Coopers Glen Music Festival - Kalamazoo

[Steve-o]

Any Cafers attending Coopers Glen Music Festival in Kalamazoo MI, Jan 9-10? Looks like a good line up at a great price. Chris Hillman and Jeff Rose will be conducting a mandolin workshop on Friday. I also hope to catch John Doyle's guitar workshop on Saturday. I plan to bring my mando and OM.

[Ashville Picker]

We plan on attending. Over the past three years of attending Bluegrass week at the Augusta Festival in Elkins, W.VA, we became good friends with one of the Coopers Glen Festival organizers, Kathy Nichols. She has made believers out of us and we are actually looking forward to heading north to Kalamazoo in January. The workshop and music line-up look very good. Larry Rinehart

[Bruce Evans]

Didn't know about it until I read your post, but it looks interesting. I work in retail and I have seen little else but the inside of the store since Thanksgiving. It's only an hour trip to Kazoo, so that would make a nice break.

[Bill Van Liere]

I'm thinking about it.

[Steve-o]

Larry, Bruce, and Bill -
Glad to hear that you all might make it. Any of you thinking of the mandolin workshop on Friday? My trip down from northern Michigan will be weather dependent. Shoot a reply as the date gets closer. Hope to see you there.

[Ashville Picker]

What time is the mandolin workshop scheduled? I want to attend, but I can't head north until my son (banjo/dobro picker) gets out of school. I figure I am about 4 hours away. Larry Rinehart

[Miked]

I definitely plan on going!

The mandolin workshop is from 5:30-6:30 on Friday. Here's a link to their website:

http://www.coopersglen.com/

I just got done listening to a show that Chris Hillman and Herb Pederson did at Jorma's Fur Peace Ranch on the WOUB program archive. Good stuff!

[Steve-o]

Sorry guys, I can't make it this year. Between the Michigan economy, a new mando on the way, and my wife's birthday this weekend, I have to bow out. I hope you have a good time. Please write a review here when you get back.

[Steve-o]

So... how was Coopers Glen? Please share a report if you went. I want to know what I missed.

[Miked]

We only went Friday night and got there late because of the weather. We missed the Chris Hillman's workshop; I-94 was at a standstill for most of the afternoon. We finally got there about 8:00pm, just in time to see Liz Carroll. I wasn't familiar with her music (Irish Fiddle), but she and her sidemen (Billy McComiskey on accordian and John Doyle on guitar) were pretty good.

Chris Hillman and Herb Pederson played for about 75 minutes and were just excellent! We enjoyed it so much. Chris was playing his Red Diamond for most of the night, but he also had a Martin 0M which he played for a few songs; it's his own signature model. Anyway, for $15 we felt like we got our money's worth even though we only saw 2 groups.

After the concert was over, there was a jam going on next to the Elderly display. It looked like some other jams were gearing up, but we decided to hit the road. There was another front moving in and we wanted to get home before the roads got too bad.

This was the first time I had gone to Coopers Glen. The Great Lakes Acoustic Music Association does a great job with this festival. They held it at the Radisson Hotel and it seemed to be a pretty well organized event. My plan for next year will be to stay at the hotel both Friday and Saturday nights so I can soak it all in.

[Steve-o]

Thanks for the review Mike. I had booked Fri/Sat at the hotel and planned to bring my wife, since it was her birthday. But when I found out that she was not really into it and the weather was dicey, I cancelled. Sounds like I missed a good festival. And the price was indeed right. Maybe next year...

[Ashville Picker]

We had a motel room reserved and the car packed when my wife would not let ignore the storm coming down through Michigan into Ohio. We would have driven directly into that snow storm just as we were leaving Ohio so we canceled the trip. I guess that is the chance one takes when planning on January festivals up north. We will try again next year. For now we are focusing on the March Itchin' to Pick jam in Lousiville. Not much chance of running into a snow storm coming up from Kentucky in March, though the Ohio River did flood some Louisville streets in March of last year. Larry

[MWM]

I was there - never saw this thread until today. Jamming in the lower level seemed down a bit from last year but still good. There were some great private room jams. The near blizzard conditions probably kept turnout down. I played more guitar than mando but got to pick plenty on each and with some excellent pickers. Never saw a show which is pretty normal for me. Anyone else?