Friday, April 30, 2010

First Blog In A Long Time

Here it is the end of April and it's been FOREVER since I wrote the last blog. Problem is, it didn't seem like anyone read the thing so it seemed like a waste of time to write it. On the other hand, I have a little time to waste.
We have had some fun gigs; we played at the Old Tucker Fountain, which used to be a soda fountain a million years ago and is now a barbecue restaurant. We must have done okay...or maybe it was that we were free...and have been invited back. The have a pretty regular rotation of bluegrass bands that play Sunday nights, then everyone jams for about an hour, then another band plays.
I got to be a judge of a bluegrass competition at Stone Mountain Village, Georgia, the town's first music festival. I met one of the other judges, Marc Miller, who has a bluegrass radio show in town and invited us to do a live thing on his show, so that's coming up pretty soon. And Hicks With Picks played at the festival that station, WRFG (Radio Free Georgia) put on. As we were wrapping it up, the director asked if we could keep playing because there was a little scheduling mixup. We were glad to and did another half hour we hadn't planned on.
Hicks is the house band at Rock Spring Presbyterian. After a two-year search, we finally have hired a new minister and she started last week. Great sermon, and seems like a real winner! We will play at her installation ceremony, along with the choir, and boy is she in for a surprise when she see her first Bluegrass Sunday when we do all the music for the whole service. We're excited.
I've saved up enough money to buy a new guitar. I don't need one and have more pressing things to spend it on, but I didn't save the money for those other things and they'll have to get paid for some other way. I have heard the Eastman guitar and it seems like a great sound and great value for the money. Anyone have any other suggestions I should check out?
Jeff

2 comments:

  1. OK - I take offense to the statement that, "It didn't seem like anyone read the thing"! Just because I live in Los Angeles & play amplified music shouldn't COMPLETELY disqualify me ;)
    Anyway, glad to read a new one! It's funny you mention getting to judge, because that's what I was just about to blog about! It's an interesting experience isn't it? Hope you weren't too Simon Cowell! As for good acoustic guitars, Dad just went through about the most exhaustive guitar search known to man, and ended up with a nice one, so he'd probably be a good source. Now he's the person you should be picking on, not your one loyal fan!!

    Love,

    Patrick

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  2. True, true! And after a few years of getting picked on as a kid, I feel justified in a lifetime of retaliation! Many of the better religions of the world would cringe. They are welcome to try bribing me to their way of life. On the other subject, I had the judging thing pretty easy; it was a matter of writing down scores on a sheet, adding them up and turning them in, then running like hell before anyone found out who I voted. Have fun with it.

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