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

Live From The Dutch Barn at Old Songs

(Photo by Bill Spence)

Here's a snippet of my concert in the Dutch Barn at Old Songs Festival in Altamont, New York. This clip opens with me talking about my unusual double-fretboard dulcimer and then moving on to the original tune "Nowhere, Nevada."

"Nowhere" (Live at Old Songs) MP3

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.

Tour Update!

I'd like to call it a whirlwind tour, but three weeks does not a whirlwind make! It was more of a steady breeze that carried me through six state stopovers, two major festivals, a trade show, three house concert/workshops and more Mexican food than I've had in a number of months. As I've discovered, it's easier to update via the iPhone than attempt to find wi-fi and use my laptop, which is why I mainly shot tons of pictures and then posted them on Facebook. There are over 400 photos from Nashville, Tennessee (NAMM Show), Townsend, Tennessee (The Pickin' Porch and the Great Smoky Mountains), Bardstown, Kentucky (Kentucky Music Week), Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio (Doug and Deena Snapp's), Portage, Pennsylvania (JT and Missy Taylor's) and Westminister, Maryland (Common Ground On The Hill.) You can find those pictures in three albums on Facebook entitled "Summer Tour 2010" parts 1, 2 and 3. The photos and captions tell the story:


Summer Tour 2010

Summer Tour 2010 Pt. 2


Summer Tour 2010 Pt. 3

Tomorrow, I fly out to Woodburn, Indiana for the 1st Annual Indiana Dulcimer Festival, teaching and performing along with Stephen Seifert and Lois Hornbostel, both of whom I've rubbed elbows with earlier on tour. Looking forward to a great weekend at Folkcraft Instruments headquarters. Returning on Monday, I'll have a quick shot at Epcot to see U2 tribute band 2U before climbing back into Buster and heading westwards to Houston, Texas for the Bayou City Music Festival, thereby kicking off the second leg of this crazy summer tour.

I'll try to be better about at least posting updates here on the blog - but if you follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter, you'll probably get more info until I'm back home with reliable wifi.

Many thanks to those of you who have signed up for the mailing list and regularly drop a line to say "hey". I do my best to answer each e-mail in timely fashion and sometimes the spam filter arbitrarily grabs a message. If you don't hear back from me, try again. We'll see you on the road.

There are Hotwire coupons you can use to get here.

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.

More, Please...

Quite a rowdy time was had at Dicey Reilly's Irish Pub this past weekend, thanks to all who came out and participated (loudly) in the evening's music. From "Seven Drunken Nights" to "The Time Warp" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", it was a sing-along, dance-along, get the beer steins and pint glasses swaying kind of an evening; just the way we likes it.

There is the hint of making this happen a lot more down there at Dicey's, which comes right on the heels of a suggestion that it may also happen a lot more up at McWell's in Orlando. Which simply means that you'll have more opportunity to come out, raise your glasses and sing until you're hoarse, dance until you're sore and have lots of great stories to tell over the weekend as you recuperate.

I'll have more info about that as the details develop. In the meantime, I'm buried under a moving wall of video right about now and won't be surfacing for at least a week, so I'll take this time to wish all of you a blessed Memorial Day and we'll see you on the flipside!

This Week's Shows and A CHALLENGE!

Two out of three gigs this week are passed and it's been quite a lot of fun! First, The Pub Thang at McWell's for Cinco de Mayo and then last night at The Plaza Theater with K-G & the Band. Great grooves - two big nights of music, you'd think my fingers would be worn out, but I'm ready for more jamming and will do so tonight at Fresh Aroma Bistro Cafe in Deerfield Beach, Florida.

It's a unique show, sort of what we used to do with Open Mic Extreme; have an open mic with also featured performers. The open mic begins at 7:30 p.m. and I go on at 9 p.m. with the open mic continuing after that, I believe.

After this, we're back at McWell's for The Pub Thang next Wednesday, the 12th on our regular night, second Wednesday of each month.

Interval Ear Training Contest

Many of you are familiar with the Interval Ear Trainer that I blogged about here at some point. Understanding, and being able to recognize, intervals is one grand step towards building better melodies, playing chords on-the-fly and generally becoming more at-ease with your instrument. I typically will test myself on 100 to 200 intervals every day. The more you keep at it, the better you will get.

