Events you've witnessed that left an impression

[Dan Cole]

This post has some mando content. I was just curious of some of the events folks have witnessed in their lifetimes that left an impression, etc. They don’t have to be in any order. Some of my key moments in time are:

1. The fall of the Berlin Wall, November 9, 1989. I was serving as an exchange officer in the German navy. The captain announced what had happened in Berlin the evening before. I’ll never forget the look on the crews faces……..stunned.

2. Aryton Senna driving his McLaren at full song through Eau Rouge, Belgium Grand Prix at Spa Franchorchamps, 1989 & 1990. I am not that brave. He was awesome. Saudade Aryton!

3. Watching Mike Tyson defeat Tony Tucker in 12 rounds live in Las Vegas at the Hilton in 1987.

4. Watching Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys at a festival in Virginia Beach, Va. Here was a boyhood idol in person. I stood less than ten feet from him and was so awestruck I didn’t even ask for an autograph when the opportunity arose. The roster of that event was full of Bluegrass stars, but I couldn’t tell you who else was there for certain.

5. Marriage, birth of kids and grand kids are all pretty special too.

[Treblemaker]

1. July 21, 1969 - Seeing Neil Armstong land and stand on the moon.
This is one of my earliest memories - I was 4 1/2 a the time.

2. July 4th 1976 - America's Bicentennial - I watched Tall Ships sail up the Hudson River from the New Jersey Palisades, North of the George Washington Bridge - and then watched the Fireworks later that night - big impression...

3. February, 1980 - In the AM I watched the US best the USSR in Olympic Hockey - The Miracle on Ice from Lake Placid. In the Evening I travelled to Nassau Coliseum and saw Pink Floyd stage one of three performances of the Wall. I was 15...

4. October, 1980 - Saw three of 8 performances by the Grateful Dead at Radio City Music Hall. These shows included acoustic sets - each show was three sets long and the Acoustic stuff blew me away and opened up most of the musical doors I've been exploring ever since.

5. January 28, 1986 - Sitting at my house during my Junior year of college, I happened to turn the TV on and watched first hand as the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded... This was a devastating impression and one that left me distressed.

6. August 12, 1995 - The day Jerry Garcia Died - part of me died too - but at the same time, I got a life - both musical and professional.

7. June 30, 1996 - Got married - amazing day full of love, friends and family.

8. August 13, 1998: Witnessing the birth of my Son, Stuart... Best day ever.

9. November 18, 2000: Giving the Eulogy at my Mother's funeral... Worst day ever.

10. September 11, 2001 - Need I explain?

There are clearly more...

Treblemaker
http://www.WorldWideTed.com

[Nick Alberty]

09/11/01........enough said

April 19,1995.....OKC Bombing. As an Oklahoman...that hit home and was very hard.

Musically.....

Doc Watson on stage with his grandson....Two men and two guitars......Eureka Springs, AR...Aug. 2006.....WOW!!!!

Charlie Daniels playing "Devil Went Down To Georgia". I watched from front row below his feet. WOW!!!

2004 Boston Red Sox winning World Series....YES!!!!!

[Wesley]

I'm not sure of the date but the first time I saw Sam Bush perform with the New Grass Revival I realised that those "little guitars" could be a lot of fun. Versatile too.

[Dan Cole]

I concur with watching Armstrong walk on the moon, 9/11, Challenger, Oklahoma City, all powerful images. For me those events were all images from the TV, I wasn't actually there. That's probaly a good thing in hindsight!

[Keith Wallen]

Watched NGR in Dayton at Island park around 84'. I was 14 and dropped listening to rock-n-roll and borrowed a mandolin from my great uncle. This was after growing up listening to bluegrass and many attempts by my parents to get me to play bg.

[lawdawg]

1. Armstrong on the moon - I was 3 - mom made us watch (b/w tv).
2. MLK assasination - mom made us watch.
3. OKC Murrah Bldg 4/19/95 @ 9:02 a.m. - I was a few blocks away at the time in law school at OKC SofL(God's grace).
4. 9/11
5. Katrini hit N.O. - levee's burst
6. Watching a buddy pull of a legit triplet and realizing it was not trick photography, studio magic or a hammer-on-pull-off!!!!!

[Harrmob]

Musically-
-John Duffy's blurry right hand during "Rawhide", 1985, the Birchmere
-Akira Otsuka's (sp?) break using only harmonics on John Duffy's mandolin
-A friend playing both parts of the entire battle between Ralph Machio and Steve Via from the movie Crossroads on electric guitar, hooked to his computer so the tone
would automatically change between solos
-every wrong note that I have played badly... (sometimes you can play a wrong note, but if you play it badly, then you can't get away with it)

[John Rosett]

Seeing Pete Martin fall out of his camper after being attacked by a rubber snake...

[Jim MacDaniel]

So that I don't contribute to this thread becoming locked, I'll stay away from events with political implications http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif #and focus on music-related events that left the biggest impacts upon me.

4/26/75 - Eagles; Indianapolis, IN: my first rock concert!

