by Christine | Aug 8, 2012 | Welcome Column
I don’t know about other cultures, but this one we have here seems to value purity. We want to buy water that is 100%, we buy Dove soap because it’s 100% (pure what? I don’t know!) The push for purity has a very ugly side too, as applied by Hitler or the Ku Klux Klan....
by Christine | Aug 23, 2019 | Welcome Column
(Editor’s Note: On the Trail of Steve Martin was one of the earliest Welcomes written by John Karsemeyer. Back in September of 2009 when it appeared here we really had no idea of what to expect from John. Many years later, we still don’t.)The Bear. Not your average...
by Christine | Sep 12, 2009 | Welcome Column
The Bear. Not your average bear. The Golden Bear. The Golden Bear was a club in Huntington Beach, California. Southern California that is. It’s gone now, but not forgotten (R.I.P. 1926-1986). You could go there and hear live music. The opportunity arouse in 1967...
by Christine | Jan 8, 2016 | Welcome Column
I don’t know…there’s just something about Bakersfield. Every time the highway gets me close, my heart seems to beat a little faster. Coming up to Oildale. Thinking about Merle Haggard, and about the time he walked through a jam down at the doubletree during the great...
by Christine | Aug 13, 2010 | Welcome Column
It’s ten o’clock on Thursday night and I just had the unsettling realization that my column is due tomorrow. That would be today, if this is Friday. Last week I wrote a beauty. It would have rivaled Shakespeare. The culmination of the work of a lifetime. It would’ve...
by Christine | Nov 25, 2009 | Welcome Column
I had written a beautiful column for this Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. I read through my previous 4 Thanksgiving columns, and drew excerpts from each, and added more pithy, poignant commentary. Unfortunately, you’ll never see it. I left it on my computer at...
by Christine | Dec 3, 2020 | Welcome Column
It was a year ago this month that I played my last two gigs. At the time, I thought they were okay and fun to play but nothing special. In both gigs I got to play with some good players but both were casuals as they say “in the parlance of our times” (I stole that...
by Christine | Oct 29, 2020 | Welcome Column
Congratulations to the new CBA Board! They take over at a time when things anything but business as usual, but I have every confidence they will lead the Association ably through 2021 and beyond. Congratulations to the CBA and its members for such an historic turnout,...
by Christine | Jan 21, 2020 | Welcome Column
Who are these kids, and where did they come from?After seeing their names pop up repeatedly in accounts of the western US acoustic music scene, I decided to contact the parents of Miles (16), Teo (13), and Niko (10) Quale, and ask them if a short piece about the boys...
by Christine | Dec 5, 2010 | Welcome Column
Sitting on the edge of my bed, I held that old classical guitar in my arms as a little kid hugs a large stuffed animal. I was fourteen and learning guitar. It was well past my bedtime, but I kept practicing. Soon, however, sleep would overcome me and I would doze off...
