I guess you can say I've had a love affair with words almost since before I learned to talk. Since moving to North Carolina from California in 1972, I've learned that a “minner dipper” is a mandolin, a “scratch box”
Funny stuff
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Pouco Bessie with guava nectar
The Night Drivers and I have just completed what I believe is the world’s second shortest European tour. The world’s shortest European tour involved a band that just took their instruments out at the baggage claim of Amsterdam Schipol airport,
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6 weeks in Myanmar, and other folk tales
I’m in Scotland at the moment, and I’m taking a couple of Wednesdays off to clear my head and think of new jokes involving banjos, haggis, and curling. Meanwhile, though, during a recent seminar at the IBMA World of Bluegrass on
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So I said to Alison…
I addressed the issue of name-dropping early on in the life of this column. Bela said he was pretty happy with it, so I felt no need to follow up. Dan and Suzanne had also given it their stamp of
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Hyperbanjoization and PIBMAWOBWOBFS
This is going to be brief, as I’m still in the throes of post-IBMA-World-of-Bluegrass/Wide-Open-Bluegrass fatigue syndrome (PIBMAWOBWOBFS, or “Pib-ma-wob-wob-fus”). I hid away for three days, eating nothing but buckwheat pancakes and ramen noodles (not together), watching baseball, and listening to
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Ramble, the Lonesome Squirrel
Here's our Special Bluegrass Correspondent with a team report on the new official mascot of the IBMA's World of Bluegrass, created by Raleigh artist Tim Lee.
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IBMA journal – ying or yang
This is midweek of the IBMA World of Bluegrass in Raleigh, NC. I’m enjoying the week, possibly because my really hard day doesn’t come until Thursday, when I’ll be participating in a morning seminar (“Yoga on a moving bus: healthy
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Meet the Rob Ickes of rice
My very first column for Bluegrass Today was written right before the IBMA World of Bluegrass of 2011, held in Nashville. It contained some recommendations for maintaining your health during what can be a very stressful week. I would write something
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No answers here, or El Presidente’s brain
The IBMA World of Bluegrass is fast approaching, and if you’re planning to attend, you probably still have plenty of questions you may be asking yourself. Let me just say up front that I have no informed answers to give, unless
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The Bluegrass name game
Do you ever play the name games? I’m referring to the cute methods of generating your own alternate name for a specific occupation. For example, you can arrive at your stage name by combining your middle name with the name