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We’re not dead yet!

Published by DJB

Cynics (or my children) looking at last evening’s twin bill at the beautiful Strathmore Music Hall would be tempted to title the show, “We’re Not Dead Yet!” In response, the current edition of the Seldom Scene (one original member) and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (with a whopping three of the five original members) could respond with the same motto: We may be older than dirt, but we can still fill a concert hall!

The Scene (photo at the top of the post) played first, with mandolinist extraordinaire Jimmy Goodreau sitting in on a half-day’s notice for the ailing Lou Reed. This isn’t your father’s Seldom Scene…the vocals don’t match those of Starling and Duffey, and no one can play those Dobro licks like Mike Auldridge…but this is still a good bluegrass band. Dudley Connell is an expressive lead singer, Ronnie Simpkins — who along with Goodreau was a long-time member of the Tony Rice Unit — can play bass with the best of them, and 70-year-old Ben Eldridge provides the link to the original Scene. I was only sorry that Eldridge’s son Chris — of The Infamous Stringdusters and Punch Brothers fame — didn’t sit in as he will occasionally do. It was a fun 45-minute set that delighted the crowd in Bethesda.

The Dirt Band is still doing what they do best — playing a mix of anything that pops into their head. I’m dating myself now, but I saw NGDB when Jeff Hanna (motto: my hair is ALWAYS going to look better than yours) was playing washboard and they still had the sense of a jug band about them. Last night’s show was filled with old favorites and thankfully some new material as well. John McEuen still hams it up on the stage (when you’re a six-foot plus, very hairy banjo and fiddle player, it probably comes with the territory). Jimmie Fadden remains a terrific harmonica player. With Jim Ibbotson’s departure, Hanna handles most of the lead singing. A riff on what would have happened if the Beatles had been a bluegrass band (answer: Paul McCartney’s divorce would have been a lot less expensive) led to Hanna’s bluegrass cover of Get Back.

The title song on their new CD was written by Gary Scruggs, and when Hanna mentioned this I got to thinking about another Scruggs song, The Lowlands. When searching through YouTube for some appropriate video to add to this post, I came across the Dirt Band — along with Jamie Hanna and Jonathan McEuen — playing (you guessed it!) The Lowlands. Jamie and Jonathan are cousins (their moms are identical twins) and their dads are NGDB members Jeff and John. I’ve always enjoyed the family nature of bluegrass and roots music (think Carter Family, Del McCoury, Nickel Creek) so I love to see these guys singing and playing with their dads.

The Hanna-McEuen duo sings beautifully. I’m sure their old men are proud. Enjoy.

More to come…

DJB

Theatre Rebirth

Published by DJB

I knew that I had become my father when I found myself telling a friend a few years ago that “I paid more for my last car than I did for my first house.” It was one of those lines that my father used when I was young – and here I was repeating it! (Just to set the record straight, our now 10-year-old car wasn’t that expensive; it just happened that as newlyweds, we got a great deal on a 1910 townhouse that needed a lot of work.)

Another story that I heard from my father when I was young was how he spent nights and weekends taking up tickets and serving as the back-up projectionist at the Franklin Theatre in his hometown of Franklin, Tennessee. Daddy knew all about the movies and stars from that era, because he had a free seat.

So it was no surprise to me that Tom Brown would be in Franklin last Saturday evening when the lights in the marquee of the historic Franklin Theatre were turned on for the first time in 40 years.

The Heritage Foundation of Franklin – one of the great local preservation groups in the country – now owns the theatre, which last operated as a movie house in 2007. Here’s how their “Save the Franklin Theatre” website describes the connection between the theatre and the community:

The enduring romance with the Franklin Theatre began in the summer of 1937. The marquee spilled brilliantly onto Main Street inviting citizens countywide to see “Night Must Fall,” starring Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell.

And they came — young and old, black and white, rich and poor. They laughed, they cried, they dreamed. And, together, within the illuminated walls of the Franklin Theatre, unforgettable moments occurred and memories were made.

