The Great Elvis Sing Along

Posted by Jenny

It all began as a simple joke gift to David’s father, Charlie. We couldn’t resist the humor in giving the long-time Elvis fan a plug-and-play Karaoke set complete with a sing-along DVD of Elvis’ Christmas hits. It became an even bigger hit with our nieces after Christmas as they sang their little hearts out to Blue Christmas.

Cinnamon Apple Sauce Christmas Ornaments

Posted by Jenny

Remember I told you about making ornaments from cinnamon and apple sauce? Well, I spent Christmas Eve day relaxing by making a few of my own!

The Barnes Bluegrass Christmas Party: Bizzarro Edition

Posted by Jenny

It’s an annual tradition dating back to the time I was in middle school and, though the crowd of musicians has changed over time, it has always been the highlight of my holiday season, filled with fond memories: The Barnes Bluegrass Christmas Party.

This year included the attack of the Bizzarro Glasses courtesy of Archie McPhee. They were a joke gift to our family members last Christmas and my mom has used them all year to play jokes on all of her doctors, physical therapists, favorite waitresses and cashiers. Now was the time to trick all of her friends!

As each couple arrived for the party, she greeted them at the door wearing her beautiful optical wear. Results ranged from blushes of embarrassment to shouts of “Oh, my goodness!” Needless to say, she got the reaction she hoped for. The goal from that point on was to convince as many friends as possible to wear the hideous things. It was a happy evening!

The Malpass Brothers live at R.A. Fountain

Posted by Jenny
We had the delight of experiencing the Malpass Brothers live at R. A. Fountain. Things almost got out of hand when the brothers sang “If you’ve got the money, honey, I’ve got the time.” An older woman from the audience ran up to them waving dollar bills and stuffing them into their beautifully embroidered western shirts. Needless to say, it was a fun and eventful evening!

While we were at R.A. Fountain, a book caught our friend Libby’s attention and I got a chuckle out of watching Libby reading a book written about someone named Zibby. I couldn’t resist, so here’s a photo.

On a side note, he probably won’t remember, but Chris Malpass and I were in the same banjo class at our local community college when I was 14 or so and he was 11 or so. On the first day of class I got in trouble; someone from admissions came to class to ask me to leave because I was too young to be enrolled. My mom, feisty as she is, put up a fight; “I paid the money, she isn’t disrupting anything, and there’s a boy over there younger than my daughter.” Apparently the Malpass family had the foresight to register Chris under his father’s name because their situation was more easily overlooked. Exasperated, the woman looked at me and asked how old I was. I don’t like to lie and am sometimes naïve, so I said, “I’m 14.” “No, honey, how old are you? I finally caught her drift and shifted my feet nervously. Sighing, she scribbled something on my admissions form and said as she turned to walk out the door, “If anyone asks, you were born in 1978.”

Moonlighting… or more aptly, Noonlighting

Posted by Jenny

Just as I’ve begun to feel that I’ve stretched myself much too thin, a busy fall semester has come to a close just in time for a much-needed and quite longed-for Christmas vacation. What’s been keeping me so busy this fall? I am happily enrolled in the Suzuki Pedagogy Graduate Certificate program in the School of Music, which trains violinists to be violin teachers in the Suzuki Method.

This style of teaching focuses on starting young (as early as age 3), learning by ear before learning to read music (using our innate learning skills known as the “mother tongue” method), and creating a positive environment in which the parent, student, and teacher are all equally important in order for the young musician to blossom. It’s also the method by which I began studying violin with Joanne Melvin when I was 8 years old.

It’s been a great semester; I’ve met wonderfully kind and wonderfully talented new people, I’ve had the delight of learning from Joanne Bath, who is one of the first few teachers using the Suzuki Method in the United States, and it’s given me a welcome respite from the worries of the current economic climate. Classes are held twice a week so I’ve been going during my lunch break, hence the “noonlighting”. I am also now a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas- complete with membership card!

I soon learned of an opportunity to teach violin on a volunteer basis barely a hop and a skip away from my office. A program for pre-kindergarten children at a nearby elementary school allows ECU students the opportunity to practice their teaching skills while providing free violin lessons to 3 and 4 year olds three days a week. So there went the lunch breaks for my other 3 days. But it has been worth it. I’ve learned what it’s like to work with 3 and 4 year olds, and they’ve learned a lot about violin and showed tremendous progress since they began.