4/19/77 - Led Zeppelin; Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, Ohio: a great musical and visual show from Led Zep, (arguably) at their peak of creativity

6/23/77 - Pink Floyd's Animals tour; Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, Ohio: the music, mood, and visuals, including giant inflatable animals, all contributed to a memorable -- if not trippy -- show

9/3/82 - Day 1 of the 1982 US Festival: all 3 days were a blast, but Day 1 opened up a whole new world of music to me that until then I was little familair with (Gang of Four, The Ramones, The English Beat, Oingo Boingo, The B52's, Talking Heads , The Police); plus "Breakfast with the Dead" and Jerry Jeff Walker on Day 3 were a blast

June 1997 - impromptou session in a Dingle pub while on honeymoon in Ireland: earlier in the day we heard people speaking Irish in public conversation for the first time in our lives, and then later we found this session in this cozy little pub on a windy, cold, rainy night -- culminating in a magical and memorable night

10/23/97 - Jimmy Buffet; Shoreline Ampitheater, Mountain View, CA: my first Jimmy Buffet show

August/September 1999 - Edinburgh 1999 festival season: an awesome collection of festivals and events, with performers and attendees from all over the globe -- and in one of the most beautiful cities in Europe

7/29/07 - Lyle Lovett & His Large Band; Concord, CA: proof that mandolin, Texas Swing, Big Band, C&W, and ugly ex-husbands of Julia Roberts do indeed go well together

[siren_20]

Mandolin related: Seeing Hamilton de Holanda play solo at the 2006 Symposium, having not really heard the man play before. One of the most incredible things I think I've ever seen. Absolutely scared the hell out of me.

[Stephen Perry]

In 1974, a drunk cyclist heading at me at night. Left a distinct impression in the back of my skull!

[doc holiday]

Seeing Jimmy Martin live at Stony Plain a few years back, with his son playing the F4.

[Patrick Gunning]

Mandolin related: Seeing Hamilton de Holanda play solo at the 2006 Symposium, having not really heard the man play before. One of the most incredible things I think I've ever seen. Absolutely scared the hell out of me.
I have to concur with JT on the Hamilton symposium show. We all sat around for about two hours after that, unable to play, jam, or do anything except grasp in futility for words appropriate for how moving the experience was.

Other musical moments:

1) My dad singing me to sleep with James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James" when I was a newborn. My first clear memory is hearing that song when I was only a couple weeks old.

2) Darrell Scott solo show at Shoreline, WA on my 18th birthday (4/10/04). The most I have ever wept during a set of music, I still get chills listening to the live recordings after hundreds of listens.

3) Tim O'brien, John Doyle and Casey Driessen as a trio at Wintergrass 2004. The best night of music Tim O'brien has ever played or will ever play.

4) The first time I ever strummed my Collings D1A (not a mandolin, sorry). Wow. I will never buy another acoustic guitar.

[Paul Hostetter]

1) watching the coronation of Queen Elizabeth live on TV. June, 1953 (Is this political??)

Transcendental musical experiences are too numerous to count, but...

2) watching a Greek bouzouki player play blistering solos through a Twin Reverb whilst different colored lights flashed on and off at random, like Christmas lights, under the fret markers of his bouzouki. Greektown, Detroit, about 1956.

3) seeing Ravi Shankar perform live in Detroit shortly after being informed by my very German choir director in high school that Indian music was the deepest and most complex music on the planet (he had a PhD from Indiana, he must have known). Winter 1960. A few months later I heard Ali Akbar Khan play in Ann Arbor. Ruined for life.

4) Hearing Bob Dylan perform for the first time at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival, before the release of his first album. I went to hear Bill Monroe, The New Lost City Ramblers, and Jesse Fuller, and like nearly everyone else there, had never heard of Bob Dylan or heard his music. Changed my already-ruined life. February 1962

5) Hearing Bill Monroe and his BGB performing at an auto worker's union hall in Detroit for an almost entirely hillbilly audience, I'd heard him play for college kids the night before in Ann Arbor. Night and Day shows. Detroit 1962.

6) Walking to the beach at Newport with Mississippi John Hurt, where he and I both experienced the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. We both waded in. My toe got chomped by a little crab, his didn't. We laughed. No one knew who he was quite yet, he was a surprise guest there. (I'd had the SMith Anthologies forf several years before that.) He was my houseguest on later occasions. 1963.

7) Finding my way to the Apollo Theater (no thanks to Sandoz Labs) to hear James Brown live. I was about the only white person there, it was fabulous. I walked home (Tompkins Square, East Village). December 1965.

8) Seeing Jimi Hendrix live 5 days in a row the week before Monterey Pop, including playing in the Panhandle across the street from my flat. June '67.

9) delivering my first child May 1983

10) delivering my second one August 1985

Enough for now.

