Happy Halloween From Mæander!

Halloween can be creepy...but not as creepy as this picture. After all, only one of us seems to have both our arms in this photo---and we're not sure which one of us it is!??

Mæander Performs at East Carolina University

Posted by David

Mæander was asked to perform for the Center for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education’s 25th Anniversary Celebration at East Carolina University on October 8th, 2009. We had a lot of fun at this event. Guests got to ‘play’ with various science objects including water clocks, globes that turned using the power of Earth’s magnetic field, Bucky balls (small magnetically charged spheres), wands that levitated objects using static electricity, magnetic sphere puzzles and various other science related items. There was a Van de Graaf generator which we stayed away from for fear of being electrocuted.

Even before we performed, Jennifer unintentionally attracted quiet a lot of attention. It was one of the magnetically charged spheres called the X-Ball that was her undoing. This particular puzzle is put together using lots of tiny magnetically charged pieces that when placed together creates a three-dimensional sphere. Last thing I remember before the ‘big bang’ was Jennifer finishing construction of the puzzle and holding it in her hand talking with the wife of Dr. Mattheis about how much the two of them thought it cost --- SMASH!
Jenny dropped the sphere---Pieces everywhere---Rolled off her hand

silence.

everyone staring.

It was quite enjoyable watching a dozen scientists putting the sphere back together again. Fortunately since it was held together magnetically it wasn’t truly breakable---Just really loud when dropped on the floor.
The event was videotaped so here is a quick video of one of the songs we performed. Enjoy!

Custom Instrument VI

Posted by David

The Bass Walkabout Dulcimer from Olympia Dulcimer Company is complete. Here is a photo of the finished instrument. I’ll post some sound files of it in the future.

Custom Instrument V

Posted by David
I’ve just received 2 more pictures from Kevin W. Jones at Olympia Dulcimer Company. The Chromatically tuned Walkabout Dulcimer is almost complete. In the below images you will see the neck fit to body and the bridge being glued to the top. The closeness of the images depicts the beauty of the wood and the different wood grains are visible. The diatonic fret markers can be seen in the bottom image. Working with Kevin has been a wonderful experience. It was his idea to send images of the dulcimer as it is being built and he has been availble via phone and e-mail for any questions I've had. Thanks to all of you for letting us know how much you have enjoyed watching the building process of this instrument.

Interesting Discoveries

Posted by David
We told you all about the entertainment we saw the last time we were at R. A. Fountain. What we didn't tell you is that we found a couple of interesting items there. Now that all of you know the names of our songs, you will appreciate this first item. While we were looking at all of the fun and unsual items in R. A. Fountain for sale, Jennifer stumbled across a book entitled Cordelia and Other Stories. Now this book has nothing to do with the Cordelia's Waltz song that Jennifer wrote, but since we said the song has a story behind it we found it ironic that we found a story called Cordelia.

Another item of interest was a poster we found on the wall in front of the rest rooms. On that wall are various posters from past acts. Can you find us up there? (hint - look to the top right)

Track List

Posted by David

Coming up with the list of tracks to put on our album has been a fun yet difficult process. There are many songs we would like to include. In order to decide which songs to keep we needed to break down our list of songs into some criteria to help us decide.

Our first goal was to select songs that would stay true to our name. Since Mæander means ‘to wander’, we wanted the album to wander from one genre of music to the next. We didn’t want to choose all Celtic songs and produce a Celtic album or all bluegrass songs and produce a bluegrass album, but rather have a mix of several music types. This, of course, means that everybody may not enjoy all the songs on the album, but hopefully there will be a little something for everyone.

Our next challenge was to look at copyright restrictions on the songs. Each copyright tune we would put on the album would cost us extra money in licensing fees, so we ended up limiting our number of songs under copyright to just one. All other songs are either original or songs that reside in the public domain.

The third concern we had to consider was available studio time. Although we are recording our album ourselves, we still had to be mindful of how much time we would be able to spend in the studio. With our goal of producing one album a year, time is limited- so we decided to limit our number of tracks to ten.

Here is what we think will be the final track list, but things could still change. The order of the tracks has not been determined yet so here they are in alphabetical order:

The Cliffs – The first song Jennifer and I wrote together. We were jamming at the Cliffs of the Neuse when this song took form. (Instrumental)

Cordelia’s Waltz – There is a story that goes with this song.