Working with other ECU students, we split the class into three smaller groups so there were fewer children per teacher. I have been working with four delightful little girls. At first, I had a bit of trouble with one little girl. Often I would try to show her how to do something and she would jerk away and say, “Let me do it.” After much thought, I realized that she’s just a very independent girl and wants to do things on her own. Realizing this, I changed things up and said, “let me help you one time, and then you can do it by yourself,” or in activities where we would clap hands, and I would want to help her clap by clapping her hands, I would let her clap my hands (as long as she was doing it correctly) so she felt that she had a little more control. That minor adjustment has made a world of difference and we now work much better together; at times she will even say, “You can help me.”

We Suzuki student teachers got quite a treat one day. During the time normally scheduled for violin lessons, the children performed a nursery rhyme play for their family, schoolmates, and other teachers. It was fun watching the children dress up and act out the various nursery rhymes which they had rehearsed so thoroughly, such as Little Miss Muffett, This Little Piggy, and Hey Diddle, Diddle. Since it was an open event and people were taking photos, I took a few myself. You can see a snapshot of them performing the Itsy Bitsy Spider below. They did a great job and I was quite proud of them.

As if all of this wasn’t enough to keep me busy this semester, I decided to play with the choir at St. Mary’s for the Christmas Eve mass. The pieces we will play are all quite beautiful and it has been a wonderful exercise for getting back into the practice of reading music, given as I have played primarily by ear for the last several years.

As a side note, I learned from the Pre-K teachers that you can make aromatic Christmas ornaments from dough composed of equal parts of cinnamon and apple sauce. Simply mix it, roll it flat, and cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Be sure to cut a little hole for a string or ribbon and let the shapes dry out. They’ll stay hard for years and smell of cinnamon. I bought the materials last night and plan to try that project sometime during my break.

My vacation officially starts now, and I plan to keep busy with relaxing, visiting with family and friends, and trying out new projects like those cinnamon-apple sauce ornaments.

We wish you the Merriest of Christmases and the Happiest of New Years!

God bless us, every one!

III Century Singers Christmas Concert

Posted by Jenny

We had the good fortune of attending the III Century Singers concert again this year, this time at the First Baptist Church in Mt. Olive. The pieces were beautiful and for the first half of the performance, the group was accompanied by a string quartet. The harmonious voices of the singers combined with the acoustics of the church sanctuary created a phenomenal sound. It was such a full and round sound, that when I tried to put into words what I was hearing, all I could come up with was the mental image of a giant golden sphere hovering in the air above me, shining brightly. You could say what I envisioned was much like Harry Potter’s golden snitch, without the wings and not remotely so frantic.

Dancing by Starlight

Posted by Jenny

He was dressed in a sophisticated black suit and a blue shirt, wearing the tie she gave him for Christmas last year. She was wearing a beautiful new blue dress and the lovely sapphire jewelry he gave her a few Christmases ago. The handsome young gentleman escorted his loving wife to the dance floor, and together they swayed with the music.

Then he twirled her under his arm. Her golden hair caught on the buttons of his jacket sleeve. She followed through, hoping to come disentangled, but it was not to be. Wondering why she was not standing upright, the dashing young man felt a tug at his sleeve and, seeing his young wife bent over connected at his arm, he untangled her hair from his buttons quickly as possible, which naturally must have felt like an eternity to the young couple in the midst of a dance floor beneath the sparkling glitter ball.

They regained their composure and finished the rest of the song, but as it ended and they retreated red-faced to their seats to sit out the next song, an elderly gentleman pointed to them and said, “That’s what happens when you try to get fancy!”

Other than that little episode, we had a wonderful time at the Starlight Christmas Dance. We especially appreciated the local businesses who donated decorations, food and beverages for the evening. Thanks to: Excel Linde, Uncle Yammy’s Rib Shack, Pepsi Co., Wilbur’s Barbecue, and all the other sponsors for making the evening delightful- and delicious!

Downtown Lights Up and the NC Symphony Holiday Pops

Posted by Jenny

After watching as Goldsboro Mayor Al King flipped the switch to turn on the Christmas lights, and making our special requests to old St. Nick at Downtown Lights Up, we had the wonderful experience of enjoying the North Carolina Symphony’s Holiday Pops concert at Paramount Theatre with our parents.

It was a wonderful concert, complete with sing-along. We even spied a certain someone singing along whom I shall not embarrass by writing about here, but suffice it to say he is usually not ever caught singing. He must have been caught up in the Christmas spirit! Dad left his baton at home, but did a fair amount of light conducting to several of the pieces. Some folks tap their feet, my dad gently conducts the music.

For an encore, they played the rousing rendition of Sleigh Ride which I adore. Mom wanted to know what was making the whip sound and I pointed to the percussionist in the back corner holding an instrument which looked like two boards connected by a hinge. Mom laughed and said, “Hey, I think I found an instrument I could play!”