[re simmers]

1) Being at Memorial Stadium to see the Orioles defeat the Reds in game 5 for the Series in '70. Brooks Robinson!
2) Hearing Connie Smith sing How Great Thou Art at the Clear Spring carnival about 23 years ago.
3) The last big Indian Springs Bluegrass Festival in 1980. My first festival. I was hooked! The Scene, Joe Val, Spectrum.
4) Playing a show with Tom Adams. He filled in for our banjo player about 12 years ago. Mr. Right Hand!

[mando83]

First memory I ever have of music was hearing George Jones sing. Then went to my first George Jones concert at 10 years old. Sept 9, I went to my (10th? 11th? I don't know) George Jones concert...happened to be at the same theater as the one when I was 10. It was cool...better seats too.

Hearing Bobby Osborne hold that amazing note in Ruby. I knew that's what I wanted to do. Then he tour into Sure-Fire and I set my guitar down and found me a mando.

Those are probably the most influencial moments of my life. Truly awesome.

[mandopete]

I think the way to answer this question is just to put down the first thing that pops into your head. I'm limiting this to musical events...

The Mahavishnu Orchestra performing Inner Mounting Flame at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion (an evening hosted by Clive Davis) in 1973.

Genesis in 1974 performing Selling England By The Pound at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

Jerry Douglas, Russ Barenberg and Edgar Meyer performing Skip, Hop and Wobble at the Live Oak Festival in Santa Barbara - think it was 1990.

I think those three events each left me speechless and still leave me wondering if what I saw was really what I saw (?)

[johnwalser]

The Beatles at Cleveland Stadium.
John

[allenhopkins]

Music:
[1] New Lost City Ramblers at Eliot House, Harvard University, 1962. What is this music, why is it so wonderful?
[2] Osborne Brothers with Benny Birchfield at Club 47, Cambridge, probably 1964. I sat ten feet away; Bobby sang "Ruby, Are You Mad," his F-5 propped on his big (then) stomach. The real thing.
[3] Doc Watson, also at Club 47, that same year or a bit later. A genius, a titan, so modest, so talented.
[4] Mike Seeger, also at Club 47, around the same time; some "guests" drifted in after Joan Baez's concert at Symphony Hall: Baez, Tom Rush, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Eric Andersen, Bill Keith, Bob Siggins. The last set was all impromptu groupings, guest solos, an all-star session (I prompted Joan Baez with the words to "Engine 143," which she'd forgotten). Admission: one dollar.
[5] Playing my Harmony banjo behind Bob Dylan singing "Mr. Tamborine Man," banks of the Charles River, 1965. A little brush with greatness.
[6] John Hartford, Norman Blake, Vassar Clements, Tut Taylor, David Bromberg, Alan Stowell on stage at Fox Hollow, 1971. The "Aero-Plain" band, plus some talented guests, and utter excitement.
[7] The late Stan Rogers in concert in Rochester, early 1980's -- the strongest singer-songwriter I've ever heard -- you could feel his voice against your chest, you could hear his joy, fear, anger, sadness, love echoing all through the room.
[8] The late Bob Copper, with John Roberts and Lou Killen, an evening concert at Pinewoods Camp perhaps five years ago; brought to tears by the beauty and harmony of traditional British song.
[9] Opening (solo) for David Bromberg & band, last year. Where the hell did I get the nerve to get up on this stage?

Non-music:
[1] 1962 Cuban missile crisis, sitting in a dorm room, saying, "If they've launched the missiles, we have 15 minutes to live." False alarm, thank God.
[2] 1963, November, watching the Kennedy assasination aftermath on a big black-&-white TV in a common room. Disbelief, shock, denial.
[3] October 1965, draft notice.
[4] 1968, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy assasinations. Can't believe how many of our leaders were killed or wounded, in our "civilized democracy."
[5] 1974, Nixon resignation. Turmoil, controversy, watching the "system," knocked over by the Watergate squall, trying to right itself.
[6] July 3, 1977, welcome David; May 5, 1982, welcome Peter. Now grown, and still growing.
[7] September 11, 2001, and everything thereafter. Where are we going, and why are we in this handbasket?

[Chris Biorkman]

Man, you guys are old. I'm glad that's never going to happen to me. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Chris Biorkman]

1) My dad singing me to sleep with James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James" when I was a newborn. My first clear memory is hearing that song when I was only a couple weeks old.
That's not possible.

[GTG]

-being on a police line-up at 17 (1991); a teenager with 'mediterranean complexion' was charged with murder and they came to my high school to look for volunteers for the lineup;
-my first time (ahem); I'll never forget...
-First time seeing and dealing with a deceased human body, spring 2002 - being in the first team of a mountain rescue crew that responded to a suicide via cliff jump;
-first time taking off in a helicopter (wildland firefighting) summer 1998;
-first time on the west coast in Vancouver, BC, seeing the massive trees out there after growing up in Ontario
-music-related - Wynton Marsalis in 1991 and 2000, hearing the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Canada) perform Dvorak's New World Symphony in 1992, Metallica's black album tour 1991, Yonder Mountain String Band in 2002, Old Crow Medicine Show in 2005, Ani DiFranco in 1997 when she was angry and amazing, and many more...

