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PhilGE
Mar-04-2006, 9:51pm
Here are a few pix from this evening's Goshen Community Contra Dance. The band Five OH! from Indianpolis is STILL PLAYING as I make these posts (I'm now back home helping with sick family).

The band is Tim Hoke on tenor banjo and mandolin,
Barb Coleman on fiddle,
Phil Coleman on guitar and mandolin,
and Fred Haver on piano.

Tim is board member here, though I'm not sure about Phil C. Both are fine sounding musicians on their instruments.

PhilGE
Mar-04-2006, 9:56pm
and here's Phil Coleman playing a swell sounding refurbished Kay his grandfather (?) bought for $12 from Sears. There's a story here, but if he's on the board, I'm sure he can do a much better job of telling it than I can!

hokelore
Mar-05-2006, 6:03pm
I can't begin to tell you what a blast it was to play up there. It's great to play for dancers that are obviously enjoying themselves. You have a good dance community in Goshen. We're looking forward to our next visit.

Tim

PhilGE
Mar-06-2006, 7:04am
Glad to have you all, Tim! Thanks for making the long trek from Indy to Goshen (there's a tune title in there somewhere http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif #)

-Phil

hokelore
Mar-06-2006, 7:46am
No no no, don't give me any potential tune titles! Our fiddler does that to me all the time, so I already have this terrible backlog of uncomposed tunes.

PEColeman
Mar-06-2006, 12:41pm
Thought I might register and drop a line here.

I/we had a wonderful time playing in Goshen. It was a great experience sharing our versions of the music we play with another dance group. Hopefully when I get back from Hawaii in the fall we can come up that way again and bring new and exciting music with us.

The photos are cool.

Phillip Coleman

PhilGE
Mar-06-2006, 8:35pm
Hey, Phillip, can you tell us the story of your mandolin?

By the way, the other photos were "okay", but the two above were by far the best (apologies to Barb and Fred).

-Phil

PEColeman
Mar-07-2006, 2:31pm
A couple of years ago my parents recovered an old mandolin from my grandfathers closet. It more looked like a dust bunny in the back of the closet than a musical instrument.
The neck was broke off and being held on by really old strings and it was in bad shape.

The story goes a little something like this.

My grandfather grew up in the hills of far eastern Pike county Kentucky on a holler known as "Greasy Creek". He was the son of a coal miner and the oldest of 10 kids living in a small house. My Grandfather decided that he wanted a mandolin though they couldn't afford it. There wasn't many jobs for a 12 year old boy back then so he went up and down the holler cutting wood and cleaning chicken pins out.

He finally saved up enough money and went down to the old country store and ordered a Kay mandolin out of the Sears catalog. Now he was born in 1928 so I assume that this occurred in 1939 or 40. He never really learned how to play that mandolin, but a lot of other people picked and grinned on it. It's obvious from the scratching and dulling on the back of it from belt buckle wear and such.

That old Kay must have followed him everywhere though. He left the hills and joined the military right after WWII. He then followed the auto industry to Detroit and then finally to Indianapolis where the mandolin found its resting place in the back of his closet.

Now mom and dad took the mandolin to a friend from church that repairs guitars and stuff. This guy never really had any experience with mandolins. He gave it a good try though. He got the neck mounted back on the body, cleaned it up, and put new strings on it.

Today I play that mandolin. It even sounds pretty good. I think it is cool that I am playing my grandfathers old mandolin he bought when he was a boy. I am 25 so it is probably 3 times my age.

My papaw passed away about 2 and a half years ago having never heard me play his old mandolin. I sure hope that I play it loud enough for him to hear me in heaven. I know he must smile ear to ear and tap those toes when I pick on that old mandolin.

I am going to try and get some pictures on here as well. I am new to the mandolin cafe and haven't been able to figure this out. I am what you would call an absolute computer dummy.

PEColeman
Mar-07-2006, 2:35pm
Okay I tried and it didn't work.. How do I get a picture on here.

PhilGE
Mar-07-2006, 3:34pm
Phil, you can delete the "test" posts if you'd like. In the upper right hand corner of each message "box", you'll see some icons. In any message you submitted, you'll see a "delete" box.

Also, "grandmainger" has a simple explanation of How To Post Pictures. (http://www.grandmainger.com/picpost/) Yours is a common problem!

I may post a link to this topic in the "looking for information about instruments" section. I love stories like yours!

dan@kins
Mar-07-2006, 4:43pm
Interesting story PEColeman. So many men from Eastern Ky ended up in Michigan.

I have a Sears b%@#$jo. Also ordered out of Eastern Ky.

May you pick many Pike Co. breakdowns on that mandolin.