Essay: Our Summer Vacation

Posted by Jenny

Hey Friends!
Autumn doesn’t begin until September 23rd but when Independence Day passes and August comes on, we can’t get help but get that “back-to-school” feeling; especially since we both work in higher education! But of course when we were kids and school still started in September, back-to-school did mean fall was here; or fast approaching anyway. So even though autumn is still more than a month off, and school still doesn’t start for a couple weeks, we hope you are enjoying the last of the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer before the night chill sets in and thoughts turn to spiced cider, candy corn, and Christmas lists.

That being said, we haven’t written to you nearly as much as we would have liked to this summer. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy! Like you, we’ve been enjoying our fun in the sun and we even squeezed in a family vacation to the mountains.

We kicked off our vacation with the annual fireworks display at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. This year’s entertainment featured Gator Allmond and the Spice of Life. I really enjoyed their performance. They had a tight and polished sound and I love any music with funk done right. I couldn’t find a website for Gator and his crew, but here’s an article where you can learn more about them.

Above: Gator Allmond and the Spice of Life.

The next morning we set out for beautiful, quaint Maggie Valley, North Carolina. My parents used to take my siblings and I there almost every summer and with my sister Trish and nephew Sean visiting, we all made the trek together. It sure was refreshing to breathe cool mountain air in early July!

Above: Sean, Trish, Jenny, Trudy, Barney, and Sherri wait for their train.

One of the highlights of the trip was our family excursion on the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad. The trip from Bryson City to Nantahala Outdoor Center offered beautiful views of the mountains and Fontana Lake. At the depot, before the train departed, a bluegrass band from Bryson City who call themselves the Barn Cats performed high-powered train tunes and lively old-time songs for the waiting passengers. They were good. If only I had my fiddle with me!

After the train returned to Bryson City we visited the Smoky Mountain Trains toy train museum which, next to wading in the Oconoluftee River in Cherokee, was probably the highlight of my trip. Trains of every scale filled the museum, and a huge model train layout with dozens of trains and tracks filled an entire room. And no toy train museum would be complete without a hobo encampment. When I look at this scene, I can almost hear the hobo with the guitar in the boxcar singing “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues” by Chris Thomas King off of the Oh Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack.
When vacation ended, that by no means put an end to our musical meanderings. Pickin’ in the Park was soon to follow. If you recall from last year, I was almost disappointed not to have the 9 o’clock train roll through as is customary. Well, it more than made up for it this time. The engine came through early as we were just getting started about 6:30. Apparently it was on its way to hitch up the cars because around 8:30 it rolled by again… and kept rolling… and rolling… I’m not sure how many cars were on that train. (Enough, I reckon, to take two hours to hitch up). But after a little break, we were right back to the banjo breakdowns.

Above: "Look a yonder comin', comin' down that railroad track. It's the Orange Blossom Special bringin' my baby back."

Last weekend, Mom’s cousins were visiting from Tennessee and we wanted to give them a grand night out. It just so happened that they timed their trip perfectly- they were here for the last Saturday of the month. And you know what that means. Yup, I got to go jam at Clear Run. For those who don’t recall, Clear Run is an old grocery on the Black River in Sampson County and is my favorite bluegrass jam. I don’t go as often as I like because it’s about an hour and a half drive from home. It was a great night, too. David brought his guitar and we had a great time jamming with friends both old and new. And of course we had to play Rocky Top for our Tennessee crew.

Above: The Little Wharvey Gals. Just kidding! Cousins Linda, Trudy, and Novella.

Orange Blossom Special: Round 2 (Amos missed it the first time!)

Well, time marches on and I must be off. Happy trails to you, until we meet again!

Aloha!

Posted by Jenny

Aloha! I’m tickled hibiscus pink about the sweet gift my pilikua gave me for my la hanau!

I saw this ukulele in a pawn shop while buying a metal detector for my dad’s birthday and was smitten with the mother-of-pearl inlay (just like Emmett and the guitar in Emmett Otter’s Jug Band Christmas.) In polite persistence I frequently reminded David (for four months) of what a pretty ukulele it is, not like a cheap toy but a real instrument- complete with, yes, of course, mother-of-pearl inlay. : )

He surprised me a day or two early by saying, “You know how I keep one guitar in this room and the other guitar in that room? Well, I put them in the same room and they had a baby!” And out he pulls my darling little ukulele. He sure knows how to make me smile.

Now I just need to learn Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole style.