Down in the Hallows – Here is an original fiddle tune with a little surprise in it. (Instrumental)

God Made Me And You – This song makes me picture a traditional classroom of children singing around a black piano being played by Miss Jones from the Norman Rockwell Painting.

Kosher Dill Love – The "Big Apple" drops a big apple on New Year's Eve – Mt. Olive drops a big pickle. This song was inspired by the New Year's pickle drop as well as the Pickle Festival in Mt. Olive, NC.

KR-66 – On a trip to the laundromat a few years back, Jennifer and I stumbled across something quite interesting which inspired this song.

Sharing Sunset – A poem Jennifer wrote for David in 2000 which was published in Renaissance literary magazine at Wayne Community College.

Wayfaring Stranger – Traditional tune

Look What They’ve Done To My Song, Ma – This cover of the Melanie Safka song illustrates what recording studios can sometimes do to beautiful songs. And yes ---the rumors are true---that’s my father you’re hearing on this song.

When the Pigs Begin To Fly! – This is an old (circa 1840’s) tune that we updated a bit.

Custom Instrument IV

Posted by David

The last coat of finish went on this morning.
The following pictures show the front and back of the body and the front and back of the neck.

Custom Instrument III

Posted by David

I have just received some more pictures from Kevin W. Jones, the luthier creating this instrument. Jones specializes in building Walkabout Dulcimers. Some people refer to similar instruments as long neck dulcimers. They are shaped and played like guitars, but they are diatonically fretted with pairs of strings like mountain dulcimers. Jennifer and I have a mountain dulcimer at the house that we enjoy playing, but for me, coming from a guitar background, the instrument is backwards. So we decided to tune my tenor guitar similar to the dulcimer since it has four strings as well. This sounded interesting, but since the strings were not in pairs, it didn't quite have the sound we were looking for. One benefit of the tenor guitar tuned this way, over the dulcimer is that it is chromatically fretted. Being chromatically fretted allows for easy transistion between keys, something needed during jams.

This is why I contacted Kevin W. Jones of the Olympia Dulcimer Company. I saw that he had designed and was building exactly what I was looking for. He builds many variations of the walkabout dulcimer, including a bass version and an electric version. I personally liked the sound of his bass walkabouts, and the size of them, but I wanted one chromatically tuned with diatonic markers on the side. He has built similar instruments in the past, including an eight string chromatically tuned bass dulcimer, so I knew I was in great hands. I went with the six stringed bass walkabout dulcimer rather than an eight stringed one.

Please check out the Olympia Dulcimer Company's website to learn more about the walkabout dulcimer and to see video clips and hear what these instruments sound like. http://www.walkaboutdulcimer.com/

Here are the newest pictures as promised. Oh...and congratulation Trudy, you were the only one to guess correctly right off the bat that it was some sort of dulcimer!

Pickin' in the Park

Posted by Jennifer

On the third Friday night of the summer months, the Warsaw Chamber of Commerce holds “Pickin’ in the Park” in Veteran’s Park, downtown Warsaw, North Carolina. We don’t get to go terribly often as we work so far away from Warsaw, and since last month was a rain-out we weren’t sure we’d get to make it at all this summer. But as luck would have it, we had lovely weather for an outdoor jam. Pickers gather under the porch and spectators bring their lawn chairs to watch from the grass. Mr. and Mrs. Martin sell hot dogs and drinks for the Chamber and we usually make those our dinner for the evening.

The crowd of pickers was a small group this night. Football season has started for the schools so Pat Mathis was unfortunately unable to make it there. We sure missed hearing him sing the “Pickin’ in the Park National Anthem”- otherwise known as “Just a Bowl of Butterbeans” sung to the tune of the gospel song, “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.” But J. B. Herring was there with his harmonica, good friends Ray Carter and Tom Evans with their guitars, and trusty David Merritt with his banjo. Lou Gagliano was also there fiddling and… well, what does one call fiddling on a viola? Faddling? (Hmm, maybe that’s where Fiddle Faddle came from? Yum…) William Best and the Bullards were also there to enjoy the festivities.

