Another New Year

"Where do we go now?" - Guns 'N' Roses

2011 was the biggest year that I've ever had and that's largely due to the many of you who read this blog, buy my merchandise, come out to concerts and take lessons/workshops with me. Thank you. It's an honor, a privilege and a real joy. Happy New Year!

So, now what?

As you might've noticed, there was no huge rolling out of intent OR content on January 1st, 2012 from this camp and I'm just now getting around to posting the first blog of the new year. Going back in time to read past posts from the flipping of the calendar pages revealed the typical plans going forward, like here, here and here.

This time around, during the first week of the year, it's all about a little less talk and a lot more action: namely, those projects that have been brewing for awhile and some new ones that suddenly got ushered to the front of the velvet rope line. More than anything, this low-key approach to the beginning of 2012 is all about scoring precious time simply sitting with my instruments and working on the basics. If there's one thing I learned while on The RV Project Tour (besides how much people hate driving behind Winnebagos) it's that, despite all best intentions, not a whole lot gets done on the road. Practicing, writing, creating - it's all there in fits and spurts, enough to keep the plane leveled out and soaring, but most of my downtime in the spring, summer and fall last year was spent doing a whole lot of nothing. No thing.

That's not exactly true. There was visiting with folks in RV parks, campgrounds and festival parking lots. Many hours spent relaxing under the green canopy and red/orange sandstone and granite cliffs of our nation's state sanctuaries. Quite a lot of time madly pedaling my mountain bike on actual mountains. Soaking in the beauty of the United States of America and resting up before the next event. And sure - some recordings were made and some light administrative business was conducted but, for the most part, I came home in November to not only a huge glut of unfinished business but also to some tough choices that I had to make regarding activities in other areas of my career. Something like a total of two hours of video was shot on tour and that was by design. I wanted to live life as it happened. Not later while editing together Dulcimerica episodes. I had to pick and choose my battles last year in order to get through without imploding.

As the economy continues to take its nose dive, there has been a lot of evaluating going on here - looking at ways to work smarter and faster. Knowing when to step in and when to step out - sort of like a cosmic Hokey-Pokey because, you know, that is what it's really all about.

That's why no books were published and only a handful of videos were produced in 2011. I had to make some choices in order to move forward. Upon returning home from tour to find a deficit of registrations for the Key West Dulcimer Fest, there was a decision to make there too; not a popular decision in the least.

And after enjoying the holidays with Mrs. Futch, puttering around the house, getting caught up, re-oriented and blowing out my vice-ridden ya-ya's, I'm emerging, blinking, into the sunlight of a new year with some better plans. I'll let you in on a few of them before I get back to it.

Music

I've been producing "Dive!" now for almost four years and it's going to drop this year; period. If the Mayans are correct, then I've got 12 months before we're all turned to sheet rock or something. I will be a happier piece of sheet rock having birthed this bad boy, so it's priority number one.

Though "Storm's Sigh" and "Live At Old Songs!" have been available since the end of last year, the official release dates of both projects will be accomplished this month. (Mainly for digital distribution to pipelines such as iTunes, Spotify, Napster and more.)

As for Mohave, the trio (along with Roger Zimish and Tom Sharp) has been dead in the water since drummer Gil Oliver left town for the northeast. I've been busy on the road and with solo performances even as the guys have wondered aloud when we would get together next. Really, the next time needs to be magic in order for us all to pour the time and energy into it. It would take the right drummer and the right environment to make it work. That time may come this year and it mayn't. I know better than to make promises where there's more personality than just me involved, so stay tuned on that one.

I don't have as many festivals booked this year, but am still going to quite a few places for the first time including the Colorado Dulcimer Festival next month, Palestine Old Time Music and Dulcimer Festival in March, Augusta Spring Music Week in April and in May, the NGFDA Spring Thing and the Lone Star State Dulcimer Festival. Of course, I'll be back at Folkcraft headquarters for the Indiana Dulcimer Festival in July (with a return trip to teach ukulele in August at a brand new fest - stay tuned for details.) I haven't even begun to plan the in-between concerts and workshops but the idea is already to travel less across the country and more right here in my (now) home state of Florida.

Books

From no books in 2011 to at least three to be published this year, I'm right now working on some method books. Two of them concerning diatonic mountain dulcimer and one in support of the chromatic dulcimer. Before I get a load of ball-busting e-mails, yes - the oft-mentioned diatonic blues book will finally land. There may be more, but I kind of doubt it. I haven't knocked out more than four books in a year since 2010, I think, and I had a lot more time on my hands then.

Video

I officially got out of the video production biz (for hire) some time ago and realized last year that the state of the art was beginning to change without me. You know how it is with technology, right? First you need to upgrade the software. Then you've got to upgrade the hardware. Then you have to search for patches for the software because someone went "oops" at the hardware design phase. When it comes to media tech, especially video, which accounts for so much of our entertainment medium these days, it can be a full-time job just keeping the equipment happy and in working order so you can do what you do. The shift has slowly been tilting towards getting rid of tape altogether in favor of a fully digital format and I am very excited to embrace that. Once you shoot - you just move it onto the hard drive and you're in like Kevin Flynn. No more real time encoding and logging. It was largely the sheer amount of time that it took to produce individual episodes of Dulcimerica that kept me from doing more last year; just prohibitive in terms of actual hours in pre and post-production, especially during 19,000 miles on the road with only occasional whiffs of wi-fi. With a staff, I could make that work no problem. As the only elf in the shop, well - there I am picking and choosing battles again.

Sometime this month, I'll be taking delivery on a fully digital means of recording HD video. It's an experiment and I hope it works, greatly reducing the amount of production time so that I can shoot, cut and post as quickly as possible. In the immortal words of Dr. Walter Gibbs (Barnard Hughes) from "Tron", "Won't that be grand?" He said something else, eerily predicting the future, right after that but I'll leave it to you to find that chestnut.

So, new Dulcimerica. Soon.

