Oh why then should I play?
The stage will not reach out and embrace me.
Thunderous applause will not reach well worn ears.
Why open the case?
Why draw the rosin laden bow across waiting hungry strings?
Why bother?
The ghosts of Howdy Forester and Vassar will not smile in approval.
IBMA will not bid me journey to its 3,000 mile homecoming.
But ah yes, journey I must.
Journey to dopamine’s eurphoric land.
Journey to Berline’s borders, even though not being allowed in.
Journey to mysterious unknowns of discovery.
Journey to the land of cannibalistic covetousness.
Journey into serendipitous mystery once again.
But why then?
And why then again?
Oh why again and again?
Because.
Because I am.
Because I can.
Because I am not dirt.
Not yet.
Speaking of fiddling, the 2018 Cloverdale Fiddle Festival is just around the corner on April 7th in beautiful downtown Cloverdale, California at the Citrus Fairgrounds. The fiddle contest for folks of all ages, the live band entertainment, the crafts fair, the lunch, and the “Slow Jam” all make it more than worthwhile. If the rains, not to worry, as everything is held inside in the spacious multi-purpose building.
And speaking of fiddling again (sort of), Albert Einstein’s violin went up for sale on March 9, 2018 (that’s right, two days ago). The estimate for the sale was $100 – $150K, with the violin label reading, “Made for the World’s Greatest Scientist Albert Einstein By Oscar H. Steger, Feb 1933/Harrisburg, PA.” Einstein passed on his violin to Lawrence Wilson Hibbs, son of a Princeton University janitor (boy did he clean up!). Rumor has it that the new owner will be at this year’s Cloverdale Fiddle Festival, demonstrating how you can transform a violin into a fiddle….
