Fall News

Forgive me Blogger, it has been one month since my last blog-fession. Really, if nothing is going on with me, I don't write about it. Last week was pretty exciting, though.

I've been feeling a little sick, and I was waffling about going out, and the price was high ($25), but I decided to go see Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet after all. I've been a big fan of Abigail over the past 6 months or so. I first started listening to Uncle Earl, and then I got her solo album Song of the Traveling Daughter and loved that, too. Then I read an article about her in Newsweek which talked about her new venture, the Sparrow Quartet. Wow! How cool! Mix up bluegrass, old-timey, classical, and chinese music and you get something amazing. My banjo teacher, Candy, heard the group and didn't really like them, so I went to the website with some trepidation. After listening to all the tunes online, I was hooked! And they were coming to Seattle again! The show at the Tractor Tavern was outstanding. Each musician was well worth the $25. Béla Fleck is famous, and although I hadn't heard of the other two, I gather from the Quartet bios they're well known, too. If you like music, search YouTube for some of their videos and watch these folks play; it's astounding.

Friday night I went to the World Affairs Council second annual Transnational Trivia Challenge Championship with five other librarians. Several years ago I did a similar thing with two other librarians at a Literacy organization's trivia bee. We got booted out in the first round, so I wasn't too optimistic for this one. This Trivia Challenge was run more like bar trivia: teams confer and write their answers on slips of paper which are gathered and scored; at the end everyone's scores are compared. No losing early on in the night! We answered 40 questions on world capitals, national anthems, news, children's book characters from around the world (we got 10 out of 10 on that one!), food, and whatnot. We actually did pretty well with 30 out of 40, and we tied for 3rd place! Woo hoo! There was a tie breaker question that we didn't get, but still, I'm very proud of us. There were 51 teams (we were Dewey, Knowit & Howe), and we did better than 46 of them! We rock. My proudest moment was being the only one to know where a missing condom-mobile had been stolen from: Mexico City! I have to thank BoingBoing, my main daily news source, for that one.

Monday nights I've been going to a String Band class, which I'm loving. A new song every week, learned with 13 other banjoists (an evil number for a wicked instrument) and then played with the whole class of guitars, mandolins, and fiddles combined. The Canote Brothers and Candy Goldman, my banjo teacher, have had this going for years, but I'm only able to do it this Fall due to my work schedule. Bummer.

Michael and I finally saw Cloverfield, and I highly recommend it. What a great movie! A real thrillah.

Otherwise, life has just been turning to Fall around here. The houseplants are snug inside, Bijou is spending all day glued to her toasty butt pad on the bed, and JoJo is upset that it is no longer warm and sunny when I take her outside. I made some tasty Boston baked beans and corn bread, and am snuggled up with warm cider.

Keep warm!

My New Toy!

Monday night I called Michael before I left work to see if I should buy bread on the way home. He said, "Nope, we have bread and milk. And a banjo!" Yippee! A banjo came in the mail for me! I ordered an Enoch Tradesman fretless banjo. It's got a scooped cherry wood neck, flush frets, and a pretty black finish on the fingerboard and pot. The flush frets show me where to put my fingers while still getting the fretless sound; kind of like banjo training wheels.

My old Deering Goodtime banjo is on the left, and my new Enoch banjo is on the right. I now have black and white, yin and yang, good and evil banjos. I will use them only for good! I've ordered a pretty black and yellow strap for it, and I'll need to get the gig bag all decorated up like my other case.

I was a little afraid of the new banjo, wondering if I'd be able to play it. Lo and behold! My fingers pretty much go in the right places! I'm very excited that I don't have to retrain myself too much. One thing I need to do is change my fretting to the point of my finger or the fingernail instead of just the flat pad of my finger. The sound is much crisper that way; otherwise the sound is a little plunky.

When I was agonizing about whether or not to get myself a new banjo, my banjo friend Jeff said I was the only person he knew with only one banjo. So now I'm real banjo player! Counting the four string Michael got me for my birthday two and half years ago (which started me on my banjo journey), I now have three! The old four string hangs on the wall as visual art, since it can no longer participate in audio art.

Well, I better go practice ...

Playing tourist

My Dad and my brother Brady were just out for a visit, and I got to do lots of great tourist things I never get around to doing on my own. They took a train cross-country from Maine, seeing the sites as they whizzed past. At Glacier, they rented a car and came out to Seattle Friday night.

Saturday we spent relaxing for the most part, though I took my Dad for a bike ride down to Golden Gardens while Michael abused Brady with weight lifting and going up and down the long stairs to Golden Gardens. We stopped in at Dusty Strings to oogle instruments and buy a few doodads and a CD. That night, after a dinner at the Hi-Life, we went to the Tractor Tavern. I had seen a bluegrass show advertised, but I knew nothing about the performers. What an awesome show! As my Dad said, one guitar solo alone was worth the $15 to get in. Danny Barnes of the Bad Livers opened the show on his banjo. He'd lay down a lick, record it, play it while laying down another lick, record it, etc., until he had about 5 tracks of himself playing while he played yet something else. Then six handsome young bucks got on the stage and proceeded to blow us away with totally amazing bluegrass. The Infamous Stringdusters. Wow. Each musician was top-notch. The guitar player blazed around the neck of his guitar like a classical guitarist, the mandolin player's hand was a blur, the other players were very fine, and the most beautiful vocals and harmonies came from them. To finish off their encore they came off the stage and stood in a tight circle in the middle of the stage picking like they do for themselves. Brady and I each picked up a CD at the end of the night.