Back To It

Many of you came up to me last year while on the road, or e-mailed, saying that I sounded a little off my game in this post from April of 2011 and you couldn't have been kinder or more on the money. Everyone has their breaking point and something, many things, had brought me to the brink of it back then. Thankfully, the cri de coeur was a brief one, partially soothed by the outpouring of love that was The RV Project. Then, as now, I plan to be less visible (as opposed to Les Visible, for there can be only one) so I can get to work on all of this cool stuff that's brewing. My headspace is 180° from almost a year ago. If indeed this is the last year of civilization, then I'm going to continue living the dream, making the music and loving the life. Honestly, I think we're about to enter another age of enlightenment and this is no time to be cowering under hollowed-out spaces for fear of what "might get us." If there ever was a time to be alive, alert, awake and thrilled for each second we are blessed to live - this is it.

It.

And on that note. Thanks for reading. I appreciate you and hope that you are receiving something of value from me. If not: be kind enough to tell me so and I'll do my best to deliver.

Wishing you peace, joy and, most of all, love, in this new year. Let's all win together!

Sho na bish,

Bing

Gotta Lotta Catchin' Up To Do

Well, that look says it all, don't it? "MAN! Staying connected online when roving parts of the country with little to no cel phone service is difficult!" Suffice it to say that a LOT has happened since July 4th. Which is why you see me standing above on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium; former home of the Grand Ol' Opry.

Common Ground On The Hill was fantabulous - had a lot of great interactions with musicians and plenty of good jam sessions, some of which were captured on recording and will be heard in the upcoming "RV Project: Official Album." After departing, McDaniels College in Westminster, MD - I headed out on a mini-tour of Pennsylvania State Parks, stopping at Cowan's Gap in Fort Loudon and spending a few idyllic days at Trough Creek in James Creek.



Rita and I enjoyed a week of camping, hiking, mountain biking and just plain sitting around and doing nothing, which was mighty nice after that last burst of rushing around between New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maryland! After that bit of recharging, I headed up to Portage, PA for Portage Dulcimer Day and had a great time with JT Taylor and the folks who came out for a day of workshops and the concert.






With the final stop on the first leg of tour complete, I angled for setting out early in the morning to begin the long journey back home. Up to this point, Rita held together fast and braved the harsh weather and road conditions for a spectacular shakedown tour. However, knowing that the alternator wasn't long for this world, I knew that there would be trouble up the road and, as it turns out, it wasn't that far up the road. In fact - after rolling out at 6 am to traverse the Dutch country hills, Rita made it fifteen minutes before the engine began to sputter up those inclines and the headlights began to dim in concert with the dash lights - classic signs of a failing alternator. I cruised to a stop in front of an old abandoned restaurant and wrestled with the lack of cel reception before finally landing Triple A and getting a ride down to Bedford, PA where Rita was fixed up and ready to go for the rest of the way. A quick stop over north of Richmond, Virginia and we made it home in decent time.

Long enough to have a visit to Epcot and then.....

Jae, Sheri and I hit the road again - this time heading for Kentucky where we planned to visit some bourbon distilleries en route to the Indiana Dulcimer Festival.



The Indiana Dulcimer Festival was great, sharing the staff duties with Stephen Seifert, Lois Hornbostel, Butch Ross, Aaron O'Rourke, Rob Brereton and Katie Geringer. There was also Woodburn Day In The Park going on simultaneously, so Folkcraft dulcimer players were featured in the parade (we rode on a flatbed trailer.) There was also some razzle-dazzle showmanship going on that introduced me and Steve Seifert to a concert in the park, opening for and then sharing the stage with the Dixie Bee-Liners.






Unfortunately, Jae got ill during the festival; complications from the bronchitis that had been plaguing her while I was on tour. Luckily, she recovered enough to enjoy the rest of the trip; a journey to Nashville and all that goes with it!

While in Nashville, strolling Broadway, I sat in with the Craig Curtis band at Legend's Corner and Bart Hansen (guitarist for Loretta Lynn) at the Whiskey Bent Saloon. (Including The Stage, that makes three Honky Tonk Row establishments that I've performed at now.) We wrapped things up with a visit to the Ryman and then brought it on home.

We're enjoying some downtime, though a lot of this being home involves just getting ready for the next leg of tour! Coming up will be a return to The Pickin' Porch in Townsend, TN and a first-time stint at the Gateway Festival in Belleville, IL. I will do my best to stay on top of things as we go. The next big outing will be in September as I hit the road for the southern United States, west coast and midwest for a month. Of course, I've been pretty diligent about getting pictures and recordings (the latter, I'm working on) and you can catch up with all of the photos on Facebook using the following links:

RV Project Tour: Part One

RV Project Tour: Part Two

RV Project Tour: Part Three

RV Project Tour: Part Four

THE RV PROJECT

In these final weeks running up to the start of summer tour, my faithful road companion Buster, a 20-year old Geo Metro LSi convertible, sprung a transmission fluid leak out of a rusted part of his underside, thereby officially rendering him unsafe to take on the 3,000 mile first leg. He's not down for the count yet, and will be fine to scoot around locally. But his days of careening from one end of the country to the other are over unless extensive body work is completed.

The next option would've been to pay around $900 for a rental car (compact) and about $1000 for lodging on the days where I wouldn't be hosted by either a festival or a host family, not to mention fuel with rising gas prices on the march. Jae and I had been talking about getting me into a RV of some sort for a while now, a move that would effectively remove the cost of staying at motels and hotels along the way while also providing more space to carry all of my instruments, books, CDs, P.A., lights and other gear. I'd also be able to prepare my own meals, thus saving a tremendous amount of money altogether. Of course, getting into a camper is an expensive proposition all its own and we simply weren't prepared for this kind of setback, especially with a June 4th tour starting date just around the corner.

Inspired by bands and solo artists, both unknown and nationally recognized, who have offered special incentives of music, concert tickets and other items in exchange for varied donations, I decided to give this idea a shot in hopes that I could raise enough money to purchase a used, late-model RV, and avoid taking out a loan and tacking on huge monthly payments for a brand new camper. Thus was born THE RV PROJECT.