[John Flynn]

I'll keep it music-related:
> Seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan
> Seeing the Beatles live in Busch stadium in St. Louis
> Learning my first tune on the guitar, Dylan's "Mr. Tamborine Man"
> Playing ryhthm guitar in a rock band in college, taking an improvized solo on a tune at a gig and having my best friend, who basically taught me guitar, say that it was as good as anything he had done.
> Buying my first mandolin
> Playing in my first old-time jam

I'd rather think of those as things that left an impression because they were positive things I wanted to do, rather than things that just happened to me or I witnessed. Like everyone, I have lots of things in the latter category, buy I don't want to dwell on them.

[GTG]

...[7] The late Stan Rogers in concert in Rochester, early 1980's -- the strongest singer-songwriter I've ever heard -- you could feel his voice against your chest, you could hear his joy, fear, anger, sadness, love echoing all through the room.
Wow - I'm often envious of great shows that others have seen, but seeing Stan at his prime is at the top of my list of 'wish I'd been there' moments...lucky you.

[Caleb]

Something that stands out in my mind when it comes to music:

Seeing Tommy Emmanuel live for the first time. He did things with a guitar that I didn't know where humanly possible. Easily one of the coolest nights of my life. Me and a friend just sat there amazed all throughout the show, smiling the entire time. A really unique experience.

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif

[Brady Smith]

First memory I ever have of music was hearing George Jones sing.



Meeting George Jones the first time.

[JeffD]

In the audience at Saratoga Performing Arts Center as we listened to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and how we all stood up, tears streaming down our faces, during the last part of the choral movement.

[Fretbear]

Seeing Doc Watson play "(He Made The) Freight Train Boogie" on black & white TV as a kid.
Tony Rice's guitar solos on "The David Grisman Rounder Album".
Bela Fleck "unwinding" all the notes off his banjo in one smooth move with NGR at Telluride, Colorado.
Lyle Lovett and His Large Band live in Ottawa, Canada.

[mandroid]

Passendaele Belgium, and seeing the square miles of war
graves from WW1.

[Every evening Ipres (south-west Flanders) holds a memorial
ceremony where the horn ensamble plays "the Last Post",
suspended only when re-occupied during the 2nd world war,
restarted immediately the day of german army retreat]
. . . . . .
Sun Ra Arkestra, at the Bijou theatre,
Ken Keyseys Hoo Haws at Mac Court in Eugene.

and going to that Woodstock Festival...

[Eric F.]

Musically, seeing Doc Watson in a high school gym in Vermont in the early 1970s, going to Union Grove in the mid-'70s, sitting at Dexter Gordon's feet in a tiny club in Portland a few years later and sitting three feet from Eric Clapton in a Chicago club while he played a blistering set of blues.

[sgarrity]

I'll keep it musically related:

Pickin' tunes on the front porch of Bill Monroe's childhood home

Getting to see John Hartford w/Compton on mandolin a few years before he passed

Sittin' in the Double Stop Fiddle Shop and jamming with Byron Berline

Hosting a workshop with Roland White and getting to spend the weekend with him

[fatt-dad]

My mom backing the '57 Chevy over the tricycle. I'm just beginning. . . .

f-d

[Keith Erickson]

I'm going to stick to musical events that shaped part of my life (I'm excluding TV)...

-What planted the musical seed for me was seeing Rush-Moving Pictures tour way back around 25 years ago at the Brendan Byrne Arena.

-Anthrax with Iron Maiden on the "Somewhere on Tour"-tour 1987 at the Brendan Byrne arena. #We left in the middle of a riot.

-Van Halen Monster's of Rock Tour in 1988 at Giants Stadium. #Kingdom Come, Metalica, Dokken, the Scorpions and Van Halen were performing.

-The Who @ Giants stadium in 1989. #That had to be the absolute loudest show I've ever been to.

-Yes Union Tour back in April of 1991 at Brendan Byrne Arena
-Yes Tour 1998 at the Abraham Chavez Theatre in El Paso, Texas

-The Outfield 1999 at the Stampede in El Paso, Texas. I got to meet the band and they were really down to Earth. #One of the best live shows ever.

-Def Leppard X Tour at the Abraham Chavez Theatre 2000 in El Paso, Texas

-Rolling Stones live at the University of Texas-El Paso in October of 2006.

I saw Rush a few more times after that in New Jersey and Texas. #Don't get me wrong, I loved them each time I went to see them, but that Moving Pictures Tour was over the top.

[fatt-dad]

My mom singing opera in D.C.
Watching Andre Segovia play a concert from about 15 ft (sitting on stage).
Hound Dog Taylor at the National Folk Festival.
My first bluegrass festival (Culpeper, VA, c. 1973)
Watching the world beneath me from the air (first plane trip).
Johnny Cash, Frank Zappa, Allman Brothers (with Duane), NGR, Talking Heads, Les McCann, John Hartford concerts.
Glaciers, salmon, crabs, eskimos, perma-frost in Alaska.
Old Faithful.
Northern Lights.
The space shuttle crossing the sky.
Eruption of Mt. Saint Helens.
Hundreds of bald eagles in a landfill in Adak, Alaska.
A pow-wow at the Pine Ridge Reservation.
The Sierra Mountains from a helicopter (daily for 9 months).
An acceptance letter to graduate school.
A proposal followed by the word, "Yes".
Birth of two healty children.

