Funny stuff

I’m on a flight across North America right now, the second of three legs of my trip home from our recent European tour. This seemed like a good time to write this column, because for one thing the deadline is

Greetings from Prague, in the Czech Republic, where our European tour is starting this week. Before I go on to much less serious and important subjects, I want to acknowledge a big loss in bluegrass music, especially for northeastern bluegrass fans:

Early spring brings its familiar signs: the start of the baseball season, the blooming of daffodils, and in the northern states and Canada, a seemingly endless supply of mud. Late spring will be here before we know it, though, and

In his comment on last week’s column about stage communication, Dick Bowden requested that I write a follow-up article on band members who don’t know the number system. I don’t as a rule answer this kind of request, unless it’s

Well, I was going to continue the discussion we were having about on-stage communication, but it’s gotten too loud in here to be heard (cyberspace can be so noisy!), so I guess I’ll just call out the numbers with my

Greetings Bluegrass Fans, Once again I am forced to remove the dust cover from my Underwood typewriter and report to you a plot so heinous that it caused me to look up the word heinous. First, let me say that I am

On-stage communication between musicians can take many forms and is required for a variety of purposes, some vitally important, some completely unnecessary but at least amusing. One of the biggest reasons for communication during a show is to assist someone in

Vendors, especially food and beverage vendors, at a bluegrass festival can sometimes be like an oasis from the elements, a blessed port in a storm. Think of the times you’ve been at a hot and humid festival in late July;

Last week I received my first major blowback from a Bluegrass Today column of mine. I never like to offend people, and it is never my intention to do so. I said as much in my reply to the comment.

Are bluegrass festivals successful? The answer, in 2013 (I prefer to work in the present because it’s so now-ish), is an unequivocal “yes” and “no.” It all depends on who you talk to and how you define “success.” For some,