Wednesday, November 4, 2015

November 2015

November and recovery from the October FARWest conference has been going well.  It was four days of musical bliss and little sleep, and three weeks later I am still buzzing and have so much music to tell you about !!   

Things started on Wednesday, October 14th with a showcase at the Freight & Salvage, where over twenty-five FARWest attendees each presented a song.   So much talent and variety, ranging from traditional folk music like Bay Area SEA, to powerhouse vocalist Kristin Shey visiting from Germany.   Thursday night's concert featured artists nominated by five different California venues, including newcomer Jody Mulgrew and veterans Cascada De Flores.   The music at FARWest goes into the way wee hours, and later that evening I had the pleasure of hosting Jody and his fiddler friend, John Nowel, in my hotel showcase room.   And a whole bunch of others!!

So much wonderful music over the rest of that week and weekend, how do I choose what to share with you ?!   I'll try.   If you don't know him already, listen to Severin Brown.   A couple of official showcase winners for you:  Jalan Crossland and  Berkeley Hart.  And additional discoveries from my own showcase room:  Mark & Cindy Lemaire, Ynana Rose, and for something completely different, Grego Dana !!  

And if all that weren't enough, I won the grand raffle prize, a beautiful F style mandolin by M. David McClaskey.   Wow !!   Guess I'll be looking up Sharon Gilchrist for some lessons.

This weekend, I am playing a kids party on Saturday with Michael Hanna; and on Sunday, he and I will be joined by Dennis Calloway at the Kensington Market.   The Kensington Market is such a fun place to play with quality produce, tasty prepared foods, and lots of chairs to sit and picnic while we play our hearts out for you.

Saving the best for last, amazing fiddler Darol Anger is coming to town this weekend, in Berkeley on Saturday and San Rafael on Sunday.   Don't miss him !!  

That's the news.  Hope you have your crops in for the winter, and that your coming Thanksgiving gatherings are joyous.   I'll be heading to Washington DC for pumpkin pie with my grandson and his parents.   Yummm !!

John
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