Banjo versus TV: Week 16

A weekly check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s resolution to spend more time in 2008 on his banjo than on TV.

This week, as portrayed by the graphics from Hal Leonard Banjo Method Book 1:

Also in the last week:

• Illinois suffers a 5.2 earthquake along the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone the day after I play Wabash Cannonball on my banjo. Coincidence?
• Came across a quote from Earl in a 2006 Rocky Mountain News article:

  Gary Scruggs reminded his dad that when he started out, most banjo players were country comedians such as Stringbean and Uncle Dave Macon.
  
  "Uncle Dave told me I played good in a band but I wasn't a damn bit funny," Scruggs said.

• Saw Slightly Bent at the No Exit Cafe in Chicago. The banjo player, Bill James, was friendly and informative when he found out I was a banjo newbie. Thanks for the tips, Bill!
  
  Here's a video from a Slightly Bent performance in January:
  
• I watched a Netflix copy of Earl Scruggs: The Bluegrass Legend: Family & Friends. This PBS documentary was shot in 1969. It captures an interesting moment in banjo history – just after the 1969 breakup of Flatt and Scruggs. Highlights:
  • Foggy Mountain Breakdown with Earl on the Banjo, Randy Scruggs on guitar and Gil Trythal on the Moog synthesizer
  • Earl's joins a Vietnam War Moratorium protest in DC. "I'm disgusted and sorry about the boys we've lost over there."
  • An interview with Earl's best friend. "Prior to Earl Scruggs, the banjo was a rhythm instrument; it was an instrument of the clowns."
  • A classmate of Randy Scruggs, goofing on the J. Edgar Hoover's book, Masters of Deceit, which is being handed out to all of the seniors at their southern high school.
  • Earl and Bill Monroe warm up backstage at the Grand Ole Opry.
  • Joan Baez describes how she confessed her crush on the shy Earl to a stranger in a ladies' room, who was (of course) Earl's wife Louise.
  • In the middle of singing It Ain't Me Babe and with baby Gabriel on her knee, Joan Baez slips into a hilariously dead-on impersonation of former lover Bob Dylan.
  • Many other examples of Joan Baez being charming and funny during a rough time in her life. From Gabriel's age I'm guessing her scenes were shot in 1970 during husband David Harris' 15-month incarceration for refusing to serve in Vietnam. Earl asks Joan to sing If I Were a Carpenter with him and Randy, "for David". Really, you should pick up this DVD just for the Joan Baez scenes.
  • Lots of other performers, including The Byrds and Bob Dylan.
  Highly recommended. And now I must get:
  • I Saw the Light with Some Help from My Friends, the album Earl was working on.
  • Earl Scruggs: His Family and Friends, the album reflecting the music covered in this documentary. (Amazon sells a strange combo CD that combines with the last-ever Flatt and Scruggs album, Nashville Airplane.)

Banjo versus TV: Week 15

A weekly check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s resolution to spend more time in 2008 on his banjo than on TV.

Squeezed in a little practice during a busy week. Spent much of my time in my Hal Leonard book, especially on...

Also in the last week:

• Good topic at the BHO: "What was the worst piece of advice given to you when you were first starting out?"
• I've been rewatching Understanding the Formula of Music, the DVD I discussed three weeks ago. I pick up a little more with each repeated viewing. For example, this DVD has taught me what an arpeggio is -- a journey of understanding that began in 1970 when I first saw this scene in The Aristocats:
  

Banjo versus TV: Week 14

A weekly check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s resolution to spend more time in 2008 on his banjo than on TV.

Another week in which the TV (6 hours 42 minutes) beat the banjo (3 hours). I think I'm hitting a low patch in my enthusiasm. Which happens. (See Reid Toth's article, "Motivation, Procrastination and Instant Gratification" in last month's Banjo Newletter.)

Also in the last week:

• My banjo was kidnapped for April Fools' Day.

Mentos Passwords for Stupid Fools Farting Sweet Home minus Garfield

Seven links:

1. Leningrad Cowboys & Red Army Choir - Sweet Home Alabama
2. GRC's Ultra High Security Password Generator
3. April Fools (Flickr group)
4. fart-sounds.net
5. Garfield minus Garfield
6. Computer Being Stupid
7. Diet Coke + Mentos

Banjo versus TV: Week 13

A weekly check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s resolution to spend more time in 2008 on his banjo than on TV.

