‘Twas a mighty fine time at this year’s Jamboree. Even though it was the first beautiful day in what seemed like a century, folks stopped by to enjoy some fine local Bluegrass, pick some tunes (there may have been drinking too, but who’s counting) and chat with their fellow ‘Grassers. Few folks left empty handed as well! There were many fine raffle prizes dished out to the masses. The new format of jaming and four bands was praised by all and will be continued in next year.

Below is some video shot at the Jamboree, as well, there are pictures being posted to the photo section (more arriving soon). And thanks everyone for making this year’s Jamboree a hit. See you next year!

Mental Detox Week - (formerly TV Turnoff (formerly TV-Free America)) serves as a reminder to cleanse the mental palate. For one week, April 21 to April 27, you are invited to celebrate in the analog world. Unplug, turn off the TVs, computers (Ed. - uh, this is blasphemy!), iPods, Blackberries, and cell phones. You don’t have to go cold turkey, just challenge yourself to cut back a little. In the evening, you watch your favorite show if you have to, but then you switch off, relax, read a book, take a walk, or maybe go for a pint with a friend.

It’s all about mental health. Recent studies have revealed a connection between our increasing use of a wide range of digital devices and growing stress levels and incidence of psychological disorders. Two out of three Americans suffer disconnection anxiety if they’re away from their gadgets even for a few minutes, and The American Journal of Psychiatry has classified excessive gaming, porn surfing, emailing, and text messaging as a compulsive impulse disorder. Unplugging for a week is a non-pharmaceutical method of protecting your sanity and well-being.

To Celebrate for mental detox week, John Fabke, host of “Pastures of Plenty” on WORT 89.9fm, will be doing a special all-live show from Mother Fools (1101 Williamson St, Madison) from 9am to noon on this Tuesday, April 22nd. The show will feature three excellent performers. You can join the fun at the coffeehouse or tune in on the radio. The guests will be:

• 9am-Award winning singer/songwriter/instrumentalist Tracy Jane Comer
• 10am-Midwestern fiddle master Chirps Smith
• 11am-Wisconsin treasures Bruce Bollerud and George Gilbertson (of the Goose Island Ramblers)

In our last Fireball Mail newsletter, I wrote an article about the recent grant awarded by the Wisconsin Humanities Council to SWBMAI and Hayloft Gang Productions. The grant will help with the production of a documentary on WLS Barndance. I received the following email from one or our members in response to the article and wanted to share it.

Karen,
I am always happy to receive my Fireball Mail. The March/April issue is especially welcome, however, due to your article concerning the WLS National Barn Dance. I grew up listening to WLS, “The Voice of the Prairie Farmer” and, in fact, appeared on the show twice circa 1949/50 as a member of our children’s square dance group. I recall being on stage with Minnie Pearl, String Bean, Bob Acher, Lulu Bell and Scotty, Rex Allen and others. It will be grand to relive the excitement of that experience through the documentary.

Thanks,
Dave Westlake

Thank you for sharing this with us, Dave. It made all of us at SWBMAI very proud!

Dot’s Tavern is well known to the folks down around Belleville, WI. It’s been in operation for more than 60 years. You won’t find it online or google maps… but you’ll find it in the basement of an old house if you turn off HWY 69 onto Henry Rd. in Basco, Montrose, WI.

I found it last night for the first time… but it won’t be the last! Hand Picked Bluegrass and Jefferson County Bluegrass Band where playing and it was quite the time. I took a few pictures with my phone. I apologize for the quality, but you’ll get the idea from them.

If you’re interested in becoming a professional musician, you may first want to read a bit about Bill Duncan’s career. As a Bluegrass Boy, he shared a stage with Bill Monroe. But he’s also been shot at while on stage!

“It got so bad in Charleston, they had to put a screen up so people couldn’t throw beer bottles at us. The trouble would always start when some drunk guy went to the jukebox and picked a song. It didn’t matter if it just came out that day, if you said you didn’t know that, all hell would break loose.”