One fellow from the Duplin Times was there taking photos for the paper. He said a good photo might also be used in a free community calendar next year. As he came around asking for pickers’ names, he said to me, “I hear you’re a championship fiddler, is that right?” I was a little surprised by this, wondering who would’ve told him such a thing. I replied, “No, I’ve never competed.” Only after this did I think of a hundred wittier things I might’ve said- but being quick-witted is David’s forte, not mine.

The jam went on and the cicadas sang along but we couldn’t help but be disappointed when the train didn’t come through town in the middle of our jam. It seems that every Pickin’ in the Park I’ve been to was interrupted by the 9:00pm train whistling and chugging along. Over time, the train’s grand entrance lent a certain charm to the event- particularly when you consider that some of the crowd’s favorite tunes are train songs such as the “Orange Blossom Special” and the “Wabash Cannonball.” But no amount of train-tune-picking could bring on the train that night.
We ended, of course, with Pickin’ in the Park’s second signature tune, “Goodnight, Irene.”

Here's the short article that was in the Duplin Times:

Custom Instrument II

Posted by David

It's been about a week now and we have some more images. The below pictures show the top glue up, the top bracing pattern, and spruce brace and mahogany blocks. Here you can see more clearly the teardrop shape of the body.

Custom Instrument

Posted by David

Jennifer and I have been working steadily on our album. She has penned a song which we both really enjoy, but for the recording it needs something special to really make it shine. We wanted the song to have a sound that you wouldn't normally hear today, it needed to have a 'ghost from the past' sort of sound. We knew what we wanted, but did not know of an instrument that could produce the sound. After mixing aspects from three different instruments, we knew the exact sound we wanted and how we wanted the instrument to be played, but this instrument would have to be custom built.

The search was on to see if a similar instrument was being made. After a bit of research, we found a luthier that was creating instruments with the exact sound and shape we wanted. I called him up and we discussed the specifics of what we wanted and if it was possible. After a brief discussion of the types of wood that would be used and the scale type, he began building the instrument.

Can you guess what type of instrument this will be? I will be providing updates and photos of this instrument as it is being built. These two photos show the front body and the fret board.

Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players

Posted by David
What goes along perfectly with watching family slides of people you don’t know and speculating on what their lives are like? You guessed it, a free onion. That’s right, when we arrived at R.A. Fountain on Thursday to watch The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players we were promptly given each a free onion. If that doesn’t sound a bit odd to you, then maybe the Trachetenburg Family Slideshow Players won’t either. The Trachtenburg family consists of a mother (Tina), father (Jason), and daughter (Rachael). The family acquires slides from yard sales and uses a slide projector to project these family slides (of people they don’t know) and make up songs about them, speculating on what the people might be like and how their lives might have been. Curious on how this plays out? Watch this video of when they performed on the Conan O’ Brian Show a few years back.

The Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players performed “Look At Me” (the song seen in the above video) at R.A. Fountain on Thursday, however, there were a few more…um…revealing slides included however, that the audience was not expecting.

The group was entertaining and we had a lot of fun. The daughter has her own children’s television show and she performed a few solo songs on Ukulele while her mother animates felt figures on a felt board, creating a music video of sorts. This video shows an example of what one of these felt board songs are like.

Lady Blanche an acoustic folk singer, opened up for the group. The audience enjoyed her song about a friend that wishes for the universe to bring her the perfect man. The song lists all the qualities a perfect man should have. This was the longest song of her entire set. A lady that sat behind us bought a copy of Lady Blanche’s newest album, and I might be mistaken, but it looks like each album comes wrapped in a free pair of men’s briefs??

If you ever get an opportunity to see the Trachtenburg Family Slide Show Players I guarantee it will be a show you won’t soon forget. I will not guarantee however, that you will receive a free onion upon entering the venue. The occasional free onion is just one of those little things that make R. A. Fountain first-rate.

Happy 2nd of July! (Or, Celebrating Independence Day Early)

Posted by Jenny

Every year we celebrate Independence Day with our families at the fireworks display held at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. This year the event was held a little early, on July 2nd.

The pin on my collar says, "Kiss Me, I'm American"

Before nightfall, the festivities begin around 6:00 with games for the kids, yummy hot dogs and ice cream, delicious free popcorn from the Boy Scouts, and live entertainment.