Kind of a slow week, banjo-wise. I ate into my surplus by watching some trashy TV with the redhead. (Hurray for Best Week Ever and Girls Next Door!) But the banjo is still way ahead.

I suppose I should reflect on the whole Banjo versus TV project, what with this being the thirteenth week and therefore the project's one-quarter mark. I'm very happy with my banjo-playin' progress. I can now pluck six songs or so with modest skill, which is a good start and is waaaaay better than I'd be if I hadn't been putting in the hours.

In other words: so far, so good.

Also in the last week:

• I picked up my spare banjo from the shop. Now both banjos have fifth-string capos.
• I registered for Midwest Banjo Camp.

They kidnapped my banjo on April Fools' Day

I arrived at my office on this fine, April 1st morning and discovered a ransom note, hanging from my office door by a banjo strap.

We have your banjo.

If you ever want to see your precious banjo again prepare 300 unmarked AgileBucks and dial 847-699-XXXX for the drop point.

No cops.

I rushed to my banjo case; the one I keep my spare banjo in so I can do some early morning practice at the office. Opening the case, I discovered that my banjo was gone and that it had been replaced by a rock. A mocking rock that laughed at me and glowed with the message "BEWARE!"

It was clear that the kidnappers worked for AgileTek. They wanted to be paid in AgileBucks; the currency that we use for our rewards at AgileTek. (Click on these pictures...

...for a little background on AgileBucks.)

What to do? What to do?

(To be continued.)

Update:

I prepared three bundles...

...and made contact with the kidnappers. I got my banjo. They got their bundles of AgileBucks. As instructed.

Almost exactly as instructed. I mean, the note did say "unmarked," right? So I made sure that all of the AgileBucks in the middle of each bundle were totally, completely and without a doubt...unmarked.

Happy April Fools' Day, you rotten, banjo-thievin' scoundrels!

Mark your calendars: Midwest Banjo Camp on June 6-8 in Olivet, Michigan

Midwest Banjo Camp will be held at Olivet College in Olivet, Michigan on June 6-8, 2008. I'm trying to talk the redhead into coming along on the "non-playing spouses, companions and chaperones" option. Wish me luck.

Banjo versus TV: Week 12

A weekly check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s resolution to spend more time in 2008 on his banjo than on TV.

No banjo lesson this last week, which was a week dominated by non-banjo activities.

I used my little bit of practice time effectively, I think, concentrating on two songs from my Hal Leonard book: Hand Me Down My Walkin' Cane and Hard Ain't It Hard. Man, those songs are easier to play when you syncopate 'em.

Also in the last week:

• I played around with some plastic picks, following some instructions I found for shaping them with hot water. I dunno; they just feel funny. Maybe I'll come back to them at a future date.
• Man, I am such a newbie. That bad job I did stringing my banjo last week? It sounds like things would have gone much better if I'd had a string winder. I didn't know such an item existed until I saw one on eBay on Thursday.
• Spent some time on music theory this week, watching the DVD Understanding the Formula of Music. I really liked it. The narrator, Dan Huckabee of Musician's Workshop, has put together two tightly-packed hours of information and has made the subjects very clear and approachable. I came away from this DVD understanding a bunch of concepts that I'd been struggling with, such as diminished and augmented chords. I like Huckabee. I can see where some of the reviewers are coming from regarding his flat delivery style, but those folks should get over it and learn from a man who has an impressive bio. He's got some other DVDs that are available from his web site (and from Amazon and via NetFlix). His more recent DVD How to Figure Out Music from Recordings seems to cover much of the same material; perhaps it's the replacement for The Formula of Music. But if you want to see that newer DVD via NetFlix you'll have to get in line behind me; I've already added it to my queue.
• One thing about that video, though: The logo for Musician's Workshop has been bugging me.
  
  What's with the lute-playing turtles? Are they supposed to remind us to take a slow and steady approach to learning music? Are they a response to critics' statements about Dan Huckabee's slow delivery style? Are they some oblique reference to the myth of Hermes and his creation of the first stringed instrument from a butchered turtle?
• I was Googling up information on proper banjo posture when I came across this article about using the banjo as a weapon. An excerpt:

  You can cut your reaction time considerably by having a quick-release harness or wearing it on one shoulder like Earl Scruggs who claims he does it to avoid taking off his hat but you can tell by the way he holds the banjo that he's ready for action.

