Asheville Citizen-Times from Asheville, North Carolina • Page 107

"ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES Book Page Sunday, May 5, 1985 Page 11L Bascom Lamar Lunsford: Jones Tells It Like It Was MINSTREL OF THE APPALACHIANS; The Story of Bascom Lamar Lunsford, by Loyal Jones. Appalachian Consortium Press. 240 pages. $10.95. The world spins ever faster and too often I find I am willing to settle for things that are not as bad as they could be.

Sometimes I know I am too grateful for things that are about as good as they could be. The real pleasure I find in Loyal Jones' long-awaited book on Bascom Lamar Lunsford is that it is almost as good as I hoped it would be. Musical folks here in the mountains have known for years that Jones was gathering material on Lunsford with an eye to writing a book. Lunsford was well known in his time and his legend has lived after him, but the folklorist, scholar, lawyer, festival founder, musician, professor and general generalist has been dead for more than 10 years now. There may be people new to the mountains who don't associate his name with the best in mountain life and lore.

For those newcomers, I will say simply that Lunsford was a mountain man. He lived through a time of massive social and technological change and brought his own image of mountain life, music and dance through it all. He was the founder and driving force behind 46 years of the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, still held each August in Asheville. He died in 1974 at the age of 91. The telling of the rest of the story of Bascom Lamar Lunsford I will leave to Loyal Jones.

Jones is also a North Carolina mountain man, farm born and raised in Cherokee County and currently director of the Berea College Appalachian Center in Berea, Ky. He teaches Appalachian stud- tall laid upon detail. He sees Lunsford neither as a saint nor a sinner; neither a purist nor a promoter; neither a rogue nor a revivalist, but rather a bit of all these, and a gentleman with it all. He illustrates his book about the life of Lunsford with a wealth of photographs gleaned from many sources and saves his footnotes for the end of each chapter. The story of Lunsford's life ends on Page 143 of a 249-page book.

Jones has wisely chosen to fill the remaining pages with the story of Lunsford's work. This "Lunsford Sampler" includes a listing of Lunsford's memory collection of ballads songs, hymns, singing games, fiddle tunes, stories, verse, a listing of his 1935 Columbia University Library recordings; and his 1949 Library of Congress, recording project and a preliminary list of his recordings there. A sampling of Lunsford's tales and anecdotes is also included as is a strong cross-section of Lunsford songs, complete with music. That Lunsford would "cross Hell on a rotten log" to get a folk song, is the image Jones chooses to open his narrative. He ends that narrative by saying that Lunsford, in his 91 years, did indeed cross Hell on that rotten log With a scant look downward, and he grabbed for and got a strong hold on the essence of Appalachian culture.

He happily presented and interpreted that culture wherever he went in a life of constant motion. It was his calling, his special job of work and his delight." Well said. Bascom Lamar Lunsford at the college and himself organizes an annual celebration of mountain music. Jones' book is a biography in the best sense of the word. It tells squarely and fairly the story of a man whose personal style created friends and enemies and left almost no one with neutral feelings.

He treats sensitively the life story of a man who never hesitated to call himself the "Squire of South Turkey Creek" and "The Minstrel of the Appalachians" when it suited his purposes. Jones writes with the feeling of a native and the throughness of a scholar. He paints his picture not with bold strokes but with subtle colors and de- History Of St. Mary's College THE HERITAGE, by Martha Stoops. St.

Mary's College. 532 Pages. On May 12, 1842, carriages bearing 13 young women rolled up to a new school for girls in Raleigh. It was called St. Mary's College and it was organized under the aegis of the Episcopal Church.

In those days Raleigh had a population of 2,244 people, a state capitol and a few handsome mansions. Railroad service had reached Raleigh in 1840 and a scattering of "extensive, rich and fashionable goods" from New York and Philadelphia had begun to appear in the town's shops and stores. The governor at that time, John M. Morehead, was under attack in the Legislature and some newspapers because he had spent the extravagant sum of $75 to build an ice house at the governor's mansion. Raleigh and St.

Mary's College have gotten bigger since then, too, but the principles on which the school was founded also have remained pretty much the same. "The Heritage" is a detailed history of the school from that day in May of 1842 to the present. Its author, Martha Sprouse Stoops, taught history at St. Mary's for 25 years. Her knowlege of the school and its past obviously is almost encyclopedic.

Her writing style is far better and more readable than the murky prose that too often clutters up books of this type. The book is lavishly illustrated, carefully edited and annotated. It bears all the marks of a labor of love. It fills a void in the history of Raleigh and of North Carolina. It will have special appeal, naturally, for alumnae of St.

Mary's College. For copies write to St. Mary's College, 900 Hillsborough Raleigh, N.C., 27603. BILL MOORE 'Andy Griffith Show' Updated THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW. By Richard Kelly.

Blair. 286 Pages. $8.95 paperback. Like Thomas Wolfe's Altamont, a thinly disguised version of Asheville, so the mythical town of Mayberry is an even more evident version of Mount Airy, N.C. In an expanded and revised edition of the book "The Andy Griffith Show" Mayberry's loveable sheriff without a gun is reintroduced.

Twenty-five years ago television viewers were captivated by the personalities in the mythical town of Mayberry even as they are by today's reruns of the long-lasting series. The author takes the reader through the beginning of production and to development of the cast, in which Andy and Barney Fife prove to be successful comedy team. "The Andy Griffith Show" is a blend of the situation and domestic comedy. It has much laughter, love and not much peace. Kelly brings back the television of yesterday and makes 1960 as real as today.

