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!