Everybody knows this guy

Guy Incognito...



AKA Miguel Sanchez...
AKA Vassar Clemens, Jr...
AKA Ralph...

Who are the players?

Taking the scene by storm is one-man bluegrass jukebox, Kendall Weddle, leader of Bar - B and the Ken-dalls.

Who are the players?

Dale is our resident Outlaw Country singer. He's our man in black.

Who are the players?

Somebody told me they didn't know all our regular jammers by name. I know it's true because I'm frequently called Dale - and that's not my name. So I thought I'd use the old bloggy blog to help out. These semi-public figures will be identified by first names only, to keep the law of their tails.

The first one here is known to some as Jason. He traded his goalie mask for a banjo.

Oh, I love those hills of old Virginia.......

Made it back from Myrtle Beach. While, those "Myrtle Beach days, have some fun in the waves" is nice, it sure is good to be home. Had a shag or two and saw a couple of really good musicians. I blogged a little about the house band at an outdoor bar earlier. On Friday night, I went to "Crocodile Rock" at Broadway on the beach. This is a bar with dueling pianos. They had 4 guys who rotated by twos on the hour. They took requests from the patrons and played everything from the blues, to beach music, country music, southern rock, classic rock, and even some U2 and Prince. They were awesome! I'm still amazed at how folks like that can remember lyrics, and also just pick a tune out of the air. That is one place I would recommend for anybody visiting MB. I'll go back again next time I'm there!!

I'll be a little late, but will be at the jam tomorrow. Can't wait to get my feet wet again, and probably have some sore fingers!

Calling all musicians

August 2nd, we have Shed number 2 reserved all day.
I'm envisioning a cross between the Side Door and our Coffee Mill Picker's Picnic. (We haven't done the picnic in a year or two.)

I figure we'll set up the PA and have some sets by locals a la the Side Door, and intervening jamming by the jammers, interruped occasionally by eating, frisbee-ing, and maybe even some tubing. When we know who's gonna probably come, we'll know went to start and end, and how many burgers to buy.

I'd like to get a head count of who's around, who wants to play, who wants to help, etc.

ping me at chris.burgoyne@gmail.com.

Of course this conflicts with other scheduled events, and if you're planning to go to one of them, go in peace and have fun. There's no weekend in the summer that doesn't conflict with something. I just want to know who might be into it.

Thanks!

Medeski, Martin, and Wood

Coming to the Jeff Center, July 12th.
Get your funk on!

A wild one at the Mill

Here's a pic from the Side Door.

Yo yo yo! We're back at the Mill for the first official jam of Summer. Lots of stuff , folks, and weird omens! We had a good crowd, but we had to fill the big whole left where Wayne usually sits. Sound-wise guitar players had to pick up a lot of slack, and Chris struggled mightily to make up some of those harmonies. Ralph ended up breaking his fiddle, but thank goodness Richard was there to fill in. He's ready for the big time. (No more excuses, Richard--you gotta be there every week, sawing away. Or else, I'm serious.)

Dick ended up with a drink spilled on his shirt. A big jam got going outside. Chris owes a young lady a pick. Scott Patrick came late. Slash brought his new bass, but it never came inside. Jerry passed around some real good pix of the Side Door from Saturday night.

Mister George, and a fine dobro player from Shawsville added some fine touches. A good and non-typical typical Monday night at the Coffee Mill.

See ya next week Wayne! (PS -Teach me Matterhorn, willya?)

Yo! Summer is officially kicked off!

The Side Door was cookin' again last night. I may write more in greater detail later, but once again, I put my trust in the musicians and they came through for us all.

We had Jim Kern and Jeff Wynne making a repeat visit to the Side Door, but this time they were augmented by Jennifer McClellan, a fine singer. They played a groovy set that included John Prine and Fleetwood Mac. I'm continually amazed at the welcoming spirit of the Side Door crowd. They're supportive, respectful, and enthusiastic - they make the show every time.
Andrea Marshall brought her band "Ironic Dixie" featuring Jim Hockett on the mando and Joyce Gollogly on the bass. Those guys could really sing, and for a trio, they really had a full sound. (Jim jumped in Dale's regular songlist with the Wagon Wheel, but whatcha gonna do? It's a hit.)
Then we got another first to the SD stage, Free Range Possums, featuring the Steele family and their friends. Their friends included our friend Fritz and banjo player Bob from Blacksburg. He had a funky black banjo that was way cool. They showed us they meant business from the first tune--Bill Monroe's Scotland. I was won over right there, but fiddlin' Bailey Steele has some primo chops and is sure to scare some folks in Galax this year.

