Strawberry Music Festival - Yosemite, CA

[Michael H Geimer]

We decided to time a California visit with Fall Strawberry this year, so we'll be up in the pines at Camp Mather in just a few weeks. I'll be taking the Mid-Mo as carry-on (and shipping the beater dreads via UPS to our hotel in SF).

Is Michael Lewis still at the luthier's tent on the meadow?

[Patrick Melly]

Yes, Michael Lewis still has his luthier's tent on the meadow; at this year's Spring festival Michael was showing his 10-string
mandocello prototype, which I saw in Mike Marshall's hands at the Symposium a month later. Needless to say, a beautiful looking and sounding instrument. I don't see a picture of it on his website yet.

[Daniel Nestlerode]

Enjoy! One of the most beautiful places for music festivals ever dreamed up. The jamming is good and the bands are great.
Check out the extra shows at Amy's Orchid Lounge. They're worth the cost of the extra ticket (purchased in the morning at the info tent).

Do the Strawberry Stroll, and as always practice and enjoy the Strawberry Way.

I used to volunteer at Strawberry. Loved it.

Daniel

[Michael H Geimer]

I pretty much learned to play mandolin at Strawberry, going there Spring and Fall from 2000 - 2004. I hope to get my wife into the Band Scramble, and maybe get us both onstage at The Breakfast Club.

[DataNick]

I was there this Spring(Really, Really! COLD!! Snow, Rain, Hail) good festival, but I'll never go back in Springtime...Fall I hear is much better weather...had some good jamming with 2 distinct crowds (Berkley & Santa Cruz). Be forewarned however that Strawberry IS NOT a Bluegrass Festival...that was good with me, but I know some people who would gag on that...

Nick

[Michael H Geimer]

I had a great time at Strawberry! Our good Mr. Lewis is now retired from his Luthier's Tent and was out and about as a festival punter like the rest of us, a status he clearly enjoyed. I was happy to be remembered at the various camps I used to visit.

I missed having my Weber; the Mid-Mo was OK but really not cutting it, plenty loud, but just not "thick" enough in its tone to satisfy me. My Kanile'a ukulele OTOH was really warm and full sounding, and I successfully took single-note breaks (played with my fingers) in a large, stand-up circle. *This was not a Bluegrass jam, so hold your fire.

Mostly I played my Alvarez plywood dread, which after a proper set-up by Nick Chandler's Bluegrass Station in Weaverville, NC, has become a really great "beater". It did not disappoint and compared very well to other guitars around. Let's hope UPS gets it home to me safely.

So ... where's the East Coast/Appalachian festival that comes closest to The Strawberry Way? Looking for small attendance, camping on site, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in style. Any suggestion for where I'd fit in?

Thanks,

Mike

[fatt-dad]

buena vista, va this weekend. You want old-time music, tents along the banks of the Maury River, that's the place.

f-d

[Michael H Geimer]

Yipppie! I just received Spousal Approval to leave here Thursday AM for an afternoon arrival on the river.

Thanks F-D. I wasn't ready to stop jamming when I left Yosemite, so this is perfect timing.

- MG