Porch wallerin’

It’s been a while since I’ve posted so here goes:  Last night was spent wallerin’ the porch of my fishing buddy, Gene Wilson.  As stated before, we’ve been friends for 25-nearly 30 years now.

We both believe in preserving or continuing old county ways of life.  That’s where the porch wallerin’ came in.  Folks don’t do it too much anymore.  A wise old owl, Clyde Keller (now deceased), once told me that he believed that folks weren’t too neighborly due to the way homes have been built for the past 50 years or so.  Older, bungalow-style homes had rather large inviting porches on the FRONT of the house.  Now we sometimes have decks on the BACK of the house.

Those inviting porches were perfect for spending the last few moments of daylight together with a neighbor, discussing the current goings-on of the neighborhood.  So & so’s been sick and maybe we need to plow through their garden to keep the weeds out until they mend.  Old so & so went up on John’s River and caught a mess of catfish the other night, maybe we need to catch a bunch of grampers and catch us a mess for ourselves.

Last night was spent with our sons who are about 1.5 years apart and have been buds since they were very young.  Me & Gene discussed his quirky neighbors, laughing out loud at their antics, as told by Gene.  Not in a mocking, down grading tone, but a purely comical way, celebrating his quirky neighbors, whom he gets along with just fine.  During this time, the boys just sat and listened to us old codgers, laughing with us.

We heard a bob white (or quail) just before dark.  Luke (Gene’s boy) commented that he couldn’t remember when he last heard one, and he’s always out camping or climbing rocks in the wild parts of our world.  Gene has an English neighbor and he demonstrated this neighbor’s way of calling his dogs in for their medicines.  That English accent was too much to take and me and Gene concurred that we need to help him adjust his way of talking with a proper, backwood North Carolina accent.

Then we talked of another neighbor who will eat anything he can kill, be it deer, rabbit, squirrel or possibly even a bear (if given the opportunity).  Gene also told of him target practicing with this same neighbor, near the road that runs in front of said neighbor’s house.  He listens for cars/trucks/vehicles, but has a hard time hearing a bicycle.  Dangerous.

We spoke of the creeks we are so fond of for swimming and cooling off in during the summer.  We have to get another session in before Luke has to return to college.

Just as we were about to leave, then Aaron (my son) and Luke began talking.  Luke is now working at the same ink factory that Aaron worked at for about 2 years.  They’ve done some of the same jobs and run into some of the same folks at work.  They both spoke of the good and the bad, sharing thoughts as adults.  We watched them shoot snakes with BB guns and eat sunflower seeds in the back seat of our old car as kids.   Gene has video of these young men as children, proging around with their idiot fathers with metal detectors and video cameras in tow.  We bought them bubblegum cigars as me and Gene smoked rum crooks (the real thing).  We’ve shared dogs, both the raising and burying of them.

Porch wallerin’.  Just visiting.  Sharing a story or just catching up and comparing recent beach trips.

The good parts of life among friends.