• I watched my NetFlix copy of Best of the Flatt & Scruggs TV Show: Vol. 4 and it was every bit as much fun as the first three volumes. That brings me up-to-date with the series so far. Amazon says that volumes five and six should be out on April 1, 2008.

You got your rodent in my burger!

Ewww.

Macy's Farting Tiki Radio Laughed at Santa Claus in the Sky Without Pity

Seven links:

1. Ogden Nash's The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus
2. Television Without Pity
3. Funny Pig Farting Cartoon
4. Free Old Time Radio Shows
5. fieldsfanschicago.org
6. Henrik's tiki mugs (via The Sneeze)
7. Google Sky

Banjo versus TV: Week 11

A weekly check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s resolution to spend more time in 2008 on his banjo than on TV.

Remember, from last week, how proud I was of my new practice regimen? The one where I enter songs from my practice books into TablEdit, play them back with my practice part turned off so I can play along?

Well.

Mike, my instructor, really hated it. I asked him his opinion and he gave it: big thumb-down.

The problem is with my song selection. Mike can understand that I want to play along with music and he doesn't object to that, per se. In fact, he recommended that I look for some band-minus-one CDs. But Mike says that practicing the songs as I was practicing them would make me a boring, soulless player. The songs, as TablEdit played them, were robotic and dull.

Back to the drawing board.

Also in the last week:

• First time I've ever installed new strings! It took me more than an hour to put five new strings (D'Addario J60 Nickel 9-20 Light
) on the no-name banjo. How did I do? Well, it sounds much better. But I did a terrible job of wire wrapping. I think I'll buy some more new strings and have the shop install them. Still, it was a learning experience. I'll keep trying until I get good at it.
• Dropped the Oscar Schmidt banjo off at Hogeye Music in Evanston to have a Shubb fifth string capo installed. Jim, the luthier, was having a busy time of it and said it could take as long as a week for him to install it. I'm glad I've got my spare banjo so I don't have to go banjo-less.

Toastmasters progress tracking

I'm working my way through the Toastmasters Competent Communication Award. I'll use this sticky post to track my progress.

9 of 10 speeches required for Competent Communication Award:

1. Icebreaker
   Status: Presented "Organized" on 4/16/2007.
2. Organize your Speech
   Status: Presented "The Ultimate Speech" on 4/16/2007.
3. Get to the Point
   Status: Presented "Harry Potter and the Pirates of Penzance" on 7/16/2007.
4. How to Say It
   Status: Not done yet.
5. Your Body Speaks
   Status: Presented "Dress for the Job You Want" on 10/20/2008.
6. Vocal Variety
   Status: Presented "Let me tell you the story of a man named Charlie" on 3/17/2008.
7. Research Your Topic
   Status: Presented "Joy and the Mayflower" on 11/19/2008.
8. Get Comfortable with Visual Aids
   Status: Presented "Banjo versus TV" on 1/21/2008. (Blogged about it, too.)
9. Persuade with Power
   Status: "Roast Us With The Most Us"l on 5/18/2009.
10. Inspire your Audience
    Status: Presented "Someday Maybe" on 8/18/2009.

Other speeches:

1. The Entertaining Speaker
   Status: Presented "50 Degrees Below Windchill" on 9/17/2007.

Bought me a spare banjo

I'm really happy with the banjo that the redhead got me for my birthday last June. It's an Oscar Schmidt OB5. It's a really good beginner banjo and I'll have to put in a lot of practice before my quality of play warrants a better banjo.

Nonetheless, I'd been wanting another banjo; a spare banjo. A banjo that I could leave at work so I could squeeze in a little practice in the morning and over the occasional lunch hour. One that I didn't care much about so I'd feel free to experiment on it a little.

So last month I set upon the task of finding a cheap spare banjo on eBay.

Here are the rules I set for myself:

• I want another 5-string banjo, 22 fret banjo.
• I'll spend no more than $100 for a banjo without a case or $125 for a banjo with a case. That amount includes cost and shipping, but not tax.
• The banjo must be playable and not require repair.
• I'll watch as many auctions as I need to, but I'll only cast a winning bid for one auction at a time. (I don't want to end up winning several auctions and having to purchase several banjos.)

