May 4, 2013
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A garden surprise

Last year at this time, I picked a bag of ramps from a lovely forest, a forest that is being edged out of existence by housing developments. There are a lot of ramps in there, but for how long, who knows. Instead of eating all of them, I planted a few in the woodland area of our back yard, and then promptly forgot all about them.

Backyard ramps

Backyard ramps

Today I was working around the garden and I recalled planting the ramps, so I decided to see if they survived the transplant and the winter. As you can see from the picture, I now have a small ramps patch in the back yard. I’ll leave it be this year and let it slowly spread. Once it is very well established, I’ll be able to harvest a little each year. Ramps, or wild leeks as they are also known, are very tasty!

May 2, 2013
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Anatomy of a Murder (the movie)

Recently I wrote about re-reading Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver (who also wrote my fave fishing book, Trout Madness). Tonight we watched the film. Do you remember it? It was made in 1959, directed by Otto Preminger and starring Jimmy Stewart and Ben Gazarra and Lee Remick and Eve Arden and Arthur O’Connell and George C. Scott as Claude Dancer. What a cast, what a movie. What a soundtrack too, by Duke Ellington, who also has a cameo. I’ve traveled around the Upper Michigan Peninsula, where the film was made, chasing trout, and I camped at Big Bay where the film was shot. I have to say though, that I’ve never heard any jazz on the UP. Maybe it had a happening jazz scene in 1959, but I bet when I was there, you would have a hard time finding a live jazz band in the nearest small city, Marquette. Parts of the film are very faithful to the novel and other parts were invented for the film. The courtroom drama is brilliant! If you’ve never seen this movie, I highly recommend it.

May 2, 2013
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Just because…

Maybe I’ve mentioned this before…. just because I followed your feed on Twitter, doesn’t mean I can’t wait for you to follow up with direct messages and emails marketing whatever you’re marketing. In fact, if you do that, it will likely teach me the error of my ways in following your feed in the first place.

May 2, 2013
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I’ll fly away

One of the highlights of Merlefest was hearing the Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz band play together at the Watson Stage. Just to give you a taste of what happens when you throw these characters together, here they are on Letterman…

Great fun!

April 29, 2013
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Carolina

There is one more group we really loved at Merlefest that I wanted to highlight. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good photograph nor any video. The group is the Kruger Brothers. They are known as a trio, with Jens Kruger on the banjo and his brother Uwe on guitar and vocals, and Joel Landsberg on bass. They’ve been playing together since 1995. At Merlefest there was a 4th player as well on snare drum. I’m sorry I don’t know the drummer’s name, but I’m sure someone will let me know along the way. These guys moved to North Carolina from their native Switzerland and while they aren’t from the Appalachians, they are from the Alps.

They played one of their best known tunes, Carolina in the Fall, and their performance was so moving I found my eyes welling up during it. I don’t have a video of this performance but here’s one from YouTube featuring a performance of the same song elsewhere. It’s a really beautiful song and if you haven’t heard it before, you’re in for a treat.

As if that was not good enough, here are the Kruger Brothers playing Shady Grove with the late Doc Watson from back in 2002. Magic.

Another tune the Krugers played at Merlefest was People Get Ready.

April 29, 2013
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Snacktime

food1food3food2

The food at Merlefest is provided by the various local service and community clubs, from Kiwanas to the Boy Scouts. Overall I’d it was quite good for this kind of event at prices that were fairly reasonable. I really appreciated the fact that the community was involved.

April 29, 2013
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Main Stage

the Doc and Merle Watson Theatre

the Doc and Merle Watson Theatre

This photo is of the main stage, called the Watson Stage or the Doc and Merle Watson Theatre, at Merlefest 2013. It’s a night shot during the Del McCoury and Preservation Hall Jazz Band show. I don’t know what caused the weird photo effect but I kind of like the watercolour-like feel of it so I thought I’d put it up.