Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: edwardofhuncote on August 18, 2015, 11:36:49 AM
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I just returned to work yesterday morning after a two-week vacation. Spent most of yesterday sorting through piles of reports then filing them... and deleting emails. (soooo many nonsense emails...) Anyway, today I've got one of those hurry-up-and-wait maintenance projects going on all day long, so thought I'd relive some of the good times by sharing a couple pictures from this music festival I went to.
The Old Fiddler's Convention http://oldfiddlersconvention.com/ (http://oldfiddlersconvention.com/) is held on the first week of August every year in the little mountain town of Galax in southwest Virginia, this past year was the 80th Annual. I've now been going for 30 years, since the summer I turned 16 and got a driver's license. It was there, I think that the music bug first bit me, and now I've been a camping contestant for 28 of those years. The whole purpose of fiddler's conventions was to get regional musicians together and pass along the traditional Appalachian music, that wasn't necessarily written down. It's really handed down person-to-person, even multi-generationally now. You kinda' have to get the backdrop... this is 7 straight days and nights of wall-to-wall music, traditional old-time string bands and bluegrass bands come from all over, some very long distances... for instance, this year I met some Australian folks that had come for the first time. There is a jam available somewhere in the park pretty much around the clock, *especially* if you play bass. It's a couple thousand musicians in a melting pot, that often gets unspeakably hot during the day, or impassably muddy in bad weather... you gotta' *want* to be there to truly enjoy it. The one-liner on this hat I spotted sums it up pretty well.
So you get into the park on Sunday morning... they open the gates and start checking folks in at 7:00 am. Since our bunch goes down a couple days early to get a good spot in line, we're usually we're in by 9:00 or 10:00, and our camp/compound is established by noon. The first order of biz is to secure at least one of these power outlets. There are only four of these poles in the park.
(okay, that picture is a little bit scary if you know anything about electricity, amperage loading and voltage drop at the end of 300 feet of drop cord)
Once you're in and set up, it's good to roam the campground a little, get to know your neighbors, meet up with old friends, many that you only ever see once a year at this place. I saw this really cool tie-dye being used as a sunscreen on the next camp up from ours - note the banjo and guitar forms... I don't think it was a print, someone really went to a fair amount of trouble to do this one.
(and if you stare into it long enough, you'll start to see an Alembic Standard Point body. =)
So like I said, the contests are really meant to be secondary to the campground music, but every evening at the stage they have competition in each of the individual categories. Deal is, you get your contestant fee back when you play, ($40) so it creates a cash incentive for the musicians to perform for the audience. It's a long line to stand in... sometimes a couple hours. I always play mandolin, mainly because mandolin is on Tuesday night, so I get some grocery money early in the week, but also because they don't have a competition for bass there. That has always seemed strange to me, since a bass is *required* to compete in either of the band categories. A bunch of us bass guys petitioned the Moose Lodge that hosts the Fiddler's Convention one year to institute a bass category, but to no avail. In response, a few of us began to register in fiddle competition, and play our basses with bows. A new rule against that was issued the following year. Finally, a local artisans group, The Blue Ridge Musicmakers Guild, stepped up and began a new tradition - they hold an independent fundraiser every year, post their own judges in the crowd, and award the best bass player in both Bluegrass and Old-Time bands a prize, which is presented before the awards ceremony on Saturday night. It's done in memory of local bassist Barbara Poole, who died several years ago. Very cool compromise.
One more little poke at the Loyal Order of the Moose... it's a weird relationship we have with our host. We LOVE their festival, and we appreciate and recognize what a logistical nightmare it must be. But they honestly don't have a clue what it is we're trying to accomplish here... to them, it's the primary means their next FY operating budget, to us it's a week-long musical New Years Eve celebration. A couple years ago, in response to some rude, obnoxious folks, all bass guitars were banned from the campground. Can't blame them for trying to keep the peace I guess, but it was kind of a bummer for those of us who do plug in. I figure they'd at least issue a warning before throwing me out, so I sneak my small-room/upright rig in disguised as camping equipment... it's a little Acoustic Image Clarus with an ultralite Flite 12 cab. Also had a buddy to fabricate these totally unauthorized stickers for my Turner Renaissance 5'r... won't be trying this with the Alembic Custom fretless! =)
So here's our band, New River Bound. https://www.facebook.com/NewRiverBound (https://www.facebook.com/NewRiverBound) We've been together for going on five years now, and I'm having the most fun ever playing with these folks. Outside of playing traditional Appalachian string band music, we're also doing a lot of our own originals. Jess, our banjo player is a world-class lyricist, and her husband Brian is an extraordinarily gifted guitar player who arranges our stuff. Our fiddler Caleb, I grew up around his parents, which are just a little older than me... in fact, I met them at Galax. Most often, I'm playing a five-string, fretless bass guitar in this group... I'm very anxious (read- excited) to see how the new Alembic works with it.