RV Newbie Alert

If you visit the above link, you'll see the various offerings which are compounded with each successive donation level. ANY DONATION, no matter how small, will help in this quest. Initially, when the e-mail went out on May 12th, shortly before midnight ET, I had set the fundraising goal at $2500, hoping that amount would be enough to cover the cost of a functioning Class B van camper, since some of the larger Class C and Class A motorhomes were not only more expensive, but also not very fuel efficient. What I soon discovered was that, for that price, most of the offerings were officially antiques, or lacked most of the necessary features that make life on the road functional. So, the goal was re-set to $3500.

By morning on May 13th, over $700 in donations had rolled in. I began posting pictures of the campers I had gone to see or was considering going to see and that's when people who really know about the RV lifestyle began to comment. "That's too old", "that's got water damage, bad news", "you'll need a generator", "be sure you get into something safe." It became apparent that though I was trying to keep the budget around $3500 - most of the reasonably outfitted RVs were still out of reach. With less than three weeks left, I wasn't sure if I had a choice in the matter. I'd have to pick something to get on the road.

The Mercury Threatens To Break

It was while doing my daily exercise walk in the park that a number of donations began to roll in. Astonishingly, by 5 pm ET, $3,420 in total donations had come in. Absolutely stunned by this development, I raced home and began reading the e-mails which basically said, "you're not going to find anything safe, comfortable or trouble-free for $3500. Set your sights higher. We want you to arrive in one piece."

Now, I honestly don't know if all of these donations are coming from folks within the dulcimer community or if it is a mixture of all kinds of people, some of whom have chosen to remain anonymous. If you've looked through the donation offerings, I can tell you that at least one person will receive a visit from me during a time in which I will be gardener, butler, cleaning service and chef, not to mention putting on a private concert.

I. Am. Floored.

Do you know what my horoscope said today? "It'll be a social day, and you'll share a strong emotional bond with a pal or group of friends. It's possible that your mutual interest in an unusual hobby or humanitarian cause will be your focus." Wow.

I am simply overwhelmed by this outpouring of support and, reading the emails and Facebook posts, it's once again very clear to me just how incredible a world I've been living in for the past six years.

So, Now What?

Based on e-mails, I already know that the goal of $3500 has been met. And I'm being urged to continue accepting donations in order to afford a camper that will be safe, functional and last for more than just a summer. In the first 24 hours of THE RV PROJECT, this has already been an amazing, emotional adventure, one that I'll be sharing here, on Facebook and in-person as I travel across the country from Connecticut to California and back again this year. I'd be content to pick up this Ford Amerigo that I'm looking at tomorrow, but it does lack a generator and I've been told that having one is an absolute must. Class B and Class C campers with generators start to be found in the $6,000 to $8,000 range around central Florida. Bearing in mind that I need to travel to inspect the vehicle, many of the deals folks have found for me out of state are not practical to attempt, especially with a deadline approaching and the need to get whatever RV I settle upon dutifully registered, insured and prepped to go.

So, this is what I'm going to do. Time truly dictates both availability of my options as well as the time in which to close the deal. With the funds raised thus far with your kind and loving assistance, I can continue with an expanded search for an ideal coach. Knowing what I know about the bureaucracy of the DMV and anticipating whatever hoops I may have to leap through with our insurance company, I would say that I need to purchase something in about 11 to 12 days. With that in mind, I'm going to continue accepting donations with a new target of $10,000. If it's reached - it will certainly give me better options. If it's not, I have faith that I'll be able to get into something that will be well-suited for the road. If whatever I purchase ends up costing less than what I've received, then I'll apply the remainder to tax, title, insurance, gas, maintenance, all of those things that will be much more involved as the owner of a recreational vehicle.

Again, for those of you who have donated, I cannot thank you enough. I hope you will enjoy the many projects that are being offered as part of this fundraising effort and that I will get a chance to thank you in person. I'll continue to post updates and there will be plenty of pictures and video, not to mention lots and lots of music.

I have been extremely blessed since becoming part of the mountain dulcimer community. But this. This is just so incredible, it's almost too much to take. Thank you.

With all my love,

Bing

Retrointrospection: In Brief

Just exactly who reads this stuff, anyway? If you're reading this, please leave a comment. Want to see if this thing is working. You've got plenty of interesting stops on the Information Superhighway to make, so I'm chuffed to bits that you've chosen to stop and have a scone or two here in my own little ghetto of the grid.

"Let There Be Peace On Earth" was released this month after missing the opportunity to release it during last year's holiday season. It features the incredible pipes of Benjamin Dehart: The Cracker Tenor and you can check it out here, if you haven't already.

Also, if you missed the album that flew under the radar, check it out here.
A project for the good people at Folkcraft Instruments.

Christmas is over. New Year's Eve is never a big deal around this household. A couple of movies. A bottle (or three) of bubbly. Kiss. Snuggle. Chill.

What this means is: time to dig in.

There's lots of exciting new stuff that's been developing over the past month or so and it's all been kept very under the hat. I'm looking forward to the Key West Dulcimer Fest in January, of course hoping that our good weather isn't on back-order come that third week.

Looking back on the past year, I see a lot of those days spent planning were put to good use. That just reinforces the time that I spend studying. Researching, working through test books and memorizing elements of music theory. Practicing scales, bouncing improvisations off of the wall. Sitting at the computer for infinite stretches of time putting it out into the universe; data salvo!

Times are tough all over and they're going to get tougher before they get better. That, coupled together with the ongoing studio improvements here at Casa de Milagro has seen a sort of bittersweet decision to sell a lot of my dulcimer collection to raise funds for equipment upgrades. To be fair, these were instruments that were not being played on a regular basis and would probably only be engaged on special occasions in the foreseeable future, though they'd all seen their share of stage-time. They each went to good homes where they'll be loved and played as a primary instrument, meanwhile leaving me with enough cash to do some shopping.

What I got (and what's on the table) will be the focus of the next couple of blog posts as we begin a brand new year of renewed production.