In the 70 years that followed, until rising rents forced the theater to close in 2007, life changed dramatically. But for the most part, the Franklin Theatre stood timeless, becoming one of the most beloved small-town movie houses in the South. Fresh-popped corn, first kisses and saving pennies for the Saturday matinee became pastimes shared from one generation to the next.

I talked with Daddy after the lighting ceremony, and he was thrilled. He sent photos – including one where he’s holding a promotional sign – and said that the local Main Street manager had given a shout out to the National Trust. (Daddy’s always pleased to hear people speak kindly of his son’s employer!) The theatre is to reopen in June of this year, and he’s planning on returning when his high school class holds their reunion in his old movie house haunt. But this isn’t just a place for those soaked in nostalgia. The marquee restoration was underwritten by the “Next Generation of the Heritage Foundation” – a membership group composed of supporters age 21 to 40.

That’s what preservation is all about: taking places that help define a community and using those places to link generations together. By celebrating and protecting these places, we build livable cities and towns for today and for the future.

Thanks for the memories, Daddy, and thanks for the stories. Now that your grandson is getting ready to head off to college in urban studies (after writing his college application essay on Jane Jacobs), it appears that your love of community has been passed along to yet another generation.

More to come…

DJB

The Steeldrivers: Rockin’ the Rams Head

Published by DJB

Last Thursday evening, Candice and I made the trek to the Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis to catch The Steeldrivers – one of the more innovative and energetic bands in bluegrass today. It was my introduction to their live music and we weren’t disappointed.

First of all, this is not your father’s bluegrass. There are equal parts Nashville, soul, bluegrass, great songwriting, and strong instrumental chops. I’ve seen Tammy Rogers when she played with Patty Loveless, but her work with the Steeldrivers goes to another level. On Thursday, she gave the band the energy that had the crowd roaring from the opening notes. Banjo player Richard Bailey was understated but beyond solid, Gary Nichols has a terrific voice out of the Muscle Shoals tradition and bassist Mike Flemming provided the band’s foundation both instrumentally and vocally. I especially liked the addition of Mike Henderson’s metal body National guitar, with the slide taking the place of the more traditional bluegrass Dobro. A great sound.

The real surprise for me was that the songwriting of this band is especially strong. Over the course of their almost two-hour show, they come up with some of the best country phrases around:

“Drinking dark whiskey, tellin’ white lies”
“If you can’t be good, be gone”
“You put the hurt on me like I never felt before”
And the classic, “Guitars, whiskey, guns, and knives…three’s a crowd and four’s a fight.”

This is a terrific band, and they rocked the Rams Head Tavern on Thursday night. The crowd was knowledgeable and appreciative, and the Steeldrivers responded.

Catch them the next time they are in your town. But until then, enjoy a little corn liquor (although the studio version doesn’t do justice to the energy in the live show).

More to come…

DJB

2010 in review

Published by DJB

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 16,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping container, your blog would have filled about 4 fully loaded ships.

In 2010, there were 68 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 329 posts. There were 207 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 385mb. That’s about 4 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was December 20th with 145 views. The most popular post that day was Our Year in Photos – 2010.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, netvibes.com, en.wordpress.com, happiness-project.com, and mail.yahoo.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for monument valley, bratislava, farnsworth house, samuel beckett bridge dublin, and samuel beckett bridge.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Our Year in Photos – 2010 November 2010
1 comment

Santiago Calatrava’s Dublin Bridges (And More) By Dawn’s Early Light September 2009
2 comments

Moved by Santiago Calatrava’s Milwaukee Art Museum October 2009
3 comments

Monument Valley September 2008

Calatrava’s Samuel Beckett Bridge Opens for Traffic December 2009
1 comment

We passed 30,000 total views since the blog began. Happy New Year to all and best wishes for a great 2011.

More to come…

DJB

Old-Time for the New Year

Published by DJB

The coming of the New Year is always a time to look back and look ahead. I’ve done both the past couple of days as I’ve enjoyed seeing some new video of the “progressive” old-time banjo work of my buddy John Balch.

