Wow, that was fun! Besides all the crazy early banjo stuff (of which, dear reader, you may read all about over on the ning "Minstrel" site) we held our clandestine "Sleeper Cell" classic banjo meeting in a dark corner of the barn. Stupidly, I had left my sheet music on the desk at home...but Bob had copied off everything and brought it all along...thanks Bob!!

 

I feel so fortunate to have been able to play alongside such luminaries as Greg Adams, Dr. Bob Winans and Carl Anderton...yea, even the esteemed thimbalist Joel Hooks (The Texas Hercules) deigned to play a guitar-style piece (Converse's "New York March") with me onstage!

 

We started with "Whistling Rufus", myself on 1st banjo, Greg and Bob on 2nd. I struggled and swore and gnashed my teeth...but got thru it (and then they made me do it again...whimper). Something about having other players depending on me helped me keep going. Greg then played 1st on “Honolulu Cakewalk”...I struggled and swore and gnashed my teeth...but got thru with it somehow. Man, 2nd banjo is tough (of course, Bob was unflappably motoring along)! Carl played 1st on “Calliope Rag” and “Smoky Mokes" (while the rest of us played 2nd) and then we sat and listened to Bob and Greg play Eno’s “A Ragtime Episode”...but using two different 1st banjo parts, Greg playing from an Essex arrangement and Bob playing a Fred Van Eps arrangement. It sounded excellent!

 

Wow again...that was sooooo much fun! Thanks guys, I feel reinvigorated and ready to polish up the stuff I know and attack some more tunes!

 

===Marc

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Marc, it was a pleasure playing both Classic and Minstrel banjo with you. Your stage rendition of New York March with Joel was flawless. You nailed those "drum chords" that bedevil me so...

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