It's a snowy day here in St. Louis. Wish I could have stayed home and played tunes. But a paycheck called and here I am at my desk. So far, the only person in my office to show up!Maybe I should have brought the fiddle in with me.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Winter Day in Mound City
It's a snowy day here in St. Louis. Wish I could have stayed home and played tunes. But a paycheck called and here I am at my desk. So far, the only person in my office to show up!Maybe I should have brought the fiddle in with me.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Mound City Slickers @ Cape Girardeau
I mentioned in my last post that I played a dance with the Mound City Slickers last week. Here's some video from the dance.
The Band, left to right: Bob Clark - Banjo, Bill Stewart - Fiddle, Lindell Blackford - Fiddle, Roy Farwell - Guitar, Sean Ruprecht-Belt - Banjo Uke
Enjoy!
The Band, left to right: Bob Clark - Banjo, Bill Stewart - Fiddle, Lindell Blackford - Fiddle, Roy Farwell - Guitar, Sean Ruprecht-Belt - Banjo Uke
Enjoy!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Great Weekend!
Wow! What a great weekend for my ongoing romance with old time music! I played so much this weekend that my calluses have calluses and my hand seems locked in a position that looks like grabbing a mandolin/ukulele/fiddle neck.
Things started well with a jam session Saturday afternoon at the Folk School of St. Louis, where we played a ton of tunes that don’t normally get played there. But the students were game and most of them, even the real new kids, did their best to pick up the new tunes and hang in with the dance tempos that were being played. It was definitely one of the best sessions I’ve been to at the school in months.
Then it was a quick 100 mile jaunt down to play a dance in Cape Girardeau with the Mound City Slickers. We stopped and had dinner together – loading up on pasta and salad to make sure we had plenty of energy to play those long dance tunes! The band played great! The small, but enthusiastic crowd of dancers seemed to love the music and have a real big time. I can’t wait to get down there again. Someone had a video camera and someone else was taking still photos of the band. If I can get hold of any of that, I'll post them here.
Another quick 100 mile drive back to St. Louis and we were able to stop by a party at our friend Michael B.’s where we jammed into the early morning with a fresh set of old time pickers.
Then I finished it all off on Sunday morning with the Hot Baloney Boys, playing our regular set at the Hartford Coffee Co. I don’t know if it was getting some new tunes into our set or what, but we seemed to play extra well, had fun, and got all coffee’d up into the bargain.
Though exhausting, it couldn’t have been a better weekend.
Things started well with a jam session Saturday afternoon at the Folk School of St. Louis, where we played a ton of tunes that don’t normally get played there. But the students were game and most of them, even the real new kids, did their best to pick up the new tunes and hang in with the dance tempos that were being played. It was definitely one of the best sessions I’ve been to at the school in months.
Then it was a quick 100 mile jaunt down to play a dance in Cape Girardeau with the Mound City Slickers. We stopped and had dinner together – loading up on pasta and salad to make sure we had plenty of energy to play those long dance tunes! The band played great! The small, but enthusiastic crowd of dancers seemed to love the music and have a real big time. I can’t wait to get down there again. Someone had a video camera and someone else was taking still photos of the band. If I can get hold of any of that, I'll post them here.
Another quick 100 mile drive back to St. Louis and we were able to stop by a party at our friend Michael B.’s where we jammed into the early morning with a fresh set of old time pickers.
Then I finished it all off on Sunday morning with the Hot Baloney Boys, playing our regular set at the Hartford Coffee Co. I don’t know if it was getting some new tunes into our set or what, but we seemed to play extra well, had fun, and got all coffee’d up into the bargain.
Though exhausting, it couldn’t have been a better weekend.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
What I've Been Up To Lately (Fiddle-wise)
Mostly working on learning a few new tunes and getting back to some I used to play a lot, but haven't in a while. It's funny how a tune that I'll be so hot for for a while seems to fade away. I'll play it all the time and then pffft! Nothing. It's not that I don't like the tune anymore or anything like that. It just seems to go missing when I'm thinking about what to play next. Then months or years later, it'll resurface and I'll want to play it all the time again. The last week or so, I've been into
- Booth Shot Lincoln
- Cornbread, Molasses and Sassafrass Tea
- Jenny Ran Away in the Mud in the Night
I need to work on "Setauket" as well. It's a great tune and I about had the first part, but got distracted.
