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Our friends at Mandolin Cafe have made the audio from the 2006 LoarFest West panel discussions available on their site. Participants were Roger Siminoff, Darryl Wolfe, Charlie Derrington, Dan Beimborn and Bruce Harvie, moderated by Mandolin Cafe’s Scott Tichenor.
We recorded an interview yesterday with Craig Wilson, one of the organizers of the LoarFest West event, which will be included in a future episode of The GrassCast.
The 8/06 issue will feature an interview with Wade Mainer, a seminal banjo pioneer who merged old time and early three finger styles, and a detailed interview with Bill Collings of Collings Guitars. The cover story is one on Nashville songwriter Guy Clark, and the new issue also includes a report on Loar Fest West (which we mentioned earlier as well).
The editors like to describe this publication as a coffee-table style magazine, and focus much of their attention to providing a visually entertaining presentation along with the text content of each issue. They proudly point out that the magazine is published on archival quality paper, and full color is used throughout. They make no stylistic distinctions, and intend to simply cover acoustic music and the instruments used to create it.
Subscription details can be found on their site.
Gibson has donated a unique and surely collectible mandolin to be sold in support of the LoarFest West event, a distressed F5 Master Model, dated 12/14/05 and valued at more than $25,000. It will be displayed during the event and bids are being accepted now. The LoarFest organizers will also cover the travel expenses and festival passes for the buyer of this instrument.
Contact Hal Johnson by email for more information or to make an offer. You can see some more detailed images of the mandolin here.
West coast aficionados of fine mandolins have something to look forward to early next year. Loar Fest West will be held as a part of the SuperGrass festival in Bakersfield, CA the first weekend of February, 2006. The concept of a Loar Fest – a meeting of owners of the highly prized Gibson F-style mandolins made in the early 1920s, and signed by Gibson innovator Lloyd Loar – developed over successive years at the annual IBMA conventions where several owners of these mandolins might be in one place at the same time.
Loar Fest West is described by its organizers thusly:
This event is a gathering and celebration of Lloyd Loar mandolins and includes displays of Loar mandolins by their owners, a panel discussion featuring Loar historians and experts, and a star-studded lineup of musicians playing Loar instruments.
The event will be held on Thursday February 2 at the Holiday Inn Select, adjacent to the Civic Center Auditorium where the remainder of the festival shows will take place. The day starts with a luncheon at noon, followed by a chance to view several Loars on display. The remainder of the afternoon will be given over to panel discussions and performances.
A ticket for the SuperGrass festival gets you in to the mandolin events as well. More details and a complete schedule can be found on the Loar Fest West web site.
