Listen! I Hear Music!

Whew! The Old-Time Gathering is winding itself down today after quite a wonderful time of swarming multitudes, music, and merriment! It really was a lot of fun for me, anyway, and as always great to see a lot of folks. This year I got to some of the performances, which were especially fun, though I did miss Shiho and Kori (Dyad). At least I got to see them.

More pictures at
http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j19/tapermark/2007%20Portland%20Oldtime%20Gathering/?action=view&slideshow=true

I woke up on Saturday morning at an amazingly reasonable hour (8:30! So there!) and after a light breakfast at Janet’s, hustled over to the ThriftLodge to play some tunes with Forrest and Mark. Mark and I switched fiddles and played some different versions of “Roving Gambler” (the Skillet Lickers tune) and other stuff. Then we headed over to the Norse Hall and site of all the festivities. On the way, I showed the guys my cool van with my special new toy from my brother that I forgot to describe—a big pink button on the dashboard called “The Redneck Naghorn.” Trust Steve to find only the very best. Some of its classic utterances in a gnarly female voice:

***Stop the car! Walmart’s havin’ a sale!
***Pick a lane instead of your nose!
***Pull over and buy me somethin’!

Just the thing.

Inside, Forrest and I went and snagged a kitchen. This is rapidly becoming a tradition for us at the PDX OTG, and we actually found a THIRD kitchen in the Norse Hall later that night, though it was freezing! We got to rehearse a bunch of songs and then were joined by some wonderful Portland folks who rounded things out.

Before we knew it, it was almost 3 and time for me to run upstairs to hear our dear friend Allen Hart and his bones player, Cliff Ervine, who, it turns out, I met a few years ago at the Centrum Blues workshop when I was intrigued with his spare rib bones. I ended up buying a pair for the road since I left my wooden bones at home. (Is this a tax-deductible expense? Of course it is!) Allen and Cliff played an incredible set, with Allen especially pulling out some amazing sound on “Roustabout”—making the banjo just thrum out. His playing is elegant and hypnotic and not a messy note in it, unlike, sigh, mine.

I stayed for most of the following set of Sauber and son and Mark Graham, very fun with two banjos, a combo I especially like, and Mark’s harmonica and humor. Having missed dinner last year because we were too busy playing, both Claudia Anastasio and I found ourselves at the head of the line! We had a great dinner of cornbread, rice, beans, and more with Scotty Leach, Susan Sawyer, and Barry Cole, among others, and thanks to Susan, I now have a place to stay in Berkeley where a whole bunch of other musicians live! Whooo hoo! Anyone know anyone around Fort Bragg or Arcata?

After dinner, Claudia and I got down to some squirrely D tunes and were joined by the elegant guitar of Sheila Blech, who gave me a beautiful lime green cuddly scarf as a late Christmas present! My color! And it’s just the thing down here, where it’s still cold!

After a while, browsing CDs at John Hatton’s corner and talking with old friends, including Debra of the beautiful voice, I ended up with Forrest again, in the third freezing kitchen with Debra joining us. We had a lot of fun. My final set was being dragged into one more banjo deal with Kevin and Forrest!

Home for tea, check in, and bed.

St. Nicholas and Sunday
This morning, I was off to St. Nicholas church in Portland, where Fr. George Gray presides. A beautiful church and wonderful choir, and I saw old friends from my days in the C.S. Lewis society, back before he was hijacked by the evangelicals.


Now, in all the sun, Janet and I plan a walk, and then I’ll get down to grading my poor students, who probably wonder if I’ve dropped off the face of the earth. This after wiping dog crap off my shoe and cleaning all the places on the carpet I’d tracked it in. Another typical Jeanie day!