We took a little break and went on with the long-awaited appearance on the SD stage of Kendall Weddle. Kendall's been wowing us at the Radford and Christiansburg jams for a while now, but he got a band together for last night and let our audience in on the secret. The guy is a bluegrass machine, and as he says in his new hit song, he's got "Bluegrass in his soul." Kendall, his fine tenor singing pal Kelvin, and Jason Wheeler are the core of the band, and were helped out by Chris, Ralph, and Mr. Slash on the bass. (Y'all are lucky that Slash was there because Doug Capobianco went down with some kind of bug, and Chris was gonna have to sit in on bass. Could've been a little jerky rhythm-wise. Hope Doug is on the mend.) Kendall is the real deal. He sings bluegrass as good as anybody that ever did it.

Dale brought the night home with a typically raucus set. I got the paper plate setlist for a souvenir. I liked his Love, Please Come a whole lot.

Then we got down on it at your now-usual afterhours jam. Thanks to Timmy and Scott for showing up after all the scheduled music to make the jam. With players like them helping out, the whole night becomes 2 for 1.

Many super thanks to Ralph for helping on and off-stage.

Thanks again to everybody who helped out--especially y'all who helped out by coming to sit in the audience, have cookie, have a drink, and hoot-n-holler for our musicians. Last night was a blast.

Next scheduled event is August 2, down in Shed #2 in Bissett Park. Miss at your own risk.


Notes: We made it without Doug OR Wayne. Those guys do a lot for us, and without 'em I was kind of scared, but we pulled together, plugged the gaps, and put on a great show.

The sound turned out to be our friend last night. Anybody who ever put on a music show knows the sound system can be a temperamental thing, but last night out rig made everyone sound good, and we had no noteworthy feedback. Considering we were sound checking for the first time with some of the groups at 7:15, it was a great relief at 7:20 and thereafter that the sound was good. I listened to our tapes today and they are some of our best ever.

Finally, a big welcome back to Jam-pals Christian and Kimberly Hearn. They got the bluegrass fever strong enough they had to move from down-east up to the mountains of Blacksburg. Look for them and their impending offspring to participate in jams for years to come.

What can I say, people? I feel good. These shows are coming off way better than I ever hoped. We're trying to make them better always, but there's a lot of energy here for music and I'm glad it's channeling through the Side Door.

Solstice Side Door Saturday Night

Side Door 6 - June 21st!
Get your Solstice on! The Side Door Sessions will ride again on Saturday.
We've got a bunch of new acts and some old favorites, including:

Andrea Marshall
Jim Kern
The Free Range Possums (a.k.a. the Steele family, and if reports are correct, our old pal Fritz sitting in)
Dale Cash and Friends
Kendal Weddle's Bluegrass Band

As always, there'll be jammin' galore after the scheduled acts.

$5 gets you music and all the coffee you can drink, and snacks till they're gone.

The Side Door is at the corner of Grove and Third, up on the 2nd Floor.
Email Chris at chris.burgoyne@gmail.com if you have any questions.

For Father's Day...

Duh..
Father of Bluegrass!

Side Door 6 - June 21st!

Get your Solstice on! The Side Door Sessions will ride again on June 21st.
We've got a bunch of new acts and some old favorites, including:

Andrea Marshall
Jim Kern
The Free Range Possums (a.k.a. the Steele family, and if reports are correct, our old Pal Fritz sitting in)
Dale Cash and Friends
Kendal Weddle's Bluegrass Band

As always, there'll be jammin' galore after the scheduled acts.

$5 gets you music and all the coffee you can drink, and snacks till they're gone.

The Side Door is at the corner of Grove and Third, up on the 2nd Floor.
Email me at chris.burgoyne@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Anybody out there?

