All The Above - The Rick Jones/Joyce Sitzes Benefit

 Rick Jones (Banjo) with Foggy Hollow Bluegrass, 24 May 2014

 24 May 2014: Street, Maryland

     It was billed as a benefit for two members of the Maryland Bluegrass Family who lost everything in a bad fire, but I think it was actually a Fiddle Festival. No. Wait a minute. It was a Banjo Festival with some of the best banjo-players in Maryland. It wasn't actually that, either. It was a Bluegrass Festival with a whole day's worth of some of the best bands in Maryland. Yeah. It was actually a festival with the voices and musicianship of  Danny Paisley, Carroll Swam, Darlene Harris, Warren Blair,  Martha McEvoy, and wild-man Frankie Short. No, it really wasn't a festival it was a party. You have to sit in a chair at a festival and scream "Down in front!" to people. Here, you could dance, eat lots of great food (no funnel cakes, no cotton-candy) and move around and see all the friends you might miss at a festival. Rick Miller (Blue Train) summed it up best: "Wow! I get to see the bands I've missed because we're always playing somewhere."  We audience members hardly ever consider that. When you're working, you don't get to see other bands or player-friends in the business.

     On this day, it was a rare opportunity to catch up on old times, recount bluegrass lore and funny stories, and generally celebrate the existence of a wonderful sub-culture. I met some really great people for the first time, heard some bands for the first time, and enjoyed hearing the stories of people like Steve Sadler (Foggy Hollow Bluegrass) and Brian Eldreth (Northern Connection). There's always a 'sleeper' or two just like at a festival. You walk away amazed that you hadn't heard them before. Such is the case with Carroll Swam and Bluestone and Butch Arrowood and his relatively new group called Short Notise. They blew me away. It's different when you're not out to impress anyone. You want to do the best you can because it's all for a good cause and you want to look good, but the day is about having fun, playing with, and playing for friends, and smoking and joking with the Boys out back while you're warming up and waiting to go on. Out back and in front of the dance floor it was hot - literally and figuratively.

     The day warmed up and so did the bluegrass. Danny Paisley opened it up at 1:00 like an artillery barrage hitting the French trenches during World War I. Then in an emotional come-back, Rick Jones and Foggy Hollow played for the next hour, then Frankie Short and Northern Connection got the dance floor going. It never stopped till 10:00 pm and the Hall remained filled throughout the whole day of celebrating the music and fundraising for Rick and Joyce. All this when people had things to do and places to be on one of the busiest weekends of the year. I had to smile at it all. What a great sign of a healthy, vibrant music community. Darned near like a church of true-believers out to help someone in need. The Moveable Feast kept moving too. From up front to out back. How about this vision? John Glik and Mike Munford jamming out back. Mike Munford jamming with Carroll Swam and other guests. Warren Blair fiddling with T.J. Lundy and other fiddlers. One group would leave the hot Hall for some cool air outside and another group would take their place inside. You couldn't have purchased a ticket for this kind of music experience. And here's another fact: none of this happens in a vacuum.

     It takes people to make it happen. It takes bands that are willing to give of their time because that's what they want to do. Sara Shock and Darlene Harris began weeks ago to get the ball rolling, along with the strong cooperation of the the Darlington/Dublin VFW Post. It was a natural. The Post has a long tradition of supporting live music, especially traditional bluegrass. On this day, I was fortunate to meet Post Commander Chris Harkins and 'media director' Jennifer Hannah. Both were very cordial in answering my questions and stayed the course for the whole day of taking care of the guests. Doug Kriess worked his buns off too, providing and taking care of the sound system. Doug plays mandolin with Foggy Hollow Bluegrass, so on this Saturday he was a busy man indeed. Donny Hudson and Cathy Berry brought in most of the meat and the Post Ladies' Auxiliary provided hot dogs. Hank Snow (his real name!) ran the auction and generally played master-of-ceremonies for the music and numerous raffles and 50/50's. The give-away raffle centerpiece was a fiddle donated by Harry Shorter. There was a lot of interest in that item. There are a lot of people to thank for such a wonderful day,  but in the life of a bluegrass community the central focus is the music. Nothing would have happened without the presence of Danny Paisley, Foggy Hollow, Northern Connection, Fastest Grass Alive, Bluestone, Short Notise, and Blades of Grass. There to have a good time and donate their time was John Glick, Harold Tipton, Mike Munford, Rick Miller, Harry Shorter, and I'm sure I'm going to leave out some names in this list of luminaries. Thanks to them all, and thanks to all who donated their, time, talent, and money for such a worthy cause.

     It was all the above - Festival, Party, Gathering, Family Reunion, Little Church, a unique opportunity for the Maryland Bluegrass Community to share the gifts.

 

 

    

Back to Basics

 The Martin Brothers & Aspen Run at Goofy's in Spring Grove, Pa.

