On Saturday we will have an open stage and a band scramble. The charge for Saturday is $5.00. Again you will be able to stay overnight for free as long as you are off the grounds by 10:00 AM Sunday (this does not apply for those staying on for the Katie's Crossing Bluegrass Festival).

On Sunday June 20th, Katie's Crossing will host their 2nd annual Bluegrass Festival. The festival starts at 1:00 PM. Featured bands include Restless Lester, Home Fire, the Black Lightening Bluegrass Band, Wildwood Flower and the Hotte Family Band. The charge for this festival is $12.00. This event is not part of the NBCMS Solstice and not sponsored by the NBCMS. Another option is to purchase a weekend pass for $19.00 which includes the NBCMS Solstice jam, the Sunday Bluegrass festival, a pancake breakfast on Sunday and (rough) camping for the extra day.

Katie's Crossing is located 5 miles east of Highway 21 at the corner of Range Road 221 and Baseline Road. An easy way to get there is to depart from Edmonton east on 101 Avenue (Baseline Road), continue on Baseline Road all the way through Sherwood Park, continue on that road past Highway 21 and on past RR 222 (the road that leads into the town of Ardrossan). About 1 mile east of RR 222 you will come to a railroad overpass. Just before the overpass on your right, you will see a caboose and a few railway coaches. That is it.

For more details http://www.bluegrassnorth.com/pages/1/index.htm or phone Carolyn at 922-4204.

Has MandoLinda seen the light? Will she be forever known as BanjoLinda? Only time will tell.

We didn't have a fridge in our room so Marshall filled a bucket with snow to chill the beer and wine.

Once we had put our drinks on ice we headed for the jamming room.

There were about 20 people there who had been going strong since the night before. That's bluegrass stamina... they were already 18 hours into the bluegrass jamming marathon (minus 6 hours of sleep). They had a nice fire going and an endless circle of songs, we jumped right in.

Unthawed performing at the Open stage

In the Pines - Blues Grass fusion

Shortgrass with Momma Bear and Little Boy Blue

Caroline and Kayla

We left Sunday after brunch to head home and get ready for the work week. I had fun playing bass and playing a little mandolin using cheater two-finger chords. Everyone's fingers were sore and I have a beautiful blister on my right hand bass plucking finger (thanks for the bandaids Pat!). One of my favourite overheard lines of the weekend: My fingers are sore. Sore fingers? You want to be a bluegrass player or not? Suck it up! Maybe next year we can get a massage therapist to come and offer 10 minute shoulder massages to help keep us going.

I loved the retreat, it was great fun to play music with so many interesting people and a good way to get out of the city. And as Ed mentioned there were no pesky instructional workshops to interrupt with jamming time. I feel recharged. Too bad J-bird and Jo weren't there. I think they would have enjoyed it and I know they were both missed. Hopefully next year.

I packed up my bass and fiddle loaded them in my car and went to the PleasantView jam. I was too late and missed the Slow Pitch Jam. But Willie took me downstairs and gave me my first bluegrass fiddle lesson. He wanted to teach me a song about boiling cabbages or something like that but I requested to learn Old Joe Clark instead. yllleain yllleain yllleain yllleain yllleain yllleain yllleain yllleain yllleain yllleain . I managed eventually to play the basic melody - but it will take quite a bit of practice to sound half as smooth and sweet as Willie.

How many bluegrass fiddlers does it take to play Old Joe Clark?
Apparently all of them!

Came home and tried to show off my new song to Marshall but stopped when I noticed he had covered his ears and was grimacing. Catch 22 - need to practice to get better, hubby finds it painful when I play. Hmmmm.

I talked to Willie for awhile and asked him about how much a good fiddle would cost. I am looking for a warm, caramel sounding fiddle like his. He offered to lend me one of his until I find one and offered to keep an eye out. Hopefully I will have a better time finding a fiddle than I have finding a good standup bass to buy (still looking for a Kay).

I went downstairs for a few minutes and was able to pick out the beginning melody to Faded Love. Yup, I've been itching to play for a while so thanks to Willie's generosity next week I will be annoying not only my dear husband but the birds too.

What a great weekend, on Friday night there was an instructor band scramble and since there were not enough instructor bass players a couple of students were invited to join in on the fun. Here I am with Brad Oviatt, Rob Baker, Windi Hanson, Dave Johnston and the banjo player from Homefire (I have such trouble remembering names).

The workshops were good, M took a mandolin class with Emory Lester while I took a bass class with Terry Knutson. I picked up some tips on left-hand technique, playing slap bass and playing walking bass. It was very worthwhile and I appreciated Terry's commitment to his students - he's a very fine teacher.

The jamming was of course fun - though most of the jams were quite large, I like it best when I get to jam with 5-7 people. When it gets bigger than that I find that folks can't listen as well. I went to bed early on Saturday night - before midnight. I was feeling under the weather and exhausted so I crashed. The jam next door went on until around 2am. So I fell asleep to great music.

The highlight of the weekend for me was the feedback we got from the Down To The Wood guys. We asked if they would spend some time with us (Wildwood Flower gals and Smokin' Ed) to give us some pointers on how to use a condenser/omni directional mic. If you have ever seen one of their shows you know that they have it down pat - zig-zagging in and out of the shared mic. It's a treat to watch. I got some great tips on bass placement (turn the bass away from the mic during the quieter vocal parts and towards it during instrument breaks (excluding guitar breaks since the guitar is such a quiet instrument). Also, Glen showed me how to move with my bass during a song (while playing) - I'll have to practice - not as easy as it looks. Don't think I will be learning how to walk the bass while walking the bass anytime soon if you know what I mean. J + S got some pointers on moving in and around the mic and how to gracefully swap places without anyone getting an instrument in the eye. We also got feedback on how close/far to get to the mic. The DTTW guys were very generous with their time and helpful. Thanks guys! They have a new cd out which has great bluegrass harmonies and instrumentation. Pick one up if you can (I looked to find where you can get one online but no luck so I guess they only sell it locally).

I had fun this weekend and can really feel it today - my arms (from playing so much) and left knee (from standing all weekend) are sore. It was well worth it - the next bluegrass weekend is the Winter Camp in January which will be an all jamming weekend (no instruction).

My band this evening were the Mad Cow Patties:
Rose on mando,
Erin on guitar,
Dave on guitar,
Augie on banjo,
Willie on fiddle,
and me on bass.

Went to the bluegrass circle and had a good time. Practiced with J & S again in the freezing cold basement. J is out of town on Friday but it looks like S and I and whoever we can get to help out are going to perform at the Uptown Folk Club Open Stage. Marshall and Charles are also going to play a couple of songs.