Whew!

f-d

[Jim MacDaniel]

Northern Lights...
Good one -- that is on my list of things to do before I die (BTW, to help keep the thread mandolin-related, buying a Rigel, a Sobell, and a '58 blonde mandocaster are all also on that list http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif ).

My wife and I both want to visit Quebec City, so I guess I should time the trip to coincide with the lights -- is it possible to see them during fall colors, or do I have to wait until there is snow on the ground and sub-zero temps? #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[keymandoguy]

best concert ever Ricky Skaags at Nashville Ind Worst concert ever Loretta Lynn also at Nashville Ind

[JamesBryan]

Musical - personal real life overlaps

late '70s dancing in a small club to Robert Cray real loud, w/ a very hot date ('too many cooks are gonna spoil the stew -- ain't nobody cookin but me and you')

about '80 David Bromberg, Euphoria Tavern Portland Oregon, vaguely, stumbling through a haze of $2.00 pitchers

'82 DGQ w/ O'Connor, Marshall, Anger, Wasserman, Bellingham, Wash. After the show my friends and I HAD TO PLAY right away!

'84 Anza club, Vancouver B.C. Good ol' persons, center in front of the stage as John Reischman and Paul Shelasky tore up Grey Eagle

'85 Winfield, my first major festival visit, NGR on stage, intensely good, jamming w/ Dave Peters 'til dawn. Sat beside Butch Baldessari listening to the mando contest, he took 2nd I think that year to Peters


--blur of jams, festivals, & bad gigs--

about '00. Pearl Django, Jazz alley I think, Seattle

'04? Wintergrass, met & jammed w/ Scott Tichenor, played my first Loar.

'07 John Sullivan memorial, instrument show & concert, Portland

Non-musical noteworthy: Sept '68 Tiger Stadium Detroit w/ my dad. Vs. Yankees, day after Tigers won the pennant. Denny McLain wins 31st, Mickey Mantle's last at-bat in Detroit, McLain grooves him one for left field homer.

Jim

[humblemex]

4) Hearing Bob Dylan perform for the first time at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival, before the release of his first album. I went to hear Bill Monroe, The New Lost City Ramblers, and Jesse Fuller, and like nearly everyone else there, had never heard of Bob Dylan or heard his music. Changed my already-ruined life. February 1962
Paul,

Did you ever see this poster? 90 cents to see Bob Dillon. As you no doubt know, our mutual friend Marc Silber was largely responsible for him being there.

[twaaang]

Jim MacDaniel: catching the Northern Lights is pure luck, and not necessarily restricted to the seasons (a solar storm sends out its radiation pulses without any regard to earthly seasons). Two of the finest shows I ever saw were in late summer in upstate New York. Being away from city lights is more of a factor than being "way north" -- we hosted an exchange student from Sweden who had never seen them before spending a year with us in Vermont.

Quebec City is beautiful, we honeymooned there in the spring and have taken our boys there in the summer, and I'm sure the other seasons are great as well.

Ummm . . . no mando content, maybe I should have PM'd instead but at this point I'll just beg everyone's indulgence. -- Paul

[Paul Hostetter]

Jon - I probably saw that poster back then, but not since. Whoa! (I do have a couple of other ancient Ann Arbor posters though). I think Marc was entirely responsible for Dylan being there. Who else knew who he was? The irony (you must have heard this story from Marc) was that Marc got his sister's roommate's dad, Walter Reuther, to attend, certain he'd identify with this guy. It wasn't a hit, alas. Somehow I remember Bob Dylan, vividly, but not Walter. I also remember the Greenbriar Boys - why aren't they on that poster?

http://www.bobdylanroots.com/dyl61.jpg

Perhaps in my possibly(!) flawed hindsight I am conflating two events.

[humblemex]

Jon - I probably saw that poster back then, but not since. Whoa! (I do have a couple of other ancient Ann Arbor posters though). I think Marc was entirely responsible for Dylan being there. Who else knew who he was? The irony (you must have heard this story from Marc) was that Marc got his sister's roommate's dad, Walter Reuther, to attend, certain he'd identify with this guy. It wasn't a hit, alas. Somehow I remember Bob Dylan, vividly, but not Walter. I also remember the Greenbriar Boys - why aren't they on that poster?
What, only 45 years ago and you've already forgotten the details? A few years ago I published a book called "Encounters with Bob Dylan" by a woman named Tracy Johnson. It needed a few more stories so I interviewed Marc and wrote a chapter on his encounters with Bob. The book is now out of print but I've still got his story posted on my website. (Guess I need to pull it off, since it's no longer available.) If you want to read it, go to http://www.humblepress.com/Encounters/Pages/Silber.html

Jon

[re simmers]

I almost forgot.

