by Christine | Dec 10, 2009 | Welcome Column
How does one learn to play music? I recall reading somewhere that in Portugal (or maybe Greece?) when a kid gets to be six or seven years old, they put a balalaika in his hand and plunk him down in the band, where his initial dissonant efforts are drowned out by the...
by Christine | Mar 20, 2019 | Welcome Column
I have never had expensive sunglasses or an expensive pen, because pens and sunglasses are easy to lose or break, and the expensive ones break and get lost just as easily as the cheap ones. Of course, I’m not always so intelligent or consistent. Most of my life, I got...
by Christine | Jan 14, 2010 | Welcome Column
Many years ago when our children were little, we were members of a parent cooperative nursery school. Two of the other children were Sten and Eric, sons of our friends Pat and Ed. Pat and Ed moved away from Point Richmond in 1978, ending up in Chico, where Pat grew...
by Christine | Jan 25, 2017 | Welcome Column
I know I’ve written in the past about the highly visible lifespan of a spontaneous jam at a bluegrass festival. Stage 1, a few pickers begin playing and singing together. Then, like a planet forming from the accretion of orbiting particles, wandering musicians like...
by Christine | Mar 13, 2008 | Welcome Column
The English language could use a few more words for “love.” Even the Greeks’ eros and agape aren’t enough. I love bluegrass music. I love my painstakingly collected aggregation of stringed instruments. I love chocolate cake. I love Barbara, my best friend, life’s...
by Christine | Sep 22, 2010 | Welcome Column
Shortly after dawn, on a cool October morning, Angus MacNabb arose from his austere bed. He stretched, scratched the stubble on his chin, broke wind and padded to the washbasin, where he splashed some cold water on his face. He studied his face in the cracked mirror,...
by Christine | Mar 1, 2017 | Welcome Column
(I first posted this about 12 years ago – and it got more response than any other Welcome Column I’ve done – apparently it struck a nerve!) There are an awful lot of songs in Bluegrass and country music that refer to the lonesome sound of a train...
by Christine | Feb 13, 2019 | Welcome Column
Yesterday, I stepped out of a coffee shop and was approached by a gentleman whom I did not recognize, but who appeared to recognize me. He was carrying several books and a playbill. “Are you familiar with the works of Mamet?”, he asked me. “Er, uh, you mean the...
by Christine | Jun 5, 2011 | Welcome Column
As the title implies, I’m the lucky one to write the first Welcome Column after the Great Web Site Melt Down of 2011. Losing contact with my bluegrass family for several days was almost too much to handle. I was even beginning to ponder the aspects of activating my...
by Christine | Sep 5, 2018 | Welcome Column
I have never, ever been very pleased with my face or hair, so it’s a happy coincidence that I began playing the most hat-friendly form of music ever: bluegrass. It could be argued that country music is even more hat-friendly, and maybe it is, but recently, the trend...
