Has Anyone Heard from Mike Moss Lately?

[Joel Hooks]

Just curious.  I enjoyed his posts and playing and have not seen anything from him for a while.

Just hoping he is healthy and still playing.

[F. Chris Ware]

Joel, it's salubrious you'd post this as I've ben mentally composing my own "Whither Mike Moss?" missive for months now, involuntarily begun when I noted with despair and anxiety he'd removed his YouTube videos a year or more ago. Fortunately, some MP3s of his fine playing are still on the Banjo Hangout, which I downloaded, since I think he's probably the only person alive still trying to play stuff like Alfred Farland — and beautifully, at that. His posts were always funny, deeply well-informed and cordial — he was to my mind one of the "co-stars" of the this site when I first discovered it a few years back.

When Jody mentioned Moss' primer on "How to Read Notation" still being available amidst the "TAB vs notation" discussion a couple of weeks ago, I looked said primer posting up on the Banjo Hangout and noted with despair that it had devolved into an exchange with an unnecessarily combative if not nasty guy banging out brusque, rude responses to Mike's always generous, helpful and patient words. I wonder if this didn't somehow contribute to his invisibility. Though I sure wouldn't blame him, if so. The internet is a harsh mistress.

In short, Mr. Moss, if you're reading this, where are you? We all miss you!

[Anthony Myatt]

According to his member page on the Banjo Hangout, he visited it on June 24th 2017.

So obviously still very much around.

[Mike Moss]

Hi all,

I received a very kind email from Ian asking if I was OK and he pointed me to this thread. I'm sorry if I haven't been all that active lately but I haven't been much of a banjo player since late 2014 when I started my grand tour of the Far East! I do intend to return to the banjo and hopefully become an active contributor once again in the near future, but until then I'll be more of a "lurker" and enjoy the excellent contributions made by the classic banjo community.

Meanwhile, here's a picture I took some time ago and which I've been meaning to share with you. I was visiting a Hot Spring resort when suddenly I was greeted by a sea of floating banjos! Apparently these banjo-like instruments (gekkin) were popular in Japanese fraternities and I saw some old photographs of something very similar to our own banjo orchestras, food for thought :)

View post on imgur.com

[F. Chris Ware]

Dear Mike,

Well, it's great to know you're extant, and nice to see your avatar (and posting) again. Hope you indeed don't give up completely on the five-string since you cover a part of its history that few still do.

In the wake of your photo, here's something I keep on the wall of the "banjo room" in my house because I don't know where else to put it — an inexplicable box I found years ago in a junk store containing little models of Chinese instruments, probably a souvenir made for tourists (I'm guessing in the 1980s or so) and many of which bear a fair resemblance to the structure and sound chambers of our own particular African/American instrument, though I confess I know exactly zero about any of them beyond their little curling-up labels because I'm lazy and haven't looked them up despite the admitted ease of doing so. There are also the so-called "japanese fiddles" that use a membrane, as well as similar Thai instruments — and then there's that 19th century coconut banjo fad that I still haven't figured out; maybe it had something to do with the "Coconut Dance" piece that's survived. Anyway, very interesting about the orchestra/college crossover; I guess it was "in the air," or something, worldwide.

Again, all very best wishes, as always,

C.

P.S. Many of your mp3s are in my iTunes "classic banjo" folder and I always enjoy listening to them.

[Joel Hooks]

Hi Mike!  World travel is a reasonable excuse though you could be confusing other countries with classic banjo playing.

Anyway, glad you are well and hope to have you back to the banjo world soon.