HAPPY HALOWEEN

While I wait for my instant kharma refund....

... and my peace dividend, here are some Texas Sheiks to while away the blues.

Santa Barbara Old Time Fiddlers Convention

Got to see Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum Sunday at the SB Old Time Fiddlers Convention. Very cool!

It's still going on!

http://www.topangabanjofiddle.org/history.html

Imagine .....

Saturday would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday.  Not sure how much he would have appreciated the use of his name and drawings to sell guitars, but the folks at Gibson here in Montana are surely happy.

Bill Cunningham

We just talked to Bill in Ashville, NC........Maybe, just maybe he'll be coming to our next Reunion.....Yeah!

Iris & Emmlou "Our Town"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HELEN!

And many more!

Happy Birthday Helen

Another Birthday up in flames!

Ok. Here's the deal

My friend, Misisipi Mike Wolf (he's from Biloxi, and can spell it any way
he wants), is putting together a Shel Silverstein tribute for the 24th, at
a local club. The band will be him, me, and my bassist, pedal steel guy, and drummer from
Gayle's band. Essentially, it's Misispi Mike and the Hired Hands, And each of a bunch of our friends from the Bay Area alt
country scene will take a shot covering their favorite recordings of Shel
songs. And the songlist gives an amazing picture of Shel's scope
as a writer. Here's what we've got so far:

Boy Named Sue (Cash, of course) - Stephen Grillos from Hang Jones
The Unicorn (Irish Rovers) - Gayle Lynn
In the Hills of Shiloh (Judy Collins) - Bhi Bhiman
Cover of the Rolling Stone (Hook) - Mike and Cree from Misisipi Rider
Queen of the Silver Dollar (Buck Owens) Maurice Tani from 77 El Deora
Stoned and I Missed it (Hook) - Cree Rider
One's On The Way (Loretta Lynn) - Gayle Lynn
Freakers' Ball (Hook) - Me and Cree
Couple More Years (Willie Nelson) - Mike Wolf
Ballad of Lucy Jordan (Marianne Faithful) - Denise Funari of Yard Sale
Marie Lavaux (Bobby Bare) - don't know the singer yet
True Love - Me doing the version I put together 40 years ago.
Michaelangelo (Hook) - Me
Jennifer Johnson and Me - (Robert Earl Keen) - Paul Oguin

We had a rehearsal of just the band last Tuesday and it was way more fun than it was work.
Next Tuesday we schedule in the singers, a couple at at time, due to space limitations, and firm the thing up, and we unleash the thing on Saturday. I have homework to do. Pray for us.

This just in from Tom:

I think this video has some connection to Hoyt Axton, but I'm not sure. Tom will need to explain all once he's officially in.  For some reason, I can't get the video to load, so in the meantime here's a link:

http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=96998f5c5f04f3cdaf63

Welcome Tom!

I will now go sit in a corner and write; " I will not try to fix things that aren't broken" 500 times!

Huh?

The Adey Brothers

City Blues Band

Another Paradox connection:

http://www.60sgaragebands.com/citybluesband.html

Also for Bob and Helen

The Blue Marauders

Out of the mist they come
on wings of Ice blue fire and steel
crested helmets gleaming in the first rays of dawn

Screeching searching seeking
the unsuspecting regiment
still lying in the trenches
in deep morning slumber

The attack comes swift now
nowhere to run

nowhere to hide

And in the end leaving a landscape
littered with the spoils of war

Only shells remain of the
gallant soldiers that once were

And once again an uneasy stillness
creeps over the land
and all is quiet on Little Walden Pond

For now

What happened to our cheerful green site?

For Bob and Helen

New Addition to the family

I've been in music retail for almost 20 years now, and I'm pretty much immune to gear lust. I really do limit buys to what I need professionally, and I quit collecting guitars when I retired from rockstardom... In fact, about 10 years ago, I got real about what I play, and what I'm just keeping around because it's cool, and I sold off most of them. But, about three months ago, Martin shipped us this OM-28V for store stock, and I couldn't believe how good it sounded. And on closer inspection, I could see that it had an Adirondack spruce top, which Martin usually charges you an extra $650 for. So we had this $4000 guitar that we could sell for $3300. And I tried to sell it. I really did. I put it in the lap of every serious player that came in. But, while everybody oohed and aahed over it, nobody bought it.

After a month of that, and after playing the thing so much myself that I'd had to restring it twice, I said what the hell and made plans to sell off almost everything else I had that was worth playing (keeping the Taylor for stagework, of course). And on the day I applied for Social Security, I went back to the store and asked Alan, my friend and boss, if I could buy it, and he gave me the greenlight. That meant that I could buy the finest Martin to come through Bananas in 15 years, and he wouldn't make any money on it. Folks, this is the nicest guitar I've ever owned. Period. I get up in the morning, and I can't wait to play.