Linville Ridge Band

With a bit of regret and a sense of relief, I’m announcing the end of The Linville Ridge Band. It’s been a wonderful 6 year journey with many opportunities. And while a band is dis-banding, the friendship remains. I have the utmost respect and admiration for my fellow bandmates and I’m sure we’ll keep in touch. The newest (and shortest tenured member) is Shannon Slaughter, a singer who is no stranger to the bluegrass community. We’ve really enjoyed these last few shows with him. Next came Barte Laney, a quiet guy, who speaks thoughtfully and deliberately. I’ll miss hearing his fiddle. The emcee deluxe, tenor singing, magician David Wiseman has been beside us for the past 4 years. Prior to Barte coming onboard, David was always good for a couple of fiddle tunes along with his mandolin chores. Perry Woodie has been playing music with me for most of the past 18 years. There was a short period at the end of 1995 through late 1999 when we weren’t playing together, but we stayed in touch. These are the guys who have shared time, stories, rooms, trips, meals, cigars or pipes, and music with me. I’m a better man for the experiences they have allowed me to share with them. There are many people I would have never met had I not been riding around playing music with them when the opportunities arose. For the past 4 years we have helped to host The Red White and Bluegrass Festival in Morganton, NC, my hometown. I will continue to help Gary Leonhardt with this event in the future. I told him early on, that even if I wasn’t able to play at the event, how could I not try to help it along, especially since it is in my hometown? And it is a real bluegrass festival and we hope to try and improve upon it for the years to come. Our last gig will be Friday, June 6th, 2008. The Carolina BBQ in Newland, NC will be the site and there is no cover charge. The address is 700 Pineola Street (that will get you close anyway). If you see McDonald’s on Pineola Street, the BBQ is just across the street. If you can, I hope you can come. It will be one of the last opportunities for us to sell a few more of these CDs we have. <G> I’ll never completely get away from being involved in music. But for now, I’ll take a break. It may be short, it may not, but there is nothing in the plans as of this moment. I have been involved in bands for the past 25 years. It started the same year that my wife and I married. She has been wonderful to allow me the time to participate in playing music. There’s songs to write, trout to catch, camping to do, old friendships to rekindle and maintain and family. There’s still music to listen to or play. I plan on making good use of any spare time I have. Thanks to one and all for the support you’ve shown or shared over the years. It means more than you’ll ever know.

Mike Ramsey

Blawgin’ & fishin’

Boy, I’ve been pretty much of a slacker of late.  Here it is the 20th of May and the last entry prior to this one was April 30th.  That may change before too long.

Anyway for those interested, Mountain Heart will be doing The Opry again this weekend.  They just found out Monday afternoon.  Friday and Saturday night.

I’ve been trout fishing.  Gene Wilson is one of the older farts I have to credit with my interest in fly fishing.  He’s been my buddy since he came to our county nearly 30 years ago, joined our Sunday School class and married a girl that grew up with me in church.

We have fished 3 times over the past 2.5 weeks.  I had to buy a new set of wading boots (after trying ot repair my older set, unsuccessfully) but it’s been fun.  We’ll probably do it again before too much longer.

Fishing for wild trout (not hatchery hatched ones) is like trout hunting.  If you’re not careful as you approach the piece of water wherein he lies, you will not see him nor catch him.  He will see your dark form on the water or your heavy-footed splashing, rippling HIS domain and he will not pay you or your fiy a visit.  I told Gene the other day that I wondered if as we gently step into a pool of water, they are filming a Bambi-like trout cartoon and you hear a deep male voice that says, “Man has entered the pool.”

Last year North Carolina was in the worst drought I can remember in my nearly 48 years.  It’s really good to see these streams we’ve been fishing for years running bank-full with clear, cool water.  That’s good trout habitat.

Oh, BTW, I’ve got the best cell phone in the world and it’s a cheap Samsung.  Here’s how I know.  I was stalking a large brown trout Monday evening, about 6:30PM and I waded out a bit too deeply into his pool.  Very slowly and deliberately.  So as not to disturb or scare him.  In my shorts and new wading boots.  With my cell phone in my pocket.

I fished the hole really good.  I moved up to a rather large rock to the left of the upper end of the deep pool, climbed ever-so-carefully up onto it and cast into a fairly strong channel and had a good trout hit my fly.  He took it and began running down the channel.  I had too much floating line out and couldn’t get it gathered in order to set the hook, so he got off.  Though dissapointed, I felt good that I presented the fly in a good enough fashion to get a rather large brown to attack and not be scared off.

Gene was catching up from pools he was fishing behind me and we talked a bit and gave reports, since we hadn’t seen each other for about 30-45 minutes.  I had caught one keeper rainbow in my first pool, turned him back and Gene had done the same with 2-3 fish.

I felt my phone vibrate and was amazed that I was getting enough signal to get a call in this deep little gorge we were fishing.  But, it kept vibrating and I WASN”T getting a call.  It had been in water for a good 3-4 minutes, as I spent my time wading in the pool.

