Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,921
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Post by Dub on May 16, 2007 16:40:45 GMT -5
I had hoped to make Orchard Jam for the first time but circumstances aren't going to allow it. Castle Ridge is performing in Kirksville, MO, this weekend. Quite the other direction. I may get to the Podium Picnic though. At least I mean to be there. - Dub
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Post by mnhermit on May 18, 2007 19:02:23 GMT -5
Just in case I can make it - I know I get off I35 at the Elko Spdwy, but I can't remember the name of the road I'm supposed to turn off on, (xerxes?). Maybe I'll just drive around looking for something familiar.
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Post by Russell Letson on May 18, 2007 19:37:04 GMT -5
Here are the directions from last year. They worked for me. . . .
From Interstate Hwy. 35 about 20 miles south of Minneapolis/St. Paul, take exit #76, marked Elko/New Market. Head WEST on County Hwy. 2 -- you'll reach the little town of New Market before long.
From New Market, keep going west on Hwy. 2 -- After a little more than 4 miles, you will come to a stop sign at Panama Avenue. Continue west on Hwy. 2, keeping an eye peeled at the top of the next hill for XKIMO Avenue, on the left.
Turn onto that -- you'll go about a mile before it intersects with BALSA Avenue. Turn left onto Balsa, and you are a tenth of a mile from the Agees', which is on the left side of the road, house number 26803 Balsa. There should be lots of vehicles parked there.
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Post by Village Idiot on May 18, 2007 21:42:16 GMT -5
I wish one of those vehicles was mine. Have a ball, folks.
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Post by billhammond on May 20, 2007 9:44:44 GMT -5
Well, OrchardJam XIV is history, and it was grand.
The weather was nigh unto ideal -- warm but not too hot and the storms stayed away all day and night. The core of activity was a circle of chairs in a double garage with a tent awning attached. Friends and neighbors who were there to listen and to enjoy the food and drink stayed mostly under that tent attachment.
We got going around 1 p.m. when MnHermit, Dennis O'Neill, showed up, about when Barb and her kids arrived. Before long, Russ Letson was on hand, too, armed with G1, a six string banjo and his famous pizza box for drum brushwork.
Then Ed Treinan arrived with his wife, Becky -- they had a graduation to go to and could only stay an hour or so, but Ed's singing and great harmonica playing stayed in the air long after he had left, and I mean that in a good way.
Dennis had his own-built dread running in top form, a guitar that might be called the Aerial Lift Bridge because of one recurring problem, but it looks like he has it solved now.
Before too long we were treated to the joyful sound of the amazing voice of Barb's daughter Laruen, a very pretty high school junior who gets perfect grades, has perfect hair and skin, is charming as can be and plays flute, piano and tennis perfectly. It's just not fair. And when she sings harmony with Barb, well, it just gets the tear ducts going, I tell ya.
One of my favorite young local songwriters, Davis Jones, showed up and stayed a couple hours before he had to leave for a gig in Winona -- it was great to have him there.
Other stalwarts of the circle included members of a band that Barb used to sing with -- Richard the drummer, Ray the lead guitar player and our host Al Agee, who plays both acoustic guitar and bass. We stayed unplugged for quite a while, then set up a mike to the in-house P.A. as adjacent conversation became more convival. I was playing my Larrivee and the Barbarossa, mostly, before adding G2, and Barb was playing her new black Santa Cruz, which attracted oohs and ahs all day and night. It is such a joy to see Barb loving that guitar so much -- it's a perfect fit for her.
Marty showed up with the Ventura, which got passed around and enjoyed immensely. By this time, guitars were getting plugged in, too, and even an ELECTRIC guitar or two were on the scene. That Ventura is the bee's knees.
There was a small gaggle of teenage boys sitting on the periphery with their guitars, not quite sure how to fit in, which is, after all, the job of a teenager. But they eventually did a song or two in a couple of different groupings, and started to play along with whomever was leading the song at hand, and it all worked out really well.