The kid in me couldn't resist getting a glow necklace!
(And a grape sno-cone, which is why you don't see my teeth in this picture!)

This year’s entertainment featured Stephen Cochran. As a former Marine, he was proud to help his fellow armed forces celebrate independence, and man did he rock out with his awesome band.

Happy Independence Day! God Bless America!

Antiques Roadshow comes to Raleigh, NC

Posted by Jenny
One of our favorite television programs is Antiques Roadshow which airs on our local PBS station. It’s so much fun to see the unusual items people bring on the show to learn their worth. Plus, I admit to having a strange fascination with the furniture-appraising-twin-wonders, Leigh and Leslie Keno.

For the longest time I didn’t pick up on the fact that they are twins. I would resolve to remember “that furniture guy’s” name only to be confounded when on the next episode his name suddenly was “Leslie” instead of “Leigh.” Then we happened to watch an episode where both twins appraised the same piece of furniture at once. As the dynamic duos cavorted across the screen flipping over tea tables,my brain seized up and the gears had a hard time getting back up to speed. After making sense of the chaos we were witnessing, David and I made the connection that the Keno twins reminded us of Xamot and Tomax, the dashing and debonaire gymnast/business executive twins from the G.I. Joe cartoon.

Except, of course, the Keno twins are really nice guys who would never be part of an evil underground terrorist organization designed to take over the world.

Needless to say, when we found out Antiques Roadshow was coming to Raleigh, we knew we’d be there. We applied for tickets as did many of our friends and relatives, but we’re the only lucky ones we know of who actually received tickets from the random drawing. What can we say? It was meant to be!

That only left us to decide what to bring along to have appraised. For me, a natural choice was to bring my violin. I knew it was old when my parents bought it for me around 1996 but the date wasn’t written inside as is customary. I also know it sounds good- as do a lot of people around here who frequently offer to buy it from me at jam sessions (sorry folks, it’s not for sale.) There’s also a bit of mystery to the violin’s value. My violin teacher had facilitated the purchase of the instrument between my parents and the seller who owns a local guitar shop. After talking with my parents and learning that I liked to play bluegrass music, the seller was more than happy to reduce the price by several hundred dollars. Which has always left me wondering- did he really give us a deal, or was he planning to over charge us to start with? What is the real value of the instrument? Of course to me, it’s priceless and I’ll never part with it- but as is usually the case on Antiques Roadshow with sentimental items, how much should I insure it for?

David’s natural choice, since we were already taking one musical instrument, was to take along his mandolin banjo, affectionately dubbed “the manjo,” which was given him by his- shall we say “unique”- Uncle Duane. We’ve had it hanging on the wall in our living room. The manjo needs a replacement bridge and there are some structural problems which makes playability difficult.

That left us each with one additional item we could bring. I brought a pair of lithographs belonging to my mother. The lithographs depict the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary and were found rolled up and hidden inside a chimney in Germany where they were hidden from Nazis and pillagers during World War II.

My mom was living in Germany in the early 1960’s and admired the lithographs in a friend’s apartment as the land-lady happened by. The land-lady offered them to my mom in exchange for 2 cartons of cigarettes and that’s how they came home with mom.

Since I was bringing something of my own as well as something of my mother’s, it seemed fitting that David do the same. He brought what we refer to as “the noodle cats.” They are two ceramic cats from Italy, the likes of which we have never seen elsewhere before. Their heads are painted with black stripes and green eyes and red mouths, and their bodies are covered with hundreds of small bits of clay pulled up to resemble fur- however they remind me more of hundreds of small pasta noodles the way the squiggle across the cat bodies.

So we had our items ready, we had our tickets- all we had to do next was…. wait. When June 27th finally arrived, we made the hour drive to Raleigh and arrived at the time according to the time on our tickets. There were roughly 5,000 people there to receive appraisals all day but the timed ticket system made things run very fluidly. As many people as there were around us, everything was exceptionally orderly and ran very smoothly.

After lining up according to the time on your ticket, when your time is up, your line then joins the main line flowing into the appraisal area. You make a stop to pick up tickets according to the categories your items fall under. So we had 2 musical instrument tickets, one posters & prints ticket, and one ceramics & pottery ticket. After that, you enter the appraisal area and join which ever line you wish to join first.