A technically clean performance Friday afternoon we felt put us in the running for at least a top-ten finish this year... that was the strategy anyway - play it safe and clean on Friday, then on Saturday night under-the-lights, run the dial up to 11 and break the knob off. Here we are on stage Friday.
(I'm the old guy with a six-foot tall fiddle and an Alembic T-shirt. =)
And here's one of us backstage Saturday night, all jacked-up on some pretty awesome coffee.
(this is the aforementioned awesome coffee... how else could I hang all night with these youngsters!?)
Here's one from the grandstand... we heard later there were about 3500 people watching.
We pounded it pretty good... really left it all out on stage, and when the points were tallied up, New River Bound was scored 7th in Old-Time Band this year - our 4th top-ten finish, and best so far. Here's our triumphant photo-op at the Virginia is for Lovers sign.
Maybe more later...
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Great report! Thanks!!
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So, is there any video of your group?
(Message edited by davehouck on August 18, 2015)
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There is Dave, from both nights. I'm hoping Jess can post them on our (linked) Facebook page. (I don't do Facebook and don't have any idea even how to shrink the file enough to email it)
I just found out too, we made it onto the souvenir recording again this year. They put both our Friday & Saturday performances from last year on the the 2014 (79th Annual) album. I think the soundcrew likes us better than the judges do. =)
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Thanks for sharing your adventure!
I enjoyed reading it.
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I'm glad you had a great time, but honestly, what the hell kind of world is this: They ban BASSES in a setting crawling with B A N J O S ? ? ? ?
One more sign of the End Time . . . . . Since you spent time here in Nashville, maybe you heard this one:
'Whaddya call 50 banjos at the bottom of Old Hickory Lake? A Good Start !'
Joey
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Yeah, the lowly banjo usually winds up way down in the mix in that town Joey... and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there was a few of them in Old Hickory, with a banjo player's remains. LOL! Here's one more for ya' to pass around the 'ville... Perfect pitch = pitching a banjo into a dumpster without hitting the sides. I grew up in the home of a banjo player, so it's all perfectly natural to me.
They didn't ban *all* basses... just the evil 'lectrified ones. In a sense I will concede, they don't have much place in traditional Appalacian music, but what the benevolent Moose doesn't understand is, there's a lot more than that going on out in the campground.
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So Gregory I've always wondered if it would do any good to show up at a bluegrass affair with an acoustic bass guitar?
I've never considered or wanted to play upright. To me it's like piano and pipe organ: They both have black and white keys, and that's about it, totally different technique and mindset.
I've occasionally been interested in bluegrass, but never entertained the thought of showing up with an electric and amp, though I see it done from time to time. It just wouldn't be my choice.
So, any ABG's used in that scene, unplugged?
Joey
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Ummm, that's a tricky one to answer Joey.
To start with, you're absolutely correct - they are very different, and though a good many things carry over (in both directions) you really have to approach each instrument separately.
Regarding unplugged, even on upright I prefer to be plugged in, simply because of the sheer volume needed. That may sound counter-intuitive for an acoustic jam, but the instruments in that particular setting were specifically designed to be loud. IME, an unplugged ABG would get covered up in most of those situations. The other side of that is (for me at least) I don't like to play hard. Playing an upright bass is a very physical act already... it's nice to play with less effort and still be heard.
