Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen - The New Release

Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen went public this week with the release of "Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen." It's worth adding to your collection. Frank's been making a lot of waves since departing from Country Current and for good reason. The vocals and musicianship are right up there with the best of them. The new CD is available through all the usual downloadable outlets.
It's a great product, but still doesn't beat seeing Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen in a live performance.

Darren Beachley and the Legends of the Potomac - Round Three

Wonders of wonders for any bluegrass fan. We've got the world of First-Rate bluegrass talent at our fingertips right here in the Potomac region and even more so with the announcement that Darren Beachley and the Legends of the Potomac will definitely be performing again in Brunswick, Maryland in November. Thank you, Jill Hossler. Thank you, Darren Beachley. The Lucketts Bluegrass Foundation has posted its performance schedule for 2010/2011 and it's one of the best schedules I've seen in years. Now Jill Hossler and her army of booster moms and dads from Brunswick High School have added another big incentive to travel up the river and toward the mountains to enjoy bluegrass. The northern Virginia triangle converging into Maryland and West Virginia is becoming quite the unique gathering place for those seeking truly authentic mountain music. The quiet and unassuming folks in Brunswick take it all in stride. They're just happy that people are discovering there is more to Brunswick than the train station and the commuter parking lot.
This summer, July 10th to be exact, witnessed the Second Annual Benefit Concert for the Brunswick Junior Baseball League. Headlining it for a second year was Darren Beachley and the Legends of the Potomac with special guests Bill Yates and the Country Gentlemen Tribute Band. Last year's guest appearance included Kenny Ray Horton, of the U.S. Navy Band group "Country Current." Kenny's popularity has grown considerably (especially here in the proximity of Washington, D.C.) but his Navy duty called him elsewhere. Bill Yates stepped in this year. What can I say? The show was wild and it was an additional opportunity to experience another one of bluegrass music's living legends. Now we enter 'Round Three' in November with the inclusion of the Dry Branch Fire Squad - another group with legendary beginnings. I can see where Darren is going with this, but he's always had the ability to surround himself - and be very appreciate of - the best bluegrass musicians in the business. We the audience members are the eventual winners. The first time I met Jill Hossler we had a most wonderful conversation and I joked that I hoped she was ready to accept the fact that she had created a monster in Brunswick. But it was a wonderful monster to have been created along the banks of the Potomac. The downside of civic volunteerism is that one big success just leads to the demand for more successes. So it was with Year One and Year Two. I wasn't surprised when during the second year concert in July, the buzz was already starting for a Third Event. And then the e-mail arrived this morning announcing the "Brunswick Roundhouse Concerts." There's evolution going on here - first class entertainment possibilities in sleepy, little Brunswick along side the Potomac. I sense that something really positive is afoot here, within easy driving distance, and the low ticket price for this level of entertainment is mind-boggling.

Darren Beachley and the Legends of the Potomac and Dry Branch Fire Squad

21 November 2010 from 3:00 to 6:00. A Benefit of the Brunswick High School Athletic Boosters. Information on tickets, price, etc., will be forthcoming in later postings.

Hot Announcement from Brunswick

You Read It Here First: I just received word from Jill Hossler up in Brunswick, Maryland that Darren Beachley and the Legends of the Potomac have agreed to appear in another benefit concert at Brunswick High School on 21 November, 2010 at 3:00. The program includes the Dry Branch Fire Squad. This program will be the first in a series of events (still in the planning stages) that will be staged as the Brunswick Roundhouse Concerts. A January show is in the works and also future shows in the winter/ spring time-frame. All of this culminated from the popularity of the previous performances Darren Beachley provided to raise funds for the Brunswick Junior Baseball League. The previous two events were momentous, to say the least, in the amount of First-Class name recognition that Darren was able to bring to the previous shows and you can expect that he'll do the same for these future performances. Get ready for a good time - and don't be surprised at who could show up at any one of these performances.
Jill noted that the future shows will be for the benefit of the various booster groups that support Brunswick High School. Right now, Darren Beachley and the Legends of the Potomac are the best ambassadors Brunswick, Maryland has. Visit Brunswick - it's a kick!