Starting something new here, occasionally I'll issue a challenge to equal or beat my interval score, which I'll post here. In order to participate in the challenge, you must be able to take a screen capture of your score from the Interval Ear Trainer site:



Here's my first challenge:

1. Score 100% by correctly identifying 50 intervals.
2. Be one of the first three to post a comment to this thread.
3. E-mail your .jpg proof to me at bingfutch@yahoo.com
4. I'll send you your choice of CD from my store.

Sorry about the perfect score for a starter. : ) Trust me, it's not always the case, so some of these challenges will be a little easier to match or beat. Anyway, have fun with it and do it every day - you'll find that not only do you get better at it, but you'll start to "hear" the music in your head before you play the notes on your dulcimer, making for lots of magic!

Chord Voicings - "Figure Eight"

One of the best ways to get acquainted with your mountain dulcimer, diatonic or chromatic, is to figure out songs on them, trying as hard as you can to perfectly match the chords. As many dulcimer players well know, this can be pretty difficult with a diatonic dulcimer, as there are notes missing.

That's one of the reasons that I got into chromatic dulcimer - wanting to maintain a relative ease of play (the chord shapes for dd-A-D tuning are the same, you just have to adjust for an additional fret space here and there) but eager to perform and write songs without having to do a whole bunch of "leaving out" or "fudging" of chords. I'm currently working on a method book for the chromatic dulcimer which will include examples of how to discern not only standard chords (Majors, minors and sevenths) but also so-called "extension" or "color" chords (the term "chromatic" comes from the latin root "chroma" which means "color") like 6ths, 9ths, Major and minor sevenths, minor sixths, augmented, diminished, etc.

This is yet another very simple look at figuring out chords on chromatic dulcimer, in the same vein as our looks at "Wichita Lineman" and "Her Diamonds." Chords for both of those songs are readily available online as guitar tablature. Trouble with that is sometimes the author of the tab gets it wrong. Another problem with that is if it's anything more than chord symbols, you're going to have a time transposing guitar tablature to dulcimer tablature due to the different tuning. One of the best reasons for coming up with your own chord charts, lead sheets and tab is that if you trust your ear, you're bound to come up with the truest version of a tune that anyone could find.

That certainly goes for this tune, beloved by many, which has haunted me ever since early childhood. "Figure Eight" is the somewhat dark and classical ditty that has helped millions of kids learn their 8 timetables through that bastion of whimsical and entertaining education "Schoolhouse Rock!" "Figure Eight" and "Little Twelvetoes" were two of my favorite songs due to their complex chords, beguiling melodies and nifty arrangements. As I learned while sussing out the chords for "Figure Eight", this tune's a real workout when it comes to the changes.

Figure Eight
Music and Lyrics by Bob Dorough


Cm                        C#
Figure eight as double four,
          G                Cm

Figure four as half of eight.
                               C#

If you skate, you would be great
              G               Cm 

If you could make a figure eight

           Fm               G             Cm 

That's a circle that turns 'round upon itself.

Cm                            C#
One times eight is two times four.

           G                 Cm

Four times four is two times eight.

                       C#
If you skate upon thin ice,
 
         G                   Cm  
You'd be wise if you thought twice

Fm              G              Cm
Before you made another single move.


C                  G/B   Gm/Bb               F/A
One times eight is eight, two times eight is 16,
Fm/Ab               C/G  Am6/F#              Fm6

Three times eight is 24, four times eight is 32,
    C/E        Cdim    Dm7  G    C

And five times eight is 40, you know.

C                  G/B Gm/Bb                F/A
Six times eight is 48, seven times eight is 56,
Fm/Ab               C/G  Am6/F#              Fm6

Eight times eight is 64, nine times eight is 72,

    C/E        Cdim    Dm7  G    C

And ten times eight is 80, that's true.

Em                     F      D7/F#                 G
Eleven times eight is 88, and twelve times eight is 96.
               D   

Now, here's a chance to get off
         G    
On your new math tricks.
           D          

'Cause twelve times eight is the same as
 
           G
Ten times eight plus two times eight

                  G7

80 plus 16 ... ninety-six!

C                  G/B   Gm/Bb               F/A
One times eight is eight, two times eight is 16,
Fm/Ab               C/G  Am6/F#              Fm6

Three times eight is 24, four times eight is 32,
    C/E        Cdim    Dm7  G    C

And five times eight is 40, you know.

Cm                        C#
Figure eight as double four,
          G                Cm

Figure four as half of eight.
                               C#

If you skate, you would be great
              G               Cm 

If you could make a figure eight
           Fm               G             Cm 

That's a circle that turns 'round upon itself.
  