It's hard to beat all that Saturday fun, so Sunday we just left town. We drove up to Paradise on Mt. Rainier and hiked around for a couple of hours. Although clouds covered the summit while we were there, Dad and Brady were suitably impressed by the views they got of the mountain and the tree strewn Nisqually river bed. We saw some pretty alpine flowers, a blue grouse and her chicks, lots of other birds, and a big fat marmot. On the way down the mountain, the clouds finally left the summit, and we got a nice view of the mountain up through Kautz Creek.

They had planned to leave Monday, but I convinced them to stay another day. Monday we strolled down to the Java Bean for coffee and goodies, then walked on to the Ballard Locks. We were able to see the Locks in action and get some salmon viewing in! The Chinook were heading up to spawn. We could see them waiting below the locks, in the glass viewing area we saw them hanging out resting in the fish ladder, and then we briefly saw a few jumping up through the locks. They were mighty big. Smolt were heading out of the locks, and a seagull and a great blue heron were monitoring it all. Some fish and chips from the Lockspot got us home, and then they came with me to my banjo lesson and a little thrift shopping. We topped the night off with square dancing at the tractor.

It was great visit!

Fiddle Tunes 2008

Sunday afternoon I got back from a week at Fiddle Tunes up in Port Townsend. Oh god it was heaven! Fiddle Tunes is week of workshops in American traditional music styles, and it takes place in Fort Worden where participants and faculty live, learn, play music, and party for a week solid.

Photos are on my Flickr account.
Many many many videos are on my YouTube account.

I camped out in my huge cabin tent in a string of campsites filled with friends. This is luxury camping! We camp in the RV area, so we have electricity and water. We set up light decked canopies, dining tables, and a kitchen complete with electrical appliances.

Many people come to camp, jam, and go to the dances every evening, and these folks are usually up until 3 or 4 every morning. Participants going to all the workshops have to be ready to think by 9:30 am, though, so I tried to be in bed by 1am each night. It was hard!

This year I took banjo workshops with Kelley Breiding from Back-Step (that's them on the right) and Band Lab workshops with the band as a whole. Back-Step are from Mount Airy, NC and play Roundpeak style Old Time music. Nick McMillian plays fiddle, and his dad Chester McMillian plays guitar. What a nice bunch of folks! They were very patient with slow beginners such as myself, and they made sure we all "got it". I had my first experience of confidently playing up to speed with a band. It was exhilarating! In the Band Lab we learned Cotton-Eyed Joe, Fire On the Mountain, and Sail Away Ladies. In the banjo workshops Kelley also taught us Chilly Winds, John Henry, and Back Step Cindy. I can't begin to express how much fun I had even though it was also hard work! Kelley kept joking that we were going to"win" the Band Lab concert, so at the end of the concert we gave the band a trophy. I found a "golden" goblet at Goodwill for $1.99 and painted "#1 band Lab Fiddle Tunes 2008" on it along with their names inside the cup. I noticed on their MySpace page they have a photo of our Band Lab playing labeled "First Place Band Lab: Misstep!" You can also see the trophy on the floor in front of them in my YouTube clips of them playing their Saturday night concert. Here's a video of us playing Cotton-Eyed Joe for the Thursday night Band-Lab dance.


I also joined the World Choir led by Daniel Steinberg. I haven't sung in a choir since 6th grade, which wasn't such a good experience. But I did sing with Les Femmes d'Enfer and I also took voice lessons for two years, so I have much more confidence and skill than I did when I was 11 (at least I hope so). Anyway, I thought I'd give the World Choir a whirl, and boy am I glad I did! We sang a traditional South African song called Ipharadisi; it was a pretty simple but very cool song. Then we sang Tango Malena. Wow. I didn't even know you could sing a tango since I think I've only ever heard instrumental tangos. This tune has amazing lyrics, melodies, and harmonies. I didn't get a record of our final performance, but I do have a recording from rehearsal with Bertram Levy playing the accordion with us.

Aside from the fun banjo and vocal work, I had plenty of Fun fun, too! Every night after dinner there was a concert showcasing the faculty's and participant's talents. Every night after the concerts there were two simultaneous dance halls going with contras, squares, Cajun, honky-tonk, swing, Cumbia, you name it. But of course, the best part was our campsite's annual silly hat cocktail party. Laurie and I, being the clothing extroverts we are, had elaborate costumes and hats, but many people traditionally make hats from whatever junk they can find at or around their campsite. Some others are experts at raiding the local Goodwill for weird hat parts. Check out my Flickr account for the hats.

