Among the nominees at this year’s WAMI awards for Bluegrass Band of the Year are two SWBMAI member bands. The Liberty Bluegrass Band and Above The Town, join fellow nominees Salt Creek, .357 String Band, and Nob Hill Boys. The award ceremony is being held tonight at the Historic Turner Hall in Milwaukee, WI. The WAMIs, which stands for Wisconsin Area Music Industry, represents WI promoters, bands, venues and other music related professionals. This Grammy-style award show will feature live performances by 9 Wisconsin bands and is followed by a post-show party for all in attendance.

Tickets for the show are available at the Turner Hall box office or on-line.

The Liberty Bluegrass Band are very grateful just to be nominated in a stellar class of nominees. We work extremely hard (28 shows in 07) and are pleased to be recognized as one of the best Bluegrass bands in Wisconsin!

Dede Wyland, a native Wisconsinite, will be teaching vocal workshops in Wisconsin the first weekend of April. For folks in Milwaukee, she will teach one workshop at 1pm on Saturday, April 5th at the Brass Bell Music Store in Bayshore. For Madison folks, she will teach at noon on Sunday, April 6th, at the Skaalen Village in McFarland.

Dede Wyland’s pure and compelling voice has enchanted audiences around the globe, and her driving rhythm guitar has powered the sound of many a bluegrass band including the popular Tony Trischka & Skyline and ’Grass, Food & Lodging. As a teacher, she uses her profound knowledge of the human voice and her inspiring and supportive manner to help amateurs and professionals alike realize their vocal potential. Bluegrass Unlimited, in a January 2001 feature article, said that Dede’s “gifts of vocal virtuosity, musical expression, and sheer positive force of personality have made her a valued presence in modern acoustic music.” Read her full bio here.

In this workshop you will:

• get to the heart of good vocal technique (breath support, tone quality, projection etc)
• touch upon the basic principals of bluegrass harmony singing
• do plenty of singing and have fun!
• Towards the end of the workshop Dede will coach 3 volunteers through a bluegrass song of their choice.

Both volunteers and attendees alike will benefit from what can be learned during this fun exercise. If you are interested in volunteering, please send Dede an email at: dwyland@ix.netcom.com.

The cost is $65. Pre-registration is strongly recommended. To register for the Madison workshop, contact Karen at karensonn@gmail.com or 608-224-1124. To register for the Milwaukee workshop, contact Linda at lsandersen@wi.rr.com

My Bears did not make it as far as I’d have liked (though there were at least two glorious games this season). But when they’re not playing the Bears, I am a Pac fan… and we all hate the Vikings :) So with that, I say GO PAC! and pass on this fine Packers/Bears joke…

A man goes to the Chicago Bear ticket office and inquires about purchasing play-off tickets. The ticket teller replies that there weren’t any tickets for sale because the Bears did not make it to the play-offs.

The following day the same man goes to the Chicago Bear ticket office and inquires about purchasing Bear play-off tickets. The ticket teller politely replies that there weren’t any tickets for sale because the Bears did not make it to the play-offs.

This goes on for an entire week. The man goes to the Bear ticket office inquiring about play-off tickets and the teller says none are for sale because the Bears did not make it to the play-offs.

Another week of this goes by and the man still is asking the ticket teller about Bear play-off tickets. Finally the ticket teller in a loud voice says, I’VE TOLD YOU FOR THE LAST 2 WEEKS THERE WERE NOT ANY TICKETS AVAILABLE BECAUSE THE THE BEARS DID NOT MAKE THE PLAY-OFFS!

The man replied, ‘I know.’ I drive all the way from Green Bay just to hear you say that!