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Bluegrass in the Barn

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There are many great places to hear bluegrass – heck, just about any place will do.  But Candice and I have found a spot that’s become a favorite:  the barn at Evensong Farm.

Which is how we came to listen to live bluegrass on 10.10.10.

Evensong is a farm we support at the Silver Spring farmers market.  Here’s how owner Julie Stinar  describes their work:

Heritage. Health. Harmony. These are the chords of Evensong Farm in historic Sharpsburg, Maryland, growing natural foods that sustain our land, our neighbors and our souls. Healthful, heritage foods cultivated at nature’s pace without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or genetically modified inputs. Heirloom vegetables and herbs, pasture-fresh eggs, grass-raised poultry, pork and beef – healthful food grown to the rhythms of the seasons, to the patient melody of time.

We’re just glad that part of the rhythms of the season includes hearing great bluegrass by Darren Beachley and Legends of the Potomac on the Columbus Day weekend in Evensong’s historic wooden barn.

Beachley is a fine tenor singer who has played with Doyle Lawson.  Banjo player Mark Delaney was with the Country Gentlemen.  Mandolinist and natural comedian Norman Wright was also a Country Gentleman as well as a member of the Bluegrass Cardinals.  But the two gentlemen who really make the “legends” name ring true are two founding members of the Seldom Scene:  bassist Tom Gray and dobroist Mike Auldridge.

The Legends of the Potomac played a great two-hour show this afternoon on a beautiful fall day.  Strong instrumental chops were on display throughout.  One of the treats was an impromptu mandolin/banjo duet to fill the time while Beachely replaced a string.  The set closed with classic Auldridge:  Walk Don’t Run. Our friends Tom and Paul marveled at the musicianship with us on the ride home.

I took a number of photos, and I’ve posted some here.  The Legends don’t have very good video up on YouTube (although this should change soon, as they videotaped today’s concert).  I’m using that as an excuse to post an old Seldom Scene video of John Duffey and his remarkable (crazed?!) version of After Midnight. It is classic Duffey as he mugs for the crowd, but it also shows the remarkable musicianship of Gray and Auldridge (at a much younger age).

Thanks to Julie (Tom Gray’s daughter) and Evensong for hosting this wonderful afternoon.  A great way to enjoy bluegrass in a great venue.

This photo says it all.  Check out the sign:  Grass is Good!

Enjoy the Seldom Scene, and two of the legends in their younger days.

More to come…

DJB

London 2010

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After a day of work on Wednesday, I took an overnight flight to London and plunged into two full days of meetings with the Executive Committee of the International National Trusts Organisation (or INTO).  The days were full, including a lecture on Thursday night at the small and wonderful Garden Museum by my INTO colleague and friend Jeanine Perryck of The Gelderland Trust in The Netherlands.  I was running on adrenaline (because it sure wasn’t sleep), but the trip was very useful (from a business standpoint) and it had the added benefit of being in one of the world’s great cities.

Thursday was an off and on day weather-wise (typical London), but Friday was a glorious fall day.  I went out on our lunch break, crossed the street from the English National Trust and INTO London headquarters on Queen Anne’s Gate, and strolled through St. James Park.  I’ll share a few pictures of that beautiful day.

Before leaving for home on Saturday, I took a two hour walk in the more typical overcast morning.  I had been to Westminster Abby for an Evensong service on September 11, 2003 (so very moving), but I wanted to take it in again, and see Westminster Cathedral and the Houses of Parliament along the way.

So, here are a few photos from my whirlwind trip to London, as I prepare to depart.  I’ll begin with the Queen Victoria Memorial in St. James’s Park.

Here are some gate details, first from Buckingham Palace and then from St. James’s Park:

The flowers in St. James’s Park were beautiful.

I loved this wonderful little stairway off of Queen Anne’s Gate, which led to our host’s offices at 32 Queen Anne’s Gate.

And I’ll end with a nice fall shot from the Dean’s Yard at Westminster Abby.

More to come…

DJB

War Horse

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I saw my first London theatre production this evening.  Wow!  I picked a great one to start.

A colleague on the Executive Committee of the International National Trusts Organisation (INTO) pulled together a group of six of us to see the New London Theatre’s production of War Horse, at the end of two days of meetings at the National Trust’s London headquarters.   After a late afternoon tour of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (motto:  it is amazing what you can build when you have the world’s treasures at your disposal), we walked past St. Martin’s in the Field, the National Gallery, and into the theatre district.  London is a great place at night!

War Horse is an incredibly moving story of horses conscripted to fight in World War I, told in a remarkable way with life-sized puppets.  The trailer that I’ve attached to the end of the post gives an idea of the realism these actors and puppeteers achieve, but seeing it live tops any video.  As one of my colleagues said, “I knew I was going to cry at the end of the show, but I didn’t know whether the story would turn out well or sad.”