For everybody who reads this blog, watches "Dulcimerica", listens to my music or attends my workshops; if you've paid any attention to me this year: thank you. Somewhere between time wasted and a worthwhile time spent is a place where everyone is grooving to the same beat. Happy New Year and many blessings to you for a great 2011! The beat goes on.


If this year was any kind of forecast, then 2011 is going to be a great one for everybody (keep putting that good mojo out into the universe.)

Back On The Mountain

Jae and I rode into Black Mountain, North Carolina while the Sourwood Festival was in full swing. The tiny downtown was stacked with traffic as people sought parking spaces. We were headed to Cabin Creek Lodge, our digs for the weekend during which Steve and Kay Fernandez would renew their wedding vows high up on the mountain. Steve and Kay are good friends and have had me over at their Orlando home for a couple of house concerts - they also come out regularly to see me at Dicey Reilly's (now, once again, called O'Doherty's) and had asked me to participate in their ceremony, providing music.

Not only was it an honor to do so, but they also booked me into the Town Pump Tavern for a post-ceremony/reception party. The Town Pump Tavern has been around for 30 years and is a magical little place with a warm feel (partially due to the lay-lines that intersect at the stage.)

Just prior to our time in Black Mountain, Jae and I had stopped in Asheville and spent a couple of days there exploring the place. It was great to be back in the Swannanoa Valley and to be sharing it with her - even though the winding roads to get here nearly took her out. An avowed flatlander, Jae has a low tolerance for heights and curves.

All in all, it made for a magical weekend and the pictures from this North Carolina leg of the tour can be found here.

The Town Pump Tavern gig was a lot of fun (again, I played for three hours straight before a broken string forced me to take a four minute pause) and I'm looking forward to coming back some day. In the meantime, the next gigs on the horizon are this coming Friday at McWell's in Orlando; Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom on August 31st with Manitou and a return to The Logon Cafe in Beaumont, Texas on September 25th! Details on these shows can be found by checking out my gig calendar at http://tinyurl.com/bingcalendar!

Have a great week and thanks to everyone who made this weekend such a blast!

Ending On A High Note

The Swannanoa Gathering rolls out over the course of five weeks in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina with the final week devoted to the music of mountain and hammered dulcimer. It was my first time experiencing this mix of community, family, instruction and beauty, leaving me breathless from the journey. Besides wonderful students in intensive workshops throughout the week, the fantastic fellowship among everyone, the gorgeous campus of Warren Wilson College and incredible food in the cafeteria and during mid-morning breaks, there was plenty of jamming to be had and evening concerts that entertained as well as enlightened. I, once again, had the distinct pleasure of sharing the stage with Ken Bloom and Ken Kolodner at the Monday night instructor concert, as well as joining Kolodner and Rob Brereton during the informal lunchtime concert series.

Jae and I are actually heading back up to this area of North Carolina this weekend to spend time with friends who are having a vow rededication ceremony in the mountains. I'm looking forward to sharing this beautiful spot of the country with my wife and also getting a chance to explore it some more, as I never left the campus during the week, picking and visiting and hanging around near the beer tent with the other students and instructors (now, a dulcimer festival with a beer tent, that's a novel idea!)

Next up: I'll be starting early tomorrow night at McWell's (5 pm) and performing throughout the evening for Simon Time Trivia, which begins at 8 pm. Then, Manitou is having a partial reunion in Manitou Springs, Colorado on Saturday, August 28th where our album "In The Garden Of The Gods" was recorded, followed by a gig at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom in Denver on Tuesday, August 31st. After that, I'm actually home for awhile (imagine that.)

I'm working on getting back into the groove of things - including updating "Dulcimerica" - but for now, I'll settle for cleaning the studio, getting caught up with e-mail and, of course, picking.

Well, Oh Well, Oh 'Wellyn'

Click to hear "Wellyn"

Okay, so this started off as a "testing one-two-three" and turned out to be a not-bad knock-out of "Wellyn" by Robert Force.

What makes this track remarkable is that both dulcimer parts were recorded, E.Q.ed and mixed on my iPhone.



As many of you know, I've been an iPhone owner for about three weeks or so after a long courtship with the Blackberry Curve 8310. Jae and I both upgraded at the same time (we're with AT&T) but figured we couldn't both afford to get the pricey Apple gadget, so I took the bullet and initially figured that the split would be fine. It didn't take long to begin silently envying and likewise coveting her iPhone.

Now that I've got one, it's quite clear why. It rocks. In ways the Blackberry could only dream about.

Take, for example, this app called Four Track.



This is pretty sick stuff. You've got a basic four-track recorder which uses the iPhone's built-in microphone. You'll need a set of headphones, with or without the microphone. You lay down track one, then track two while track one plays back. You add some percussion and bounce it over to track four and then begin filling up tracks one through three with other instruments and even some vocals. Just like the real thing only you're doing it on your iPhone.




Once you've recorded your tracks, you can do a number of things, from post-recording equalization to mixing down or copying to a clipboard for use in other applications. Then, when you're ready to do something more with it - you can sync via Wi-Fi to any nearby computer with a browser, download the mix or all of your single tracks in .wav format to use in your digital audio workstation (DAW.)

People are creating entire albums with this app - and, as you can hear - the sound quality has an unmistakable "you are there" sense about it. Just incredible. It's not a .99 cent app by any means, but considering what you're getting in this sleek-yet-powerful package, eight additional bucks is a small price to pay.

Jot down musical ideas, create arrangements, lay the groundwork for your first or next album. Sure, there are a few things wanting (like lack of a metronome or quantize feature), but apparently those are fixes that have probably already been worked into the next version. I've got some pretty cool apps in the past three weeks, but I'm gonna have to say that this one is just the coolest of them all.