We started out in the musical instruments line and luckily it was pretty short. We only waited there approximately 15 minutes before receiving our appraisals. While we were waiting, one of the Keno twins entered the appraisal area and said “excuse me ma’am” to a woman waiting in one of the lines winding out that way. When she realized who he was she shouted “oh my God!” and grabbed his arm as she place her other hand on her chest as if to catch her heart before it ran away. You could tell they were both embarrassed after that- he strode away with a sheepish smile and she fluttered beet red for several minutes thereafter. When it was finally our turn for our appraisal I couldn’t help but find something either very British or very Keno about our appraiser. I later discovered that he is Mitchell, the older brother of the Keno twins. Apparently appraising is a family business for them.

We learned that David’s manjo dates from the 1920’s. Mitchell confirmed that it is unplayable due to warping over time. So, at least we can save money on buying that bridge! My violin is a good quality student violin worth about what was paid for it- so now I know the original price was a bit steep. It also wasn’t as old as we were originally lead to believe- it dates to about the 1920’s rather than the late 1890’s and is possibly American since “Made in France” was written in English. That doesn’t change how I feel about it, though!

According to the ceramics appraiser, the “noodle cats” “scream of the late 1940’s or early 1950’s” and aren’t particularly valuable. Neither are my mom’s lithographs- although they are older than we thought. They date to the late 1800’s, but since religious art is typically mass produced for churches that reduces the value.

So everything we took with us was worth about what we expected it to be valued at, but even though we didn’t come away millionaires like the lady who had four pieces of jade valued at over $1 million and broke the record for the highest valued item on Antiques Roadshow, we had a great time. It was a lot of fun seeing all the items other people brought, watching them as they taped the show and interviewed guests, and of course getting to see the Keno twins!

We did stop in the feedback booth at the end of the event, so there’s still a chance you might see us on TV one Monday evening at the end of the 8:00pm show. Look for us with the noodle cats! We were actually in line behind the woman in this video clip with the plantation bed, but you can barely see David’s head sticking up above another man’s head. http://www.news14.com/content/local_news/triangle/611266/antiques-roadshow-shatters-records-in-raleigh/Default.aspx

It was June and it was Hot

Posted by Jenny

“It was June and it was hot.” That’s how our favorite pirate song begins. It also sets the stage for our latest trip to the hunting lodge. But even the sweltering heat didn’t stop us from making new friends- or keep us from playing music with old friends.

Dale's hog. Don't feed it chocolate cake.

Jammin'

The barbecue chicken was finger-lickin’ good to the bone as was the harmony of a traveling troupe of gospel singers who stopped by. We didn’t catch their names but they were friendly folks and a talented group.

Center Street Jam with the Coastline Band

Posted by Jennifer
During the summer months, the Downton Goldsboro Development Corporation hosts a free concert every couple of weeks just off of Center Street. David's Aunt Mary and Uncle Danny happened to be in town visiting so it seemed only right to take them downtown for an evening of entertainment by Jim Quick and the Coastline Band. We hadn't heard Coastline before but we were impressed by their tight sound.

Jenny couldn't resist the festival atmosphere so she had her face painted. If only she could have talked David into getting his face painted like Spiderman...

Eastern North Carolina Bluegrass Association

Posted by Jennifer
David and Jennifer left Greenville and ECU commencement traffic to meet Jennifer's parents for dinner before going to this month's installment of the ENCBA jam at Lenoir Community College. Between Golden Corral and LCC, a classic car show at the Right Way diner and gas station caught their eye and they couldn't resist stopping to admire the beautiful cars of days gone by.

They certainly weren't expecting this car, however. Having adored the '57 Chevy Bel Aire since childhood, Jennifer immediately knew something wasn't quite right here- and unique barely begins to describe it. What are your thoughts?

David and Jennifer eventually made their way to LCC where they jammed with friends and Jennifer's parents won the drawing for the anniversary cake.

Jam at Clear Run

Posted by Jennifer

Clear Run is probably my favorite place to jam. Once a hub of commerce on the Black River, Clear Run is historic site where bluegrass musicians gather on the last Saturday night of every month to jam and have good, clean, family fun. The jam takes place in the general store and owner Amos McLamb or his son Josh McLamb will be more than happy to tell you the history of the store and their family connection to it, as well as the sunken steamship the A. J. Johnson a short way down river.