Bluegrass is known for it’s hot pickers, playing faster than ears can hear. It can make learning tunes a bit difficult. Luckily, we no longer have to ruin our records and needles, or stretch out our cassette tapes with endless rewinds. If you have iTunes on your computer, then you already have a great tool for slowing down music… AND video! It’s a little known fact… but Apple’s free QuickTime Player (installed along with iTunes) is great for slowing down your favorite audio and/or video clips. It even allows you to change the pitch so you don’t have to retune your instrument! Here’s how to do it:

1. Choose an audio or video file and open it in QuickTime Player (mp3s, wav, aif, mov, mp4, etc…)
2. In QuickTime, choose cmd-k (Mac) or ctrl-k (PC) to open the A/V Controls (or from the Windows menu)
3. Adjust the speed and/or pitch to your liking

If you don’t already have QuickTime, you can download it for free for your Mac or PC from Apple’s website. In addition, QuickTime Pro ($30 upgrade) allows you to easily set in and out points, loop edit files and more.

A regular on a music forum I frequent wrote this nice web app and encouraged people to use it. It is theory that I am sure some of you know but might be helpful to somebody else, a web link, or teaching tool you might wish to use. Hal Leonard has published a cardboard and plastic booklet for decades that sort of does this but it is presented here in online, interactive form. Enjoy!

http://randscullard.com/CircleOfFifths
http://randscullard.com/CircleOfFifths/UserGuide.htm

Madison Bluegrass fans have no doubt heard and/or heard of The Cork ‘n Bottle String Band. The boys have been playing Thursdays at the UW Memorial Union Rathskellar and Terrace for the past 3 years. Among them is Mr. David Landau. David, when he’s not playing guitar with the Corks, performs for children. Yes children. If you have a child (or personally act the appropriate age ;) ), I would highly recommend checking out David’s show… and as luck would have it, there is a fine opportunity to do just that!

Dave will be presenting his 3rd Annual “Kids’ Day at the High Noon Saloon”, Saturday, January 19th. Joining the fun on the High Noon stage will be Jimbo the Juggler, M.C. Pertzy, Crazy Carrots, and many more surprises. Doors open at 11am and showtimes are slated for 12:00 noon and 2:00pm. There is a $5.00 cover charge. Half price root beer for any kid in cowboy boots!

Dave continues to find success as a children’s entertainer, performing over 200 dates each year throughout Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. Five years ago he left his career as an elementary school teacher to combine his passions of music and education. He has produced two CD’s of children’s music and will release a live concert film on DVD later this year. Madison Magazine awarded him the silver medal in the “2007 Best of Madison - Children’s Musician” category. You can find Dave with a guitar in his hand and a smile on his face everywhere good kids need good songs.

The News & Observer is running a fine story on Bluegrass Pioneer George Shuffler. Mr. Shuffler was that “tall feller” who sang and played guitar with the Stanley Brothers for so many years. In addition to popularizing guitar crosspicking, he also admits to being a better than average horse trader:

“I was pretty fair at that because I’d grown up around it,” Shuffler says. “I could look a horse in the mouth, tell its age, how hard it’d been worked. Livestock’s been a love my whole life. We’d be on the road and Carter would say, ‘I just caught George looking at cattle trucks. Guess he’ll be going home again soon.’ I head that more than once and I’d always say, ‘Nah, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ But sure enough, a week or two later, it would happen.”

A fine glimpse back to a time where one could swap a possum dog for their first horse!

The New York Times caries the tale of two gent’s journey to Jerusalem Ridge and their libationary stop-offs along the way. From the article…

We fashioned our itinerary in the style of a bluegrass song: a defined structure but with ample room for improvisation. During the first part of the trip, we would hit the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, a whiskey version of California’s Napa Valley made up of seven distilleries (Maker’s among them) that are open to the public. Our final stop would be the sixth annual Jerusalem Ridge Bluegrass Celebration in Rosine, the birthplace of Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass.

Two of my personal favorites as well… Makers Mark and Bluegrass just seem to go hand in hand!