May 23, 2016
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Old Town Chicago

While in Chicago, I visited the Old Town School of Folk Music with my pal Candy, who works there. She toured me around, and then we popped across the street for dinner at Mash. That’s bbq brisket in the photo, with mac ‘n’ cheese, corn muffins and salad. It was a super-tasty dinner. Candy had to work, but got me a ticket to see dobro whiz Jerry Douglas do a solo show at the School. The concept of dobro as a solo instrument is unusual but when it comes to dobro, Mr. Douglas is the man, and he sure can play that thing.

May 23, 2016
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Street Mangos

Candy Minx introduced me to a wonderful fruit treat in Pilsen the other day, on my visit to Chicago. This is available at the various street taco stands and carts around their neighbourhood. They insert a sturdy skewer close to the seed of the mango, peel it with a potato peeler and neatly slice into wedges in a plastic tub (what a great way to deal with mango messiness). Then then squeeze lime juice over the slices and sprinkle them with cayenne and salt, creating a fruit treat that is sweet, tart and hot all at once. Fantastic! Sorry I failed to take a photo. Perhaps Candy will snap one next time she buys one of these.

May 22, 2016
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My Favorite Picture of You

While I was off driving around the mid-west, I heard Guy Clark passed away. He was a tremendous song-writer and performer. If you don’t know his work, I encourage you to take some time now to check it out. You’ll be glad you did. RIP.

Filed under: RIP
May 21, 2016
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Dogwood

I visited Mike Chew at his workshop in Minneapolis the other day and picked up my new banjo. Mike put the finishing touches on the banjo while I was there, chatting with him about banjos and everything else. I love my new banjo!