by Christine | Sep 11, 2011 | Welcome Column
December 7th. September 11. In our country we remember these two dates as shocking moments of disaster caused by some of our fellow human beings. Human beings who calculated destruction for those of us who did not share their particular view of what the world should...
by Christine | Jun 23, 2011 | Welcome Column
There’s been a good deal of discussion going around recently about the size of the tent we play and listen in and some sort of conflict between “traditional” bluegrass music and not-traditional, with some emphasis placed on what varieties of bluegrass are...
by Christine | Feb 24, 2013 | Welcome Column
A few years ago we spent a few days at Fort Bragg, a beautiful coastal community; the perfect place to escape the summer heat of the inland valleys and delta region of California. The highlight of our trip was to ride the “Skunk Train.” From Fort Bragg, we followed...
by Christine | Jul 16, 2011 | Welcome Column
In Yakima Washington, I lived on a dead end street next to an apple orchard and kitty-corner from a cow pasture. Across that pasture was a set of tracks that ran by a hobo jungle out in the middle of nowhere. In the middle of the night I’d hear the whistle blowing as...
by Christine | Feb 17, 2014 | Welcome Column
Most people know what ginseng is. It’s an herb, prized for centuries by the Chinese and you see it all the time these days as an ingredient in tea, energy drinks and cold remedies. What many people do not know is that ginseng grows all over the northern hemisphere,...
by Christine | Sep 14, 2020 | Welcome Column
Did you know that Wikipedia doesn’t have a listing for Bluegrass Bands? There are listings for Classical Bands, Jazz Bands and Pop/Rock Bands. There are references for Brass Bands, Marching Bands, Military Bands, Mariachi Bands and even Jug Bands but no reference for...
by Christine | Apr 18, 2010 | Welcome Column
I recently received the following email, which somehow made it through all my spam and junk-email filters: “Geoff, The trap, I’m sure you’ve now come to realize, is that any time you do something for the CBA, the CBA is immediately back at you. And our Welcome...
by Christine | Mar 25, 2018 | Welcome Column
The annual WinterGrass Festival, held in Bellevue, WA (just east of Seattle) is my late-winter acoustic music oasis and seasonal bridge. It’s the first leg of a three-state musical extravaganza that caps off my winter and gives me a firm shove into spring. This year’s...
by Christine | Jul 16, 2018 | Welcome Column
The Daily Grist:I think that I shall never seeA poem lovely as a tree. (from Trees by Joyce Kilmer)Trees are very special plants to me. Often when I stare in wonder at a soaring redwood or stately elm I recall the lines above which I learned in childhood. When it...
by Christine | Aug 24, 2014 | Welcome Column
The drought continues to be a frequent topic of conversation this summer. It is wreaking so much havoc in our beautiful state of California. The forests and grasslands are so very parched but the electrical storms that bring summer rains are sparking forest fires from...