Maybe the biggest obstacle isn't volume. I know of some circles where an ABG would be completely acceptable, and others where (through no fault of the player) you just couldn't get by with a bass guitar. At one extreme, if the jam is made up of people who are of the strict preservationist mindset, then no - they need that visual of a doghouse bass to complete the re-enactment of Flatt & Scruggs at Carnegie Hall, and I completely respect that... we need those folks too. At the polar opposite, I'm getting away with playing a five-string fretless bass guitar in an oldtime band up here in the cradle of Appalachia, where playin' a 'lectrified bass might get you tossed outta' Galax. =) Seriously, we're anything but traditional until we need to be. Sometimes, late at night, we even use :gasp: A DRUM! (like percussion is something new in folk music)
As an aside, in my 30 years around the various corners of the bluegrass music scene, electric basses have come into vogue and gone back out at least twice. It's cyclical for sure, but I've never known what drives that. When I started playing back in the 80's, the bass players in both of my favorite bands (Hot Rize and Lonesome River Band) both used a good ol' Fender P bass. I think Hot Rize still does.
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Another funny picture...
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/212095.jpg)
This was on Thursday night in the lineup for guitar competition... contestants are allowed one accompanist on stage with them, and my guitar-playing buds always pick me as their good-luck charm. The guitar category typically has about 450 contestants, each allotted 2 minutes. That's a long line to stand in... it was probably close to 1 am by the time we made it to the green room, but as you can see from the Mick Fleetwoood-like wild eyes, I'm working on my 5th or 6th cup of the Kaffe Magnum Opus "Jamaican-Me-Crazy" coffee. Kinda' helps keep the right hand timing in order. LOL! Here's what it looks like from the on-deck spot.
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/212096.jpg)
That's me backing up my buddy Ted McAllister. This was Ted's 40th time across that stage... his first Galax was forty years ago. He didn't place this year, but last year IIRC he took a top-ten spot last year.
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One last post and a few more pictures? Just to put this whole thing into scale, here?s a view of the campground? it really doesn?t do justice to the sea of RV?s, tents, and E-Z-Up awnings that cover these acres for a week. The rest of the year Felts Park is an athletic field/sports complex in the middle of town, right off Main St. which contributes to the Sunday morning chaos of getting all of us in there in some orderly fashion. Looking around the campground, you'll notice folks display their years worth of "Contestant Camping" stickers on their campers like badges-of-honor.
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/212121.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/212122.jpg)
Here?s what it looks like from the stage looking out at the crowd, and from the grandstand looking back at the stage on Saturday morning for the Folk Song competition. That?s a very popular one, and draws one of the biggest audiences, other than the Youth on Monday and the Bands on Friday/Saturday, it?s probably the biggest. I usually end up backing up a couple of the girls around our camp, one of which has taken 1st place in the contest an amazing 16 times in 21 years. Her two daughters are following suit now. A few years ago, they built the permanent structure where the stage is now. According to my Dad who was there back in the day, the yellow circus tent is at least 40 years old. Until about 5 years ago, it had a makeshift wooden stage that fit onto the front of it facing the grandstand. The new one is a VAST improvement, especially for the sound crew.
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/212123.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/212124.jpg)
A couple years ago this girl organized every mandolin player she could find to set a world record for the Largest Mandolin Ensemble. Tara Linhardt is a big ball of energy in a very compact package, and like many of us is a Galax ?Lifer?, having been here since preteenage. Long story short we set the world record? it was recently broken on the island of Crete by 414 Greek mandolinists. Not to be outdone, Tara pulled it off again this year, and posted a (un-official as yet) new world record of 493. Doesn?t have anything to do with the official proceedings of the Fiddler?s Convention, just one of the many crazy things we musicians have come up with.
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/212125.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/212126.jpg)
Lastly, Galax is a place to remember old friends, many of them we met here in this place where so many different regional music ?circles? converge. This is my buddy Tony Collins, my musical hero and brother, and Tommy Jordan, one of my earliest musical mentors, who claimed to have been at the 30th Annual Old Fiddler?s Convention. We lost them both this year, Tony very suddenly and recently. I took this picture of them together exactly one year ago up at the Big Yellow Tent? still just can?t believe they?re gone. There are lots of ghosts in Felts Park, but we really missed these two guys. My goal for next year is to play one of Tony?s songs in the guitar competition, on Tommy?s guitar.
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/212127.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/212128.jpg)
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I went looking for an old thread to post some new content...