I'm still working on getting my bowing technique back after not playing for nearly a year (!) and am pretty pleased with how it's going. I still don't have as much rotation in my shoulder as I'd like, so reaching the G string is still an issue. Still a stretch every time I play. But, it's coming along and now that I've started using a shoulder rest and have somewhat adjusted how I hold the fiddle, I'm getting there.
This weekend I'll be traveling down to Cape Girardeau to play a contra dance with the Mound City Slickers. Should be a big time!
Friday, January 09, 2009
Another good session
Another great session at Bob’s last night. Only one fiddler in attendance, but also had banjo, two guitars, two mandolins, and one banjo uke (me!). There was some fine playing going on. I can't tell you how many times someone would throw in a different lick or subtly change a rhythm and hearing it would cause me to smile. Stand out tunes, for me anyway, were “Laughing Marj” -- which is rapidly becoming a favorite in the group-- “Setauket”, “Sheep Shell Corn”, “Walking in the Parlor”, and “Marmaduke’s”. We played through several other tunes, but I’m not calling them to mind this morning. Maybe after another cup or three of coffee.
These weekly sessions are certainly the highlight of my week. It occurred to me on the drive home, that I’m one of the luckiest guys around to have this opportunity every week.
Since finding the Folk School of St. Louis and making connections with, and getting more involved in the local old time music scene, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some of the finest, friendliest people around. There’s no other art, theater, or music community or scene that I’ve ever encountered that is as welcoming, supportive, and invested in everyone having a good time and doing well than the old time music community in St. Louis. And this seems to be the case as well with this music and those who play it throughout the country. Those few people I’ve met from other countries who play this music: David Crossley, Mike Fenton, Aki, a fellow from Sweden whose name I can’t remember – are also just terrific folks.
Thirty years ago I’d gotten tired of playing rock and country music, couldn’t find anyone who played the blues and southern rural music I wanted to play and had pretty much given up playing at all. If anyone had told me then how much fun I’d be having and what a blessing playing old time music and the friendships I’ve made through it would be, I wouldn’t have believed them. But here it is 2009 and it’s all true. Wow.
These weekly sessions are certainly the highlight of my week. It occurred to me on the drive home, that I’m one of the luckiest guys around to have this opportunity every week.
Since finding the Folk School of St. Louis and making connections with, and getting more involved in the local old time music scene, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some of the finest, friendliest people around. There’s no other art, theater, or music community or scene that I’ve ever encountered that is as welcoming, supportive, and invested in everyone having a good time and doing well than the old time music community in St. Louis. And this seems to be the case as well with this music and those who play it throughout the country. Those few people I’ve met from other countries who play this music: David Crossley, Mike Fenton, Aki, a fellow from Sweden whose name I can’t remember – are also just terrific folks.
Thirty years ago I’d gotten tired of playing rock and country music, couldn’t find anyone who played the blues and southern rural music I wanted to play and had pretty much given up playing at all. If anyone had told me then how much fun I’d be having and what a blessing playing old time music and the friendships I’ve made through it would be, I wouldn’t have believed them. But here it is 2009 and it’s all true. Wow.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Back from the Holidays
Well, it's been a glorious week and a half of loafing around, playing tunes, and getting a couple long-put-off household projects done - or at least started. The week between Christmas and New Years is always nice since I can take the time off from the day job. Now it's the Saturday before I have to go back to work and that deadline is looming large.
In other catching up type news, I've also found Facebook over the last few days. It's pretty neat. The connections between people is fascinating to watch. Through a friend here in St. Louis, I made a link to someone I hadn't seen in nearly 30 years. So, that's interesting.
Went to a jam at Bob's house last night, which was just about the best way I can think of to start 2009 out. Three fiddles, four banjos, one guitar, one mandolin, and one banjo uke. Quite a ruckus! Too many tunes were played to remember them all. It was great fun.
In other catching up type news, I've also found Facebook over the last few days. It's pretty neat. The connections between people is fascinating to watch. Through a friend here in St. Louis, I made a link to someone I hadn't seen in nearly 30 years. So, that's interesting.
Went to a jam at Bob's house last night, which was just about the best way I can think of to start 2009 out. Three fiddles, four banjos, one guitar, one mandolin, and one banjo uke. Quite a ruckus! Too many tunes were played to remember them all. It was great fun.
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