Topic: 2005 workshop

[whigski3]

I have never attended this workshop nor been to Port Townsend before.  John C. mentioned above that many workshop attendees rent housing and cook their own meals. Due to a somewhat restricted diet, it is sometimes difficult for me to eat just anywhere.   How easy would it be to rent housing near the workshop so that I could prepare my own meals?    Thank you for any guidance along these lines.

-whigski3

[NotRevGDavis]

I found this a bit late, Spend an intimate week with John Cephas Feb. 1-6, 2005 sounds kinda cool.

[Bill Roggensack]

Looks like the back of Miller's head in the photo. Yes, it does sound like a cool thing - but that's only a few days away! I couldn't have gone anyway - once a year is hard enough to organize.

[Emma Lee]

Hi Suzy T and also John M -

The session in 2004 on "guitar and fiddle duets" was awesome! I hope you can do this again (maybe an expanded version?, also maybe with some easy-ish material participants could try our hands at).

The fiddling in tunes from Andrew & Jim Baxter (KC Railroad Blues; Bamalong Blues) and Clifford Hayes & The Dixieland Jug Blowers (Please Don't Holler Mama; You're Ticklin' Me - Take 1) is really really nice.

The Memphis Jug Band has some really hot fiddling on Ruckus Juice and Chitlins and on Memphis Shakedown but it seems waaaaayyy difficult.

[Cleoma]

Hi there,
I too am hoping for at least one more fiddle guitar duet session with John Miller!  And I agree that it would be great if we could squeeze in more than one so we'll see how that falls out.

Thank you for the suggestions, all excellent ones!  Tackling something like Ruckus Juice and Chitlins would be challenging but might be really fun, it depends a little bit on the level of the students.  I'm liking You're Tickling Me a lot too.  And was planning on doing Bamalong Blues which I think I finally found out what that means -- Joyce Cauthen who is an expert on Alabama fiddle music says it is really the "second Babylon" which is apparently a Biblical reference to the Book of Revelation.  From what very little I have read about this, it sounds like we might be in the second Bamalong right now, thanks to George Bush, the World Bank, etc.  Yuck.  Let's fight the power with old-time blues music!!

Sorry for my political rant -- keep those suggestions about blues fiddle repertoire coming!
Suzy T

[uncle bud]

Hi Emma - I take it you're a fiddler then? I think it would be very cool to get some fiddlers together with the far too many guitar players at PT like myself and play some Sheiks, Baxters, anything! I agree Suzy and John's session last year was great and I look forward to more.

[waxwing]

To that end I've been promising Grace that I'd work out a couple of the guitar parts John M illuminated and send her tapes she could practice along with. Life has been pretty crazy and I been sidetracked by Blind Willie and Scrapper, but maybe I better get on it so's she's got some time to work some up.
Thanks Emma Lee and UB for the boot in the pants.
All for now.
John C.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Wow, I'm excited about doing more fiddle/guitar stuff at Port Townsend, Suzy!  Please put me down for at least one session, and with camp being a day longer, maybe we could do two this year.  Wouldn't it be cool to do some tunes with vocals, too, this year like some Sheiks or Carolina Tar Heels stuff, and get people singing?  I am absolutely up for it and will start to scout some good material.  Take care.
All best,
Johnm

[Janmarie]

Hey - I'd love to join in on the singing if that's not too forward.  Give me a heads up on the songs so I can be working on them ......and hopefully overcome that shakey-knee shyness.
Jan

[Johnm]

That sounds good, Jan.  As we get closer to the event maybe we can let people know what songs they should listen to and be able to take a shot at singing at the workshop.
All best,
Johnm

[uncle bud]

Perhaps we should be splitting this off into a separate subject but...

I'd be willing (and I would guess a number of others would too) to figure out/learn the guitar parts for any CB guitar/fiddle duets or jug/string band pieces to play with fiddlers who want to try them out at PT, even outside a class situation, just jamming in the Weenie house or 204, as long as my hands hold up at the workshop.  I can already play Stop and Listen half decently - the first version, not the evil twin version that John and Suzy did in the class last year, but easy enough to figure out the slight differences there as well. Bamalong and some of the other Baxters' stuff should be easy enough as well for the guitarists at least. Any number of Mississippi Sheiks tunes would be very fun. "Lonely One In This Town," "Don't Wake It Up" (weird body odor lyrics aside), "Bootlegger's Blues", "Too Long", "Church Bell Blues" (a lot like Overtime Blues so a number of Weenies already can play a lot of it), "Sales Tax". Would also be willing to record a guitar part for a fiddler to practice over as Waxwing suggested (excellent idea, waxy). Could post it on this site. Any suggestions for tunes welcome. Perhaps we can make a list of tunes that guitarists should be ready to play should they encounter a stray fiddler at PT. No idea what's hard or easy for fiddlers so I could be totally off base with any suggestions...

[Emma Lee]

Wow, this all sounds great!! Uncle Bud - great idea - getting to know tunes in common - and great tune ideas. Speaking as your more basic-level fiddler, I think several of those are quite doable. I'm sure for those experts out there, the more smokin' ones are too.

Hey, waxwing (and UB, and other guitar players), no boot in the pants intended, but wondering if there's a way to put those "play-along-with" recordings up here on Weenie, as mp3's? That way the fiddlers could get a jump start on figuring out where those nice fills go and stuff...

[Emma Lee]

Hey, Uncle Bud - Silly me, you just did offer to put up play-along mp3s here on Weenie - missed that somehow first read-through. Big yes!! That would be sooooo very much appreciated.?

[uncle bud]

I'll try and work some stuff up over the next little while and post it (if I can get it right  )

In the meantime, I'd recommend all interested parties, both fiddlers and gitfiddlers, check out a few threads from our glorious past here at WC.

The first is a great Back Porch version of Frankie and Kim doing "Lonely One In This Town" here:

http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?Itemid=47&?topic=731.0

The second is an excellent discussion of the guitar accompaniment to Lonely One and Walter Vinson's often unusual closed position guitar style for accompanying fiddle, playing in flat keys etc. Plus some discussion of the fiddle parts. All of it here:

http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?Itemid=47&?topic=501.0

Last but definitely not least, a very cool version of Peg Leg Howell's Rolling Mill Blues, another splendid fiddle/guitar duet that hasn't been mentioned, also by Frankie and Kim on the Back Porch:

http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?Itemid=47&?topic=295.0

[Emma Lee]

Just heard on the Weenie Juke - the Mississippi Sheiks' Winter Time Blues - very nice fiddle part. Let's add that to the fiddle/gitfiddle duets list!