Hey y'all! We're happy to be back in the NRV. I love travlin' but we're from Virginia now, and it's good to be home. Being back at the jam was very important to me, so thanks for savin' me a seat. I was pleasantly surprised to learn the identities of three distinct individuals who said they had been reading the blog and following the threads. Anonymity is what it's all about online, but hey, leave a comment! Join the group!

I know I missed some pickin' while I was away, but I aim to catch up.

You're all invited to the 4th of July gig on Hercules street before and after the Java Brothers' big show in Bissett Park at 5:00PM.

Music! Here's another big act besides the JB's playing around this summer:

Fiddles, banjos and ... cellos? Oh my!

The Radford Fiddle and Banjo Jam eased out of the station last night at a relaxed crawl, perhaps in hopes of conserving precious fuel during these dire times. Around 8 p.m., though, we floored it. The crowd got bigger, the musicians played faster (and faster and faster) until we reached cruising speed.
We were pert-near overjoyed to welcome home the globe-trotting Chris Burgoyne family. Chris hasn't lost a step on the 8-string. Glad to have y'all back, Chris, Christine and Isabella!
Susan Gaskins pinch-hit on the bass while Doug sipped a Cappucino-Bianco. Bass players were thick as thieves -- Slash and Chris thumped away outdoors until a storm blew in and chased folks inside. Tim and Scott picked a little on the sidewalk while it was still dry.
Several guests popped in: Tom Steele and his sweet-fiddlin' daughter Bailey regaled us with their musical stylings. Wayne and Joe's old pal John Pierce arrived with his daughter, too, Hannah, the best bluegrass cellist ever to perform at the jam! They say they'll all be back.
Wayne, Joe, Jason, Nancy, Kendall ... who else, who'm I missing? ... all threw down at the hoedown. Another good night in the books.

Tinikling

Little Bird Dance. This is a Filipino folk dance that we saw a group do on the Loboc River. Basically, if you're not fleet-footed like a little Tinikling bird, you'll get chopped by the bamboo poles. We're bluegrassers, we respect a little danger in our music.

Here's a more professional group doing a very involved routine.

More Duke...Django style

Rosenberg Trio.
It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got That Swing)



True today as it was then.
As Wayne says, "FCP."

Back in the USSA

Hey y'all, we're back and in all complete sets. We lost no luggage, were victims of no crime, and caught no disease. Had good, fun times. Travel is good.

Actually, we came back with more luggage than when we left with--what's up with that?
We humped it from JFK into our buddy's place up in the Bronx. We took the A Train up to Harlem, and then the D past Yankee Stadium. Saw a guy playing latin beats on plastic tubs near the subway, and rode over to see Duke Ellington's grave. Miles Davis is right next to him. Beautful up in the cemetary--feels like your out in Connecticut. Got some real pizza in the Italian section. (Of the Bronx, not the cemetary.) Good times.

Maybe the JBs can get on this one. Doesn't have too many chords.
Take the A Train:


Anyhoo, we're back in PA now and heading to VA tomorrow. Maybe we can do some pickin' this weekend? I'm jonesin' for a Salt Creek or three.

Love me some Brubek and he loved him some Duke. (Wayne--check out Joe Morello; one of my fave drummers.)

CB

Jammin at the Mill

We had a really good jam tonight. Had a nice crowd listening and a good group playing. Let's see, we had myself, Joe, Doug, Nancy, Mary, Frankie, Kendal, and Doug Dalton on the inside. Jason, Dale, Sloane and Slash manned the sidewalk out front. A new fellow showed up and played some banjo and a little mandolin. Finally, Alan Surface, who I met through Joe showed up and relieved me on the mandolin on the inside. He's a mighty good player, too. Timmy Mills came in later and played one or two. Lewis' sister rounded out the group, playing a few on her electrophonic autoharp, and she even danced a little, too.

Everybody took a turn or two making the selections and we kept it going til a little past 10p. It really was a good time.

Ralph, I don't see how Alison and Plant could have been much better. I'm really upset with her straying too far off the path with this one. I've got the CD, and listening hasn't really changed my mind. Hope you had a good time anyway! Chris is supposed to be back in town this week, so we expect some fancy playing out of him next Monday. Only problem may be he has to get the finger tips back in shape, unless he did some playing in the far east. (Not VA beach mind you, but the real far east.)

Anyway, just wanted to post something to let everyone that was absent know how it went.