Above: A barrel of sap excavated from the A.J Johnson had turned to a massive block of rosin. Here's just a chip off that old block. Since I'm a fiddler, Amos let me take a chunk.

Filled with antique tools, assorted glass bottles and advertisements from days gone by, the general store comes to life with the people who share their talents with friends and strangers. Mind you, if you come as a stranger, you’ll leave as a friend.

Above: A few historical odds and ends.

Above: That's a snazzy old fashioned register.

We had the pleasure of going to Clear Run over the weekend, which is a rare treat for us now that we live a couple counties away. We don’t get to go as often was we like since it’s quite a drive, but when we do go it’s always worth the trip. Amos and Josh were at MerleFest this weekend so we didn’t have the pleasure of their company, but we did get to see old friend Bill Norris who we hadn’t seen in a while and good friend David Merritt was there picking banjo.

One guitar picker who I had jammed with only once before at Clear Run about 6 years ago was there again that night and was delighted to see I was there. Alec Bryan of Jacksonville, if I got that right, is quite the picker. He brought out a lot of good tunes I hadn’t played in a while, like Texas Swing Fiddler Bob Wills’ song San Antonio Rose (performed here by mellow Jim Reeves) and Under the Double Eagle, just to name a couple. It was a good mental exercise remembering tunes that had fallen out of my repertoire.

Above: Jennifer isn't afraid of this modernized outhouse complete with running water and electricity.
She's just swatting away the moths attracted to the light.

Jammin' at Dale Merritt's Hunting Lodge

Posted by Jennifer

We decided to spend our first Valentine's Day as a married couple out in the middle of nowhere. But we weren't alone. Nope. That's because it was time for the Jam at Dale Merritt's Hunting lodge somewhere in the pine thickets of Sampson County. (Jennifer's parents drove... their GPS said we had left the road and showed us plowing through a forest).

You can always expect to find good food, good friends, and good music at this event which takes place as often as Dale feels up to hosting it. The menu usually includes barbecue chicken and pork, chili made with bear meat, all sorts of salads and slaws, and a slew of delicious home-baked goods brought by the ladies.

After a filling meal and lively conversation, it's time to jam. The group varies each time, but the regulars include David Merritt on the banjo, Wallace Jones sining and picking the guitar and mandolin, Huey Ezzell on guitar and vocals, Jennifer on the fiddle, and Josh McLamb on bass, guitar, and vocals.

Everyone plays until they're tired and ready to go home... which unfortunately we all must be getting old because we tend to knock off around 10:00pm nowadays. But that doesn't matter as we always have a good time playing traditional tunes.

Fortunately, Dale has installed indoor plumbing in the hunting lodge. One of Jennifer's first visits to the hunting lodge involved a rather unpleasant incident with the outhouse. Being a bluegrass musician, she was no stranger to the little house out back with the half-moon window. No, it was the lack of a latch on the door which troubled her. Well, the lack of a latch on the INSIDE of the door to be particular. She entered the humble hut to do her duty and much to her chagrin she had no way to lock it to keep others from entering in. She jerked the door shut hard only to realize that a latch on the OUTSIDE of the door had fallen across- trapping her in the outhouse! "Well, I'm here. I may as well do what I came to do before I worry about getting out," she thought. Fortunately, by the time she finished her "business" she heard someone outside the door- her mother, in fact- and convinced her to set her free from the outhouse.

So why is there a latch on the OUTSIDE of the door, you ask? Well Jennifer definately wanted to know the answer to that most vexing question! It turns out that with only all men lodging there for hunting trips, they weren't embarassed at all by the lack of a lock on the door. But what did trouble them was the flapping of the door during they night as they tried to sleep. Hence, they added a latch on the outside so as not to disturb their slumber.

Some other points of interest to mention about Dale's hunting lodge is that he's got his own clay pigeon shooting range as well as a wild bore kept in a pen as a pet. Only in Sampson County...

-Jennifer

Carolina Yellowhammers

Posted by David
On Saturday Jennifer and I, along with our friends Larry and Emily took another friend Karen out to celebrate her birthday. What better place to take a music lover in this area than to R.A. Fountain.