Ricky Skaggs at the Maryland Theater in Hagerstown, MD in 1984. It was when Highway 40 Blues was hot. The show was non stop music. Skaggs had so much energy. The band left the stage for a 15 minute break while Ricky sang Talk About Sufferin' and then he fiddled something slow and mournful until the band caught their breath. He was really impressive and carried the show. That was before Ricky learned that he could talk!

[Rick Banuelos]

1. Enter my first child - a daughter.

2. Death Cab For Cutie at the Showbox Theatre in Seattle; the end of their first national tour.

3. First mandolin played (a black Flatiron Cadet for a recording session in Van Nuys)

4. Seeing lightning from the air (up close) in a single-engine Piper.

5. Hiking the Enchantment Lakes.

6. Playing alongside my dad on his record.

7. Making my first record with my brother.

8. Visiting Zahl, North Dakota with my brother (I took his picture there).

[JeffD]

It is very interesting, and sometimes surprizing, - the diversity of musical experiences and events that each of us would call significant.

It shows how impossible it would be to characterize us musically as a group. Yes the mandolin has caught each of our hearts - but what we do with that instrument is so different. Impossible to generalize about how most of us came to the instrument, or what kind of music most of us like, or what developed us musically.

Just wonderful. What a great community. I know of very few other communities in which I regularly participate (work, church, fishing as you know from my sig), in which there is as wide a diversity of folks. You know, you enjoy a coffee with new fishing buddies after fishing all morning - and you kind of know the range of opinions and thoughts and experiences to expect to hear about. Not exactly perhaps, but you kind of know. Not so here. Here I am continually surprized (and delighted) at the different directions we are taking the mandolin, and the different paths by which we got here.

Nope, no group hugs.

[bassthumper]

would these be called MAGIC MOMENTS or EPIPHANIES?http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif A)sitting in the MERLE WATSON touch garden on a chilly night and as the fog rolled in EARL SCRUGGS banjo from the WATSON STAGE touched my ears and soul like nothing i've ever heard .....B)the first time i cut loose in a jam and folks liked it....C)the final G-run i played the first time i entered at GALAX.....D)the strings tuners frets and case hardware in a pile of ash that once was my home....E)seeing JAMES TAYLOR duckwalk during a BO DIDDLY medley....F) stoping for gas on my way home from work on a cold winters night and seeing the MARTHA WHITE bus pull up...RED DRESS and ALL RHONDA'S ONE OF US WORKING CLASS PICKERS

[Ivan Kelsall]

1) Playing the opening set for Bill Monroe & the boys with my band when he came to
Manchester (UK)in 1966.
2) Seeing Doc Watson in Manchester in 1965 when Ralph Rinzler brought him over.Ralph
told the audience,''next year i'm hoping to bring Bill Monroe over'' - he did.
3) Seeing the Stanley Brothers & the Clinch Mt.Boys in London in 1966 (i think)
i did a 360 mile round trip to see them. When i got back home i was like a ghost,
not having slept for 24 hours.
4) Visiting the USA for the 4th time,attending the IBMA Fanfest in Owensboro.KY &
meeting many great people including Mr. Randy Wood who had his Mandolins on display
(i wasn't playing Mandolin at the time,so i didn't come down with MAS - i surely
would now !)
5) Driving along Skyline Drive in the Blueridge Mts.at dusk - AWESOME !!. I stayed
overnight in Newmarket Battlefields Park.
6) Looking down from the Aircraft on take-off from New York Airport at all the city
lights - i didn't know that there were that many lights on the planet,it was
really very beautiful.
7) Seeing & meeting one of my favourite Guitarists,Albert Lee.
8) Buying my 1st Mandolin two & a half years ago after loving the sound of the
Mandolin for over 40 years & realising that i had the talent to play one.
9) Buying my beautiful Weber 'Fern' 10 months ago ( NOT an ad.for Weber,just my
feeling for beautiful craftsmanship)
10 Watching the Berlin wall come down - the way to that event was opened by Mikhail
Gorbachev. Remember the wonderful welcome you guys in the USA gave him when he
visited ?.
11) Getting my first professional quality Banjo,my beloved Stelling Bellflower.
12) Sitting in my bedroom practicing my Banjo playing,when my mother came
upstairs to tell me that John Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. They say you'll
never forget where you were on the day that happened.
13) Most importantly,after the break-up of me & my ex.,meeting my present partner of
14 years,Shirley. She brought me back from the brink & looked after me while i was
out of work for 3 years,with about $30 a week to live on. I can never repay a
debt like that.
14) Finally,being able to 'talk' to you folk here on the 'Cafe & others on the 'Banjo
Hangout' site. So many people with so many experiences, both good & not so good.
We can all gain from each other. I've always held that people are essentially
good,& reading the thoughts posted here goes a long way to proving it,
Saska

[Paul Kotapish]

My first bluegrass festival (Culpeper, VA, c. 1973)
Hey fatt-dad,

I was at that festival that year, too. I was at the University of Virginia down in Charlottesville then. I'd gone the year before and had the transformational bluegrass experience in '72. By the next summer I was hitting every festival I could find. That was a wonderful event--small, friendly, funky, and absolutely amazing lineups. I reckon it would be on my list, too.

