Funny stuff

In last week’s discussion of bluegrass music camps, I focused primarily on the students, and what they can expect at events like this. This week, I’d like to offer a word or two for and about music camp instructors, especially

Guest Artist Quiz and Prizes This month’s guest artist is the rajah of the resophonic guitar, Rob Ickes. At an early age, Rob was kidnapped by pirates who left him on an island off the coast of California with nothing but

Now that March is upon us, it’s only natural to think ahead to the end of winter (if you got any where you live) and the coming festival season. The festival season also means the season of the bluegrass music

March Madness, to me, doesn’t mean basketball. Rather, it’s the perennial delusion that just by showing up in Peoria, Arizona, and running a few wind-sprints, the San Diego Padres are guaranteed in seven months to be spraying champagne over themselves after

I have always loved a good conspiracy theory. I believe almost all of them, too, whether they become discredited in the media or not. When I hear that something has been “disproved,” I believe that’s just what “they” want us

I’ve had time to analyze the reaction to my disclaimer published here last week, the one that attempted to warn that these columns are not intended to be taken seriously or literally, and I’d have to rate it as a

Tweets in Response to Steve Martin's Blatant Attempt to Increase Public Awareness of Bluegrass Grammy #bluegrassgrammyattackads Steve Martin claims to be illegitimate son of Jimmy Martin. Nope, says Jimmy in Skype session from beyond. #bluegrassgrammyattackads Steve Martin mispronounces “banjo” on Letterman. No,

Steve Martin took to Twitter last week, in a blatant attempt to influence Grammy voters heading into Awards Season. Hollywood has long embraced the tradition of pushing projects forward in the press, both to hopefully garner Oscar nominations, and subsequently, to

Recently it has come to my attention that some readers of this column are actually taking it seriously. This concerns me, especially since in the last several columns I’ve been giving out “advice” for new bands. It troubles me to

We start a new feature this week with 20 Questions. When I write biographical articles on bluegrass stars I have to ask predictable questions, which means I usually get predictable answers. For this feature, I ask questions the artist may