I just got a call that a good friend of passed last night in his sleep.
I met Steve through the Bluegrass Association in Aberdeen, and he, I and a couple of others formed ‘The Backyard Boys’, more for fun than anything else. A great stand-up bass player, and very accomplished piano player and all-around fun guy was Steve.
He will be missed.
I’ll post an obituary when one comes available.
So my wife makes me go to a Scottish festival today (April 22nd). I really do not want to go. She says it is free, only to get stopped by the people who are in charge of parking to ask for $12 a person. I was not happy. Anyhow, the bagpipes were pretty cool but what was interesting was they had a Celtic group there. The vocals were unique and very intriguing. The fidldle playing was very good as well.
I am not mr. culture by no means, but I found the music pretty neat. Something that could be listened to during melow moments. Anyone else ever listen to that music?
Oh by the way, the festival was a bust, not much going on. It was a ripoff for $12 a person
Bleeder
A friend of mine called me the other day and said that this company (Hohner – more known for harmonicas and accordions) was entering the fiddle and guitar market. Apparently they have been building a particular Gibson line for years, just not under their name.
Well, being it was an intro, the price was fantastic. My friend called and said it was in, and that if it sounded half as good as it looked, I would be very happy. I tried it and I am.
Here’s a look…
I don’t necessarily like electric fiddles just by their very nature, but this thing has a sweet fiddle sound even before going through my preamp and equalizer, and I’ve never seen an electric that sounds like anything but crud when going ‘direct’. And this one won’t see the light of day with our bluegrass band, but I’m getting tired of taking a hand made instrument into smoky bars and such…this one will work for that. My good fiddle was made for me for a cost of $400, but I’ve played $12,000 instruments that I wouldn’t trade for that baby.
As a bonus, here’s the fiddle (a $50 farm sale fiddle) that I had signed by Charlie when I met him.
Just read this this morning in the Aberdeen American News:
Dan is a very gifted guitar and fiddle player…I hope some of the instruments can be salvaged. I took violin lessons for two years and watched him quite a few times on stage with ‘Velvet Touch’.