[RichieK]

1. Hearing Clarence White and not believing what he was doing!
2. Seeing J.D.Crowe in June 1975 with his 'brand new band'..Skaggs, Rice, Douglas and Bobby Sloane..just kicking off 'You Can Have Her'..wow!
3. Working at 'Ground Zero' in New York from 9/13/01 -9/17/01. Changed my life.

[jim_n_virginia]

1980- marrying my sweetheart and love of my life!
1983- divorcing the horrible witch that made my life a living Hades! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

music related.

1997- bought a $169.00 plywood Rover hanging in Bress's Pawn Shop on an impulse buy

1999- went to my first Bluegrass festival and seeing up close what people can do with a mandolin when they are good pickers!

2002- joined my first band and got to experience what it's like to be ON the stage instead of watching it!

2006- got to sit and talk with Dr. Ralph Stanley and discuss making music your life and life on the road.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[bluesmandolinman]

1992-2000 riding my 1935 Indian chief
1997 birth of my daughter
2000 birth of my son
2001 Blues mandolin workshop at Niles Hokkanen´s house
2006 bought my loved 1915 F-2

well and some more which wouldn´t suit this family friendly site
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[fatt-dad]

I'd gone the year before and had the transformational bluegrass experience in '72.
I might have been to the 72 also. I went to two back-to-back. It was either 73 and 74 or 72 and 73. Quite a trip. On one of them "Old and In the Way" played. I can remember seeing Jerry Garcia just walking throught the crowd just like anybody else. Folks in the audience were also quite a mix of old-timers and college pot-heads. Somehow, it all seemed right. . . I had a great time, down from Silver Spring, Maryland just before I went off to college in Colorado.

f-d

[mandocrucian]

Musical (as a observer): (I've seen a lot of shows, but mood, state of mind, innebration, venue, alert/tired, interests at the time, and a lot of other stuff factors into the subjective memory of "memorable events".)

Jefferson Airplane - Orlando Sports Stadium, FL 1969

Bob Seger System - Orlando Sports Stadium, FL; various concerts #1969, 70, 71 (always 2nd on the bill)

King Crimson, Grand Funk Railroad, Spirit, Jefferson Airplane - West Palm Beach FL Rock Festival, Nov 69
<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>(Other acts at the fest were The Byrds (w/Clarence), Rotary Conection, Johnny Winter, Cactus, Janis Joplin, Iron Butterfly, Rolling Stones)</span>

Fairport Convention (Angel Delight lineup)/Traffic - Fox Theater, Atlanta; 1971

New York Rock Ensemble - Gainesville, FL 1971

Rory Gallagher/Savoy Brown - Orlando Sports Stadium, FL; 1972(?)

The Chieftains - Providence, RI; Nov 1975

Peter Rowan (w/Logan/Lamar Grier/Mitterhoff) - 1st Kissimmee BG Fest, FL; 1979

Joe Venuti - Disney Jazz Lounge, FL; #1979? (one night all the local symphony string players were there and Joe really let loose)

Sonny Stitt - Disney Jazz Lounge, FL; #1980?

Richard Thompson Band (electric 5-piece w/Gregson & Collister) - Pittsburgh, PA; Nov. 86

JPP, Tallari, Muszikas - Finland, June; 89

Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick - Birchmere; 1992

Rammunders Dottir (Maria Kalaniemi, Marianne Maans, Olli Varis, Tapani Varis & drummer/didge) (their debut public performance) - Swedish Theatre, Helsinki Finland; 1995

Väsen, Gjallarhorn - Kaustinen, Finland 1996

Ale Möller & Aly Bain - #Somerset, PA 2005


Niles H.

[JEStanek]

This is a very challenging topic and I've started and trashed a half dozen replies.

Direct witness that affected me and images remain clear:
1) Parts of my marriage ceremony and reception.
2) Births of my daughter and son
3) Leading prayers and having a final scotch around my father's body in my parents home with my mother, brothers, and their wives just after he died from cancer)
4) Hiking above the fog filling a valley below me in central Virginia
5) Watching my 5 year old daughter dance on stage confidently (and totally untrained) with the dancers during a Chieftains concert in Philly (people from the audience went up after joining a chain - she was the youngest - joy with abandon, what a lesson).

I try not to dwell on horrible events. Rather, I try and learn form them keep moving on with a positive outlook.

That's a start...

Musically,
1) Didn't see it but my first time listening to A Love Supreme - John Coltrane and White Light White Heat - Velvet Underground.
2) First time at Philly Folk Fest after fest Jam Session with Matt Glazer and Chris Thilé (why I took up the mandolin).
3) Getting Andre Previn's conducted Beethoven's Nine Symphonies for Christmas.

