I think I’m supposed to be blogging about more Midwest Banjo Camp related things – but J.R. Jenks is doing this fine. Here’s a recording of some of the tree frogs in Olivet: olivet_mi-frogs-20080606.
Category: banjo
yeah, us long neck banjo players are a bad lot …
Still from 1964 NFB docudrama Nobody Waved Goodbye, as mentioned in a nostalgia piece in Spacing.
the long neck has arrived
I picked up my long neck banjo from Hugh Hunter today. It’s wonderful.
(The image links to some of Hugh’s work-in-progress pictures.)
Old Man Luedecke in Toronto
I saw Old Man Luedecke play The Drake on Thursday night. After being snowed out of seeing him in Guelph, it was great to finally hear him play. Wasn’t disappointed; really fun show. Superb lyrics, fantastic technique (his clawhammer and Seeger up-picking are spot on) and gently self-deprecating stage banter make it a fun night. Go and see him if he’s playing near you.
banjo nails from the axis of evil
I tried taping pistachio shells to my fingers to get those perfect frailing nails. It was, at best, a partial success.
But why axis of evil? Well, these were very fine Iranian pistachios from Rafsanjan. If we lived in the USA, we couldn’t buy them. We’d have to make do with the tasteless little California pistachios. Go Canada!
don’t fret
We played guitar and banjo for most of Earth Hour. This is how my fretting hand ended up:
dude, you so need your banjo to glow in the dark
CBC Radio 1 Bandwidth: It’s a Banjolution!
CBC Bandwidth had a good show yesterday on the many banjo players and styles in Ontario. It features, amongst others: Jayme Stone, Jeff Menzies, Chris Coole, Chris Quinn, the Foggy Hogtown Boys, Andrea Simms-Karp, the Barmitzvah Brothers, Jenny Whiteley, Sheesham and Lotus, Feist and Elliott Brood.
If you missed it, I saved a copy of the stream here: http://scruss.com/music/banjodwidth-20080322.mp3 (25 MB).
There’s a faint click in some of the audio (I always seem to get it from CBC’s streams), but it’s not too noticeable.
the making of a long neck banjo
The making of a long neck banjo: Hugh Hunter sent me some pictures of the work in progress.
no banjo tonite
Dang! The roads were too snowy for us to get to Guelph to hear Old Man Luedecke.
Old Man Luedecke: banjo dude – in Guelph next week
Who : Old Man Luedecke http://oldmanluedecke.ca/ Where : Folkway Music (163 Suffolk Street West, Guelph) Â http://www.folkwaymusic.com/events.html When : Friday March 7th - 8pm doors, 8:30 start How much : $15 What : clawhammer banjo and skewed lyrics
it was special
The 9th annual Banjo special was its excellent self last night. Messrs Taheny (x2), Quinn, Coole and Naiman – aided by a cast quite literally numbering more than three – were on fine form.
Got to meet a few BanjoHangout folks too – including Hugh (the maker of my banjo) and Loren, for whom Hugh had made “The Banjo of Death“. Loren’s got this thing about skulls, and this banjo has them aplenty.
Cello Banjo Blues
Marcy Marxer improvises on Gold Tone Cello Banjo prototype.
down home radio show » The End of the World Banjo Band
down home radio show » Various Field Recordings
Anthology Film Archives – New York City 12/8/07:
This show was after a screening of the film “Bound to Lose†which is a GREAT documentary about The Holy Modal Rounders. “The End of the World Banjo Band†is a current project by Peter Stampfel of The Holy Modal Rounders. It’s an all banjo band featuring Peter Stampfel, John Cohen (of the New Lost City Ramblers), Jeannie Scofield, Walker Shepard and Down Home Radio’s own Eli Smith. Faced with the end of the world, seemingly the only option is actually to create an all-banjo-band. The band has 5-string banjos, banjo-mandolin, and 6-string banjo-guitar.
low
I played some tunes tuned down to eBEG♯B. I like it; extreme plunky tones.
and I really should be studying, too …
perfect Harmony
Got the Harmony back from Bruce Dowd last night – wow! The work he did on it was amazing, and the price very reasonable. The sound is beautiful – plunky and warm – and the Aquila nylon strings are stiff enough to make it easy to play.
I had difficulty keeping Nichol away from it last night. Looks like he’s got the nylon-strung bug too.
little man is in the house!
my little man t-shirt arrived today.
HOT-dog!
No Uncle Dave Macon here, but some minor banjo repairs.
My Gold Tone BC-350 (which I still like, despite all my friends playing Rickards) has a “hot-dog” armrest, a piece of bent steel that always seemed to be in the wrong place. Ken Perlman noted its incorrectness at the past Midwest Banjo Camp, so I took it off shortly afterwards.
But the banjo never quite seemed right without the armrest, so tonight I shifted it down a set of brackets. This isn’t quite trivial; the rest sits on two special shoes, so you have to completely remove the pair of adjacent shoes and swap them. After that you have to get the armrest level and the head tension right. But it sounds good, is comfortable to play now both sitting and standing. So what if it doesn’t quite sit straight in the instrument stand?
AlternativeBanjo – Banjo Tabs
AlternativeBanjo has tabs for all your indie faves.