Ab                                        Fm           C
Place it on its side and it's a symbol meaning         Infinity...

As with the other two songs (and many other arrangements you'll want to explore), one of the most memorable aspects of this tune is its descending bass line that runs through all of the chords in the chorus. Starting with the root note "C" at the bass of a C Major chord, the descending notes are:

C - B - Bb - A - Ab - G - Gb - F - E - Eb - D and then a resolution with the chords entering G and then C.

The trick in listening to the tune (no tablature for this tune on the web, at least not where I looked) and figuring out the chords is to maintain that bass line structure or the song just doesn't sound the same. I've done the hard work - now can you figure out how to play these chords? Can you see the pattern? Can you discover which inversion you would need in order to play these chords so that they sound correct?

Let's revisit the concept behind inversions or "slash chords":

A basic 1-3-5 or 1-b3-5 chord is going to have the root note on the bottom, the middle note in the middle and the fifth at the end or top. Using different chord voicings can change the fundamental sound of a chord, even though it uses the same notes, by rearranging the order of the notes. For example, changing the order of notes so that the third is on the bottom, acting as the bass or root - it becomes a first inversion.

So, a C major chord: C - E - G would become E - C - G.

Now, make the fifth the bottom or root note, and you have a second inversion.

G - C - E

When you write out a chord symbol for an inversion, it's often called a "slash chord." You'll see the chord symbol and then a slash and then another note. The note after the slash indicates that this is what the root or bass note should be. So, a first inversion C chord would look like this: C/E

A second inversion C chord would read: C/G


Here below are some chromatic chord shape charts. What I've done here is simply laid out the shapes for chords coming out of the key of D. By moving these shapes up and down the fretboard, paying close attention to the location of the root, you can play in any key. I keep the chromatic tuned to dd-A-D for the time being.

If you haven't already, it's a good idea to learn where all of your notes are on the fretboard. Once you've got that and the fundamental chord shapes, you can play anything!

A key to reading these charts, if you're not familiar with them. First, the number on the left side represents the fret number that it's sitting next to. For this purpose, I'm counting frets like a guitar, numbering 1-12 for an octave, no half-frets here. The numbers on the notes themselves reflect the scale degree of the note (R = root, b3 = flat or minor third, etc.) Sometimes you'll see a chord shape that doesn't include the root, in which case there's normally a trick to suss out what the root is (in the case of the minor 6th, it's three frets up from the "6th" note.)

Have fun!

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!

I Can't Think Of Anything To Say: I Think It's Nice

It was about six and a half hours up to Covington, Georgia and six and a half hours coming back; not counting the horrendous traffic on I-75 just south of Perry, Georgia. Never been a trip this quick. At least driving. I set out in Buster about 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning and rolled into the Atlanta area 'round about 1:30 p.m., after lunch at Margarita's.

"Hoosonanny", as the house concert series is called, was great fun. Everyone had a great time and Bill and Teri's hospitality was tremendous - looking forward to returning sometime for more visits, music and jams. Concerts In Your Home made it possible for artist and venue to connect in this case, so thanks to Fran Snyder for creating this avenue (wow, now that's an amalgam of "artist" and "venue", i'n't? How about "artvenue"?)

I hung out, jammed and talked with folks until 2 a.m. - then hit the sheets for four hours, got up, drove back to Orlando (with more traffic; on a Sunday? Really?), caught an hour-long nap and then went with Jae to celebrate a birthday with our fabulous friends from McWell's. And speaking of which, that brings me to this:

The Pub Thang

It's a long story about how "The Pub Thang" came to be, and if you're really and truly interested, ask me to tell you about it one day.

We'll be at McWell's Restaurant & Bar this Wednesday, April 14th from 7 pm to 10 or 11 pm - depending on how many table dancers we get. Special guest will be Roger Zimish.

What exactly is "The Pub Thang"? Besides a really stupid title for something that's essentially title-proof? It's the show I've been cultivating at Dicey Reilly's Irish Pub for over two years (back when it was still O'Doherty's.) It's a blend of traditional Celtic and Americana music, originals and a wide variety of popular music styles, including rowdy drinking songs. It's not unusual (to be loved by anyone) to have Prince and the Gorillaz bouncing up against Tom Petty, Garth Brooks and selections from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." All performed on Appalachian mountain dulcimer and Native American flute. Then, I get Roger Zimish to sit in. Roger may do a set by himself, all of the mesmerizing acoustic guitar work that he does on his originals, then firing it up with Stevie Ray Vaughn and screaming Texas blues. Together, the music takes on a shape-shifting quality as Roger and I trade off "arrangements", usually improvised on the spot. Trancy good stuff; primal heart-beat kind of groove. And Pink Floyd.

