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Saturday night, I went to the Lakeland Jamboree in Cadiz, Ky.

The last time I went it was a $2 or $3 cover and no beer since its a dry county. My Aunt Lilly was there along with a lot of older ladies in their 80’s. It was pretty relaxed as far as shows go. The Grand Ole Opry is relaxed, too, with people walking back and forth on stage while the guest artist is playing.

Lilly’s Rocking Chair. Stories are on.

Also at this show, there was a guy who was standing in the back of the room wearing a dress stuffed with a pillow for pregnant reference grinning just as big as he could. When it was his time he walked to the stage as a cd played Loretta Lynn’s “One’s on the Way”. Then, as he stood on the stage doing nothing but grinning, he waited until the line came, “Whoa! One’s on the way!” He would say it, too, and then stand there grinning until that line came again. The folks were rolling. It was the darndest thing.

He wasn’t there this time. It was just music. $3 cover and soda and popcorn were $2 total. A couple of kids did Dueling Banjos and it was excellent. There was a minor argument on stage between the host and a guest which added some nice drama. The best part of the evening was a guy in the audience who came up to sing Merle Haggard’s “Branded Man”. I really think that guy did some time. He embraced the shit out of that song, tugging my heart a bit.

I’m going to try to go back next month. I’m glad this place exists and I’m glad these people enjoy playing for us.

camera phone thinks its people

Yesterday, Sxip, Adam, and I did a storytelling presentation at LeHigh University. It was great fun. Sxip’s an amazing storyteller. He’s into magic realism. Adam gave a history of beatbox/vocal percussion, explaining the difference between the two. I described my story writing process and gave examples of my work. It was a great group. A fellow named Mason cooked for everyone and it was very relaxed. Deborah, the sweet woman who booked us, took us to lunch at the faculty lounge. We were going to eat in the “Hogwarts” cafeteria but it was being used.

denied. I thought about that scene from Fletch.

We went to the other cafeteria and had a nice lunch with Dave, the fellow who takes care of things, and Deborah. It’s been a while since I’ve had wedding-style buffet. Good spread and good people.

Sxip and Adam

After lunch we did a masterclass for the composition department. I was a bit intimidated at first but that went away as soon as I began. I demonstrated ways of changing sounds on a grand piano, specifically making a tinny sound to mimic a ragtime piano. And then I demonstrated some songwriting methods I use.

After each of us did our presentations, we improved together. It was a lot of fun. I rarely do that anymore.

Deborah had invited us to dinner at her house, so until then Adam and I got beers at the hotel bar. He’s a brilliant fellow. He acquired a residency at Cornell through Craigslist. He beatboxes 24/7.

Deborah and her staff made us dinner and provided exotic liquors, including Unicum. Sxip loves liquor and dinner so he was in heaven. I was too but mostly because they were great, great people. Good dinner, good drinks, good folks.

On Saturday night we played to about 200 people sitting at tables on the stage of the Zoellner Arts Center’s Baker Hall. The ages ranged from 8 to 88. They loved it. They had martini glasses filled with m&m’s; wine, cheese, beer at the bar. We each did 2o-minute sets. Adam played his bike wheel that was wrapped with cassette tape and attached to a tape recorder. Sxip played his music box among other things. It was a fantastic time.

Deborah bought us dinner at the Bethlehem Hotel. Good times. I’d love to play there again.