View Full Version : AKUS and Skaggs
Ken Berner
Dec-09-2005, 10:41am
This coming Saturday night on CMT, at 8:00 Eastern, AKUS will be on for an hour. Following that, will be an hour of Skaggs Family Christmas. This may be some of the better programming that CMT has provided in quite some time!
ronlane3
Dec-09-2005, 2:28pm
That WILL be the best programming they had since they lost the GOO.
Willie Poole
Dec-09-2005, 2:56pm
Lets wait and see about how good the program will be...two minutes of music and five minutes of commercials, if they follow their past practices...I hope not, anyway thanks for passing this on to us bluegrassers....HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL ON THE CAFE.....Willie
Ken Berner
Dec-09-2005, 3:47pm
Hey Willie, You have a good point there, but PBS is the one that drives me nuts. They put out wonderful shows, but the long, drawn-out breaks to raise $$$ are too much to bear! We do support PBS.
Coy Wylie
Dec-12-2005, 12:59am
I caught the program. Not any bluegrass but enjoyable though. I think Ricky was playing a mandola on the last tune. It was nice to see Andy playing mando in the background too.
mandowood
Dec-12-2005, 1:39am
Can someone please explain the relationship of Ricky Skaggs to the Whites? I'm fairly new to bluegrass and the show last night never made it clear who belonged to who. Is Rachel White Ricky's niece? Thanks for the help...
Ken Berner
Dec-12-2005, 11:06am
mandowood, Ricky's wife, Sharon, is a daughter of Buck White. As far as the children go, I just assumed that all three were his; the girls have beautiful voices and are quite poised. We felt that the show was good, wholesome entertainment.
bsimmers
Dec-12-2005, 11:15am
The AKUS show was entertaining, and their music was great. Jerry Douglas' Beard Dobro is the best. Glad to see he's playing The Beard full time.
Skaggs show sure was better than anything else on CMT. I hate to say anything critical because I'd like to see more Skaggs stuff than the other garbage. But....I think Ricky's music was a little over produced. I'm open to the symphony, but he had a lot goin' on there..just my opinion. And I guess we'll be hearing the tounge/hatchet story at his concerts for the next 3 yrs, like his mother's lard fried chicken!!!
ManjoMan
Dec-12-2005, 11:59am
Rachel is Ricky's niece (Cheryl's daughter)
They are a talented family. Like someone said, not
bluegrass, but it was enjoyable. To me, it looked like
Ricky was playing a mando-cello and Andy was playing
a mandola. Can anyone verify this?
VictorLouis
Dec-12-2005, 12:39pm
I was wondering what I saw was a mandola, or an octave. It seemed as though the same instrument was used by both Ricky, and one of the band members who went between it and the violin/viola. Mr. White had a mando in a couple of numbers. Good show, overall.
I only caught the last few minutes of AKUS in Vancouver. I'll have to catch a re-run. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
The Skaggs Family show will be on 12/12 @ 10pm; 12/24 @ 3pm; 12/25 @ 8pm.
The AKUS show will be on 12/12 @ 9pm.
All of those listed as ET/PT so I guess there are two network feeds to your local cable provider.
mandowood
Dec-12-2005, 3:01pm
Thanks for the help. We really enjoyed both programs, and tivo-ed the Ricky Skaggs one for the holidays when the family gets here. Man, what a talented family...
Dfyngravity
Dec-12-2005, 7:32pm
both programs where good I thought. Skaggs had his Capek Mandocello and Octave mandolin, both sounded great.
ShaneJ
Dec-12-2005, 11:57pm
I saw it tonight too. Great show. The last tune looked like Ricky on the octave and Leftwich on a mandola to me. I would have preferred more bluegrass and less orchestra variety show.
The AKUS show that preceeded Skaggs was good too - just too much of the "behind the scenes" video and not enough pickin'.
But, hey.....it was all better than "Wife Swap", or whatever other #### was on. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Well, here's my spin on the AKUS and Ricky "specials": first off, thanks to the CAFE folks for the "heads-up" ; unfortunitely, I only caught the last few minutes of AKUS(got home late!##) - I would really liked to catch all of it(yes, I'm an Alison fan - both her voice AND her fiddl'n!)- now..., Ricky's "special" : good watch'n! ; several of the songs - IMHO - were not suited(i.e. voice/range/genre) to the singer(s); please, this is NOT! meant to disparage/put-down anyone's talent/abilities - I just cannot get the effect of Ricky, the White's & et. al. backed by a symphony orchestra!? - the "accepted" bluegrass "instrumentation...YES! - symphony... -
give 'em expense money and send 'em home! - Yes, GREAT talent! - Ricky.., kids, White's.. the warmth and "homey" feel of the show - I enjoyed. Incidently, it was "neat" to see several folks - including Ricky and his fine band - "doubling-up" on instruments - especially "whatz-his-name"(sorry) on keyboards & flute/piccolo. Hope I didn't offend anyone - ALSO...,the commercials - at least on MY TV - were Jack Daniel's and Miller Lite...!!!http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif?. "Moose-the-critic" - hee.. hee... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Andrew Reckhart
Dec-13-2005, 2:20pm
I have to agree with you Moose. I watched it twice and am yet to really be impressed. It was O.K. but I didn't think the kids were all that great. They were good enough to sing in church, but not good enough to sing to the entire nation. I DID enjoy it though. It is nice to see the "Real" side of celebrities! Their family reminded me of my own in a lot of ways!
kudzugypsy
Dec-13-2005, 2:32pm
boys, in the world of show biz entertainment - nothing tops a bunch a kid act - doesnt matter - folks eat that stuff up. plus. they work cheap.
we played some shows this summer with kid acts, they were fine, personally, i dont want to pay festival money to hear kids, BUT the crowd was just all into it.
your gonna always lose out to a kid act - just something about it people really admire.
f5loar
Dec-13-2005, 4:58pm
I can't believe Ricky did take the opportunity to let us hear Monroe's "Christmas Times A Coming" and the Stanley's
"Little Star of Bethlehem". I wasn't expecting "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" from Skaggs but I did expect those 2 tunes in an all out Christmas Special. After all he is the chosen one to carry the tourch for these guys. The kids were fine but way too much of them. Not much from Buck either. Not worth watching twice!
cbogle
Dec-14-2005, 10:49am
I'm with you Tom, and for sure would have liked to hear more of Buck.......Ricky did mention "Beautiful Star of Bethlehem", but did not perform it. There was too much talking (and onion-slicing), and not enough music! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif
Moose
Dec-14-2005, 11:26am
I WILL add this: them harmonies gave me "goosebumps" eh!!.. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif
It was a Skaggs Family Christmas not a Blue Grass jam. Not bad for their first time up. And it' ain't your Andy Williams Christmas Show.
Moose
Dec-16-2005, 11:22am
...nor Kenny Rogers' either!