Facing the Loss of Innocence

     I got a little feisty the other day on Facebook with a younger person who didn't deserve my preaching on a subject dear to my heart. I apologize to that person. Ranting has become so rantingly rampant today and I vowed I wouldn't lower myself to the Rube level of the majority of what I see in blogs and on Facebook. You can only take so much of the  'F'  word until it's time to leave the scene. What's happened to civility in our society? What's happened to what the society of the 18th century called 'True Wit.?' What's happened to what our parents taught us as 'simple manners' in dealing with other people? I got testy upon a certain subject and overstepped my bounds. We veterans used to sit around and joke about such things;  how we would answer the age-old question of "what did you do in the war, daddy?" if it were ever posed to us when we reached the shores of home.
     It's an old question. One that I grew up with, because the majority of parents of my generation (including just about every male in my father's family) served during The Big One. Me and every other kid in my neighborhood traded important information about what our fathers did - or did not do - during The Big One. There was the inevitable progression of following in a father's footsteps. So it was no coincidence that most of  the men in my company of Marines came from families that had served heavily in World War II - and now it was a new war with a new generation, and as Senator James Webb has pointed out in a lot of his writing, it seems the same set of characters keeps feeding into the American military institution and the wars, conflicts, and police actions that ensue when the bell rings, and American military might is brought to the fore.
Caution: Some of the same set of characters. I like to think that the "question" had it's origin after the American Civil War when for a Hundred Dollars you could buy your way out of getting on a train that's headed for Vicksburg. There was no regret these future family men had to face unless little Sonny Jim asked him the inevitable question. Someone else can go, I'm not, and here's some money to grease the skids.
Mary Kearney set it all straight for me one day down at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Mary, originally from Scotland, is married to a Vietnam Veteran. We got into a discussion about one of the darker issues of the Vietnam War - Draft Dodging. If you're a Vietnam Veteran, especially one that got caught up in the net of the Draft during that era, a visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is enough to put you right back into a time and place you would rather forget. Mary continued on the straight edge: "For every name on that wall, for every 58,000-and-some, there is someone who made a choice not to go, and I would want them to come down here and try to identify who went in their place - I want them to ask themselves - Do you know the man who took your place?"
     We don't know why people are drawn to one of the most visited memorials in Washington, D.C. Most of the reasons are deeply private. If you're somebody who has no direct connections to any of the names I hope you'll pick one, honor it, and take it home with you and never forget it. That will give you a good reason for visiting the Memorial.

The Lyric Chorus of San Francisco in Performance

Another favorite group of mine - for the best in choral music if you're in the Bay Area around these dates. Check out the website and Facebook notices for this and future concerts. No disappointment here - this group is top-notch, A-1, Right On. www.sflc.org

Leading the Good Life in Carson, Virginia - On Peanuts

Lawrence Coleman, 24 May 2010, in Carson, Virginia - The Peanut Capital

Virginia IS peanuts . .and beautiful scenery, pretty horses, and pleasant off-the-beaten track by-ways. We've got it all within a day's drive - from the mountains to the sea. I can't imagine life without Virginia peanuts which leads me to my next story, how I met Larry Coleman, the Peanut King of Carson, Virginia.

24 May 2010: We were on our way home from an extended weekend in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Already South Carolina was experiencing the heat of early summer and we were happy to be getting back to Virginia. You have to start down-shifting as soon as you hit the North Carolina/Virginia border or else get a speeding ticket in Virginia as the speed limit makes an abrupt change from 70 mph to 65 mph. The cops are waiting for you just past the Virginia Welcome Center - Welcome to Virginia. I had to smile when I actually saw a trucker being pulled over - now that's a rarity - like seeing the last Passenger Pigeon being served up in a restaurant. I have a ritual at Exit 37. I discovered some time ago that Carson, Virginia is the halfway mark between the Washington, D.C. metro area and Raleigh, North Carolina, so it's a natural exit to fill my coffee mug and get gas. There are two gas stations. One's a BP and the other's a Sunoco. The people who run the Sunoco seem friendlier, so a long time ago that was my choice to break up the ride down to Raleigh. The first time I ever stopped there I saw a big peanut display and decided to take some peanuts home with me. That's where Coleman Peanuts comes into this and like I say, it became a ritual every time I headed south on infamous I-95. Friends back home kept asking me, "Hey Ed - when are you going to get more of those peanuts?" I would tell them to check out Coleman's website and order their own. Coleman's has a great website.

Not much goes on in Carson, Virginia. One of those off-the-beaten track places lost in time in our great state. But it's heralded for its peanut crop. Enter Lawrence Coleman who took over the family business in 1976 and had the dream of moving it forward. A simple business philosophy: we're going to offer the best peanuts available and the demand will follow. I always wondered who this guy was and what it takes to dedicate your life to growing, harvesting, and roasting up peanuts.

We gassed up, stretched our legs and looked around the station at Carson. We were almost home after a long drive up from Myrtle Beach. I drifted toward the Peanut Display. I loaded up my arms with all my favorite combinations of peanuts - salted and unsalted, peanut candy ("made the old-fashioned way") - there were only a few differences in the presentation of Larry Coleman's peanuts. I carried the load to the counter and noticed a rather dapper-looking guy exchanging chit-chat with the lady at the register. He looked at me and said, "You're buying a lot of peanuts." I gave him the once-over and then gave him a lecture on how good the peanuts are and how he should take some home with him. "I don't have to," he said, "I grew them!" I was talking to the man himself - in the very presence of the Peanut King. I thought it would end there but then we got into this interesting conversation about the peanut industry in Virginia, life in Carson, what a struggle it is to build up a business based on - peanuts.

I thanked him for the interesting conversation and asked to get his picture taken with me and the Raccoon. While we were finishing up, one of the locals walked by and made the comment, "Hey Mr. Coleman . . .You should sell tee shirts with your name and picture!" Not a bad idea, I thought to myself. I'd buy one and wear it with pride. Every little bit counts to bring money into our state during these stale economic times. Good on Ya, Larry!