In any case - we're doing it once a month now at McWell's - second Wednesday of each month through summer (with an extra show on May 5th for Cinco de Mayo). 7 to 11 pm. No cover - great food - drink specials - fifty cent wings! Come celebrate making it halfway through the week. Raise your spirits with us and cruise on through to the weekend with levity!

Dulcimers On The Green

The day after "The Pub Thang", I make my amends to the universe by driving up to Central City, Kentucky to teach and perform at Dulcimers On The Green. Other performer/instructors are Stephen Seifert, Maureen Sellers, Rick Thum and Dan Landrum. Awww yeah, nothin' but a party up here in this joint!

Gotta run - meeting Roger at Guitar Center in South Orlando. See you soon.

Aloha,

Bing

The Mail Must Go Through

It's been a curious period of "workation" this past week as I put the finishing touches on "Mountain Dulcimer In The Band (Book 6)" with Robert Force as a house-guest. Robert had been down in Key West visiting my in-laws Sheri and George, remaining for George's 60th birthday party. Jae, our friend Nedra, and I drove down - partied like you do, bringing Robert back with us as he continues what I've termed his "Wellyn Walkabout." It was nice to hang with Robert at our casa; we've hung out in many different parts of the country, from Colorado to Kentucky to Key West, but here - he was seeing something that not many people see: me at home. On deadline.

Since beginning the MDITB series last January, it seemed that I'd be publishing the editions in pairs twice a year. With my A.D.D., projects come fast, furious and with intense focus or else they simply don't get done. Robert watched in amazement as I engaged in marathon rehearsal, recording and book layout sessions, finishing up the book in a couple of days. In between, there was lots of cigar-smoking, drinking, meals, a trip down to Disney and my gig opening up for Larry Mangum (ably assisted by John Henry Gates on fiddle and Woodie Berlin on bass and harmonies) at Langford Park in Orlando. Central Florida Folk presented the show, which took place outdoors on a beautiful Sunday afternoon under a pavilion on a nature boardwalk. Mangum's performance and tunes were a lovely thing to behold.

Now, with Robert on a bus for Gainesville (he'll return in a couple of weeks with family in tow), I'm back into full-on work mode, preparing to ship book 6 tomorrow and getting ready to leap back into production on "Dive!"

It's a blessing to be busy - it's good to have requests for your service, especially in today's economy. I'll never take for granted this opportunity to pursue what I love.

This Week's Shows

It's St. Patrick's Day on Wednesday and I'll be at McWell's Restaurant & Bar along with Doc Williamson and Roger Zimish from 7-11 p.m. Then, this Friday and Saturday I'm back at Dicey Reilly's Irish Pub for another couple of nights at my favorite Celtic hangout. Music begins at 7 pm.

Hope everyone has an especially fantastic week!

The benefits of Googling future purchases

Profire 610 serious recording bug. Not accurate

A loopback test with the Profire 610 shows that it has a serious random sample offset bug. The 610 is not consistently accurate in the sample start point when recording, meaning the start point drifts in time.
If you record e.g. a prerecorded track (1) out of output 7, into a new track (2) thru input 1 with a phono jack cable, you will see that each time you reopen the project or restart the host program, repeat the process and record the same track again, the start time will never be the exact same as last time when zooming into sample detail. It is drifting randomly by a few to many samples left or right arbitrary. Which means it is not able to do "sample accurate recording" as of today.

After skimming through this entire thread - it's become clear to me that the M-Audio ProFire 610 is NOT going to be the way I go.

Eternal Cabbage

Jerry Rockwell is the mad scientist/genius of the mountain dulcimer, applying music theory to this simple instrument and exploding/exploring the possibilities within/without its structure. His "Eternal Cabbage" chordal exploration is a great exercise for playing and recognizing partial chords up and down the fretboard.

While you're over at his site, poke around and investigate some of the other pages too. Do it till your head hurts - then bookmark where you left off and come back for more. It's guaranteed to get you playing better/smarter in a heartbeat/New York Minute.

I have no idea what this/that is all about. Some kind of hidden theme - need more coffee to suss that out.

A little drone with your coffee?

I really am a late bloomer.