It wouldn’t quit vibrating!  So, I took the battery out of it to stop that infernal shaking.  I had just bought a pair of new wading boots and now I may be buying a new cell phone.  Oh well.  There was still fishing to be done and we did catch a few more.

I let the phone ride on top of the dash, near the defrost vent, on the way home.  I was wet and the bit of heat felt good.

The next morning I carried my phone and battery to work with me.  I hadn’t said anything about the phone to my wifey-mae.  Afer all, she said nothing about me buying wading boots.

I looked up drying a cell phone on the internet.  The internet is good for finding stuff that you know nothing about.  I had done all the right things, even though I didn’t know.  Removing the battery is important, because batteries and water don’t mix to well.  I plugged it in, it powered up (though it had water condensation on the inside of the outer display) and I had my contacts and it seemed to be working.

The water condensation cleared up later yesterday, though it didn’t show my clock or who was calling.  I made a couple of test calls to the wife and after it worked, I told her about baptizing the cell phone in Steele Creek.  That was pretty easy.

Now, my outer display has come back and it’s taking a charge this AM.  I was really dreading trying to re-establish all those contacts from the bluegrass world in a new phone.

Now, go get you a cheap Samsung phone and taking it swimming.  Just not much.

Opry this weekend

For those interested, my son Aaron, will be playing with Mountain Heart (his full-time gig) on the Grand Ole Opry this Friday and Saturday night.  By clicking on “Opry” you can get performance times for the show and links to listen in online.

We’ve made a few treks out to Nashland over the past few months, but won’t make the trip this time.  We’ll be home listening in on the internet or an old tube radio with everyone else. 

For more info on Mountain Heart go here.

Bluegrass, The Opry and tube radios.  Somehow that just all seems to fit together.

 

Sista’s challenge

Morning all,

I’ve been behind in blogging lately.  Taxes, young’uns, music-stuff, and taxes.  You know how it goes.  I also got a bit involved in researching my family history through Ancestry.com .  That was fun and interesting, to me at least, and I hope to discover more of those stories.

Sista Smiff tagged me in a short survey about something I know a good bit about.  ME.  Here goes:

Name one thing you do every day: Listen to music.

Name 5 things/people that make you feel good: Knowing my wife loves me and puts up with this musical madness I take part in.  Hearing my young adult children pull into the drive (or yard) in the wee hours after they’ve traveled many a mile to get back home.  Remembering my country raising.  Good conversation about anything.  Knowing that western North Carolina is my home.

Name 4 things you love to eat but rarely do:  Rubarb pie.  Homemade ice cream.  Sweet pepper relish on pintos.  My homeade buscuits (yeah, I make them on occasion).

Name 3 things that remind you of childhood:  Outhouses.  My maternal Grand Daddy’s gold pocket watch.  Making garden with my Daddy using a horse or a mule.

Name two things you wish you could learn:  How to write funny songs.  Musical instrument repair.

I tag one Marye to accomplish this survey.  Hers will be a beauty to read.  You go read some the stuff she has now.  She’s the lady who took me to Bill Monroe’s funeral via her article published in Bluegrass Unlimited.

The Dan Band for a good cause

The Dan Tyminski Band showed up in my hometown this past Friday night.  This event was organized by The Men’s Club of Morganton, a non-profit club much like the Rotary clubs across the country.  The funds generated by the show (about $6,000 cleared) will be used to fund 4-5 scholarships for folks in the Burke County area next year. 

I looked around at the show Friday night and had bandmates in front of me, family & friends on the row with me, friends in the 2 rows behind me and folks all over the place I was familiar with. George Shuffler was there.  Sort of felt like home.  Well, to me, it WAS home, in my hometown.

There were 800 folks in attendance. I confirmed those numbers today.

Still a band that has been playing dates for about 2 months, to sell 800 tickets at an average of $20 a seat, with about 7 weeks total of lead time prior to the performance date was pretty impressive! They played a bunch of tunes (5-6) from Dan’s previous recording, about 5-6 from the new recording (by Adam’s estimation May-June), some material from Alison’s recordings and a host of fan favorites like One Tear, Sunny Side of the Mountain, Freeborn Man, Man of Constant Sorrow to the crowd’s delight.

