Wintergrass

**Darryl Wolfe** · Mar-02-2010, 1:18pm

Originally Posted by mandopete

And lastly and certainly leastly. Seen at Greg Boy's display.

Hmmm, is it or isn't it?

(only her hairdresser knows for sure)

she isn't----Monteleone

**Glassweb** · Mar-02-2010, 1:24pm

Got to play a fantastic F5 by Austin Clarke during my short stay at the event... a very powerful sounding mandolin! Also played one of the Gilchrist A-Jr. models over at Greg Boyd's booth. What a fine mandolin! It's a mando player's dream these days... choices, choices and more choices... huzzah!

**Darryl Wolfe** · Mar-02-2010, 1:25pm

GLASS--You need to change your avatar

**tango_grass** · Mar-02-2010, 9:20pm

Originally Posted by Michael Ramsey

Aaron really wanted to come to the meet & greet on Friday night. As evidenced by the travelling travails that the Mountain Heart crew suffered, it wasn't meant to be. Aaron's flight was supposed to be on the ground around 9 PM pst. He had planned on checking in, resting a bit and then getting to the gathering. After being re-routed through Houston instead of Detroit, his plane touched down about 12:30 AM pst (which felt like 3 AM est) and it didn't happen.

As a side note he touched down in Greensboro, NC (2 hours from our home) at 7 PM last night to find out his bag (which contained his car keys) was SUPPOSED to arrive at 10:30. That came and went and as of 11 PM last night he was still in Greensboro, hoping to get car keys so he can get home. I offered to go pick him up but he had confidence the airline would get his bag to him at 10:30. They didn't hold up their end of their delayed bargain.

Yeah, Aaron really was a trooper. To go through all that and still hang around, was really above and beyond the call of duty.

And Nolan was right, Zak and Aaron were having fun in our jam playing bass, those too really know how to hold it down! Gotta love playing with them.

**Glassweb** · Mar-03-2010, 2:18am

Originally Posted by Darryl Wolfe

GLASS--You need to change your avatar

You're right D... I better move on over and let T.I. take over! It's back to The Cyclops I guess...

**Charlieshafer** · Mar-03-2010, 7:16am

No, keep the avatar, and simply add the new motto: "25 years of mandolin playing and still no side effects."

**Rroyd** · Mar-03-2010, 4:52pm

Everyone I talked to loved the new venue; the only regret anyone
expressed about leaving the old venue was in regards to the
church and wonderful memories about some of the acts seen there. I could sympathize, although I didn't appreciate the feeling that every year the church moved farther up the hill.
Any chance of any of Mandopete's interviews being available via the web?

**mandopete** · Mar-03-2010, 5:27pm

Originally Posted by Rroyd

Any chance of any of Mandopete's interviews being available via the web?

The answer is yes, once I get them edited. They will be available via the KBCS website as archived copies of the Bluegrass Ramble show.

**he-day** · Mar-05-2010, 12:25am

Hey Pete,

It was great to see you at Wintergrass.

Speaking of Greg Boyd booth I was impressed by Laurence Smart A style black top mandolin. Laurence also carried his F5 mandolin with him. I am not sure if that was for sale or not, but it was the best sound mando that I tried at Wintergrass.

Take care,

Hide Kawatsure
http://www.myspace.com/hidekawatsure

**mrmando** · Mar-05-2010, 12:48am

Originally Posted by he-day

Speaking of Greg Boyd booth I was impressed by Laurence Smart A style black top mandolin.

Yes, I liked that one too. The Monteleone F5 copy didn't do anything for me.

I tried three mandolas that knocked my socks off: the Gilchrist H5 at Boyd's, Gail Hester's second H5, and an Arrow jazz one that Paul Lestock had.

Paul also had a gorgeous archtop tenor guitar that he wanted me to take home, but Joe Craven beat me to it.

Chris Standridge had a great 2-point with a mismatched top: Engelmann on the bass and Adirondack on the treble. Very cool. Austin Clark's instruments were impressive as well.

Coolest moment of W'grass was a few minutes spent with a certain Cafe member's Loar...

**Michael Ramsey** · Mar-05-2010, 10:12am

Originally Posted by tango_grass

Yeah, Aaron really was a trooper. To go through all that and still hang around, was really above and beyond the call of duty.

And Nolan was right, Zak and Aaron were having fun in our jam playing bass, those too really know how to hold it down! Gotta love playing with them.

Zak is a good friend and Aaron came home talking about a Juzek bass that Zak was using for the weekend. I didn't know until now that he got to participate in any jamming, but he absolutely loves playing bass. It was actually his first instrument. There a story on Aaron's site that talks about him playing bass at ten years of old age.

As another side note to the traveling travails of Mountain Heart, listen to this. Some of the bandmembers left out of Atlanta on Wednesday evening, heading to Miami and then to St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. They have a band gig (and a few small side gigs) there this weekend. Jimmy was trying to carry his fiddle onboard, as he did on Delta, when he was headed to Seattle. In Atlanta, there was a very heated 20 minute discussion about why he COULDN'T carry on a single fiddle case.

Jimmy ended up having to gate check the fiddle in a regular case, not a flight case, and it rode in the belly of the plane. What airline you say? DELTA. They also had to make an unscheduled stop in San Juan, due to being LOW ON FUEL! When they landed, THEY BLEW A TIRE OUT ON THE PLANE. Everyone had to leave the plane, gather their luggage, go back through security, spend 6+ hours doing all this, since the airport in San Juan didn't have a tire to go back on the plane. Eventually, they got on another plane (whoch Delta had to provide tickets for) and travel an extra hour onto their destination in St. Croix. The entire trip took them about 13 or 14 hours (counting switching planes, stopping for fuel, security, etc., etc.).

Aaron boarded in Charoltte, NC, yesterday, about 1.25 hours from our home, and walked on an American Airlaines jump jet with both his mandolin and dobro as carry ons. He called last night as he arrived in St. Croix, and said he was able to do the same thing from Miami to St. Croix, with no trouble.

Seeing exotic countires, visiting different cities, playing the music is SO fun. But sometimes, the travel is so wearisome. Sorry if I derailed the Wintergrass thread. All the guys really enjoyed being part of the show.

**Michael Ramsey** · Mar-05-2010, 10:17am

As I was just typing the post above, Jim Van Cleve sent this message to me via Facebook:

"The AP out of San Juan has somehow learned of this MESS, and has contacted us... more on the story soon."

**mandopete** · Mar-10-2010, 9:32am

The folks from Bellevue.Com spent quite a bit of time interviewing people and taking photos and shooting video during the festival. You can see more on their website.

Here's a picture of Tim O'Brien in the media room as we were doing the interview. I expect that this will air on KBCS later this month.