So we ended the last post at around Friday morning and we had one last thing on our list that we felt was important to be part of. Ryan Cavanaugh and Rex MeGee had been invited to put on a IBMA members only Showcase in one of the rooms at the convention center. After breakfast, Bill and I hit the trade show floor again for a little bit and did some visiting. Then we headed up to catch the showcase after stopping and taking care of some business at the registration table. I was concerned about being late, but then we saw Rex and Ryan hustling in the same direction having just come from shooting a music video on top of one of the skyscrapers in town. We made it in time and were disappointed to see a small number of folks in the room. No matter, those that were there knew it was going to be good, and indeed it was. Because of the small number and the intimate feeling in the room, it became more of a private party and Rex and Ryan invited requests. Bill didn't miss a beat and asked for Autumn Leaves, knowing pretty well what would follow. Fortunately, I got it recorded and yes, here you go, fuzzzy video and all, you are wlecome:
By Friday afternoon the Street Fair was warming up and people were really flowing into town. Although I still saw musicians on the streets, they were mostly hustling to and from gigs and appointments. The weather was getting a bit colder also. We bounced around from this to that, caught some music here and there and generally had a good time. Saturday I took a walkabout just to get the feel of the size of this mass of people and all the events going on. It was indeed huge. The crowds were shoulder to shoulder and when I tried to get a look at the Kruger Brothers on the City Center Stage, I just could not get close enough to see them. Frankly at this point, my brain was pretty fried. The week was winding down and Saturday evening we took it kind of easy, we were both pooped. We pre-packed up and hit the sack at a 'reasonable hour'.
I am going to mention here that even though this series of posts is already very long, they is in no way comprehensive and I have left out dozens of little stories and events because there were just to many and quite a few only had significance to me, or for me to explain what happened would require a lot of detail and bore most of you. Just trust me, we had a lot of fun, and the things going on in my head could fill a small book.
I will however share one small story to close out the week. If I had any regrets about the week it was that I could not hook Bill up with his old friend Sam Bush. I had invited Sam to the reception but he was not to arrive until after it took place. whenever we were in a place that Sam might be, he was tied up with rehearsals or performing at another venue. We did see Sam's wife Lynn at the Awards Show, but he was involved elsewhere and she sent his apologies. At any rate, I realized you set you goals for a thing like this and hope to hit most of them. I figured missing just one was not really anything to worry about, so I let it go. We headed out to the airport mid-morning on Sunday and arrived and got through the gauntlet (security) in good time and were sitting at the gate around noon, giving us about an hour to kill. I told Bill I was going to look for a beer I could bring back and drink at the gate and off I went. They informed me at the bar that this was not allowed in that airport and I had to consume it at the bar, I took a pass. As I was leaving, I saw Sam, Lynn, and his bandmates at the bar having lunch. I waited politely as Sam did an autograph and photo for a budding young mando player. I introduced myself and apologized for further interrupting his lunch. I expalined that I had been looking for him all week and that I was traveling with Bill, hoping to get them hooked up for a few minutes. He looked at the floor and said "Yeah, Bill... I am so bummed I did not get to see him this week.... WAIT, What? Did you say you are traveling with BILL?" "Yeah." "well, is ... is he here? Now?" "Yeah", I said " He's just 2 gates down tha...." Too late, he was in gear, he told Lynn he had to go see Bill, she got a little agitated and reminded him that they had to board in just 2 minutes. I think she was looking at both of us when she said "If you are not back here in time ...." She didn't have to finish, I knew that look, my wife uses it on occasion. Besides, no time to waste, Sam was on the move and slipped right past me as I began to turn, then he looped back and swept up his mando off the bar stool, before looping arond me again and dashing, yes, dashing through the crowd. I couldn't keep up. He's a spry son of a gun, and I shouted directions ahead to him. When he found Bill, Mary Doub was already seated next to him, so it made for quite the little reunion. 5 minutes or so of high quality catching up and then Sam had to go. What a wonderful way to end the week. The rest of the trip home was easy and I smiled like an idiot the whole way.
One would think this would have been a good place to end a happy tale, but wait there's more.
We barely had time to recover (actually Bill did, but it took me longer) when we began to get ready for the next phase of this party. You see back in July of '13 we started to talk about getting Ron and Wendy and their band to come down from Yarmoth, ME to do a house concert in our area. We never could set a date that year, but then we picked one in May and had to change that too. The date we settled on was 10/11/14, just a week after IBMA. Now it should be noted, we set this date back in April, long before we knew of Bill's award(s) and what would be happening at IBMA. None the less, we decided to continue the party from Raleigh to Clinton Corners, NY. To inhance the group of friends, we invited Ryan Cavanaugh to come up from NC and he arranged some other gigs to help pay the way and allow him to play that mnight. Then, as luck would have it, Rushad Eggleston was doing his fall northeast tour and looking for a gig in our area also that weekend. It made for quite the night and the music was incredible! The Gather Rounders headlined and everybody took a turn with some super collaboration at the end. Bill and Claire were the Eric Weisberg came along, some of Bill's band mates too. All in all just a super night and a great cap on the previous weeks of events. Video to follow, when it is edited and published. (Thanks again Fred!)
Now here is the name dropping bomb. I want to thank each and every person that helped make this adventure something special. Everyone here helped in some way, either through conversation, friendship, a first time meeting, support, advice, guidance, a shared moment, or whatever. I was going to try to be democratic and list them alphabetically, but there is no way. So here is a stream of consciousness list:
My wife Pat, Bill Keith, Claire Keith, Martin Keith, Lisa Husted, Mary Doub, Mary Burdette, Rousby, Joe, Caroline, Fooch, Matt Bowe, Brain Hollander, Abby Hollander, Ron Cody, Wendy Cody, Jonny Cody, Marc Horowitz, Fred Robbins, Bela Fleck, Juno Fleck, Alan Munde, James Reams, Rex McGee, Ryan Cavanaugh, Leah Latella, Ned Lubrecki, Darol Anger, Joe Walsh, Darwin Davidson, Happy Traum, Jane Traum, Sam Bush, Lynn Bush, Jenni Lyn Gardner, McRoy Gardner, Ira Gitlin, Tony Trischka, Sammy Shelor, Daniel Greeson, Matthew Goins, Tom Nechville, Eric Schlade, Mike Munford, Jim Mills, Nick Barr, Bill Knowlton, Bill Evans, Steve Martin, Jim Lauderdale, Dominic Leslie, Russ Bonk and his lovely family, Dean Seabrook, Baker, Noam Pikelny, Jim Rooney, Renik Jansen, and I am sure there are many more, but this is what my brain can come up with. No doubt, as soon as I hit "publish", a flood of names will come and I apologize for those I misplaced in my head. I'd also like to thank the dozen or so people who came up and said 'HI' because they knew me, but I could not place them. Just know I was a bit overloaded at the time (still am, a bit).
It was quite the adventure for sure, and my telling here is most inept, but I am hoping you get the gist. The following week there was a bit more involving Sarah Jarosz, Sam Grisman, Alex Hargraves, and the Milk Carton Kids, but I think that's enough for now. I need to post this so that I have a day or two bfore I put up a post about SOME of the stuff you can catch this weekend coming up. Here's a hint, can you say "Luthier's Showcase"? Oh boy, here we go again!
Keep the Beat,
Tom
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