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
John
Roy
Zat
Croizat
Whatever
