are on VHS and Betacam.
Image Folders (PF-20380/1)
Image Boxes (IB-20380/1-4)
Promotional buttons (MU-20380/1-4)
Oversized items (OPF-20380/1-11, OB-20380/1)
Digital Folders (DF-20380/1-2)
Audiotapes (FT-11303-11417, FT-11526-11531, FT-17501-17504)
Audiocassettes (FS-6904-6905, FS-17233-17436, FS-17520)
Instantaneous Discs (FD-789-793)
LPs (FC-13785)
Videotape (VT-20380/1-17)
Back to TopProcessed by: Elizabeth Matson, January 2004
Encoded by: Elizabeth Matson, January 2004
Updated by: Anne Wells, July 2016; Anne Wells, Emma Evans, and Patrick Cullom, July 2019; Anne Wells, Clare Carlson, and Jessica Venlet, October 2019
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