Mark Evans

Alan, I'm a devoted Child of Wheatsone and could never deface a religious object...but my banjo (which most folks including myself consider to be an instrument of torture) I did paint up! I have a "thing" for sunflowers and did my best to turn in into one. Have had some rather "colorful" comments from other banjo players!

I for one need to play for emotional balance. Cheaper than the thearapist I spent plenty on over the years . The instrument completes me, always has. It, combined with the act of singing lets me slip into a place were time stands still. The act of holding it and manipulating it's bellows is, gonna sound nutty...a holy thing, a communion. At some point during a practice session it is not a separate instrument, but part of me. Only the failing light or an interuption reminds me there is something else. Now that I'm playing again, my teenage children are a joy, problems at work....just a bump in the road....my beautiful wife....well, that hasn't changed (yee-haw), but life is now full and complete. Only down side is that I have not painted a canvas since Tina came home with me. I think about it, but the smell of the leather, beautiful cherry wood and those black little buttons seduce me. Uh-oh, that don't sound nutty...it's just plain weird.

Wendy, don't give up on daughter's BF. All the students I encounter at the job site listen exclusively to metal, alternative, rap (the list goes on and depresses me to recite). Their culture gives them no other reference point. I have found that they respect someone who makes live music however. Ask some questions. The daugher's BF might suprise you. My ex-students now working for ITS here get a kick out of helping the odd feller with his singin' an' squeezin'. They manipulate these machines as you and I would the Albion. P.S. I think Jim was trying to help me avoid "tunus Interuptus" by downloading the whole file and saving it before opening it. At some point today I shall try just that. I shall become a right-click master...perhaps.

Bravo Nanette!

That one went very well Wendy! I really enjoy the accompanyment. It sounded like a fellow who was living up in vieux Montreal a few years ago. He had a limonaire from 1906 and would set up in the square not far from my father-in-laws loft. Wonderful. Thank you for the memory.

Wendy, (anything I'm about to say is to be taken with a grain of salt because I'm a real buffone at this but...) the ITS fellers at the job site tell me the gaps or buffering has most likely to do with the individual servers. You are not the only one, Howard and Toms submissions have left me gasping from "tunus interuptus". I'm told (in very measured language so as not to confuse the concertina monkey) that the trafic on servers plus the amount of compression in the MP3's in question are most likely at fault. In prepairing my submissions, they experimented with compressions that would make it less likely to have buffering and still sound exceptable. They are very sweet and I owe them a case a beer. Now don't go thinking I'm a cheap-skate. Most of them took one of my music appreciation courses and the grade I "gave" them reflects a generous "gift" on my part already. Accounts are now just approaching equality .

Very cool Henk. Sound engineers making a very comfortable living must be a bit ichy at all of this technology.

Nanette, I add my voice to Henk's. Speedy recovery. Your posts have been missed and I had wondered.

It is the instrument of my salvation, for "I was lost, but now am found."

Alan, I would love that! I could have the Rosbif Waltz (beautiful that) learned and maybe even Limey Pete and I could show you my Koi pond (the fish are sullenly looking at me through the hole in the ice...they must think this weather is all my fault). It was heartless to use bluegrass banjo on the neighbors for it is like curry (a little goes a LONG WAY ).

No Alan, they were very sweet and one morning during the Christmas season I found a little care package of cookies for my bulldog on the porch along with an invitation from them to come to a well-known Celtic Christmas concert in our area. Now the neighbors across the street...another mater. They had been rather inconsiderate one early morning (2a.m.) with some bone crushing rap. I waited until 10 a.m. and gave them a good hour of non-stop bluegrass banjo! Proud of myself and a bit deaf, I went back inside only to be told by my dear wife that I was "heartless". The neighbors have been quiet .

Ah Jim I wish I had thrown that collection in my brief case this morning. The author in his short history on O'Carolan clearly states the collection was gathered from a number of transcription resouces and gives a few of the period plates as example. There is a bibliography but no annotation within the "history". It's a good read, but scholarly...far from it. The author refers to verse that O'Carolan wrote for the laments, but does not inclue them in Gaelic or translation. Gave me a difficult time with Captian O'Kane which I understand has verse and it is only speculated that O'Carolan wrote the verse or tune (still have not seen the verse in translation or Gaelic). So I have to play it in the key given (Em) and see what it says to me. Well, hearing Danny's (Rat face) version said something completely different (Am?) with realized chords, drop dead beautiful and sad (whoever this wounded hussar is, he is young, his wound is fresh and he will not long be). Mine seemed more like an old man with his saddness moving along well enough considering his old wound, with his pint and his pipe waiting. Since then I have encountered several other versions which upon first listen, I had trouble discerning the tune. Slippery this business. I'm sure O'Carolan is having a good laugh over the whole bit and very happy people are still drawn to his music.

Ah Ha! You know, I find that in the seisun I attend that O' Carolan tunes are avoided unless the harp player starts them off. The flautist grumbles under his breath and goes for a pint....Is Turlough even considered Irish in some circles? As for the Irish harps I've encountered, they can play in any key...I think so yes. Mabye Morgana can set us straight on dat little issue. Key a G eh, well, next week I'll start off an' see how quick the grumbly ole' flautist goes fer his pint ! As for the keys, it's fun. Gary Owen is played by a banjo player friend in G, most everyone else plays it in D....Ha! I do it back ta back in both....they are very different in character....but both make me think of horses, saddle leather and Custers just reward.