I won’t tell, just in case you get the chance to see it.  If you do, please treat yourself.  It is, quite simply, one of the best shows I’ve seen in live theatre in a decade or more.

I’ll give other updates from London later, but wanted to post this while the euphoria from the evening was still strong.  The Sunday Times got it right, when they called the show “Stunning.”

More to come…

DJB

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

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My daughter Claire goes to a wonderfully creative and nurturing school, where the administration and faculty are especially thoughtful as they work to bring important issues before the students and their families.

Which is how I came to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

At the beginning of the summer, the Head of School sent out a letter to the entire school family – faculty, rising freshmen, and high school students – and asked everyone (faculty, students, and parents) to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.  This is not the type of book I would normally read.  As a former history major I generally run from books about science.  (I still remember my high school biology teacher grabbing my ears in class one day to demonstrate to my classmates how ear lobes differ from individual to individual.  I wasn’t in favor of involuntary testing on human beings then and I’m still not!)

But I’m so pleased we were “required” to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks because this is a wonderful work of biography, history, science, and ethics all rolled up into a page-turning book.  The short synopsis:  In the 1950s a poor Southern tobacco farmer named Henrietta Lacks died of cancer after being treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.  Cells were taken from her body without her knowledge or consent and now – some 60 years later – those cells (known as HeLa for the first two letters of her first and last name) are still alive and being used for research around the world.  In fact, the cells have been grown so frequently that if you could pile all HeLa cells onto a scale they would weigh more than 50 million metric tons – as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings.  Henrietta Lacks’ family didn’t find out about the existence of the cells until 20 years after the fact, and the knowledge had a life-changing impact on them.  Skloot weaves the story of HeLa, Henrietta Lacks, the Lacks family, and her own search into a well-told and well-crafted book.

Although I didn’t know it when I opened the book this fall (I have to admit, I didn’t meet the school’s September deadline), this is a work of history.  It is the story of the HeLa cells – and the flesh and blood people behind them.  Skloot spent a decade on the research and writing, and the complicated nature of the story shows why it took her 10 years to sort through the facts and the science and to weave a tale worth telling.

In mid September, Claire’s school held a round table discussion on the book with Michele Norris of NPR’s All Things Considered, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health at HHS Bruce Gellin, and molecular biologist Jonathan Brody.  All had ties to the school.  There was an engaging 90 minutes of discussion between the panelists and the members of the school community.  You find when you read the book of the multimillion dollar industries that have been built around HeLa, and yet the family is so poor they can’t afford the health care that Henrietta’s cells made possible.  The question of Skloot’s profiting off the Lacks family was even raised in the discussion, and I was glad to hear that she’d established the Henrietta Lacks Foundation to provide scholarships to the descendents of Henrietta Lacks.

The discussion raised all the issues that the book explores:  the use of human tissue for research, informed consent, racial prejudice, scientific responsibility.  A New York Times review captured the success Skloot achieves:

In “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” Rebecca Skloot introduces us to the “real live woman,” the children who survived her, and the interplay of race, poverty, science and one of the most important medical discoveries of the last 100 years. Skloot narrates the science lucidly, tracks the racial politics of medicine thoughtfully and tells the Lacks family’s often painful history with grace. She also confronts the spookiness of the cells themselves, intrepidly crossing into the spiritual plane on which the family has come to understand their mother’s continued presence in the world. Science writing is often just about “the facts.” ­Skloot’s book, her first, is far deeper, braver and more wonderful.

The reviewer hits it on the head.  This is a deep, brave, and wonderful book.  It is worth your time.

More to come…

DJB

Sign Adam Dunn

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I returned home last evening from the last “Back to School” night of my parenting career in time to catch the last half of a swiftly and beautifully played game between the Philadelphia Phillies, Champions of the National League East, and our home-standing Washington Nationals.

There was great pitching between Roy Oswalt and Jason Marquis.  Rookie Danny Espinosa showed once again why he’s becoming a regular in the web gems highlights with a great pick and throw at second base.

But the best was saved for last.  On a night when fans received a “Mr. Walk Off” T-Shirt with Ryan Zimmerman’s name down the arm (it was long-sleeved), Adam Dunn did the honors, with a blast as the first batter in the bottom of the ninth to break a 1-1 tie and send everybody home happy.

Please tell me why it has taken the Nationals so long to figure out that Adam Dunn can be a great part of their future for the next 3 or more years?  He’s only second in home runs, has over 100 RBI, and – while a defensive liability at first base – he has three other terrific young infielders in Zimmerman, Desmond, and now Espinosa to take up the slack.  You can find defensive players, but pure power hitters who are as consistent as Dunn are hard to come by.