Throughout my musical career, I've flirted with the idea of gratuitous merchandise like t-shirts, hats, printed thongs, the stuff you buy, but have been mainly focused on producing the music and getting it out there.

Until now.

No, now I've gone all Bing*Mart and have officially cracked open a schwag store on Reverbnation. For starters, because there's more stuff to come, the "Got Drone?" line has finally hit shelves. Dulcimer-land has some pretty famous shirts, clever ones that people like. I know that "Got Milk?" parodies are so very 1980, but as a child of the 70's, that seems jolly progressive to me. The great thing about "Got Drone?" is that it's not just about mountain dulcimers for it could also be about bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, vacuum cleaners, etc.


Not only t-shirts and tote bags but also stainless steel travel mugs for your morning coffee. The jury is still out regarding "Got Drone?" thongs, mainly due to available printing space and not so much about the social implications.

And then, there's the logo marketing. As many of you have no doubt noticed, I've taken particular care about establishing a cross-platform "look" for my websites and social media networks. In somewhat disgusting marketing-speak, this is called "branding" and though it doesn't involve vaqueros, iron rods or painful heat, it's still a slightly disturbing yet necessary part of raising your visibility in an ever-crowded marketplace.


Back when the internet first became commercialized and open to the public, people were hip to set up web pages, even though they had no idea what on earth to do with them. They'd labor intensively over the thing for a week, proudly set it up and then sit, blankly looking at their static web counters, wondering why no-one knew they were there. With the sheer amount of people rubbing virtual elbows with you on the 'net, you've got to somehow get their attention. Just long enough for you to show them what's inside the box, kind of like walking down a supermarket aisle when blammo! something leaps out at you visually and you have to go over and inspect it. Branding is part of the first line of attraction. Somewhere along the line, I managed to acquire some maddish design skillz, so I eventually came up with my own logos, colors, layouts, etc. If you're not a designer; find a starving art student/webmaster and pay them with Netflix gift cards.


Once you've settled upon a visual identity, allow that to be a common thread in your online presence. Much like the familiar red and white Coca-Cola logo, people will come to recognize you on a crowded shelf. This wasn't such a big deal when mom and pop ran the places, but with more and more of a big-box approach to commerce (aided mostly by the internet and not so much the big box stores), you have to shout awfully loud to be heard even half of once.

You'd think I'd have long been into the merchandising side of this, having really dug into the whole branding concept, but two things have kept me from stocking up on logo jewelry, embroidered toilet paper caddies and signature pool covers.

One. Space.

Two. Cash.

I know. It may seem like I'm on a $&#%@! boat a lot of the time, but remember, the boat was rented. Just like the tux. Great ideas cost great amounts of money and, without investors or that flash-in-the-pan success and advertising, you can end up a million-seller ("got a million of these in the cellar.") But when Reverbnation suddenly opened up a way for artists to sell 0n-demand merchandise, well - that changed everything. You can design your merch, have them pay for production and ship it as well. That is treat-filled. Wish I could work my books and CDs like that (and I know that I can - just have to put that in motion.)

Granted, the retail price of the items is pretty much eaten up by production costs - so what's the profit? The profit is in extending your visual reach beyond the internet. Just the fact that anyone would want to wear a t-shirt with your name on it should be enough to make you pretty happy. What then exceeds happy and clutch-shifts into overdrive glee is knowing that X number of people may see the shirt (or mug or thong), have your name or band float across their frontal lobe, file it away under "Google This" and before you know it, you've got another click on your page views.

Strict marketing talk can be a soul-numbing experience, so be sure to remember that both you and the people who embrace your mission are just that: people. And more important than any flashy bling or schwag is what you have to say, how you say it and what effect it has on others. Sure, there are those out there who are all icing and no cake. But take one bite of that and you may be prone to pass on that particular brand (unless you're an all-icing kind of person in which case there's a special level of misery reserved just for you.)

Now, having said all that, can I interest you in a "Got Drone?" chamois?

Pinching Myself (and liking it)

Aloha!

I just had to take a moment and reflect on something. Seems I've been go-go-go for a while here, which has resulted in some pretty eye-opening stuff.

The 1st Annual Key West Dulcimer Fest wrapped up not even a week ago and was a tremendous success. Before then, I'd not organized anything larger than an open mic night (unless you count the production of the short film "Meds"), so it was a blast to see a whole year's worth of work culminate in a four-day party with music, great weather, wonderful people and a sweet vibe.