This was a bluegrass knowledgeable crowd. They knew when someone was nailing a break and were appreciative of the musical efforts, responding with cheers of encouragement. Steffey made mention that they appreciated playing to a bluegrass-oriented crowd and felt the pressure to be on their game.

As we began filing out of the auditorium, toward the fan-filled lobby, Shannon Slaughter told me he was ready to jam. Had instruments been brought by all the pickers attending, a bluegrass orchestra could have been assembled.

I didn’t get to see the Bluegrass Album Band on it’s initial run, but I did get to see The Dan Tyminski Band at the beginning of it’s journey.

Here is the term I conjured up when I saw the Tyminski Band showcase at IBMA in 2000 or 2001.

“Full Strength, adult dosed bluegrass.”

Don’t miss this show if it is coming within driving distance of your town. You won’t regret it.

Kat

This past weekend was mostly spent with my 2 young’uns.  Aaron worked hard (sort of) helping to archive documents about the Beacon Mill which used to be located in Swannanoa, NC (until it burnt down some years back).  This was at the direction of his sweetie, who works at the Swannanoa Valley Museum.  We saw Aaron (now known as scannerman) in action as we visited the archiving site on the way to Bluegrass First Class in Asheville, NC.

By we, I an referring to my daughter Katie, her boyfriend Chaz and myself.  You know what music does to and for the folks that reside at my house.  Now Katie is going to school in Boone and hasn’t been home is a few weeks, since the spring semester started in mid-January. 

She plays bass (like me and Aaron) and is going to become a teacher (like her Momma and Mimi).  Anyway, we got a jam cranked about 6:30Pm and she played bass and HAMMERED IT!  I knew she could, but there were other folks there that didn’t know until Saturday evening.  Her big brother played guitar and there was mandolin and banjo as well.  She sang some tenor, too.

After that Aaron and his sweetie heard Tony Rice and Katie, Chaz and me hung out in the lobby with some South Carolinians and laughed at lots of really good ignorance.  We had a blast!  I know some folks walking by may have thought how odd for a 47 year old to be hanging and laughing with a bunch of late-teen to early 20’s kids, but I can hold my own in the funny department.  It’s my forte.

I probably enjoy laughter better than I do music, and music is a great love of mine.  After another pair of moments, we (again Katie, Chaz and me) rode to Barley’s Taproom and got some pizza.  We discussed our differences in regards to the dressings on our pizza and decided it would be best for us to order individual slices, instead of one pizza.  It all came out great and I really enjoyed spending a bit of time with this one daughter I have, seeing her smile and having a good old time with her old, gray-headed Daddy and her boyfriend.

Katie Bug slept all the way home.

Benefit update

Just as an update, the benefit for Officer Martin Lawing brought in at least $4000.00 for his and his family’s needs.

 We all were tired at the end of the show, but everyone involved slept very well.  Kudos to all involved in this wonderful event.

Benefit for Officer Martin Lawing

This Saturday, Feb 16th, at 7 PM, The Linville Ridge Band be participating in a benefit show for Officer Martin Lawing, injured in the line of duty back in December of 2007.

Also appearing will be The Laurel Creek Band and The Good Old Boys.  Tix will be $8 for 3 hours of bluegrass.  There will also be a BBQ supper available onsite prior to the show at The Old Rock School from 4-7 PM.  The Old Rock School is located in Valdese, NC.

All advertising, cost of building and bands along with the BBQ are being donated so that all proceeds can go directly to Officer Lawing’s family needs.

For more information go to

http://www.bluegrassattherock.com/Martin%20Lawing%20Benefit.htm

Thanks, we hope you’ll attend.

Across the pond

Hey folks, my boy is a long, long way from home.  Mountain Heart is currently on a trip in Switzerland and they’ve just sent a few pics with more to come.  Here’s where you go to see what they’ve been up to.

It’s amazing how far you can ride on a mandolin…

I’ll keep this one short and sweet, just like Sista Smiff showed me.