So after taking care of a couple things, I broke curfew and doctors orders, skipped town and much like a Swallow drawn to Capistrano, I crashed the Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax, Virginia, still wearing my cervical brace. My friends the McA's were already set up camping there with their fledgling new band, the Wayfarin' Whistlepigs, and I figured shoot... I wouldn't be doing anything down there that I wouldn't be doing at home. Might even play some music again and catch up with some folks I hadn't seen in a couple years. So I went, with the idea that I'd just stay an evening and head back. Then something really unexpected and fortuitous happened. All four members of New River Bound, our former oldtyme band happened to be in one place at the same time... we had not played together in two years, and hadn't played in Galax since 2018. And that magic chemistry that we always had was right where we left it, instantly available. We jumped into the band competition and set ourselves up well for Saturday night final round. Finished up scored 8th place, which is one of our better finishes. Jess thinks we got a 6th and 7th place win sometime too, but no higher. We were in it for the music and the good times though... Galax is a tough contest, and the judging highly favors a style we just don't play, so it's quite an honor to be recognized at all.
Part Two; the Wayfarin' Whistlepigs their first time in, placed 14th! These young ladies and their respective fellas have put together quite a variety show with my old friends the McA's, who have now been 50 years at Galax. Here's the other connection - their son is the fiddler with New River Bound. He is 33 now, and been to the Fiddlers Convention for 34 years. (y'all think about that one a minute...) Anyway, we are all a big, modular family band, members can shift back and forth easily. And it's fun, but it's business too sometimes. We have slowly been teaching the next gen how this works. It was great that we could share the podium together last night, albeit the second-tier. After the awards ceremony there was a BIG happy-jam at Camp.
Part 3 later... maybe video. (it's on someone else's phone... I was busy, holding down the groove) 😄
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Fantastic, Greg, congrats on getting back to playing so soon, sounds like a fun time too! :)
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Sounds like a wonderful weekend!
(But do take good care of yourself.)
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Echo.
Glad you got out to play.
Be safe.
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Video from the 87th Old Fiddlers Convention, Friday evening first round of competition;
New River Bound - Walkin' in the Parlor- [/size]
Wayfarin' Whistlepigs - Over the Waterfall- [/size]
...and Saturday night under the lights, we swapped places for the final round-
Halifax-
Little Rabbit-
After which came the Awards Presentation, and a big jam back at Camp. I got a lot of questions about the cervical collar this week... I only took it off long enough to play and to give myself a little break now and then. At some point, I just got tired of repeating the true story about the thing and just shortened it to a shrug, and "tough Summer"... it made for a funny-looking hat here! (my Mom was not amused... not even a little.)
More pics later... still pilfering through them.
*and I give up dealing with this font size Gremlin. 🤬
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Two thumbs up on the T-shirt and hat! Looks like a cool event with everyone having a great time.
Bill, tgo
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Great to see you are getting out…and some playing too! :)
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Great to see how in sync all the players are. Congrats on your versatility musicianship sir.
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"...in sync"
A day long there's been a running conversation between a few of us regarding Caleb and Jess (fiddler and banjo player w/NRB). If you listen to the first video especially during "Walkin'..." from 0:33 - 1:02, and again from 1:46 - 2:16, it's during these timeframes the fiddle plays the lower register, and you can hear how perfectly he and Jess are locked into that groove. It's beyond freakishly good... I don't even think they mean to do it, it's just an involuntary instinctive thing. She understands his bowing and phrasing in the same way he can anticipate that synchopated rhythm, and they both have an uncanny grasp on the melody line.
There's also another backstory to "Walkin' in the Parlor"... if you hit the description, I linked to the video that inspired us to learn it, taped 35 years ago, just yards away from the very campsite we warmed up in before taking the stage here. (you have to jump a couple minutes into the video to get to Walkin') And near the end of that video, the camera pans around the crowd gathered to watch the 1987 jam of Walkin' in the Parlor, there in the background are the future parents of that fiddler you see there in 2023. He wouldn't come along for a couple more years.
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Musical intuition between two or more individuals IS real. 😎
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We just watched the videos. Diana says you need to behave yourself; she couldn't believe you were bobbing your head up and down while playing on stage.
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Just from the shoulders up Dave. I don't have the skeletal structure to nod anymore, but I admit the involuntary flinch on that 4-chord ain't good optics. 😄