Len Domler, the lovable curmudgeon we all knew as the face and voice of Sounding Board concerts for so many years died today at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown.
I didn't know Len well, though I knew his son late Bill very well. Bill was a folk music catalyst, with a long running show on WWUH that he hosted until he died in 2001. Bill started several music series, including the series that became the Sounding Board. Bill was famous for starting series and then moving on, and since he roped his dad, Len and his mom Fran into helping him with the original Sounding Board, they continued running it for a couple of decades. Len was the frontman, announcing at many of the concerts.
Bill told me his dad was never a huge folk music fan at the start, but that he grew to love the music and the musicians. His biggest love was country music. He died, appopriately enough, listening to Johnny Cash.
3 comments:
I was listening to your show this morning when you played the Johnny Cash tribute to Len. You had many nice things to say about him, and the selection of songs was actually very well done. Unfortunately, you left a sour taste in my mouth after complaining about the Hartford Courant's response, immediately after this tribute. Apparently you have some personal issues with the Newspaper and I wish that you could have let that remain personal rather than using your radio show to rant about it. Although I don't hear you happy about many things, because when you're not complaining about the Republican run executive branch, you're complaining about the Democrats in congress. And now I am ranting...
Well, we're all entitled to a rant now and again.
I was scolding the Courant with no disrespect to Len. He deserves to be eulogized for the great work he did in a small unnoticed corner of Connecticut culture.
I don't have any personal issues with the Courant. I read it every day. I've been a subscriber all my adult life. I think there's a lot of good they do. But they miss a bunch too, and need to be reminded. There are some great editors and reporters there who are overtasked. But I do know that some of them listen.
BTW, I'm happy about a lot. And I think that's probably evident in the joy I take playing music.
I appreciated you comments about Len Domler and didn't take offense with the comments on The Courant. It would be nice if they had a story on him and the folk community even if to just let people know there's all kinds of stuff going on sort of in the background. Below the radar as it were. I know my life has been made richer by this folk world and have only to thank a co-worker who years ago got me listening to WWUH.
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