2014 ibma

[Dotneck]

Costs for the day excluding food and beer tent ...$7.

My day in the exhibit hall cost me more than that....

[Charles E.]

I went early to the exhibit hall on Saturday and got to meet Steve and play his mandolins, very cool. I also got to play a bunch of mandolins, the one that got my MAS up was the black topped Collings F-5 deluxe with the merlot back and sides at the Elderly booth.
Alas, I came back to my collection at home and that's a good thing.

[Steve Sorensen]

The MandolinCafe stickers sure were popular! We didn't quite make it through the end of the week before running out.



Many thanks to everybody who stopped by the Sorensen booth to pick with us!

Steve

[Justus True Waldron]

The MandolinCafe stickers sure were popular! We didn't quite make it through the end of the week before running out.

I may or may not have grabbed 3 - planning on getting a new case soon, need to have my sticker collection ready! Thanks again for the Sorensen hat Steve, was great seeing you again and picking some of your instruments. That black and red 2 point is even hossier than the rest of those hossy mandos!

[f5loar]

I was there Weds thru Sun. 2nd year and must say it was way bigger this year. Got to meet lots of people from the café I had not meet before due to my wearing a café hat. Highlights: Picking some with Herschel Sizemore on some fabulous Red Diamonds. Meeting Ebo Walker at the New Deal String Band Reunion show at the Raleigh History Museum, also seeing some of my stuff in their new bluegrass in the Carolinas display. Meeting the Price Sisters in person. Playing a $500,000 1933 D28 Martin shade top guitar. Playing several Loars from Elderly and Mandolin Central. Hearing John Starling with the Seldom Scene sing "Wait A Minute". Seeing Canadian artist Kayla Hotte & Her Rodeo Pals pick her 30's L5 Gibson guitar. She's the real deal! Hearing Bobby Hicks, Del McCoury,Terry Bacum, Ron Shuffler and Tony Williamson knocking down some Monroe songs as only they can. Seeing Bill Keith get a long overdue award. Voting for and seeing Balsam Range get dang near every award there was. And it was good to see so many 100's of really talented young folks playing bluegrass music. I saw one 17 year old girl sing all the words to "Tennessee Hound Dog" and not miss a lick. Then she put down the guitar and picked up a fiddle to do some triple fiddling with her friends on "Big Mon". The estimate was 40,000 people. I think it was more. The locals turned out to celebrate IBMA and bluegrass music , however there was a lot of legal "moonshine" drinking going on. You could walk the streets and stop and get a $2 shot of North Carolina authentic moonshine. I guess the stuff is legal now since Popcorn Sutton died.

[Mike Sutterfield]

Clearly I took for granted when it was here in Nashville. We miss it now.