Dulcimerica 161 - "Key West Dulcimer Fest Pt. 3"

Catching Up With Myself (and the rest of the world)

Dulcimers On The Green in Central City, Kentucky was the very next stop after a rowdy night of "The Pub Thang" in Orlando. I whisked up Interstate 75 and stopped overnight in Signal Mountain, Tennessee at the home of Dan Landrum, editor of Dulcimer Players News. We then set out in the afternoon of the next day and got into Central City with enough time to have some Mexican food at El Bracero and get checked into our rooms.

This first-year festival was quite a joy - great music and jams, lots to see and do. But what made this different was the entire teaching staff was given a key to the city during an opening night welcome party. Here, Mayor Jerry Mitchell is pictured presenting me with the first key. It's never happened before and who knows if it will happen again? All I know is, it was pretty darn cool.



(pictured above l-r, Stephen Seifert, me and Dan Landrum) After Saturday workshops, we had a break for dinner and then the concert at the Merle Travis Music Center.

All in all it was a lovely time - Dan and I headed back to Tennessee right after the concert and then I switched horses in Signal Mountain and continued on home to Orlando where I was greeted by my lovely wife, Jae. We then headed out to meet our dear friends from McWell's over at Epcot and proceeded to zip around, having fun as you do.

Finally, a week later, we met those very same friends on board the Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas to help celebrate Andy Weller's birthday (it had been a surprise cruise in the making for a number of months - hard to keep this secret!) We set sail for Nassau in the Bahamas and disappeared off the radar for the weekend. It was my first cruise and I'm still sort of in denial that we're back in Orlando, getting back to the grind of things.



Knowing that I was going to be caught up in the cruise afterglow this week, I took the liberty of already shooting the second installment of "Dulcimerica" dealing with blues on the mountain dulcimer - it will be posted on YouTube tomorrow morning as well as at Dulcimerica.com. Thanks for all of the kind words - glad you enjoyed part one!

It's a busy week here - lots to do. Hope you have a great one - watch this space for more soon!

New Gear and Stuff

It's been over a week since I checked in but there's a good reason for that. First off, "The Pub Thang" went over well at McWell's - thanks to all who came out to support the night. My last post mentioned heading over to Guitar Center and there's a photo above of what was acquired.

The DigiTech Vocalist Live 4 is a dandy piece of equipment that allows me to layer harmonies into live performances and recording. From one voice to four-part harmony, it's programmable and has instrument effects as well. Jae hates it. I think it rocks the bells.

My friend Kaleo uses one. He said, "they're awesome - but brudda, you gotta be on-key." Since all of the harmony is modeled from your original vocal, it's only as good as you can make it (which is only half true since there is pitch-correction built into the unit - I have it switched to "off".) Harmonies are more effective on sustained notes and I have a habit of clipping my phrases, so right off the bat, the machine was in my face as I practiced tunes that have always wanted some extra voices during the solo show. Took awhile to get the hang of it, but I gotta say it's pretty freakin' sweet and I didn't overuse it at Wednesday's show. Honest.

Festival Action - Low Action - High Action

It's been awhile since I've posted here, mainly due to keeping up information on the Key West Dulcimer Fest website.

What a blast and what a joy! The festival ran smoothly, the weather was amazing and we're looking at 2011 for our next time around.

There are lots of little details that have been floating in and out of focus since the final day; moments of music, leaps forward in ability, all of the minute things that combine to create a wonderfully eye-opening experience.

Huge thanks to Folkcraft Instruments for their sponsorship of the festival and the hard work of Richard Ash on-site, connecting with instructors and working on dulcimers. Stephen Seifert and I have been talking about low action vs. high action (we've both been huge fans of low action) and finally decided that a higher action was necessary for the styles of playing that we both employ. Richard raised the action on three of our instruments and the difference is incredible. Sure, you have to work a little harder, not much, but enough to win great results. The dynamic range of the instruments have opened up and, dare I say it, has made them just a touch louder. We went with low action to make fretting easier - but I offer that anything totally easy won't yield the best results. It's like working out - the harder it is, the greater the reward (or something like that.)

There will be video coming along in a little while, some more recollections and announcements of dates and instructors for the next festival - soon!

Happy New Year!

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. "

- Edith Lovejoy Pierce

First off, a deeply heartfelt wish for all of you who read this; have a very Happy New Year full of the blessings of life.

Last night was different and, God knows, I like it like that. Spent most of the evening working on the poster for the Key West Dulcimer Fest and grilling steaks for Jae and I. At some point, we began watching the first episode of "Hetty Wainthropp Investigates" starring Patricia Rutledge from "Keeping Up Appearances." I got the entire four seasons on DVD for Jae and we were both curious how this newer show would compare to the comedy that we both enjoyed so much (it was quite good.)

Somewhere towards the end of the episode, the cracking and banging and booming outside the windows escalated and we surmised that midnight had arrived, so I popped the cork, poured us two stiff quaffs, we kissed and toasted the new year quietly, then finished watching the episode. When it was through, we did switch over to see how old Dick Clark was getting along (remarkably well for a man of his age and condition, in fact, it appears he's getting better) but the music ended up chasing both of us into bed an hour later. As we don't watch t.v. or listen to radio, the new shows and music often end up surprising us as we turn around odd corners from time to time. I try to stay abreast of current creative events and so it was no surprise to hear names like Colbie Caillat and Selena Gomez headlining events. What did surprise me was the sheer proliferation of auto-tune songs, lip-syncing and the overall sameness of the material. Seriously, The Go-Go's did bubble-gum pop much better in the 80's!

While sitting there watching the current state of mainstream music, I began getting itchy about the new year and my own career. Plans have already been laid for some new directions and I'm anxious to get hoppin'. One of my self-prescribed Christmas gifts just arrived last week; a Yamaha RBX 250 bass guitar. I began my professional musician life as a bassist back in 1984 and haven't owned one since falling in love with the mountain dulcimer. It'll come in handy when working in the studio, since I've really not enjoyed working with synth-bass for most of the releases over the past couple of years. Sounds so....synthy.