Singing the Blues and Telling Tall Tales

Posted by Jenny

Hi friends, thanks for visiting. One of the wettest and dreariest winters we’ve experienced in North Carolina has finally blown out with the March winds. And what better way to lift out of the winter doldrums than with some good ol’ blues music? That might sound like nonsense until you realize we had the pleasure of enjoying Doc Watson and David Holt together live in concert at Edgecombe Community College on 3/19/2010. Both men are incredible singers and pickers; Doc with his influential flat-picking style and David with his finger picking on guitar, banjo, and steel guitar. With these two picking and singing songs like “Ready for Times to Get Better,” “Railroad Bill,” and “Sittin’ on Top of the World,” you can help but smile.

David Holt and Doc Watson

What’s funny is that since David works with librarians, he knows David Holt not from his music but his story-telling. Holt didn’t tell too many stories that night but Doc told a few. He said to the audience, “I don’t rehearse performances. I just get up here and play. I’m just as informal here as I would be if you were at my home in my living room.” And he is. Someone let out a whoop of excitement in the middle of one song and Doc politely scolded them saying, “Shh, you want to hear it don’t you?” Later he playfully joked in the middle of flat-picking a lead from a Carter Family tune, “Bet Maybelle can’t pick it like that!”

We had a great night enjoying the concert and we were tickled to take home an autographed poster to add to our growing collection. We’ve got lots of great visual reminders of our favorite performers and concerts. Little did we know we’d be seeing David Holt again so soon.

A month later we saw a billboard on highway 70 in Goldsboro advertising a performance by David Holt and Josh Goforth at the Paramount Theater. We couldn’t resist going since it was so close to home and we were lucky enough to get seats right in the front row. This show was just as exceptionally good as the last, but had a very different format. Holt would hold up large pictures of elderly musicians who taught him new tunes and styles of music and tell the stories of how they met and what he learned from them. Interestingly enough, many of them lived beyond their 90’s and their music still lives on in Holt’s vibrant performances. We even heard lots of instruments we’d never heard played before- like the stump fiddle, and even the paper bag. And of course, Holt delighted the audience with his tales, both tall and true.

Backstage with David Holt and Josh Goforth

Before this night, we honestly hadn’t heard of Josh Goforth- but we’re glad now that we have. He has just as much charm and talent as David Holt and is yet another musician fluent in several instruments. Seeing the two of them perform together was definitely a treat. We waited patiently in line after the show and had the pleasure of meeting them both- and getting another one of those autographed posters! It’s always nice to meet musicians who are as kind and gracious as they are talented.

Clear Run Expose

Posted by: David
Our State is a popular magazine that highlights interesting events and unusual places in North Carolina. It is always a treat to pick up this magazine each month and see what North Carolina potter, musician or artist is being showcased ---or what hiking trail, BBQ restaurant or local landmark is being rediscovered.

What a delight it was to flip through the pages of the newest issue of Our State (Feb 2010 issue) and see some very familiar faces. The magazine did a multipage ‘expose’ on Clear Run Grocery complete with photographs of many of the bluegrass pickin’ friends you’ve read about in this very journal. The article discusses how Clear Run got its start as a country store by the river and how it developed into the monthly bluegrass jamming spot it is now.

I was even more thrilled to see that the Our State website contains a video segment on Clear Run as an extra bonus feature to compliment the article. Included below is a link to this video. Unfortunately Jennifer and I were not jamming at Clear Run when this video or the article was written so we missed out on the fun that night --but we try to head out to Clear Run as often as we can for some good ole bluegrass pickin’ fun on the last Saturday of each month. If you have never had the opportunity to visit Clear Run or if you were not aware of it this video provides a peak at what you have been missing. Enjoy!

Snow Day Sessions

Posted by David

Being snowed-in this past weekend has been a great opportunity for us as we were able to spend lots of time in the studio working on the album. We were able to complete the recording part of several songs. There is still some mixing to do on these songs but the performing part is done.

Jennifer was having so much fun playing saxophone on Wayfaring Stranger that she actually broke her instrument. Nothing that isn’t repairable fortunately. Things were much safer when she was playing the penny whistle on God Made Me and You. She also sang her lead and backing vocals on several songs. When backing vocals were needed by both of us, we decided to sing them live together rather than on separate tracks. By doing this, the backing vocals sound more natural to us.

So far we have been able to capture just the right sound that we wanted. Wayfaring Stranger has a nice sparse jazzy feel to it, the recording of God Mad Me and You has the classic folk children’s song sound we wanted, and Cordelia’s Waltz is---well---creepy. Hopefully when the strings are added to Cordelia’s Waltz during our next recording session it will be even spookier.