Mon, 08 Oct 2007
Auburn Bluegrass Festival Video
It started Friday night when I had to phone in to do a radio interview for KFBK, the biggest station in Sacramento. Saturday morning I did another interview for KAHI radio in Auburn.
After a bit of disorganization and panic we got the Pickin’ & Fiddlin’ contest going. I was surprised at the number and quality of contestants. We had a tough time judging the winners.
Then my band, The Sierra Swing Conspiracy had to go play to open the festival. The morning was cold and we had absolutely no time to warm up. I literally opened my case on stage, checked my tuning and started playing. And those kids in my band started playing SO DANG FAST! Ok, we were excited and I probably started it off too fast. But somehow, even with a few glitches, we pulled it off.
Here’s the whole set. We opened "COLD" with Red Haired Boy
Then David Grisman’s "E.M.D." Check out Ethan’s solo on this one! That dude is fast!
Followed by Grisman’s version of Django’s "Minor Swing"
I was happy about my solo on this one
All of Me. I have to say that I like my solo on this one too
Another Django tune, "Swing 48" This is one of my favorite tunes to play.
Here’s a bit of a change. "House of the Rising Sun" played Tony Rice bluegrass style
And finally, the tune that’s become our theme song: "Douce Ambiance"
As the set went on we were warming up and it was sounding better and better.
After a half hour set that felt like more like 5 minutes it was time for me to do my mandolin seminar. We had a pretty good turn out. As I was teaching a reporter from the Auburn Journal came by to talk to us and take some photos and we made the front page of the Sunday paper.
Somehow, I found time to sit back and relax while watching at least one band (Sidesaddle & Company). Then it was time to lead a jam session. It always seems that when I go to a bluegrass festival I end up playing rather than listening to bands.
As it was getting dark the pizza decision was made and we all headed out to Auburn Pizza for dinner. After stuffing ourselves with pizza and beer we were ready for more Jamming. One of the new things we tried this year was to set up jamming at 4 local venues (Restaurants, coffee shops, etc). Each venue had jamming lead by one of the bands from the festival. We hung out with Sidesaddle & Co.
As the night moved on folks were starting to fade out and we decided to pack it in. Sidesaddle & Co. were saving money by staying at the homes of some of the volunteers so we had Lisa, their bass player, Lee Anne, their fiddler and Rob, the banjo player at our house. When we got home I built a fire in the wood stove and we all sat around and chatted for a while before bed.
What a day. It was an amazing time but I’m also glad it only happens once a year.
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Sat, 08 Sep 2007
It looks like we’re going to be playing a coffee house gig on Sept 29th at Depoe Bay in Auburn from noon to 2.Then we just got booked to the Auburn Bluegrass Festival on October 6th
Yep, the “Sierra Swing Conspiracy” is starting to develop a following.
Here we are at a recent gig for the Auburn Art Walk
We have Ethan Lewis on Fiddle (Yes, he’s blurry in real life. He moves that fast)
Mandolin maniac Sean Scott Robinson
And myself on Breedlove guitars and mandolins
We’ve been playing a cross of Django Reinhardt gypsy jazz, David Grisman “Dawg” music, celtic, bluegrass, and Brasillian Chorro music.
I can’t wait to get a recording of us to post on my web page. It really a fun band to play with.
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Sat, 25 Aug 2007
Three of my students and I went over the basics of mandolin “Duo Style” where you play a tremelo on an upper string and then play a melody on the lower strings. Evan Marshall is probably the master of the Duo Style technique. I used Evan’s handouts form The Mandolin Symposium to teach each of my students.Evan is just an amazing mandolin player and is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. He’s also one of the best music teachers I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.
So for your enjoyment, I present to you, Evan Marshall:
And speaking of my students. Sean has been my best student and very good friend for several years now. At last we have online video of Sean playing and I’d like to share that with you.
Here he is, Sean Robinson:
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Sun, 22 Apr 2007
Yesterday I played in a bluegrass jam with a bunch of old and new friends. It was held in a little white church out in the woods and rolling hills of Lincoln. Everyone brought a side dish and our host cooked up hotdogs and hamburgers.As I looked around the room at a bunch of families sharing a pot luck lunch in the community church building as others played bluegrass music I thought "This is America right here. Family, friends, food and music"
As the Beatles once said: "A splendid time was had by all"
The other thing that made me want to blog about it was that one of the guys brought a great old Gretsch guitar and a Fender Twin amp. He had that classic Chet Atkins tone. That made me want to look up Chet on Youtube to see what they had on him and wouldn’t you know it, I found a film of Chet playing one of the tunes that "The Sierra Swing Conspiracy" play. Here’s Chet playing "Dark Eyes"
Speaking of "The Sierra Swing Conspiracy", we had another rehearsal on Friday and we included a new bass player. Alana (A.K.A. "Charlie the girl" ) stopped by with her standup acoustic bass and it really added a lot to the sound of the trio.
The SSC will be playing at Music and More on May 20th at 4:00 pm. We’ll be part of a teacher’s concert that’s being put on by vocal teacher Chris Bello. It’s a free concert and it should be a lot of fun. There are some seriously good teachers at M & M and it will be nice to hear them play.
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Mon, 02 Apr 2007
Here’s a few photos of the copmpleted cocobolo duclimer.
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