On the way also are a set of Piedmont Blues harmonicas. With Mohave I've wanted to spice up the musical mix a bit with a fifth member who would be a multi-instrumentalist. Until that perfect person shows up, I've decided to add a few more instruments to my own bag of tricks including the aforementioned bass and harmonica. Down the road, as I continue developing on the chromatic dulcimer, I'm looking at getting into ukulele and fireside bagpipes.

This doesn't mean that the dulcimer is getting pushed aside, by any means. Like a painter who favors a certain palette, I'm simply expanding the range of colors with which I use to paint. There are always primary colors involved in the mixing of paints, and I consider the mountain dulcimer to be one of the most important shades I use. There are developments this year that will even expand how those particular hues are perceived and it's going to be a very interesting year for recording, that's for sure.

Watch this space for more music theory and, of course, the fourth season of "Dulcimerica" for resources pertaining strictly to the mountain dulcimer. A new year has begun, in some ways a new song for us all to sing. I hope you sing yours loudly, proudly and without fear. It's your song after all and no-one can sing it but you.

Groovin' Into The Fall

Well, it's been a whirlwind this past week. Just got back from the Bluegrass Creek Dulcimer Festival in Evansville, Indiana and had a beautiful time in a wonderful setting (which could also be a wonderful time in a beautiful setting.) Had a great time meeting new friends and hanging out with some old ones, including some nice jams with Kendra Ward and Bob Bence. There's plenty of video to sift through and it will be appearing in a little while. If you've noticed, I've staggered the Dulcimerica videos this year so as not to show what just recently happened. It gives me some time to, well, have more things happen, so I don't run out of material. Sure, I could always knock off a couple of workshop videos if someone would invent five more hours in the day. And actually, we're working on making that happen, so stay tuned.

Got back into town in time to wish my lovely Jae a Happy Birthday - we had a house and yard full of family and friends right when I got in from the airport; a nice homecoming.

Then Monday, I had a recording session with the great Kaleo, formerly of the Polynesian Resort at Walt Disney World. I'd been asked by Scott May, keyboardist from The Ides of March, to produce a track with some Hawaiian flava and knew exactly the cat I needed to get. Kaleo laid down some awesome steel guitar and ukelele and I hope to share the track with you once it is approved and finalized up north. I used Garageband '09, which just shipped to me (I know, halfway through the year, punctual already) and is an amazing program. Kaleo was so impressed that he suggested I record his long-awaited follow-up to "Welcome To My Island" here at the studio. I told him, "brudda, no problem - I just need a few more pieces of gear." LOL!

What else is new? "Mountain Dulcimer In The Band 4: Christmas Edition" ships on Saturday! Those of you who have already pre-ordered will get your signed copy next week. If you haven't ordered yet, there's still time before the first shipment.

Like the other books in the series, this one comes with two CDs: one with dulcimer and backing tracks and one with just backing tracks so you can take center-stage with the band and, in this case, the orchestra and symphony!

Songs included are:

8 Joy To The World*
12 The First Noel
16 St. Day Carol
18 Hark The Herald Angels Sing*
20 Silent Night*
24 Deck The Halls
26 O Tannenbaum
28 Away In A Manger*
30 Jingle Bells
34 God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings
38 What Child Is This
40 Go Tell It On The Mountain
42 Up On The House Top
46 We Wish You A Merry Christmas
50 O Holy Night
54 When Christmas Is Over

The numbers indicate pages - as you can see, this is the largest of all the MDITB books, more structured arrangements along with more chances to cut loose and improvise. There are samples of two tracks on my website; "Joy To The World" and "Away In A Manger." You'll get to swing to "Up On The House Top", make like Johnny Cash with "Jingle Bells", leap into the silver screen with "O Holy Night", "Silent Night" and "What Child Is This?" and take the lead in Bonnie Raitt's band with the bluesy "Go Tell It On The Mountain" (a foreshadowing of a future edition of MDITB featuring all blues styles.)

With plenty of time to work on these arrangements over the next several weeks, you and/or your club will be ready to perform during the Christmas season like never before!

The 58-page book and 2 CD set is $24.99 and available at http://www.darkstudios.com/bfstore.html - orders received by Saturday morning will go out First Class that day!

This Weekend At Dicey Reilly's

This Friday and Saturday (September 18th and 19th) are my regular weekend slot at Dicey Reilly's Irish Pub in St. Cloud, Florida. It's always a good time at Dicey's with fantastic food, great service, lots of parking, no cover, kid-friendly atmosphere and awesome brews on tap! I'll be performing both nights from 7 to 11 pm - lots of traditional, modern, original and cover tunes on the mountain dulcimer. If you haven't been - come on out and see what the ever-growing audience is on about! I'll also be at Dicey's on September 26th from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. as part of their Halfway to St. Patty's Day Celebration.

http://odohertypub.com for more info

Busy Fall

It is looking to be quite a busy fall season, beginning with three Dicey's shows this month and then a crazy couple of months after that, including:

October 3rd and 4th - Winter Creek Reunion - Bennington, Oklahoma
October 9th - Cameo Theater - Orlando, Florida
October 10th - Harvest Music Jam - Holopaw, Florida
October 16th-18th - Chautaqua on the Wabash - New Harmony, Indiana
October 23rd-24th - Dicey Reilly's - St. Cloud, Florida

November is going to be even more nuts, if you can believe that. My schedule for the next year or so can be found online at:

http://tinyurl.com/bingcalendar

Key West Dulcimer Fest

Registration slots are still available for the 1st Annual Key West Dulcimer Fest! If you're on the fence about attending, don't wait until the last minute or you'll miss out for sure! Workshop descriptions for some of the offerings are beginning to surface on the website at: http://KeyWestDulcimerFest.com and it gives you just a little idea of what to expect from this wonderful weekend featuring David Beede, Robert Force, GuY George, Tull Glazener, Jeff Hames, Lois Hornbostel, Dan Landrum, Karen Mueller, Aaron O'Rourke, Butch Ross, Gary Sager, Stephen Seifert, Rick Thum, Susan Trump and yours truly! We're just 132 days away from the world's first tropical dulcimer fest!