11 May 2014:  Spring Grove, Pennsylvania.

     I am in no way, shape, or form,  in, or connected to, the music business. But lots of people send me videos, Youtube selections, and even CD's from time to time in the hope that I'll take a look or a listen. I've been in a funk lately. I felt like I was drifting away from my first choice for listening and entertainment pleasure - hardcore bluegrass. Odd, but I think the slight depression started a few months ago when somebody forwarded a video to me of some young people beating on some wooden crates. They called themselves a bluegrass band, but when you went on their website the description of their "style" said it all: "A bit of bluegrass. A bit of blues. A little Rock!" Uh Oh. Americana, folks! Here it comes. In other words, we'll play anything to get a real gig. We'll even beat on wooden crates, because we saw other bands do that and it sounded so cool at the last 'open mic.' I've seen any number of faceless young groups now who are beating on wooden crates. Another un-original gimmick is gaining with the copy-cats:  go onstage barefoot, and then call yourselves the "Barefoot Something-or-others" or "The Shoeless Consortium" or the "Barefoot Barn Pickers." This is so the audience can exclaim in great surprise and excitement "Oh! I get it! They're NOT WEARING SHOES!"

     Yeah. They're just gimmicks. Gimmicks don't get you very far where I'm headed. I missed the annual opening of Goofy's Eatery and Spirits by a week. Warm spring and summer Sundays once again in the open air pavilion behind the main restaurant. I missed the first week but that's OK. The Martin Brothers & Aspen Run are playing and you never know what's going to happen when they show up at Goofy's. The weather is perfect. The late-day lighting is perfect for photography. The overflow audience is perfect. Lots of old friends and Harley's. Real stupid not to wear footgear around here with all that hot metal, heavy horse shoes flying through the air, and all that heavy stomping on Whitey Runkle's new dance floor. The new dance floor had just been installed this winter. Your gimmicks won't get you very far, either. You are either a musician and an entertainer or you are not. The audience will let you know by the amount of applause and whether you have the authenticity to fill up the dance floor. This is true on both Saturday and Sunday at Goofy's. Saturday nights are reserved for real country music. Sunday afternoons are special with a 4:00 start for the traditional bluegrass. On this particular Sunday, it was warm and sunny and packed with patrons who enjoyed the volleyball, horse shoes, dancing, and of course sitting around and talking about motorcycles. The only reason I ever showed up at Goofy's was because some time ago Herb Martin told me "they had real music at Goofy's." I took a chance. I got hooked. If somebody in the bluegrass community tells me they have real music somewhere, well, that's good enough for me. If some punk kid shows up on stage barefooted or is beating a wooden crate and tells me I should check out the music at some joint, I more than likely will dismiss anything coming out of his mouth as being worthless. He's into copying somebody else. He probably thinks all music at an 'open mic' is Americana. But I go to Goofy's because I know Whitey Runkle would never allow that to happen on his stage. Whitey knows his audience is too savvy to allow it.

     A few years ago I sought out Whitey's Road House (that's basically what it is,) because I had run into one of the most basic, traditional, bluegrass bands I had experienced up to that point. The Martin Brothers & Aspen Run were regulars at Whitey's place and still are. They still generally open and close Goofy's Eatery and Spirits bluegrass season. They draw a big crowd that likes to have fun. Whitey can rely on a good day of beer and food sales and make no mistake about it, a popular band can guarantee you a day of good sales. Whitey understands the equation, and most bluegrass fans who hang out there are grateful that Whitey keeps providing the kind of entertainment that's expected - hardcore country, classic rock and roll, and traditional bluegrass. Herb Martin, father to all the Martin boys, and acting general manager to the band suggested I experience the band one Sunday afternoon and that started my connection to the place. To say the place is a bit off the beaten-track is an understatement. You have to traverse some 25 or 30 miles of rolling and hilly Pennsylvania countryside to get there. Then you discover a real road house surrounded by motorcycles, picnic benches, and an out-door pavilion where the entertainment happens. You can leave your urban snobbery on one of the picnic tables near the volley-ball court. You soon discover that life has sort of been frozen in time here. The people are actually nice to you and the only requirement is to answer "Yes" if anyone asks you whether you like bluegrass. The place started jumping once The Martin Brothers and Aspen Run got into their trade-mark Jimmy Martin covers. They're not the best bluegrass band I've ever heard but I admire what this band can do with an audience and they have a solid following in Maryland and in this area of Pennsylvania.

     That was a few years ago. This winter (yeah, I know, it was a long one!) I sort of went off the deep end and tried to shake up my bluegrass routine. I even went out and enjoyed some classic country. Connie thought I should be seeing a psychiatrist. When I feel like I need a shake-up, I always go back to listen to the Martin Brothers. Why? because they're basic. They epitomize for me what bluegrass is all about. But the winter months were long and even the Martin Brothers were sounding off - just not quite there. Sloppy entrances and endings. Forgotten lyrics and chord structures. More mistakes than normal. I could always look forward to seeing them again at Goofy's when the weather got better.

     I knew I was in for a treat. I knew everything would work out because it felt like old home week and the weather was marvelous. Old and new friends said hello as I ambled into Goofy's. Amazing what can happen with a depressed attitude when you get a shot of the basics of bluegrass into your system. The place was packed on a beautiful weekend. Whitey was in his glory greeting old friends and regular customers. Lots of families and kids and people having fun on the dance floor. The music was perfection. Every song delivered with the kind of energy you can expect in a Martin Brothers performance. There's a dynamic that happens to this place when the Martin Brothers perform here, and it's a reciprocal agreement between band and audience. I like to call it basic entertainment. When everything seems to be working as it should. No need for gimmicks or flash or grand-standing. Raw, traditional bluegrass. Basic.

  Whitey Runkle (right) greets customers at Goofy's Eatery and Spirits