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News and comments that didn't make the Cafe home page

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Like a lot of folks, we chuckled at the Ira and Charlie Louvin Satan Is Real tribute Martin guitar at the recent Summer NAMM Show. It was predictably panned online (including our Forum) as a sorry attempt by Martin to come up with something interesting. What no one reported is that all 50 manufactured were spoken for by the end of the first day of the show. Last we checked, the objective of a business is to make things that sell. We've shown the image below to several people who said they'd love to own one. We say, "good for you, Martin Guitar."



Heard of The Banjo Reserve? We're guessing you will soon, if you play (no surprise, most mandolin players also play another instrument). We don't have the full details but the site launches Sept. 1 and is said to be a one-stop for everything social media relating to banjo. Don't know if they're including a forum or other features (Classifieds, etc.). They've been uber aggressive on Twitter and Facebook and have built a significant following in the banjo community. Appears they've taken note of the significant number of banjos on our Classifieds and we follow each other on Twitter. We wish them the best of luck!



Meet the new kid on the block for bluegrass: The Bluegrass Situation recently flew past another bluegrass site as the most read (for that subject) on the internet. These things typically only appeal to web geeks (like us) but still interesting. A site that's extremely well run and has embraced a looser definition of bluegrass. Our opinion is their upside potential is not even close to being tapped.



Big year for Mike Marshall. In addition to his Artistworks School of Mandolin (the largest school in their bluegrass collection) look for a new release with Caterina Lichtenberg out soon. Said to be a recording of Bach duets, we're thinking this is sure to be a heavenly collection of delicious ear candy. Was Norman Lebrecht right? Is 2014 The Year of the Mandolin in classical music? Before you say no way, add in the soon-to-be-released Thile/Meyer recording. Sure, the statement is amusing, but when opportunity knocks, we're happy to join in!

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