Hope you are ready for a fantastic weekend of cooler temperatures, no matter what you do. Blessings to you from Orlando, Florida!

That Nashville Rhythm

They don't call it "Music City" for nothin'. After our Thursday jam at B.B. King's Blues Club, I was ready for even more jam action and found exactly that while in town for Summer NAMM.

Friday was mostly spent demoing dulcimers at the Folkcraft booth, taking only a 30 minute break to hang out with Jae and to eat the largest hot dog I've ever had. That evening, we headed out to La Hacienda on the recommendation of Nashville songstress Ashley Robertson.

Saturday, wasn't scheduled to be in the booth, but wanted to catch Stephen Seifert at the NAMM U. Breakfast Session as he performed with Fiddle and Pick. Later, we had the rare opportunity to jam a few songs out in the Folkcraft booth, from Bob Marley to the blues. Lots of folks, including NAMM Logistics Manager Cade Fulton, were there to watch the fun; lots of cameras flashing, so those pics are bound to start showing up someplace.

After hanging out for a little bit, Jae came down to meet me and we went down to famous Broadway to sample some of the music at the venues. Nashville's live music starts early in the day and doesn't quit until early morning, so there is fantastic A-list entertainment up and down the street

We didn't get very far - ending up at Legend's Corner and being highly entertained by Jason Link and the Link Family Band. Energetic, engaging and easily the most fun band we saw all day, Jason and Co. quickly latched onto the fact that I was a musician in town for NAMM and asked if I'd like to sit in with them on a couple of tunes. Since I didn't have my axe, Jason mentioned that they'd be playing The Stage on Sunday and that I was invited to join them for some jams. Of course, you know my answer was "hell, yeah!" The band, comprised of Link, Tim McDonald, Woodstock 69 and The Chef, were a great beginning to our stroll down Broadway and we bought two of their CDs before heading out to experience more of this famous district.

Just the history alone is staggering as you walk down the block - everything from record stores and eateries to venues with walls that are lined with old album covers, autographed pictures, paintings and oversized musical instruments. Every band we heard had top-notch players, though not all of them were as entertaining as Link and his band. On Broadway, the bands all work for tips, which means you've got to be good to survive. Certainly ups the ante' when you're trying to keep people in the "bar whar you are."

Jae bought a black and silver cowboy hat at the Ernest Tubb Record Shop and we popped in and out of bars until it was time to meet up with everybody at Sole Mio for dinner, which was excellent.

Sunday on the floor at NAMM brought many more wonderful moments, including some hot-fired jams with Linda Sack of the Nashville Dulcimer Quartet. Linda and I had conversed some via e-mail and it was a joy to meet her. Our dulcimer duets once again brought a crowd to the Folkcraft booth, stopping traffic in the aisle, which was the main entrance to the show floor. Stopping traffic is a good thing. It gets people very curious as to what's going on in front of that crowd.

The show closed at 4 pm, which gave me the opportunity to slip out quickly, head down to The Stage with Jae and chill out with Jason Link and the Link Family Band. Several folks that I met at NAMM were there to check out my brief sit-in with the band. With a need to get Annie back into Richard's hands for a trip back to Indiana, I could only stay for a couple of tunes, so Jason brought me up with an introduction and I quickly laid out for the band what I had in mind. In no time flat, we were rocking along with "Run On", which hangs out in Em for a good long time, so it was easy to signal the band to stop and start for emphasis. Keyboardist Tim McDonald took some crazy middle-eastern sounding solos and Woodstock 69 laid down a wild bass break-down before we brought it home. The blonde you see in the photo was dancing her ass off, despite being soused to the gills.



Then, we switched it up with "Folsom Prison Blues" in the key of D and the blonde disappeared, replaced by an older gentleman who danced just as madly, holding a drumstick in his hand. Annie sounded fantastic going through Jason's rig, just enough dirt to take on a wicked tone. Though I was sitting down, I made sure to turn around and give plenty of visual cues to the band - I could see them watching my fingers for the changes. Without a single rehearsal, we all stopped on a dime to wild applause as I shook hands with the boys and thanked them for allowing me to share the music with them.

I ran Annie back to Richard, said goodbye to him and Nick, and returned to The Stage for the rest of the show. Had the chance to hang out with Woodstock 69 (real name: Rande Hall) and talk with him about the Nashville music scene, the caliber of performers and the nature of the grind. It was a back alley inside view at the heartbeat of their local scene and deeply inspiring.

Jae and I had dinner at Merchant's and then retired to our hotel room where we both crashed out, happy yet exhausted. We had barely enough time to really dig into Nashville as a whole, but just that brief foray into the city yielded unexpectedly fun and wild results. Made a lot of new friends, created new connections and came away with the undeniable feeling that we'd be doing it all again next year, if not sooner.

Workin' the booth at NAMM

Sent with Aloha! via Blackberry

In The Nashville Groove

We dropped into Nashville in the mid-afternoon, grabbed a couple of caffeine-laden drinks from Starbucks and proceeded to our hotel, Jae and I. It was a long day of travel and was going to be a long night of heading out to B.B. King's Blues Bar downtown and waiting our turn to play the Greg Bennett Guitar Showcase. Roger Zimish has an endorsement with Bennett and we wanted to work some of our acoustic alchemy. During dinner, we were entertained by Tommy Tutone in the main room - they did a swing version of their hit "Jenny", which was pretty sweet.

Roger, me and guitarist Barry Hall planned on rocking out "Run On" and, by the time the evening had drawn on and on, turns out that's the only tune for which I hit the stage. With no rehearsal and a pick-up rhythm section, it was a monstrous go and quite a lot of fun. Annie's first time on-stage since being shipped back home as her whole self.

Annie now has a little sister named Kamalani, which means "chief's child" in Hawaiian. Kamalani is all Koa wood, which can only be found on the Hawaiian islands, with sugar maple fingerboard and ebony fingerboard veneer and heelcaps with backing stripe. She's also fully chromatic, which means I've officially crossed over to the "dark side" of the dulcimer and am playing a far more complex instrument with all twelve half-steps of the western musical scale. I like this, because it helps me to think through theory and also understand the diatonic scale better. Plus, I can play songs in any key now, which is important if you want to really spread your wings and fly. She has a sweet voice and is simply beautiful; another crowning achievement for Folkcraft Instruments.

