TMAA (The Morning After Armuchee)PRIVATE Euharlee, GA

by Ed Wade

 

Hidy,

 

Here's one I pass along from Mack Farley, "I didn't have to go and look for a single band all weekend, they were all right there when it was time for them to play, this makes my job so much easier."

 

Indirectly from Mack, Chuck, and I'm pretty sure the rest of our local promoters: "It doesn't take long to clean up after bluegrass folks when the pickin' is done and the campers are gone." Full tied garbage bags are a lot easier to deal with than an area that looks like a cyclone got in a dumpster. Keep up the good stuff, this is the kind of thing that gets us invited back.

 

Now, here's the stuff you missed if you couldn't get up there.

 

I had all the fun I could, but there's just so many of me, and once in a while I get a little involved pickin' and might miss something. I need help, and not the kind you get from the guys with the white coats and the long undershirt!

 

I saw a lot of folks I hadn't seen for a while at a festival, and some I hadn't seen at all.

 

Chuck and Mack were operating without half their normal supervision. The Boss Lady achieved an honor in the real world and had to be elsewhere. This made the quote of the weekend, "Well, I wonder where ______ is ?" I deliberately left out the name to protect myself, but it probably won't work.

 

Thursday night supper was wonderful! Some folks may have eaten too much, but not me. I just ate all I could and quit.

 

Pickers were watching pickers on stage. This is the most valued of all applause to me.

 

Campers kept coming in and their neighbors kept stopping what they were doing and helping the latecomers get set up so everyone could get pickin'.

 

The Bill and Brian Stevens tag team was together again. Bill's still ugly, but I think Brian's getting a little better looking. Must be that good Navy food and exercise.

 

There were so many jam sessions all day and all night that we saw a tree frog riding a bass fiddle cause all the trees was took.

 

Two or three times we saw somebody do something musically so good that there wasn't anything to do but laugh and cry at the same time.

 

SEBA was well represented, including the PRESIDENT. We loved seeing her there, although every time I see her, I'm doing something that I'm sure convinces her I'm nutty.

 

Most important of all, we saw folks just getting along, hugging, shaking hands, and making our family bigger and bigger. If you were there, we're glad. If not, we mussed you, try again next time.

 

SEBA SHENANIGANS

 

Thanks to the SEBA officers, staff, and unpaid help who made the PICKINICK a blast for pickers, grinners, and eaters alike. These things take work, and lots of it, to be what they are, and I'm guiltier than most in just taking it all in and not giving credit to those who made it what it was: an EVENT.

 

Thanks goes to our huge bluegrass family, all the folks who make life such a joy by being a part of any gettogether that comes up: pickers, promoters, sound people, night club owners, waitresses, music store owners (who let us jam with their stuff, then say thanks and y'all come back when we buy a pick), wives and others who cook and do for those at a festival so they can listen to somebody pickin' 'til daylight right under their window, audiences who sit for hours applauding band after band, and everyone else who makes it possible for kids who refuse to grow up to go to camp on weekends.

 

Tell people about what we do, the fun we have, the folks we meet and never forget, the music we make and hear, or get ready for the local festivals to start thinning out. The promoters can't do this out of pocket forever, and I for one like having a picking or two to go to every weekend. If this reaches a nonmember, JOIN! The SEBA dues don't cost as much as a couple of sixpacks and a bag of tortilla chips, and you get information.

 

Communicate! If you like something, tell somebody. If you don't like something tell somebody who cares. SEBA, bands, promoters, sound people, park operators, or whoever, none of these people are mindreaders, and if all you do is fuss at you wife about stuff they will never know what your preferences are. If something is happening where you live, let somebody know about it. If you are a fan, promoter, picker, proud papa, or whatever, WE CAN'T HEAR YOU!

 

So much for the sermon. We'll see y'all down the road. I'll be the one saving you a place, picking 'til you get there.

 

Ed

 

Note: the above supplied by Tom Barnwell 

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