Plus, how can you not want a guy on your team who, when asked by Debbie Taylor in the post-game interview what it is like to play with certain Hall-of-Famer Pudge Rodriguez (who was mugging beside the camera) replies dead-pan, “Yeah, I’m glad he gets to play with me.”  Priceless!

Come on, Nats.  Sign Adam Dunn!

More to come…

DJB

Three Days in the Tetons

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I’m trying to remember the beauty of Grand Teton National Park as I face a two-hour layover in the Denver airport.

With Sunday NFL Countdown and FIBA basketball competing on the airport television screens, it isn’t easy…but pictures always help.

We just spent three terrific days in the park, studying the work to save both natural and cultural resources.  As a first time visitor, I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction.  The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s work with the National Park Service to save the White Grass Dude Ranch demonstrates how the country can achieve a  proper balance in saving and reusing its historic legacy in a place of stunning beauty and critical environmental preservation issues.  The dude ranches were instrumental in proving that this land could be attractive to tourists visiting from the east.  The places that remain in telling that story deserve to be preserved.

So take a look at a few of the hundreds of photos I took at Grand Teton National Park – beginning with the Snake River shot below – and enjoy.

Here’s a view from Mormon Row.  A colleague says this is the most photographed barn in the entire National Park system!

The following are several shots of the restoration work underway at White Grass Dude Ranch.

A view of the valley floor from the top of the mountain above Teton Village.

More to come…

DJB

Hiking to Phelps Lake

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I was fortunate to spend today in some of the most beautiful country America has to offer:  The Grand Tetons.

And within Grand Teton National Park, the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve is a special place, with its sagebrush meadows, cool forests, life-giving wetlands, and the beautiful Phelps Lake.  I hiked there today with friends and two wonderful National Park Service rangers.

It was a wet day.  We hiked in rain, sleet, and some mixture of the two.  However, it seemed the sun would come out at just the right time.  All that didn’t really matter.  We accepted the weather and enjoyed the Preserve as we found it.

Along the way I took pictures of trees with bear claws, the stream that runs from the lake all the way to the Pacific Ocean, and – of course – the Teton range.  The mountains were topped with snow that fell just last evening.

It is one of America’s special places.

Enjoy the photos.

More to come…

DJB

First Day of School

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For the past thirteen years, we’ve taken a picture of our twins, Andrew always on the left and Claire on the right, as they head out for the first day of school.

We began this practice as they took off for Kindergarten, looking smart in their new uniforms and not a little bit apprehensive.  Candice and I love this picture at the top of the post because it captures this time in their lives so perfectly.

Yesterday, we took the picture below of our two seniors in high school, heading off once again for another year of  school.  There are so many wonderful memories between these two photographs.

Later in the day, I was headed to the airport in a taxi with a driver who told me he was from Togo.  He couldn’t stop talking about his daughters – the oldest is a student at St. John’s University, the next is a high school junior in Washington, and the youngest is in elementary school.  It was clear that they had achieved a great deal, with a great deal of sacrifice.  But he told me that he wanted his children to avoid the mistakes he had made, and I thought that so much of parenting is trying to impart wisdom as we see it.

I’ll have to admit that when he stopped for a breath, I did a bit of bragging myself.

So here’s to Andrew and Claire.  Have a great senior year guys.

More to come…

DJB

Playing my Running Dog

Finding my new Running Dog guitar

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I’ve been thinking about a smaller guitar for some time, to take my music in different directions and to help move beyond what has been a rather long plateau of musical mediocrity when it comes to playing.  But the time was never right, the funds were always tight, and I had other priorities.

A couple of months ago I broke through a personal logjam, and in the process started focusing more on enjoying my music.  (I am good enough to know that I’m not that good, but I decided not to worry about it anymore.)  Candice and I talked, and I told her my dream of getting a new guitar.  She said, “Let’s go for it.”

Of course I had a plan and even discussed it with some friends.  I had a builder in mind and even sought out some of their guitars to test drive.

But then I stumbled across a beautiful Running Dog guitar and decided to seize the day.

Two weeks ago we were in New England with our twins for college visits.  With a couple of hours before the tour, we saw a nice little sidewalk cafe where we headed for lunch.  I noticed a sign for The Fretted Instrument Workshop and mentioned to Candice that I might go up and play a few guitars after eating.

I climbed the stairs to the second floor shop and instantly saw three small O and OO-size Martin guitars with slotted headstocks and 12-fret necks.  Just what I was looking for!  I played through all three Martins, and while I liked them the necks weren’t feeling exactly right.  The shop’s owners were watching carefully, and one headed to another room and came back with this beautiful guitar.  He said, “Try this and see if the neck feels better for you.”

Thirty seconds later, I knew I had found my guitar.  As I played, it just felt right in my hands.  The curly koa back produced a warm sound.  It was beautifully balanced.  I loved the look of the Parlor guitar, based on an 1896 size O Martin.  And as I played I thought about a friend who passed away tragically and suddenly just a few days before, still relatively young and in the prime of enjoying an active retirement.  As a friend likes to say, this isn’t a dress rehearsal.  It was time to act.

