Conference cookie::folk_music

    How did Granit Grass fare in the bluegrass band contest at the "great"
    New England Indoor Bluegrass (and country) Festival?  (oops, that
    shoulda have been "Granite."
    
    

>    How did Granit Grass fare in the bluegrass band contest at the "great"
>    New England Indoor Bluegrass (and country) Festival?  (oops, that
>    shoulda have been "Granite."
    
The (I suspect last) NorthEast Indoor Bluegrass Festival took place last weekend
at the Holiday Inn in Boxborough, Ma. and I'm mighty pleased to report that
Granite Grass took 1st place in the band contest! Our bass player, Charlie
Derby unfortunately had to work Saturday, the day of the contest, but we were
very fortunate to have Barb Diederich, one of the finest dog-house thumpers in
New England, sitting in with us during the contest. Charlie was able to make it
down Sunday for our "feature length" set that afternoon which was a heck of a
lot of fun. Nothing like playing through a professionally run sound system.

We got lots of nice feedback from the set and contest, and got a booking for
the 9th annual Sterling Park Bluegrass Festival which takes place on June 6-8th in
Sterling, Conn. This is the weekend after Strawberry Park, and is 1/2 hour
*closer* to Mass and NH than Strawberry Pk (just off US Rt. 395 as well), so
mark your calendars!

As to the "promotion" (way too kind a word) for this past weekend's festival;
let me just say that I think the mold growing in my bathtub grout could've done
a better job than Tom Clark and Jarvis Entertainment. Sue Windham didn't know
about this event, and if Sue Windham doesn't know about it, almost NO ONE
knows about it. I received my flyer 1.5 weeks beforehand. Headliner was none
other than RICKY SKAGGS (who by the way, regardless of what you think about him
personally put on one whale of a show; played 2.5 hours!). Aud. was only 1/2
full for Ricky... Tom and company took a major bath. It was the most unorganized
BG event I've ever been to. Granite Grass also "won" a paid slot at the "next"
NEIBGF. I'm not holding my breath for that day to roll around. We're not gonna
see another one of these unless someone else picks up the promotion. Too bad,
because it's almost a sure bet kind of thing:

1) All NE pickers have MAJOR cabin fever come mid-Feb.
2) The venue (Holiday Inn) is terrific and very supportive of BG. Nice indoor
atrium, pool, sauna, picking rooms.
3) There's NO competition!

Well, we had a lot of fun anyway, made some new friends and got a number of
potential gigs out it. I'll keep you posted as they develop.

- Geo

Hmmm, I heard (or saw is probably more like it) a lot about it
in various entertainment rags.  Unfortunately I had other 
committments for the weekend and couldn't go.  Perhaps they 
just didn't advertise in Blue Grass related things since I don't
have any exposure to Blue Grass directed advertising I can't
comment on that but I, and some others I know, heard of it.

In addition to Sterling Park Jun 6-8th, we'll be playing at the  Mid-Summer's
Eve Celebration, Beaver Brook Park, 117 Ridge Rd. in Hollis, NH on Fri. evening
June 20th starting @5:30pm.

    I saw announcements of the NEIBG and had some interest in taking in a
    bit of it - but the only ticket mentioned was apparently for the whole
    hog, at what I'd call a prohibitive price.  That certainly didn't help
    attract a wide audience.
    
    Chuck