We just returned from the rally hosted by Jim Dodd & his lovely wife. We had a great time,good fellowship, and look forward to the next rally. I hope to see more Barths at the Brooksville rally. This is a FMCA event, great venue, many vendors, and good entertainment. Come one, come all, it's fun! Many of us have a large investment in our coaches and don't take advantage of these rallys where the investment is minamul for the value recieved.

I may go to Brooksville (it's only about 120 miles from here) maybe I can see some Barths in person. I doubt I'd stay the course, as my cats are only good for 4 days without supervision (and the dogs - two Golden Retrievers - always travel with me).

I might even bring my telescopes for some public stargazing (going to star parties is a major reason I have a motorhome).

Rusty,
We hope to see you there, we will be parked with the "Frustrated Musicians" as I play the spoons.

Well, then, you are truly in luck, as I was once billed as "The World's Greatest Living White Hambone Artist".

Hey Don, Did you realize a bunch of pics of the Michigan Barth Rally that you attended are are available here on Dave's site? I found them by accident while looking at Morries MCC coach that he has listed for sale.
If you go way back to page 30 on the General Dicussion forum and look for the post by jmcpictures on July 11 2003, it will take you to Morries picture site where he has added the July 05 rally pics. Looks like you had a great tour. There are some great detail shots of Morries nifty MCC Barth to, and some pics of another earlier rally.
Regards,
From another Donald

quote:

Originally posted by Don Scalzo:
Rusty,
We hope to see you there, we will be parked with the "Frustrated Musicians" as I play the spoons.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
I was once billed as "The World's Greatest Living White Hambone Artist".

For those of you who will be content to see the World's SECOND Greatest Living White Hambone Artist, Ron Thomason of the Dry Branch Fire Squad will be performing at the Blythe Bluegrass Festival Jan 20-22. I am a big fan of Ron, and am not sure which I like better, the music, his musing, or his Hambone. They can be heard at Amazon.com, either snippets of each cut or free MP3 downloads. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/103...ry+branch+fire+squad

Link to Festival:

http://www.blytheareachamberofcommerce.com/bluegrass/

Hope to see some of you there. We have always been the only Barth there.

http://www.blytheareachamberofcommerce.com/bluegrass/

Blythe? That's in Callyforneye-aaa. When did dat become a hotbed of Bluegrass? (Boy, is the world changing...)

I saw nothin' on the website about crawdads or grits or redeye gravy...can it really be genyouwine Bluegrass?

Rusty & all:
One of the nicest Blue Grass festivals
that I ever attended was at a campground
in Bath, Maine. We were attending the
FMCA convention in Burlington, Vermont,
and after the convention, some of the guys
from the NH, Mass, & Conn area convinced us
to go with them to this campground in Bath.
The campground didn't have a pool, so they
had a huge lobster boil and the Blue Grass
festival on Sat. night, and we had the best
freshly made clam chowder on Sunday morning.
This all happened in July of 1972.

Jake Jacobson

Rusty, one of the best Bluegrass Festivals I ever attended was in the old mining town of Wickenburg, Arizona more than 20 years ago. Shucks, we even have a pretty fair one every August at our local county fair here in Clallam County, out on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, and you don't have to worry too much about wild indians any more, even this far out west.

A few miles east of us, in the old Victorian town of Port Townsend, they have what they call the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes that goes on for about a week every July, for more than 30 years now. Bluegrass is only one attraction. You can get old-time fiddling, Zydeco, & lord knows what else in the line of unique American music from the best musicians in their fields from all over the country.

Back in the '30s, when I was just a little kid in Minnesota, my 2 older brothers (lots older than I am) picked up spare change in honkytonks singing & playing what we then called "hillbilly music." That was before that upstart youngster Bill Monroe came along and gave that kind of music the Nashville gloss.

Rusty, there's a whole big country out here full of real folks, doing real things, and some of 'em are playing gen-u-wine old-timey music without the Nashville gloss..

I don't see how the ambience of a lot of sweat could possibly have occurred at either of those places....now I lived in Maine (ayuh!), but lobstah jes' aint the same as mudpuppies.

Been to Port Townsend, too, and that ain't sweat, that there is jes' fog....

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
Blythe? That's in Callyforneye-aaa. When did dat become a hotbed of Bluegrass? (Boy, is the world changing...)

I saw nothin' on the website about crawdads or grits or redeye gravy...can it really be genyouwine Bluegrass?

Rusty, the Blythe festival has been going one since the 80s. It started out as a country music festival, and gradually morphed into Bluegrass.

Califor-nye-A is not exactly a hotbed of bluegrass, but has some really good bands and a lot of good festivals. There are a couple of bluegrass associations that sponsor jam sessions and several restaurants have weekly performances and open mikes. The Blythe festival is also supported by the Southwest Arizona Bluegrass Association. Many of the festivals import the best bands from back East, and they are no better than the West Coast bands.

As for mudbugs, you gotta go to a Cajun festival to have them, or the few restaurants that specialize in Cajun food.

Grits are a little hard to find, but the Mexican masa is similar to hominy grits. Redeye gravy is sometimes found at soul food places, but rarely.

Absent those culinary delights, one can still enjoy the best bluegrass here. We have attended appearances by Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Jim and Jessie, and a lot more of national repute. The Blythe festival has two stages going full time, so it is often difficult to choose which band to hear.

That said, there is precious little mountain or old timey music in the golden state. Autoharps and dulcimers are almost unheard. And a gutbucket is something on a day boat.

In October each year, at Hiawassee, GA a fall festival is held. In conjunction with he festival the GA State fiddlin contest is held. There is competition in all the string instruments, the harmonica, buck dancing, and blue grass bands. Musicians from all over the south attend. On the grounds is one of the nicest campgrounds you will ever visit on the shores of Chatuge lake. The campground is reasonable, and the competition is included in the fair entrance fee of $5.00.

Now that I have a gen-you-ine Barth, I don't have to slink in...I'm planning on at least a day or two at Brooksville (if the autograph hoounds and Barth Groupies don't wear me oout).