Now, back home in the studio, with nothing on my schedule except a recording session at Full Sail next week and my usual monthly two-nighter at Dicey Reilly's Irish Pub, I can finally settle down and finish work on my recording projects. Kinda. Because each day, I'm still managing my career; it's a lot of juggling, working online, maintaining connections and making new ones. You know how you could always do more, but then again you could always do less and somewhere in the middle is a decent place to be. There's a place where you can still do it for the love and not let it break you, or leave a sour taste in your soul.

As I'm doing my morning administrative stuff on this Saturday, I happened to look at my booking calendar and was stunned to see that, during this first week of February, I'm already scheduled for every month of the year except December (which has traditionally been a month that I've taken off in order to rest up and enjoy the holidays with my family.)

I used to lie awake, just before sleep descended upon me as a child, dreaming about a life like this - doing what I love, traveling, making music, meeting people, lending a hand, cruising in happiness. What that all amounts to is this: dreams do come true.

But not only if you believe - there must be hard work involved as well. Along the way, there were many who tried to dissuade me, convince me there was another path or outright discourage me from my attempts, dismissing them as futile. Others, however, drop e-mails now and then with the gentle words "I always knew you'd make it happen."

After I finish typing this blog, I'm going to sit down and continue doing what I've always done - fighting and scrabbling for each little bit of purchase on the slippery slope of life. Every day, it's run scales, work with a metronome, dig into different tunings, learn songs that I don't know, write and record, design and connect. It never stops, but it sometimes plateaus, and those are the moments when you can sit back, relax and appreciate the view.

This is one of those moments.

Moment is over - back to work. : )

Thanks for all of you out there who believed, and thanks to all out there who did not. Thanks to those who support and encourage the music and thanks to those who don't.

I'm pinching myself and liking it.

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.

Pre-Order Key West CD!

The Official CD of the First Annual Key West Dulcimer Fest is now available for pre-order! Buying now will put you first on the list for this tropical collection of 15 tracks by the teaching/performing staff of the fest. Tracks include:


Margaritaville - Bing Futch | Birdland - Karen Mueller

Jamaica Farewell - Tull Glazener

Rivers Of Babylon - Lois Hornbostel | Fragile - Butch Ross

John B Sails - Robert Force

Pupu A `O `Ewa - Gary Sager | Sing A Song - David Beede

Sun Lotion 99 - Susan Trump

Kokomo - Jeff Hames | Three Little Birds - Rick Thum

Swingin' 7's - The Aaron O'Rourke Trio

Mode For Dulcimer - Stephen Seifert | Samantha's Smile - Guy George

By Land & Sea - Dan Landrum

You can hear samples of each tune in the store.

"Her Diamonds"

For the curious, I'm playing a Folkcraft chromatic mountain dulcimer on this tune, which has some neat twists and turns.

Rob Thomas' "Her Diamonds" was recorded in the key of G, which for me is singable, but I wanted to get it down into a more comfortable range, thusly F.

The verse moves through these three chords:

F - G7/F - Bbm/F

returning to the F as a bridge between verses. The voicing of the G7 and Bbm (with the F as the root) makes less of a lateral jump and keeps the progression tense and mysterious. Of course, what do these three chords have in common?

F = F* - A = C

G7 = G - B - D - F*

Bbm = Bb - Db - F*

Normally, the F would shoot from the root to the dominant 7th and then hang out as the perfect fifth - but with the above voicings, it remains put at the root of all three chords. Pretty cool, huh?

Onto the chorus:

F - C - Gm - Bb (repeated twice)

Another thing that's neat about this tune is how it changes character, using some of the same chord roots, from dark and eerie in the verse to light and somewhat uplifting in the chorus. Notice that our bright and shiny G7 is now a dark Gm and our previously chilling Bbm is now a major lift of Bb. For more flavor, you could change the C to a C/E and feature a walk-down of the bass in transition from C to F.

And the bridge:

Bbm - F - Bbm - F - Dm - G - Bbm - F

Basically sets up between the first and third chords of the verse, re-establishing a connection with the initial groundwork of the tune, then introduces a new chord to the entire mix, the Dm, which lifts to a positive-sounding G (right at the point where the lyric "she'll be alright" appears for the first time) before settling back into the haunting chord pairing.

Rob Thomas is a brilliant songwriter and I would love to get inside of his head during the process - this tune in particular has no wasted space; every placement of notes has a purpose, from melody to arrangement. I love digging into these tunes as they come my way, hoping that you'll get something out of the process too. Enjoy!