I gotta say that Barb and Lauren were the stars of the show, with Ed Treinen an important part of the mix, as well. Letson and O'Neill and I did our thing as well as we could, but even our swarthy good looks and smoldering talent were no match for the shining brilliance and beauty of Barb and Dottir.
Highlights: Lauren singing "I Wish I Was Single Again," Barb and Ed singing "How's the World Treating You," Ed, Barb and I doing three-part on "Halleluia," Letson doing "You're Undecided Now" and me faking swing guitar solos, damn, what fun that is! PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE GUITAR PLAYER BEHIND THE CURTAIN.
Ed surprised us by returning after his graduation thingie, and really got into the harp playing as we covered blues, Beatles, boogie and even some fluffy pop, like "Secret Agent Man" and "Spooky."
Oh, and a couple of little girls got up to the mike and sang solos, and they were fantastic! We are talking like 7-year-olds, and I wish I knew their names, but all I know is that they were friends of Al and Karen.
I got home well after midnight. Russ retired to a nearby no-tell; Dennis had the option to stay in St. Paul rather than drive all the way home Up North -- hope he did the right thing.
Great food, perfect companionship and a very high level of musicianship all day -- it was just a great jam.
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Post by Village Idiot on May 20, 2007 10:40:36 GMT -5
Do they still have my chair? If so, I hope they're putting it to use. I enjoyed Orchardjam I, simply haven't been able to make it since. May is awful for planning. But I'm glad it went well, and that the weather was good. They have a really nice place up there, and it's good it's used for this.
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Post by billhammond on May 20, 2007 10:57:22 GMT -5
Do they still have my chair? If so, I hope they're putting it to use. I enjoyed Orchardjam I, simply haven't been able to make it since. May is awful for planning. But I'm glad it went well, and that the weather was good. They have a really nice place up there, and it's good it's used for this. The Well Endowed Todd Frank Chair for Competence in Amateur Music is an honored position, Mister Idiot, sir.
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Post by mnhermit on May 20, 2007 11:09:57 GMT -5
Todd - don'e know if your chair was being used, but I would assume so. You are remembered by the Agee's as the guy I'm supposed to dress like - sorry you couldn't make it.
I must add my praises to Bill's about Lauren's voice and the combined sound of the two Ms Pipers. I really wish we could have recorded some of the duets and trios that were performed yesterday. Lauren, Barb and Bill doing (i think( 'Road to Georgia' - exceptional.
A couple of Barb's students did some songs that I think they wrote - simply amazing. Throughout the afternoon I was continually impressed by the level of muscicianship of all the players.
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Post by billhammond on May 20, 2007 11:23:34 GMT -5
Oh, yeah, Dennis -- I forgot about "Atlanta" -- but how could I??? Lauren made Alison Krauss sound positively anemic!
(OK, maybe a little hyperbole on my part there... )
Marty has forced my hand (in the daily thread), so ........
there was a spectator on hand who had a British accent, and during a period when she was near the circle, I suggested that Russ play along with his banjo on the chords C Em Dm G ... and I launched into "Mrs. Brown, you've got a lovely daughter," and all was going mildly well until the B section approached, and I dunno, maybe it's because I hadn't played the song in DECADES, but for whatever reason, I could not find that first chord of the B section.
I stabbed around with every combination known to man until, of course, at the very end, realizing it was E FREAKING FLAT.
Herman's Hermits, those DAMNED SOPHISTICATES!
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Post by Village Idiot on May 20, 2007 19:16:14 GMT -5
Fourteen? I thought it was III.
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Post by billhammond on May 20, 2007 19:58:23 GMT -5
Todd -- Nope, it was the 14th for the Agees, just the third one to which Our Merrie Bande has been invited. They are longtime friends of Barb, which is how usn's got connected with them'uns. Barb and I have been a couple for three years now!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2007 20:26:46 GMT -5
One had to of been there
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Post by billhammond on May 20, 2007 20:34:14 GMT -5
One had to of been there < had to HAVE been there >
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Post by dradtke on May 21, 2007 9:52:16 GMT -5
I'm sorry I missed this. The weather was perfect and I thought about you guys there.
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