October is a busy and important month for the California Bluegrass Association: IBMA World of Bluegrass, the CBA Election, the Fall Campout and Annual Membership Meeting, the Instrument Raffle and the kickoff for the CBA Youth Program Scholarship Fund Drive.
When this issue appears on your doorstep many of us will be in Raleigh NC attending the annual International Bluegrass Music Association hoopla. Lucy Smith of Chico is again spearheading our CBA presence and she has a great team of CBA members to help her. The CBA Suite at the IBMA event is a nonstop destination for bluegrass fans and bluegrass performers and everyone in the bluegrass music scene world-wide. Volunteering in the Suite is an exhausting and exhilarating once- in-a-lifetime experience. There will be a full report with photos in the next issue of the Bluegrass Breakdown I am certain.
We are very proud of the Californians and CBA Members up for awards and/or appearing this year in Raleigh. Frank Solivan II (from our very first Kids on Bluegrass and now from Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen) is nominated for The Instrumental Group of the Year and The Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year (“Yeah Man”). Our own Rob Ickes (Blue Highway) is on the ballot for Dobro Player of the Year and Vocal Group of the Year and Instrumental Group of the Year. Randy Pitts is nominated for Best Liner Notes for a Recorded Project (Laurie & Kathy Sing Songs of Vern & Ray), a project straight out of California bluegrass history. Annie Staninec, Molly Tuttle and John Mailander are all nominated for instrumental Momentum Awards and Molly will be promoting her first solo CD. Front Country has been selected again for an Official IBMA Showcase Band and we will present them at the CBA sponsored luncheon at the IBMA Business Conference. Six of our talented CBA Youth have been invited to perform with the Kids on Bluegrass (Helen Lude, Daisy Kerr, Helen Foley and the Gooding brothers: Josh, Jake and John.) They will join CBA members and CBA KOB’s from Tennessee, Frannie and Cara DiGiovanni, on stage in Raleigh. We could not be prouder of these young musicians and are happy to be able to support them with grants from our CBA Youth Program funds.
The ballot for the 2015-2016 Board of Directors should be in your hands now. Let us know if you need a photocopy. Yoseff Tucker was inadvertently left out of the September Bluegrass Breakdown but you should have been able to read his statement by now. Current CBA members are able to vote up until the Fall Campout. This year we have more candidates than available seats on the Board so your attention to the candidate statements is essential. Also please review the amendment to the CBA By-Laws and cast your vote Yay or Nay. I recommend a Yay vote in order to allow some members to attend meetings electronically. Weekend meetings have been an issue for professional musician and music teacher Board Members in the past (the time when many are working) and this By-Law change would help us recruit Directors from the professional musician/teacher category.
Our Campouts are always a “must attend” and the Fall Campout will be held again at the Lodi Grape Festival Grounds October 19-25 coordinated by Board Member David Brace. Some people are lucky enough to camp the entire week with many others heading up for the weekend. Campouts are very social and there is non-stop jamming involved. There will be a dinner again and election results will be announced. We will also have the drawing for our Instrument Raffle which supports our IBMA presence. Tickets will be available for purchase at the event. Heck, if you win an instrument, you could even donate it to the Kids Lending Library!! The JD Bluegrass Cookbook will be available to purchase. The campout also is the kickoff for fundraising for the CBA Youth Program and specifically will raise funds for our Scholarship Fund so bring your checkbook or credit card. The new Board will be seated at the Annual Membership Meeting on Sunday and Officers and Coordinators will be confirmed. 2016 is going to be another busy year for the CBA .
By now, many of the bugs should have been worked out of our new website with a new url www.cbaweb.org. We are so excited about this new project. Rick Cornish and the web team deserve our unending gratitude for both managing the old website for its 15 year life and creating our new up-to- date presence. We recommend you update all your band information, all your teacher information, all your venue information. The information presented on our website is only as current/good as you, the members deem it. The website is a group effort and we hope you update, visit and participate. We also have a Facebook presence for our Association, our Youth Program and our Father’s Day Festival and invite you to go over and “like” us there. The CBA has come a long way from our first mimeographed newsletter and it has never been more convenient to stay in touch with this remarkable Association.
