There’s almost nothing more southern than NASCAR, except maybe for football, grits, and guns; oh and I almost forgot “Live Atlanta Wrestling”. Growing up in Atlanta there was about as much auto racing on TV as baseball and other sports. It was kind of difficult to ignore. But having said that, I’ve never been to an automobile race and I never attended a Live Atlanta Wrestling match. Though, I have eaten at the Mexican restaurant owned by El Mongol and his wife. How would I know about El Mongol the bad-guy Mongolian wrestler who was billed as from Mongolia, or Peru, but was really from Mexico? Well, live Atlanta Wrestling was on TV, I believe, right before the evening’s run of family shows we would watch Saturday night. It was natural to turn the tube on before “Lost in Space” and my three brothers and I would wrestle along with the guys in the box. At least we would get in a few flying leaps before mom would run into the room yelling at us to stop or we would be sent to bed before our TV shows came on. I actually have a deeper family link to Live Atlanta Wrestling than that. My youngest brother Kevin worked at WTBS (Turner Broadcasting System) and TNN editing trailers for different shows and one of his duties was to create and edit the trailers for the WWWF-World Wide Wrestling Federation. Kevin would paste together clips of the wrestlers billed for the show that week but for reasons unknown to me there was not the accompanying audio. Kevin being the bright creative guy he is would personally dub in the audio, no doubt relying on his Sargent household wrestling experience. What does this have to with music camp you ask…..I’d be glad to tell you. By the time you read this it will be almost May and we will be counting the weeks until Music Camp and the 40th FDF. My almost May-comment to you is, gentlewomen and men,…..start your tuners, errr engines. The countdown has begun and you should be sitting in your car waiting for the green light to drive to Grass Valley. That’s the NASCAR part. Most people think of music camp as this wonderful experience, and don’t get me wrong, it is, but for me it is one part joyful and 2 parts wrestling match. I have been known to wrestle with my dobro, attempt a few musical flying leaps, some quick arm bars, a swift kick right at the beginning of a song, and some dobro karate chops when tagged in by the mandolin. Some even believe that I come to camp masked in my own disguise. Thankfully our instructors help to bring me back to earth and prevent most of my embarrassing melodramatic flourishes. Sigh!On to some more teacher introductions!
For anyone who loves bluegrass mandolin, acoustic blues, or watching a musician express himself with incredible mastery of his instrument, Mike Compton is riveting. Many know Mike from the Nashville Bluegrass Band, John Hartford Stringband, or the kick-off mandolin voice to “Man of Constant Sorrow” from “O Brother, Where Art Thou.” A mandolin master able to channel the Monroe-style playing better than anyone (according to Sam Bush), Compton is a preservationist who continues teaching the music that Bill Monroe innovated and which set the standard for generations of bluegrass mandolin players to come. A true bluegrass icon and one of the best players in acoustic music today, Mike Compton is as passionate an advocate for the mandolin as you’re ever likely to find and can be found on the net at http://www.mikecompton.net.
Mike will be teaching Bluegrass Mandolin, level 3 “Roots and Branches”. His main objective is to expose the class to a few different styles of mandolin playing that he finds interesting in the hope that you will find something new and enjoyable that you weren’t aware of before. Bring a mandolin and be prepared to play A LOT. The class is NOT intended as a lecture.
I can’t remember when Paul Shelasky last taught at the CBA Music Camp but he is teaching Traditional Bluegrass fiddle level 2/3 this year! Paul has played with a number of fine California-based bands over a 40 year span. They include the Phantoms of The Opry, The Good Ol’ Persons, The Coyote Brothers, Lost HIghway, Blue & Lonesome and The David Thom Band (Vintage Grass.) He has toured the USA, Canada, The British Isles, Europe, South Africa, Japan and Taiwan. He has taught at the CBA Music Camp several times and also the British Columbia Bluegrass Workshop in Sorrento and the California Coast Music Camp. Paul has written a Bluegrass fiddle column for Fiddler Magazine quarterly since the inception of the magazine. Paul is an Honorary Lifetime Member of the California Bluegrass Association and has played at almost every festival in its 40-year history.
I have a confession to make. We have just way too many great teachers and not enough space in this column to run each of their biographies before June so I am going to ask you to go to http://cbamusiccamp.com and read the biographies online. I want to thank all the teachers who have agreed to come share their time at music camp this year and that list includes Jack Tuttle, Kathy Kallick, Bruce Molsky, Bill Evans, Wes Corbett, Joe Newberry, Trisha Gagnon, Sam Grisman, Mike Witcher, Sally Van Meter, John Mailander, Paul Shelasky, Tom Sauber, Jim Nunally, Rafe Stefanini, Molly Tuttle, John Reischman, Chris Henry, Mike Compton, Carol McComb, Laurie Lewis, Keith Little, and Kathleen Rushing.
Speaking of Kathleen Rushing, Kathleen is the director of our Fungrass! Program. Fungrass! is the CBA’s program designed for children from 4 – 12 (Younger children may be considered if a parent accompanies them) It takes place from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 pm, during the regular CBA camp hours. It is a music-based program involving song, dance, musical games, jamming, tie-dye and crafts, water and bubble play, and serendipitous moments of musical fun and learning! We will also be performing at the student concert. If your child already plays an instrument we will incorporate their talent into our concert, and if they don’t yet play, you will be surprised with what they learn at Fun Grass! There will be opportunities to try out different instruments at the ongoing jam to be led by Erik Kramer-Webb on Tuesday and Wednesday. Now you have no excuses for not-bringing your kids or grandkids while you attend the music camp class of your choice; they get their own bluegrass music experience, you get yours, and then you can get together later in the day to share.
Music camp is looking like it is going to be a full and raucous event. Our camp directors have been working hard putting the finishing touches on our 2015 camp. Janet Peterson sent me a registration summary the other day and it looks like we have more students registered than I can remember for this time of the year. While Janet has been handling registration, Peter Langston has been getting the teachers lined up, whipping the volunteers into place (including me, ouch), and creating some interesting top-secret afternoon electives.
Registration for the 2015 CBA Music Camp opened on February 7 during some welcome precipitation. The 15th CBA Summer Music Camp will take place June 14th to 17th at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley, California. More information is available at the music camp website http://cbamusiccamp.com. And we would like to remind you that you can give CBA Music Camp as a gift for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Graduation, Birthdays Valentine’s Day, and even April Fool’s Day. Check it out at our web site.