Morning comes way early. More pics and things after a while. Right now, I'm thinking about sleep, in much the same way that Jae has already explored.

Possum Daze

I had the unfortunate task of burying a couple of baby possums earlier in the week. Mom's been a hanger-round for quite some time and our dog, Bella, loves to sniff her out. She's wise to walk the tight-rope of fence around the yard perimeter. However, a litter of babies has made it a point to scamper around inside the fence, much to Bella's delight, though she doesn't do anything to them except for grab briefly and then watch, befuddled, as they play dead.

Still, they're none too bright. Either that or way too bold. I observed one climbing up a wavy stalk of flower, only to discover that there was nowhere else to go but back down again. Color me none too surprised to find two of them dead in our yard. I don't believe Bella got to them. Starvation seems to be the real culprit.

So, Jae noticed another one in the neighbor's yard today, foraging in broad daylight. Must be part of the same brood, I thought - so I scooped him up and put him where I sussed the nest must've been. Haven't seen hide nor hair of mama - so maybe this guy's on his own. Though I laid down some cat food for him, he seemed content to snap up junebugs for awhile before finally laying into some Meow Mix.

Fun At The Fair

Jae and I took my daughter, Casey, her mom, Kelly and her friend, Anna, to the Central Florida Fair over the weekend. Using a Blackberry as a video camera, here, Kelly and I land in a helicopter just in time to catch one of the Fearless Flores troupe riding a motorcycle inside the "Globe of Death."



And here are two of the most awesome carnival rides on Earth; Nitro:



and the Zipper:

Red-Headed Lover: New Demo!

Though she heard it while I was working on it yesterday, I don't think Jae knows that this tune was written for her as a Valentine's gift. She'll hear it in a little bit, but I got up early to do a little more tweaking on it. It's a demo, of course. I know a band that could play the hell out of this tune.

Not all blues tunes are depressing; some celebrate good times and I wanted to write something like that, also poking a little fun at your standard blues lines ("woke up this morning", "my baby done left me") while still penning a sweet little valentine for my valentine. The sassy lead lick came to me yesterday while starting to work out the tune - initially serving as a melodic prompt, I only use it as the melody in the first verse, and then go to more standard blues phrasing. The dulcimer carries the lick throughout the rest of the song. Not bad for a quick demo, huh?

Red-Headed Lover
Music and Lyrics by Bing Futch
Copyright © 2009 J.O.B. Entertainment Inc.

I've got a woman, she treats me so fine
I've got a woman, she treats me so fine
she's my red-headed lover, she's my valentine

woke up this morning, who's right there by my side?
woke up this morning, who's right there by my side?
she says, "come over here, baby - let's go for a ride."

my baby, she done left me and threw me off my track
my baby up and left me and threw me off my track
she said, "I'm just goin' to the store, honey and I'm comin' right back"

one and one is two, two and six is eight
ate up 'bout my baby, now let's get something straight
I've got a woman, she treats me so fine
she's my red-headed lover-girl, she's my valentine

she's my red-headed lover-girl, she's my valentine

2/13/09
for Jae

NAMMazing!

NAMM Show 2009 Video - Liunian Bian | NAMM.org

Attendees were treated to a moving performance on the erhu by Mr. Liunian Bian, who wrote the music for the Beijing Olympics closing ceremony.

We arrived in Anaheim on Wednesday night, checked into the Holiday Inn just around the corner from Disneyland and met up with Richard and Nick from Folkcraft, who brought my new axe along with them to the room. After drooling all over the fretboard, we headed out for dinner at Mama Cozza's (home of the world's largest fried cheese sticks) and then returned to the lobby of the HI where I got Annie and jammed for a while.

The next day, Jae and I met with her co-worker Michelle at the Grand Californian Hotel at the Disneyland Resort and enjoyed a nice character breakfast at the Storyteller's Cafe, where we enjoyed great grub and visits from Chip 'n Dale, Meeko, Koda and a swell bloody mary, among other beverages. Jae was well keyed-up for her visit and the character meet and greet was a theme for the day that sent her spinning back into early childhood; it was fun to see the park through her excited eyes.

We were there before park opening (thanks to Michelle and a special offer for guests of the resort) and closed the park down almost twelve hours later, with a side-journey into Disney's California Adventure, built on what used to be Disneyland parking lot. It pales in comparison to the original Disney experience, but we had some fun there, including free tortillas and the brightest green beer cups you ever saw.

Friday and Saturday, Jae was on her own as I went into NAMM and demonstrated mountain dulcimer at the Folkcraft booth. Each day, I played for about six hours, but it didn't seem that long at all, in fact, time went rushing by as folks stopped by. Friday morning, I attended the free NAMM breakfast and witnessed a performance by Liunian Bian on the erhu, which had been outfitted with a pickup from Roland Corp. As you can see and hear from the video, this was a stunning display of virtuosity and it whetted my appetite for more. However, besides catching a few snippets of demos here and there, I pretty much remained in the booth the entire time, save a couple of breaks to stroll with Jae, and didn't see much of the show - which was alright, because a good portion of the show seemed to come by our booth and see me. I made some decent connections, met some old and new friends, sold some CDs and got to play Annie a whole bunch. No complaints here.

Our plane was scheduled to leave on Sunday morning (Jae didn't realize that there was so much more NAMM going on - but it's just as well, might've spent a bunch of money that we didn't have) so we had a wonderful last night's dinner at El Torito (Mexican food rocks!) and hung out, playing music, in the HI lobby for awhile (the staff had asked me every night to come and play again) before bidding everyone a fond adieu.

Already, I'm looking forward to Summer NAMM in Nashville - and this time, we'll be hanging out for all of the days! Check out the many photos and videos on the NAMM website to see just how awesome this show was!