R.A. Fountain is a little general store out in the small town of Fountain, NC. It has just what any music lover needs. It is a small intimate setting where musicians and the audience can interact. The acts range from big name folk and bluegrass musicians to local musicians. Last year we met the Carolina Chocolate drops there a few weeks before they played Merlefest.

Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson (CCD) with David & Jennifer (1/19/07)

We performed a celtic show the next month at R.A Fountain with Jennifer Licko. Playing at Fountain is always a blast. The hardwood plank floors, high celing and intimate atmosphere adds a richness and natural tone to any acoustic set. Rather than feeling seperated or cut off from the audience, performers at Fountain can feel at one with the audience and everyone is able to interact with one another, something that is not a possibility at many venues. Another bonus is that everything in the store is for sale. Do you like the seat you are sitting on while watching a show? Then take it home, it is most likely for sale. An interesting note: each of the musicians gets to sign a part of a musical instrument hanging on the wall behind where the bands play. Next time you're there, check for our signatures! :)

David and Jennifer Vinciguerra and Jennifer Shelton Licko (2/16/07)

This blog entry isn't actually suppose to be about R.A. Fountain however, it is about the group of pickers we saw that night. The group calls themselves the Carolina Yellowhammers. The group was inspired to call themselves this after the 1920's band the Georgia Yellow Hammers and also as a nod to the train that used to run through these parts.

Performing as the Carolina Yellowhammers on Saturday was Frankie Harrison on mandolin, John Booker on bass, and Lightnin' Wells on guitar. Joining them on Banjo and Dobro was Clyde Maddux.

Frankie Harrison, Lightnin' Wells, John Booker and Clyde Maddux.

Karen, Emily and Larry had been to see the Yellowhammers in the past a few times, and seeing as though they were playing at Fountain around Karen's birthday, it was obvious how we would be celebrating the evening.

Lightnin' Wells is known for his bluesy sound and Frankie Harrison is known to burn it up on the mandolin. With the solid backing of on bass by John Booker this group has all the dynamics it takes to facinate audiences all night. With Clyde Maddux joining them for the evening, there was nobody going home early that night.

The evening was chock-full of tradtinal folk songs telling stories of days gone by, blues tunes that will bring a tear to any eye, and fast picking bluegrass numbers to rev you back up at full speed. One of the most memorable moments of the evening was when Wells told the humorious story about the first time he and Maddux met many years ago, a meeting that Maddux doesn't even remember--or at least claims not to.

Should you be searching the show times at R.A. Fountain at this address www.rafountain.com and run across a date in which the Carolina Yellowhammers are playing, pay for those reserved seats and gear up for a amazing show. Plus, you never know who else might be jamming with them that evening.

Snow Day

Posted by David

10:00pm Monday night ---nothing
11:00pm---still clear

Midnight with not a snowflake in the air, the possibility of us having a snowstorm was looking grim. We had already had Monday off from work in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day, so a very rare snow-day would give us a four-day-weekend. But heading for bed with a clear sky we resigned ourselves to the fact that Tuesday would see us working and set our alarm for an early morning.

When I awoke at six am, what did my eyes happen to see outside—not much. There were snowflakes, but nothing to get too excited about. Nothing seemed to be accumulating yet, so I hopped in the shower and mentally began preparing for a day at the office.

As is naturally the case, now that I was completely awake and dressed and ready to go, our alert went off informing us that they had cancelled work for the day. Jennifer was giddy---especially since she hadn’t yet gotten out of the warm cozy bed. She finally got her snow day. In fact, as the day went on, the snow got thicker and the next day at work was cancelled as well. A five day weekend!

Free from work and our hour commute we slept in, played in the snow, and spent some time recording in the studio. We decided to work on an unusual song that allowed us to test out some interesting vocal recording techniques. Jennifer sang a variety of different ways until we got the right sound. Now it’s just a matter of recording some backwards violins for a bizarre interlude. We might release this song online in the future if people are curious enough to hear it. We actually recorded it just to test out some equipment and have fun.

Jennifer singing in the studio

After the recording session we enjoyed the cool air and snow. I must say though, Jennifer is a much better singer than she is snow ball thrower.

Jennifer and David enjoying the snow