John and I played together in high school and college under a couple of band names – the best one being The Fiery Gizzard String Band (which we used about 20 years before another band from the area took it up). The name comes from a beautiful and wild area in the South Cumberland region of Tennessee that I’m pleased to say has recently been saved by my friends at the Land Trust for Tennessee (winners of a 2010 National Trust for Historic Preservation Honor Award).

But I digress. I’m talking about new style old-time music.

John is a terrific clawhammer banjo player, with two stellar CDs out under his own name. Clawhammer is known as an old-time style, but John’s music sounds as fresh and current as anything coming out in the acoustic music world today. Don’t take my word for it. Bluegrass Unlimited said of John’s second CD HOT Biscuit Jam:

“This is 45 minutes plus of delightful string band music. John Balch is a clawhammer player, but hold on, this music is as close to newgrass as it is old-time. Jack Pearson’s mandolin and Shad Cobb’s fiddle don’t go anywhere Balch’s banjo can’t go. This makes for one fine musical journey.“

John Balch with Jack and Elizabeth Pearson

A couple of nights ago, John joined the aforementioned Jack Pearson (Allman Brothers, Jack Person Band) and Shad Cobb (I last heard him with the John Cowan Band), along with guitarist extraordinaire David Grier for a “Jack Pearson and Friends” showcase. They played some of John’s music, including “Wesley” which is captured in the video below.

John is one of those folks I’m honored to have known in my life. You can listen to his music and marvel at his talent. If you know that he’s battled multiple sclerosis in recent years, yet continues to play, his music becomes all the more remarkable.

Nothing’s speaks to the past like old-time music. But the past can be a great foundation for the future.

And with that thought in mind, I’m heading off into 2011.

More to come…

DJB

18 Years, Yet Seems Like Only Yesterday

Published by DJB

Today began a new era. Today was the first day after Andrew and Claire’s 18th birthday.

The twins were born mid-day on a Sunday. At the moment of their birth I happened to be singing There Is No Rose in the church choir for the last Sunday in Advent in 1992. Because we adopted Andrew and Claire, we didn’t know they had been born until the next day after receiving a call from the adoption agency. Eighteen short years later, Andrew, Candice and I were spending December 20th sitting in the Strathmore Music Center listening to Claire and her high school choir join the Cathedral Choral Society in a wonderful Joy of Christmas concert (blackberry photo at the top…don’t expect to see great detail). It seemed a fitting bookend: they came in to song, and they entered “adulthood” singing.

When friends ask how it feels to be the father of 18-year-olds, I don’t offer any profound insights. I usually say, “It seems like only yesterday…” or “Time flies….” The years and the associated memories have been wonderful. Andrew and Claire are not perfect, but they’re pretty terrific people – who are now really young adults. (Andrew asked where he could register to vote this morning.)

I couldn’t be prouder of the two of them. But instead of writing more, I’ll simply post a few of my favorite pictures from the different eras of their lives.

Happy Birthday, Claire and Andrew. I love you.

Dad

Fretboard Journal: The 20th Issue

Published by DJB

The 20th issue of The Fretboard Journal showed up in my mailbox a couple of weeks ago. Any time a big package shows up in the mailbox these days, the kids get excited as they wait to hear back on their applications to college. But I’m the one who shouts for joy when I see the package that turns out to be my favorite magazine.

I’m glad to see The Fretboard Journal make it to 20 issues, as I wasn’t sure they could sustain this model. But the editors keep putting out the best guitar porn on the planet, with stories about both players and builders.

Readers who like North Carolina’s Avett Brothers will want to check out this issue. As always, there are great introductions to builders and players I’ve never heard of (see the Joe Veillette article and his beautiful creations). I enjoyed a Bobby Long piece about how Dylan’s Gibson J-200 on the front of Nashville Skyline (see photo at the top of the post) inspired a life-long passion. Paul Mehling, founder of the Hot Club of San Francisco, talks about all things Django.