He recalls that CBS officials in the late sixties and early seventies began to purge all shows with a rural background. What these officials failed to relize was that "The Andy Griffith Show" was a series whose popularity would remain constant, even in reruns. The series was in the top 10 for eight years and endured another three years under the title "Mayberry R.F.D." The day the axe fell and the series was cancelled, it was, strangely enough, the sixth highest-rated show on television. Griffith is scheduled to appear for a TV revival of the show to be called "Mayberry Revisited." He will be joined by other cast members, Don Knotts (Barney Fife); Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle); George Lindsay (cousin Goober); Jack Dodson (Howard Sprague) and even Ron Howard (little Opie). "Mayberry Revisited" viewers will wait in anticipation for little Opie to drop his fish, as he did in the original program's opening credits.

The film's revival should stir interest in both the series reruns and Kelly's book, "The Andy Griffith Show." Kelly's book first was published in 1981; it had considerable appeal for the show's fans. This updated version should be equally as successful with the followers of the show. The tempo in Mayberry was slow and unhurried. The pace of the book is the same. 1 It introduces the reader to a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere which only a small town can give.

ELLA BOOKER Want To Live Longer? Book Tells How "THE LA COSTA PRESCRIPTION FOR LONGER LIFE," by R. Philip Smith, M.D., and Patrick Quillin, Ph.D. Roundtable Publishing Santa Monica, Calif. 337 Pages. $16.95.

Writer Christopher Britton is the author "Paybacks," a story about men and the effects of war. The book is a recent publication by Donald I. Fine. The good news is that you can enjoy an occasional hot fudge sundae or glass of beer, The bad news is that you have to do exercises like the Stomach Cruncher and the Skier Squat to work it off. The astounding news is that if you follow this book's convincingly written instructions, you may add several years to your own lite span.

These added years, say the authors, could be well worth living, full of health and energy to do all the things you never had time to do before you retired. According to Drs. Smith and Quillin, the body's intercellular DNA "blueprint," which provides the plans for daily cell repair and construction, becomes ever fainter with age and harder for the body to "read." With age, they say, the body builds and repairs with less efficiency, the degree and rate depending on "each person's individual biological clockwork." "The La Costa Prescription" details ways for the individual to slow down that clock, through proper attention to nutrition, exercise, mental attitude, physical environment and such details of body maintenance as cleanliness, comfort and hy. giene. There are chapters on preventive medicine, the rating of one's own health and on each ment of improving health.

The advice the authors give is conservative and appears medically sound, providing a sensible compromise between the faddists and the do-nothings. For those who have tried diet after diet and achieved little but frustration at what the authors call "the rhythm method of girth control," the seclions on nutrition, exercise and weight control offer a sane and easy to follow approach to a leaner body. As the authors quote John Barrymore, "A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams." WANDA CRAWFORD Fresh Insight Into Common Problems JADIS, By Ken Chowder. Harper Row. 231 Pages.

$14.95. Ken Chowder's fiction is as lyrical and thrilling as a new song. It gives us fresh insight into some of life's common problems. The problems Chowder appears to be fascinated by are the powerful and sometimes debilitating dynamics of triangular human relationships. Each of Chowder's first two novels, "Blackbird Days" and "A Delicate Geometry," portrays the emotional and psychological tensions among three primary characters.

His third novel, "Jadis," offers us another vivid and compassionate glimpse Darlin Bill 8 8 Love Story of the Wild West Design For 'Darlin' Bill' The aces and eights of a "Dead Man's Hand" in poker make the cover design for the "Darlin' BIll," a novel by Jerome Charyn. The book recently was republished in a paperback edition by Primus Books, 1 Donald I. Fine imprint. It sells for $8.95. ZACK ALLEN The novel ends with Egg thinking of leaving Jadis for Tory.

We wonder if Egg can ever stop his Hamleting and make a decision between them. We are also left feeling unable to make a decision for Egg because each character is so wonderfully human and sympathetic. Herein lies the move's major weakness but we are willing to forgive it. Though Egg's conflict remains ambigubus and definitely unresolved, it has the feel of real life to it. Read "Jadis." You'll find it a fresh treatment of an old dilemma, and you'll find Chowder's prose a joy reminiscent of Vonnegut and Robbins.

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Must be in a hurry BABFLY VERHIT YAMSIL MANCEP OKOCIE HOW THEY ATE THAT FANCY BANANA AND ICE CREAM DISH. Now arrange the circied letters to TANIAT form the surprise answer, as sug gested by the above cartoon. PRINT YOUR ANSWER IN THE CIRCLES BELOW for 82.36 Can 891, Answers Are On Page 13L into the emotional quagmire of the age-old love triangle. The story of "Jadis" is complex: Egg comes home to find his wife, Jadis, has disappeared. He reacts by seeking out his childhood sweetheart, Tory, and brings her home to live with him.

Soon, Jadis, returns to beg forgiveness and patch things up. All of us, including Egg, think he should be perfectly happy with the lovely, loving Tory, but Egg is still hopelessly attached to Jadis in spite of her faults and sins. Nothing is ever clear-cut or obvious, and no action or decision ever wholly desirable..