Over the course of four days I followed auctions. There were dozens of banjos for sale on eBay during those four days, but only nine of them met my criteria. I watched as eight of those nine auctions exceeded my willing-to-pay price.

Here's the one that I won:

---

Bluegrass 5 String Acoustic Banjo MIJ by gravitygear
Sold for $116 ($81 + $35 S&H)

---

Basically, it's a no-name made-in-Japan banjo. It's got a resonator and no tone ring. The fifth string tuner isn't geared but the other four are. The fret board is straight; all the notes sound cleanly. It came with a case; albeit a rickety one.

It's not as nice as my Oscar Schmidt, but it's OK.

Sleezy Chickendunkin

I'm Sleezy Chickendunkin. And you are?

Thanks for the link, Tina Sloopy Dottypan!

Banjo versus TV: Week 10

A weekly check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s resolution to spend more time in 2008 on his banjo than on TV.

I told Mike how much fun I had jamming at Shorty's. He suggested that I Internet up a list of common jam session songs and practice them.

My fellow Player's Union member biggamefish must have had the same idea; he asked people for their advice on jam songs to study.

Mike gave me some advice on that popping thing. He suggests that I start with my left-hand fingers resting on the strings and that I press down as I pluck; basically the reverse of the sequence I learned at Shorty's.

This was the week I finally got my TablEdit plan together. I completed SteveMcBill's TablEdit tutorial (which is excellent) and I got my MIDI keyboard set up. Now that these are in place, here's my practice regimen:

• Pick a song in one of my practice books.
• Create a TablEdit tablature file for the song.
  
• Change the MIDI options so it will play back all of the parts except the part I'm practicing.
  
• Change the relative speed options so it will start slow and gradually get faster as it repeats.
  
• Play my banjo as I listen to the MIDI sequence of the other parts.
• Repeat that last step over and over.

Also in the last week:

• I ordered up a Fielding-Cutler Banjo Mute. I'd read some positive reviews.
• I ordered up a Banjo Board. I saw it on the "Travel Instrument Guide" at Tranjo.com and it looks like a good way to get in some right-hand practice.
  
  (Mike warns me that it would be insane to try to do what the creator suggests: play this while driving.)
• Guess I was in a spendin' mood. Through Flatts & Sharpe I purchased a Souldier banjo strap. I knew from the banjo workshop at Shorty's that I didn't want my metal clip, gouge-up-the-banjo style of strap any more. The Souldier strap wraps entirely under the banjo. It has plastic quick-release connectors. It's pretty. And it's made of recycled, non-animal materials. I love it.

When did Emil Ascher die?

Can anyone help me with a copyright-related question? I've got some sheet music from 1914 by Emil Escher and I'm trying to determine when it passed (or will pass) into the public domain.

I know it's in the public domain in the United States because the work was published before 1923. But many other countries grant a copyright until the death of the creator, plus 70 years. (Plus 80 years in Spain.) So I need to know when Emil Ascher died.

IMDB lists an Emil Ascher who died on 22 October 1922, but it also says that he joined ASCAP in 1936. One of those dates has got to be wrong.

I also find some references to an Emil Ascher who published music into the late 1940s.

(Bad movie alert: Some of Ascher's stock music was used in Plan 9 from Outer Space.)

Gary Gygax, 1938-2008

Thanks for everything, Gary.

Battlestar Galactica - Series Recap

Let's get ready for next month's (4/4/2008) return of Battlestar Galactica by watching the previous three seasons in 8.5 minutes.

Banjo versus TV: Week 9

A weekly check-in on the Banjo versus TV project – J.R.'s resolution to spend more time in 2008 on his banjo than on TV.

I really tipped the scale in the banjo's favor with a trip to Shorty's Strickly Bluegrass Festival in East Peoria, Illinois. Thursday night through Sunday morning I attended, jammed, studied and basically soaked it all in.

I logged nearly 21 hours of banjo time. Best. Week. Ever.

Also in the last week:

• While driving to and from the festival I listened to a stack of borrowed CDs. (Thanks, Grant!)
  • Time Life's Treasury Of Bluegrass
  • All*Star Bluegrass Celebration, which is cool because I'd recently enjoyed the DVD version from Netflix.
  • Bluegrass Breakdown
  • