Chris Thile Acoustic Music Camp just announced

[DPrager]

Wow!

This is the tuition rate chart for a local community college

[Alan Lackey]

Based on his FB posts during his tours through Europe he is always finding cool coffee shops and posting about them so I am sure his barista is a good one….

[jmagill]

With Thile's Camp fees at $2499-$4699, Mando & Banjo Week at the Swannanoa Gathering is a real bargain.

Staff: Mike Marshall, Alan Bibey, John Reischman, Don Stiernberg, Matt Flinner, Radim Zenkl, Joe K. Walsh, Caterina Lichtenberg, Casey Campbell,, Paul Brown, Bill Evans, Terri McMurray, Conor Hearn, Ed Dodson, Lynn Dudenbostel

And for those who also play fiddle, Fiddle Week happens at the same time, and you can take classes in either program.

Staff: Casey Driessen, Evan Price, Darol Anger, Joe Craven, Andrew Finn Magill, Jenna Moynihan, Sara Caswell, Katie Glassman, Liz Knowles, Dirk Powell, Greg Ruby, Kevin Kehrberg

[Dave_W]

With Thile's Camp fees at $2499-$4699, Mando & Banjo Week at the Swannanoa Gathering is a real bargain.

You should probably disclaim your own financial interests, no? https://swangathering.com/about-us/history/

[slaminsam]

I could probably go. But I would have sell my mandolins to finance it, but then I would not be in plying mandolin so I would not qualify. So for me it’s the old “Catch-22” scenario. I don’t think I am at a level that this would be a benefit for me for the cost. I could get a lot of one on one lessons for what this cost.

[Mandobar]

You should probably disclaim your own financial interests, no? https://swangathering.com/about-us/history/

As the Gathering is part of Warren Wilson College's educational program, I don't think there's any financial motive here to promote the program for any personal financial gain. Warren Wilson has a long history of promoting the arts, including a wonderful MFA program in writing.

[Mandobar]

Wow!

This is the tuition rate chart for a local community college

Community College in Maine is free.

[Glassweb]

With Thile's Camp fees at $2499-$4699, Mando & Banjo Week at the Swannanoa Gathering is a real bargain.

Staff: Mike Marshall, Alan Bibey, John Reischman, Don Stiernberg, Matt Flinner, Radim Zenkl, Joe K. Walsh, Caterina Lichtenberg, Casey Campbell,, Paul Brown, Bill Evans, Terri McMurray, Conor Hearn, Ed Dodson, Lynn Dudenbostel

And for those who also play fiddle, Fiddle Week happens at the same time, and you can take classes in either program.

Staff: Casey Driessen, Evan Price, Darol Anger, Joe Craven, Andrew Finn Magill, Jenna Moynihan, Sara Caswell, Katie Glassman, Liz Knowles, Dirk Powell, Greg Ruby, Kevin Kehrberg

the lineup here is beyond stellar... money aside Swannanoa seems like a no-brainer for those that are more interested in musical pursuits than the perfect latte and rubbing shoulders with Chris and his posse...

[Jim Roberts]

Community College in Maine is free.

Perhaps that’s why Maine’s taxes are amongst the highest in the nation. Nothing is free it seems.

https://www.mainebiz.biz/article/mai...new-study-says

[Marcus CA]

You should probably disclaim your own financial interests, no? https://swangathering.com/about-us/history/

As the Gathering is part of Warren Wilson College's educational program, I don't think there's any financial motive here to promote the program for any personal financial gain. Warren Wilson has a long history of promoting the arts, including a wonderful MFA program in writing.

I have to agree with Dave here. Although the Gathering is part of WWC, Jim is the longtime director of it, so it's in his interest for it to thrive.

That said, I went to Mando/Banjo/Fiddle Week there in 2017 and got so much out of it, taking classes from Flinner, Reischman, and Bibey, playing in an ensemble coached by Flinner, and going to evening concerts by the instructors in all three camps. To Jim's credit, administratively, the Gathering is a very well-oiled machine, which is why it continues to thrive. To WWC's credit, the food is more like restaurant quality than dorm quality.

In terms of cost, the advantages that Thile's camp will have are that it is closer to major airports with far more nonstop flights than Ashville's or even Charlotte's offers, and it will be located somewhere that millions more people would be able to drive to in a few hours or less.

[Josh Levine]

Until we hear reports of how Thile’s camp is, I think it will be hard to draw comparisons. He is going for the boutique Thile camp experience. In what seems like a very nice, cool, intimate setting featuring things of interest to Thile and his ilk. And charging accordingly. As far as I know there have not been a ton of opportunities to study from Thile in recent years so there is that. Now if you are looking for the best value for your experience Swananoa would certainly be a great option. (I went in 2017 as well and it was amazing.) There are myriad learning options tailored to your interests and skills and great jams and performances, but it is not the Thile experience in that fancy looking property with the fancy coffee and cocktails. It will definitely not be viable for many. It is “exclusive”. Different strokes for different folks and budgets.

I am curious how intimate the experience actually is. It certainly is branded as a intimate experience where you are hanging out with the staff morning and night in a relatively small space, so curious what that actually will be like or if it is going to be the Fyre-Fest of mandolin camps.

[Simon DS]

I don’t think it makes a lot of sense of to use comparisons. It would be a bit like comparing two countries. It’s what we’re willing to give that makes it.
It would be nice to see a thread about Swananoa too. Solidarity.

[Dave_W]

Per the guideliines:

Vendors: for the good of our community we ask that all vendors of mandolin/music related products/services exercise good faith in clearly identifying themselves. Vendor participation is welcome and valued, and we expect you to be involved in discussions of your products. Visitors to the site arrive from all over the world and possess widely varying amounts of knowledge, expertise and experience with our subject matter. This is an international web site for mandolin, not a country-specific web site. All visitors should be able to clearly discern a business relationship at all times in discussions of products sold in the retail market.

Seems a bit immoral to slip an unsolicited advertisement for your own camp and to criticize another's without disclosing the obvious conflict of interest.

[Mandobar]

Perhaps that’s why Maine’s taxes are amongst the highest in the nation. Nothing is free it seems.

https://www.mainebiz.biz/article/mai...new-study-says

I'd be wary of reading a two year old news article and passing judgement.

[Mandobar]

Interest in its survival yes, but not in the way private businesses would directly benefit financially.

[j. condino]

I laughed out loud seeing a person from Oregon complaining about the tax structure in Maine. How's that working for you? I lived in Oregon for almost 20 years; doesn't see like your state has it's $#!^ together very well....

My only personal conflict of interest is that the Swannanoa Gathering is about 7 minutes up the road from my shop.

I'll say with confidence that it is probably the greatest adult band camp for mandolin nerds in the world; the polar opposite of sipping overpriced coffee from a pinkie cup at a castle on Long Island chitchatting much ado about nothing with the fellow profiting off his signature $50 picks.

15 million people a year visit Asheville; more than Venice Italy. Transportation in and out is not an issue and locals don't want a bigger airport!!!

Anybody that actually knows Jim would say he's probably the least likely person around that you'll find pushing a private agenda, beyond a lifelong love for music and sharing it with other folks.

Some folks would call not spellchecking "guideliines" a bit immoral.....

[Dave_W]

your state has it's $#!^ together very well....

If you're looking to get in a pissing match over spelling/grammar, you should probably know possessive pronouns don't have apostrophes, but hey, no biggie.

[jmagill]

Regarding my post in the thread about Chris Thile's Camp, I would like to apologize to those who thought my info about our Mando & Banjo Week was self-aggrandizement.

I thought that my signature in the post, indicating that I am the Gathering's Director, would make it clear that I was speaking from that role. However, when I looked at the thread a few hours later, I saw that my signature was missing, and I was puzzled because I usually include it. So, when I looked to edit the post and add my signature, the thread had been closed and there was no way to do so.

I offer this thread as a public apology for my missing disclaimer.

Jim

[Mandolin Cafe]

Combining this post into the end of the other thread shortly. This discussion ran its course and turned into a mud slinging affair filled with politics and grandiose claims of all types. Fair warning to all members, there'll be the Cafe's news version of the camp announcement tomorrow.

It will have a very short leash.

The entire moderating team is pretty disappointed in how this simple sharing of a link about news in our community played out by fair number of members. We should be able to do better and support events that are meant for musicians and fans of music of all interests and financial means, since the latter seems to be such a sticking point.