Candice finally came up to find me.  She walked in and I could tell by the look on her face that she knew what I was thinking.  With a great amount of love and understanding she said, “Let’s do it.”

But before I pulled the trigger, I had a college tour to take.  I told Tony and Mario that I’d be back in 90 minutes.  And then I quickly emailed a couple of colleagues, including one who is a collector.  I said, “I’ve never heard of Running Dog guitars.  Can you do some quick research while I walk around learning about student/teacher ratios and the renovation of the historic dormitory?”  In less than a minute Carl replied with, “I’m on it!”  Within 15 minutes he was emailing me all about the beautiful bracing and craftsmanship of Rick Davis’ work and ended with, “Buy that sucka!”

And here, dear readers, is my new 2001 Running Dog Parlor guitar (pictures courtesy of Claire).  The first photo is of the full front, where you can see the beautiful, traditional shape of the size O guitar.

Next is the headstock.  We’ve now decided that the running dog going across the headstock is Lilly (yet another reason to buy the guitar!)

The curly koa back, with the matching sides.

Here’s a fun and quirky feature.  The original owner of the guitar was a Civil War reenactor.  You can see his allegiance by the custom design on the back of the headstock.  The owners of the shop heard my Southern accent and asked if I would have a problem with the “Union Forever” sentiment.  I laughed and said that 1) I was in historic preservation so I loved the additional connection to history and 2) I was smart enough to know that the right side won the war.

Back at home, the couch has become a familiar spot for me.  I have two sessions scheduled tomorrow to play this guitar with friends.  I can’t wait.

More to come…

DJB

Rockland, ME

Eating our way through New England

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From Blue State Coffee in Providence, where Claire and I are enjoying a couple hours relaxation after an early morning wake-up and drive, here are some reflections on the good food found in New England on our trip.

Sorry Blue State, but the best coffee we found — hands down — was at Bard Coffee in Portland, Maine.  (That’s not really fair to Blue State, since neither Claire nor I are actually having coffee here…she’s into a great blueberry smoothie and I’m having a delicious iced tea, so we’ll rate them best smoothies and tea…but I digress.)

We had breakfast at Bard two days in a row and our various cups of coffee and pastries were terrific.  Everything is fresh and the staff is incredibly friendly.  Plus, when I came in on Thursday, they had Nickel Creek’s The Fox coming out of the speakers, and on Friday, it was Old Crow Medicine Show followed by Alison Krauss and Union Station playing the great Jerry Douglas tune We Hide and Seek.  How can you not love a coffee shop with a morning playlist like that!  (As another digression, check out the terrific live version of The Fox in the video at the end of this post.  It is the version Claire and I saw at Merlefest a few years ago and features a detour into Subterranean Homesick Blues for you Dylan fans.)  Finally, in another bit of good news Bard appears to be holding its own against the Starbucks across the street.

We spent part of yesterday in Rockland, Maine and I had the best (well, truthfully, the only) lobster lasagna I’ve ever had at the Rockland Cafe.  I’ve been lobbying for a meal at a diner this entire trip, and the cafe was the closest we came.  Rockland’s Main Street is pictured in the photo at the top of the post and we had a great time visiting that revitalized commercial area as well as the one in Bath.  (Only the state of Maine has problems with naming Main Streets…you’re never sure if you are on Maine Street or Main Street.  The problem is compounded in Brunswick, where Maine Street turns into Main Street.)

After walking off our lunch in Rockland, we landed at the Thorndike Creamery where we immediately filled our bellies with some great Gifford’s ice cream.  I had the superb Maine Deer Tracks flavor, described on their web site AND by our knowledgeable and chatty server as rich espresso ice cream with crunchy Heath Bar candies and tracks of thick chocolate fudge.

Believe it or not, Candice and I also got a date night to ourselves on this trip, when Andrew and Claire decided they wanted pizza.  We sent them off to fend for themselves in the Old Port Historic District in Portland and we had a sumptuous dinner at The Salt Exchange, a “small plates” restaurant also located in the Old Port District.

Finally, for those in the Boston area we took the advice of our friend Mary Lane Jackmin and tried out the Diesel Cafe located on Davis Square in Somerville.  The food was great, the decor was fun, and the staff was among the friendliest we encountered during a trip where having a bad wait-staff experience was an anomaly.  Their turkey sandwich even gave Amy’s Bakery Arts Cafe in Brattleboro a run for its money!

So, we have one more day before heading home, and Candice has a great restaurant in her sights for this evening.  If it is as good as advertised, I’m sure there will be an update.  Check back, and remember to take in the amazing Chris Thile in the video below.

More to come…

DJB