Other musical experiences are too numerous and would either appear redundant, trivial, or I wouldn't be able to express them correctly.

Jamie

[boatman]

Events musical & otherwise:
The look of the storm clouds to the west circa '60 just before some serious tornados(unusual in central Virginia)
Bob Dylan at the Mosque in Richmond Virginia '64(?)
Vietnam, '67, under fire for the first time (shizam!)
Cindy (Lucinda)Williams in a smokey old bar, New Orleans 1972 (Double shizam!)
Joni Mitchell Miami Beach Auditorium '72 (maybe '73)
Succesful landfall at New York harbor entrance '76 - first off-shore sail (Key Largo - New York) for 4 July tall ships thing
Christmas Day '87, Kusrae, Federated States of Micronesia, singing carols in the local dielect
Wintergreen Mountain '06, Andy Thacker (on mandolin) and a threesome fresh off the boat from Ireland + Aaron(?)Olwell & his lovely female partner step dancing to the music - as entertaining as anything I've ever seen

[Alex of the North]

Top 5 Non-Music:
1. Birth of my daughter.
2. Death of my father.
3. Getting married.
4. 9/11. I slept through it. But I woke up, turned on NPR, heard that the World Trade Center had been destroyed, and looked out my kitchen window. I lived in Brooklyn at the time and the WTC was the one bit of Manhattan that you could see from my apartment, all that was there was grey smoke. The weeks after 9/11 were among the oddest of my life. I moved to Chicago about a month and half later.
5. Challenger explosion. My 5th grade teacher had been shortlisted for the chance to go, so he'd made it the centerpiece of everything that year. We watched it live as a class, and it was possibly the most traumatic morning of my life.

Top Music:

1. Seeing Leon Redbone as a teenager. Sure, it's not a rare experience, but seeing him play opened me to seeking out more/different American music. Also seeing Greg Brown on tour with Prudence Johnson and Randy Sabien in the late 1980s (in a small room at local Nature Center!) was incredibly important to the growth of my musical sensibility.
2. Seeing David Byrne perform "Life During Wartime," several days after 9/11 at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, probably one of the more emotionally satisfying performances that I've ever seen. What good are notebooks? They won't help us survive.
3. Tom Waits live in 1999. I grew up on Tom Waits, and finally seeing him perform after years exposure to his records was amazing. He hadn't toured in 12 years at that point.
4. Seeing Brainiac play several times in 1993 and 1994. If you're not up on your early 90s punk rock scene, Brainiac was an incredible live band that really stretched the boundaries, unfortunately the singer died in a car accident.
5. Talking to the old man who plays the violin for Taraf de Haiduks after a Gypsy Caravan show in Cambridge, Mass. in 1999. Don't know if you've seen or heard these guys, but coming from rural Romania, they are literally coming from a different world. As I was walking out of the concert hall I saw him in the atrium. I thought that I'd like to talk to him, but was sure that it wouldn't be possible. But when he got closer, I realized that he was speaking Italian, not Romanian, or Romansh. I speak enough Italian to get by, so I was able to compliment him on his performance and ask him some questions. It felt great to be able to communicate with someone like that. He's since passed away, but you can hear his lament about living under Ceacescu on "Dragoste De La Clejani," on their self-titled album, his picture's on the cover too.
6. Peter Gabriel playing outdoors on the Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy during Carnivale in 1996.

I'm sure I could think of others, this is fun.

[Mandodoc]

Singing in church as a child
Music in school
First guitar
First car
First motorcycle
Many concerts
Getting Married
First computer
First Daughter
Second Daughter
Father Passing away
First Mandolin
More Mandolins
Mother Passing away
Being told you have diabetes
Many common events on TV: Moon walk, Elvis, Beatles, Twin Towers, etc.

[first string]

Backpacking in the Sierra Nevadas with my folks.

Receiving my first guitar.

The first time I went to New York by myself.

9/11 - Specifically seeing the smoke from the Pentagon from the top of my dorm.

Over the last few years, since I discovered BG, seeing Doc Watson, Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Mike Marshall, Chris Thile, Sam Bush, Brian Sutton, Tim O'Brien, Del McCoury Band, and on and on.

Uh...first sips of Lagavulin, Trappist Rochefort, and a really good Chianti.

Getting my first mandolin.

Telluride.

My first glimpse of Newfoundland from the ferry this summer.

There are a lot of others, but those are the ones that come to mind that aren't too personal to mention, and which aren't just something that I've experienced through some form of media (I.e. the first time I heard a Bothy Band CD).

[Shalebot]

In order of significance (as well as in reverse, chronologically)

1. Getting a Glenn student model for my birthday shortly thereafter.

2. Seeing Chris Thile and the Tensions Mountain Boys this summer.

3. Seeing / hearing Nickel Creek for the first time on CMT as I was mindlessly channel-surfing.


Seeing Nickel Creek, some other concerts, and bladdy blah were also relevant, but would've merely taken away from the glorious fact that getting a mando was clearly the most important event.

=]