by Christine | Sep 11, 2016 | Welcome Column
The grape trucks are rumbling again this morning in Sonoma County. It looks like a good harvest so I thought I’d reprise a column from a couple of years ago. Hope you enjoy:Autumn is a great time of year here in Sonoma County. Downtown Healdsburg...
by Christine | Aug 6, 2008 | Welcome Column
This weekend is the Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival, also known as GOF, also known as “Goofy”. The good folks who put on this festival would like the latter moniker to fall out of favor, but I doubt that will happen. “Good Old Fashioned” is too long for quick...
by Christine | Oct 2, 2014 | Welcome Column
It took over 18 months but I finally figured out that now that I am retired, I need to self fund my bass and music endeavors as opposed to just paying. You know that whole fixed income thing. Used to be, I’d be at a festival or a jam and see some cool piece of gear...
by Christine | Jun 6, 2013 | Welcome Column
Last year I crossed over and here I am a year later to tell you what it is like after you do. You might think that I am going to tell tales of glory and wonder but actually it is not all that different than before I crossed. Sure there are a few more perks on this...
by Christine | Feb 19, 2019 | Welcome Column
I want to tell you about my son, Phil. The story starts on a warm July evening in 1997. I’ve driven to the BART station in Fremont to pick up my oldest son, Phillip, who’s traveled down from school in Berkeley so he and I can attend a little bluegrass...
by Christine | Oct 19, 2011 | Welcome Column
Most old guys like me view the past through a gauzy rose-colored lens. Food was better, the sky was bluer, nobody ever really got hurt, politicians were honest, nobody ever locked their doors, and so on and so forth. I also think of customer service in this way. Part...
by Christine | Oct 28, 2008 | Welcome Column
Like many bluegrass pickers in the CBA I belong to a band. That’s just how bluegrass people are. The bands usually don’t get rich or famous but it’s fun to play gigs at coffee houses and small festivals. For one thing it really helps your playing to...
by Christine | Feb 1, 2014 | Welcome Column
Hello my article readers! The recent news in music and more specifically in bluegrass, was the Grammy’s. Which means the rid of tension of who will win the awards. (Even thought the Grammy system is pathetically flawed where the word “best” actually means “most...
by Christine | Jul 11, 2017 | Welcome Column
There have been less graceful exits. King Wilkie comes to mind immediately, but there have been numerous other departures that were more surprising and jarring and that had more bluegrass success, including Allison Krauss’s new project Windy City. I wouldn’t be...
by Christine | Apr 9, 2019 | Welcome Column
One, or at least this one—me—will occasionally look back over the more vivid moments of his life and swear that just could not have happened. One such moment occurred nearly a lifetime ago while I attended graduate school and beat my head against the wall trying to...
