Great Turn Out and We Got the Job Done

For well over forty years now, men, women and children have gathered together in various spots around Northern California for a few days during the third week in October to sing and play and dance to the music of Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt and Earl Skruggs and the...

Green Rooms

I wrote a column a while back called ?The Little Things?. It was about the things that can make certain venues more fun to play than others, if a whole lot of other factors are equal. I spoke of free meals and drinks for the band, a subject on which (as anyone who...

Hoping for a full house

I’m hoping for a full house Friday night, Sept. 2, when the Freight and Salvage Coffee House in Berkeley puts on a special benefit show for banjoist Bill Evans and his wife.Kathy Evans, a long-time kindergarten teacher in the Albany schools, has been having a...

Grin and Fake It

Author’s apology – I just flew in from New Orleans (boy are my arms tired!) and didn’t have a chance to write a new column for today – this is a reprise.. Some notable wit said that 90% of life is just showing up. That may be true, but a good...

Grin and Fake It

Some notable wit said that 90% of life is just showing up. That may be true, but a good 75% is also faking it. It’s how successful people get from point A to point B. It’s deep at the root of confidence, and I think it stokes the fires of creativity. When I was a kid,...

Grin and Fake It.

You’d think with the week off I had I’d be brimming with pithy scrawlings. Alas, all I’m brimming with right now is a high fever. Some notable wit said that 90% of life is just showing up. That may be true, but a good 75% is also faking it. It’s how...