I've had "The Complete Works of O'Carolan" (Ossian Publications) for awhile now and over the last few weeks have started to plough through it. Have encountered more that a few suprises on tunes I'd picked up by ear: Key signatures and actual structure. I realize Turlough's compositions were transcribed and passed down from one player to another (very cool that), but it forced me to be a little quicker on me feet in playin' situations. A mandolin player I enjoy working with has been courious about playing more Irish tunes and very proudly told me "I've learned Morgan Magan"...So he starts off, and I realize he's playing in G major, not A major. I don't want to dampen his joy and pride so I transpose in me noggin' and after a bar or two I'm not playin' like I was wearin' oven mitts. It changes the tenor of Morgan Magan completely. I asked him where he had gotten the music, "In a mandolin tab book". O'Carolan, shook up folks back in the day...and is still at it! Started me on a project of randomly transposing his tunes in an exploration of how does key signature effect the meaning of a tune. Much fun!

I'll bet they won't complain. Jim and Chris aren't being cheek here. When spring takes hold again I'll move back out to my porch and play. Folks wave as they pass by (not the single fingered Boston Hello). A few have even come up on the porch and introduced themselves. Two older ladies who live a few house down the lane actually left me some wild flowers and blackberries from their yard this past summer with a very sweet note. Sure made me feel great.

There's a nasty little rumor about that....not so much that I play Irish, but that I abuse it . Now back to topic thread for a moment... That little Stealth anglo looks to be nicely small. I'll wager it's not 6 inches across and if that be the case me harties, what kinda reeds be lurkin' therein...Aargh!

Could be...I have a fuzzy recollection after all the tunes started sounding the same .

No, I'm afraid that after a few drams of me single malt...all's right wid da world and it's amazin' how well I think I can play . I've become rather fond of my black buttons on the Morse, whiskey or no. The little devils do start hidin' as an evening wears on though .

Howdy All, Eddy And His Only Friends will be a ridin' into Avon, Massachusetts on Saturday, February 5th 'round 8:00 p.m. a' pickin', sangin' an' a' squeezin' at Blanchard's Tavern (museum and waterin' hole servin' Colonial fare from the 1780). There'll be a fire in the hearth, and us sharin' our particular brand of insanity. No cover and children welcome. Ya'll come! BlanchardsTavern.com If that ain't enough ta make ya' a teatotaler, Eddy And His Only Friends (better known in local bluegrass circles as Oh No Not That -deleted- Band) will be raisin' a cloud a' dust on the horizon on their way ta' Cambridge, Massachusetts and the still operational Plough and Stars, Saturday, February 12th from 5:00-7:30 p.m. Ploughand Stars.com. Now they don't allow no children in there (with good reason). Ya'll come anyhow! They call me (at least to my face) "The Squeeze" an' I'll be a' playin my Morse, a thwangin' on my banjo an' a' hollerin' my head off...Yee-Haw!

Stephen, This is beautiful. I'm a silly old fool and am moved to tears. Bravo! I' proud to be one of the children of Wheatsone. Thank you.

Ah Ha! I missed the "Stealth" part altogether. Had assumed it refered to the ebony ends (f-18 Stealth fighter), but the olive drab makes sense (however the gold tooling blows the drab part out o the water! ). Vitorian green much brighter...The only Wheatsone I've laid me mitts on from that period had a similar "olive" colored bellows, 'course she was 143 years old and I had several excellent single malts warmin' me outlook on life under the belt . Editorial note: Honest, I've no single malt under the hood at this time a' mornin'. Just my "creative" spellin'.....

I must brag on my Dominique. She just this morning (1 a.m.) finished a sweater for me (got it on right now). Man o man this jersey is out of some heavy duty wool from a lady up in Maine....I'll be cold no longer. Winter, bring it on! This stuff actually turns water and the fragrance! Allison, I like that idea...Mid-Winter Squeeze In, and chocolate! I've been kicking myself in the hindquarter I finked out on the NESI.

Ah, you prove Alan's point! I have suspected for quite some time now that you will tip windmills given the opportunity. Glad ya tood up to the feller! No parallel fiths indeed . And I hope you shoved that tritone right up his nose! You bring up a good point about razzel-dazzel. Often, I encounter musicians that are only into saying "look at me". Well, we all do that to some extent, but for most it's because there is something that must come out and music is the best route for our particular minds. But I hear what you saying. I've had many voice students over the years come in for a first meeting, blow out my ears with everything they've got under the hood and I must needs ask..."why do you want to sing?" the interesting ones think about it and we begin a journey together, the others find a different teacher straight away and save me a few more gray hairs!

Oh my! Honestly the only thing on TV I can watch and yes it doth stir well known nutbags to rug chewing frenzy (much as poor Tinky-Winky did). Mark, thank you for the link. From it I assume the concertina player is a member of a group listed as Blue Hawaii. Unfortunately, they don't list the individual instruments or persona. Great stuff though, tin whistle, resophonic guitar, and of course very tasty anglo playing on each episode. Whenever I play the Sailor's Hornpipe my daughter pops in the room and says "SPONGE BOB SQUARE PANTS!" Just thought a little nautical nonesense was in order! Aargh!

Mister Tedrow, That Stealth box is mighty classy. The victorian green bellows with gold tooling...stunning. Bravo!