Thank you to the CBA Board for reelecting me President of the CBA. The role of President is to be a liaison between the Board and the Membership. Board membership is not required for the position. The monthly column written by the President is to inform the membership what the Association is doing and as time goes on, the CBA is doing more and more.
First a comment or two about the annual election. This is your Association and your vote counts. The voter turnout was very low this year. We must have 10% of the membership voting in order to have a valid election and we did meet that quota but I expected there to be much more interest since this time there were more candidates than open seats on the Board. All incumbants kept their seats: David Brace, Tim Edes, Montie Elston, Steve Goldfield, Dave Gooding, Mark Hogan, Jim Ingram, Larry Phegley and Geoff Sargent. Mikki Feeney was elected to fill the empty seat. This is a strong Board of Directors and they have hit the ground running. The By-law Amendment passed unanimously. Directors will be able to electronically attend some meetings under some circumstances. I was in support of this amendment and I believe only about 7 people cast ballots opposed.
There are also some new Officers/Coodinators selected and approved by the Board to serve this next year. In no particular order they are: Campout Coordinators: Glenda and Von Lew, Mercantile Coordinators: Dennis and Julie Lawson. Vern’s Stage Coordinator: Ron Esparza. FDF Backstage Manager: Theresa Gooding. FDF Workshop Coordinator: Steve Hogle. FDF Ice Coordinator: Drew Davidson. FDF Handicap Coordinator: Gene Kirkpatrick. Two new Area Activities VPs were selected: Kim Smith, Nevada County and John Saiti, El Dorado/Amador Counties. Please say thank you to everyone who volunteers to serve you. It is amazing what our group of dedicated volunteers can accomplish.
The Doubletree Hotel in Bakersfield is filling up for the Great 48 Hour Jam. The Thursday night concert will feature Sideline from North Carolina. Sideline played the CBA Suite again this year to a packed house and tickets to this concert in Bakersfield should be purchased in advance. (See advertisement in this issue). We reserved our hotel room over a month ago, we would not miss this (essentially) free event. Every year more and more people from all over our State attend. Watch the website for more information as we get closer to the first full weekend in January.
Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper is coming to California in February. Michael just won Fiddle Player of the Year again for the 10th time and the band won three other awards as well. Tim Edes is presenting the band SATURDAY night, February 27th in Morgan Hill at the 13th Annual Night at the Grange and a group of us is presenting the band on FRIDAY night, February 26th as a fundraiser for the CBA Youth Program at the Elks Club in Alameda. Early Bird tickets for both events will soon be available on www.cbaweb.org
It is time to donate to the CBA Youth Program to get your 2015 deductions (we are a 501©3). The Scholarship Fund is open for your donations as is the Instrument Lending Library. Because of our CBA members, we were able to issue $6000 in scholarships to our youth in 2015 and the need is there for 2016 as well. Registration for the ACADEMY (4 day music camp for 8-16 year olds) will open soon and we are building the Scholarship Fund now. You may donate on line at www.cbaweb.org or at www.cbayouthprogram.com (all credit card fees are waived for online contributions). The Lending Library desperately needs good mandolins and ¼ AND ½ sized basses. We have a waiting list for both mandolins and basses and we will purchase quality instruments if people are generous enough with donations. Scott Tichenor is setting up a donation campaign again on www.mandolincafe.com for mandolins. For donations of actual mandolins and basses, you may donate through Mandolin Café or contact Randy January at kidslendinglibrary@gmail.com. For questions about any donations or to send checks, please contact me at cbayouthprogram@gmail.com and I will direct you. Please consider sending cash donations in the direction of the next generation. We count on you as do the kids. Checks can be sent to me:
Darby Brandli
2106 9th Avenue
Oakland CA 94606.
Checks should be made out to CBA Youth Program and you may designate where you want your money spent on the check. We will send tax letters for all donations before taxes are due.