But my eyes really popped out when I saw that Bela Fleck had a feature in the Winter FJ. Bela has redefined the banjo throughout his career, and the article covers all the major elements of his work. He talks about learning from Tony Trischka, his time with New Grass Revival, and his more recent projects. There’s a great section on his main instrument — fondly named old Number One.

Banjo jokes aside (What do you call it when the accordion lands on top of the banjo in the dumpster? Perfect Pitch.) Bela has shown how this instrument can rightly claim its historic place in American music in the 21st century. The video below neatly demonstrates how bluegrass banjo has evolved. On the Steve Martin tune, The Crow, Martin begins with a standard Earl Scruggs-style send-off. Then at about the 1:30 mark, Trischka demonstrates the more melodic style that he and Bill Keith pioneered in the 60s. Finally, at about 2:08, Bela jumps in and shows where he’s taken both of those styles in his own unique brand of music. Take a read through The Fretboard Journal, take a listen to the video, and enjoy.

More to come…

DJB

A Celtic Yule

Published by DJB

On a blustery, cold evening in suburban Washington, a full crowd was warmed by the 11th annual Celtic Yule concert of Robin Bullock and Amy White & Al Petteway. Hosted by the Institute of Musical Traditions (or IMT), this annual concert is like much of the holiday musical scene – familiar yet welcome.

Bullock has a wonderful tone coming out of his Taylor guitar and sounds better with age. The second half opened with his haunting In the Bleak Midwinter/The First Noel/It Came Upon a Midnight Clear medley. His solo mandolin pieces exploring the Bach unaccompanied violin and cello suites are a new (for me) part of his show, and they demonstrate his impressive chops. The Cello Suite #4 is technically demanding (the E-Flat major transposes into B-Flat major on the mandolin), but Bullock made it sing on his beautiful Gibson A-style mandolin from the 1920s. Check out the video below of Bullock playing solo guitar, and then imagine that it sounds twice as good live.

Al Petteway and Amy White played holiday tunes (including a beautiful The Holly and the Ivy) but also promoted their new album High in the Blue Ridge. They opened with The Drovers’ Road, an evocative piece celebrating the switchback roads of the North Carolina mountains.

All in all, a satisfying and enjoyable holiday evening.

More to come…

DJB

Music of the Season

Published by DJB

Among the treasures of Washington are the musical offerings at local churches and synagogues throughout the city and at all times of the year. Today, the Madrigal Singers from Andrew’s high school sang a Music of the Seasons concert at St. John’s Church, Lafayette Square – the “Church of the Presidents” across from the White House.

It was a beautiful 30 minute concert that was captured live on the Episcopal Church website. Click on the link and you can see the entire concert which begins with O come, O come, Emmanuel, moves through Riu, riu, chiu and includes beautiful music by Holst and Parsons. The mood shifts with the Thomas Dorsey Precious Lord, take my hand and the moving spiritual Ride on, King Jesus. The Christmas Song and It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas round out the set.

Although I didn’t know it when I arrived for today’s concert, Andrew had a few solos. I wouldn’t be the proud father if I didn’t point out that you can hear him kick off Riu (at about the 5:10 mark), sing a solo in Holst’s Lullay my Liking (at about 17:20), and then really get into Ride On, King Jesus (at about 27:07). But really, you should listen to the entire video. Andrew’s classmates – including Nelson, Caroline, Nick, Izzi, Anjolie, Katie, and others – have terrific solo turns as well. Enjoy.

More to come…

DJB

Our year in photos – 2010

Published by DJB

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I’m continuing my tradition of posting photos from throughout the past 12 months on More to Come…

The Browns have so much to be thankful for this year: the love of family, our health, an exciting curiosity about life today and what’s next for each of us, good friends, and so many opportunities. These pictures give just a glimpse of what we’ve experienced in 2010.

To read the caption, simply place your cursor over the picture and it will magically appear. At the top of the post is a photo of the four of us at the lake at Mohonk Mountain House this past August, where we spent a wonderful weekend unwinding in the midst of a two-week trip to look at colleges.

Thanksgiving blessings to you. I hope you enjoy the photographs.

More to come…

DJB