I feel like I could go on and on and never capture the joy! Come to Fiddle Tunes and find out for yourself. If you're a musician or want to be, come on and participate. If you just love to listen and dance, come and camp with us and party!

Fiddle Tunes

I don't know if I'm ever going to get around to writing about Fiddle Tunes! Now I will try. I've been working since I got back, scrambling to clean and put away all my camping gear, digitize all my workshop audio recordings, and download/upload all of my photos. Friday night I take a red-eye out to Maine for a week. So I'm feeling time-crunched and guilty about not blogging. whine whine whine.

Please go to my Flickr account (link from photo below) to see lots of photos of mostly goofing off and not much work. When I was workin' hard I wasn't taking photos!
I also made a mini movie from a few 30 second clips.

So what exactly did I do at Fiddle Tunes? What's it all about? Well, basically it's band camp! I came to learn about banjo. I've been taking lessons for a year from Candy Goldman.

Sunday afternoon I arrived, set up camp with a group of friends, and went to a few orientation meetings where I could hear the faculty play and decide who I wanted to learn from. Then, during the week each day was a non-stop whirlwind of trying to balance work and fun and maybe get some sleep:

• 8:30 am crawl out of bed, shower, eat, get coffee
• 9:30 - 11 first workshop. 12 different ones going on at once in many buildings all over Fort Worden, so I better pick the right one! Miss the other 11. Wish I could have been there, too. The one workshop I do attend has been moved. Run around trying to find it by listening for banjos. Pass many other rooms spouting Cajun, south Appalachian, tango ... Workshops can be all about learning a tune or just listening to the musician play. Sometimes a mix. I was a Randy Wilson workshop devotee, and also attended a few others on jamming and banjo mechanics.
  
• 11-12:30 second workshop of the morning. 12 different workshops going on at once again. The one I want has been moved. Try to find it.
• 12:30-2 stagger back to campsite for lunch. Maybe try to practice something I learned in the morning, buy supplies at the camp music store, wash dishes, clean up the tent, or run into town for groceries.
• 2-3:30 Band Lab! Learn to play a tune with a whole group of folks. 18 Band Labs to choose from, studying with all the faculty bands. I can only choose one. Miss the other 17. Wish I could have been there, too. I did the Beginning Band Lab, formerly known as the Baby Band Lab. My first day the Baby Band Lab goes too fast for me. I feel stupid. Mostly this is because most of the instruments are fiddles, so they get all the attention. Jeanie Murphy comes and rescues the banjos.
• 3:30-4:30 tutorials. Meet with one of the camp instrument tutors in a group. Lots to choose from, but I go in with Jeanie Murphy and the beginning banjo players. The tutorial always starts late and goes late. Jeanie always brings snacks! Yay!
• 4:30-5:30 extra workshops for dancing, percussion, etc. I never got to one! I was always desperately trying to digest everything from the previous 4 classes, sometimes getting together with other folks to practice.
• 5:30-7 stagger back to the campsite for dinner. Laurie and I cooked dinner Friday night, the other nights I just helped with clean-up. Finally take a moment to put my tent in order and maybe wash some ever present dirty dishes. Get prettied up for the evening! A different outfit for every night!
• 7-9:30 concert by the faculty. Always stunning.
• 9:30-?? jamming and dances. Many jams and several dances going on at once in addition to mini-parties at every campsite. Try to choose one thing. Flit around to several.
• 1-2 am, crawl back to campsite and try to sleep in a campsite blazing with strings of lights and ringing with jams. Don't actually sleep much.
• 8:30 am do it again. Maybe I really got 5 hours of sleep.

There were also some extra special concerts and some performances by camp tutors and students. I played two tunes with the Beginning Band Lab. We called ourselves The Barely Strung Band, and we played Ocean Waves and Short Life of Trouble. I also stepped in for Randy Wilson's band lab, and helped to play Boatin' Up Sandy (see picture in post below). For both performances I got very nervous and played badly, but I guess you couldn't tell! So I hear, anyway.

On Wednesday night our campsite held a funny hat cocktail party, which was a blast. Many, many, many photos of this on Flickr.

Well, Cheers! Here's to next year!

Exhausted Joy

Wow. I just went to my first Fiddle Tunes as a full time participant, and I am completely exhausted and exhilarated. It was amazing! I can't wait for next year. Today I'm resting, unpacking, washing, relaxing, organizing photos, and digitizing workshop recordings. My camp mates already have campsites for next year, and I'm already adding things to my list of things to bring.

I'll write about this more later, but highlights were:

• Randy Wilson and his bluesy banjo style, especially his Deluxe fruitcake banjo.
• Camping and partying with a fabulous group of people.
• Making new friends, especially banjo friends.
• Meeting musical masters who are genuine and friendly people.
• Beginning to get a handle on how jamming works.
• Dancing for hours every night (not one bad dance!)
• Concerts every night filled with earth-shattering musicianship.

Happy Easter!

I have created my very first film effort for my nephews Julian and Ian in Maine. Foolishly, I share it here with you! (please excuse the very bad lighting)

Happy Easter!