 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
[Click on any image to enlarge]  Monday morning, bright & early, there we were back in the van, bidding Roanoke goodbye. I'll miss the town, the good & the bad...goodbye to the cold showers & all night beer pong tournaments the players company had in the kitchen while we were trying to sleep, the stifling humidity that buckled the floorboards backstage & made tuning impossible, the farmer's market & well-stocked library, the Green Dolphin Bar & Grill, my tiny little cell on the 2nd floor, Mill Mountain Coffee, the whole deal.  Eugene Wolf was right, 2 weeks is a good amount of time to spend in Roanoke...just enough to appreciate the attributes, not long enough to go off it's shelf life. Dr. Doug Pote came by on our closing night & took us all out to a wonderful dinner at Wertz's. What a cool guy. Oh, I didn't tell you...I gave him my original drawing of the Stanley Brothers, which he framed & has hanging in his office.Something for the patients to look at while the Doc greases up the steel eel, no doubt.Met some really good people there, including Mike Connor from FiddleFest, who had some helpful comments to make about the Dixie Bee Liners brand new CD. Speaking of tuning, I promised to give you an update on the different strings I had to experiment with. Black Diamond black teflon coated strings bite the big one. They look cool, but didn't deliver...they lost their "zing" midway through the second show, & 2 songs into the third show I broke a wire...haven't done that in over 5 years! The best ones? For guitar, it's Martin Extended Life SP+ 80/20 Bronze, & for mandolin, D'Addario EXP75 Extended Play Phosphor Bronze. I still had tuning & string life issues, but these stood up best to the punishment.   Glad to be back in my homey, funky corner room at the Barter Inn. Though not for long...we have but a few shows left before we close up the production for this year. We have a few left, including one on October 20th at the historic Paramount Theatre in Bristol, known as "the birthplace of country music".  I hear Dr. Ralph is going to be there again...baby not included.  Last night we were at the historic Rex Theatre in Galax, VA. The theater is now the property of the City of Galax (aka "The World Capital of Old Time Mountain Music"). It's a former movie theater (where some of the founding fathers of bluegrass played between showings), which is now home to the weekly "Blue Ridge Backroads" live radio show, along with occasional musical performances & plays like ours. It's a funky old theatre, with a lot of memories soaked into the walls. Once I get the pictures back I'll post a photo of the old marquee. The Rex is a long, "shotgun" type room, & with the lighting rigs shining right in our eyes, obscuring the audience, it was like playing to a black void. But the locals had a great time. We were staked to an incredible barbecue dinner by the owners of The Galax Smokehouse, though we were only given about 20 minutes to wolf it down before being called across the street for soundcheck
My Ratliff mandolin took a tumble off the platform onto the stage floor during one of the scenes, but aside from a scratch or two suffered no damage. Thanks to Audie for building one great axe!  After our last show on Sunday, we're getting up bright & early Monday morning to cut a cast album. We're pretty much cutting the show live, so there's a lot of pressure on Ed Snodderly & Gill Braswell, both of whom are relative newcomers to their respective instruments, as well as me, Nick & Gill who are going to be singing all day & into the night. Kim & Amelia only have a couple choral numbers then they're free to leave.
 Speaking of, here's a picture of Amelia Ampuro, who plays Ralph's love interest, Jimmi Crabtree. Quite the dish, ain't she? Speaking of dishes, here's my picture of the week.Gotta love them southern gals.  One more photo from our Katrina Relief concert...
...& I must go. More in a couple days. | |||
|
|
Newer
Home Blog & News Gig Schedule Biography Voice Artist Boys in the Band
Listening Room Press Photo Gallery Links of Perdition Recipes
Copyright © 1998-2006 Spatula Ranch Productions