Brooks’s Trains

(Editor’s note: Here’s a classic from Marcos) Writing a column is a funny thing. Some months, a plethora of topics flow like artesian wells in Calistoga. Other months, pounding sand comes easier than a novel idea. There was a two month stretch when Bert me to the...

Bluegrass Content Near End

(Editor’s Note: an old favorite from Rick) “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”– George Santayana, philosopher, essayist poet and novelist. I wasn’t in a rush, not daydreaming particularly, no pressing or urgent problem taken control...

Baseball and Bluegrass

(Editor’s note: as Bruce would say a blast from the past and particularly appropriate with the imminent return of baseball) Bluegrass and baseball are inextricably linked. It’s a fact. Bill Monroe’s band used to challenge the local baseball teams in the towns they...

Byron Berline – Fiddler off the Roof

If you have learned, have been learning, or are just starting to learn to play the fiddle, you know that it is a difficult instrument to conquer. It has to be said that a person really never learns all there is to know on the fiddle, because like all musical...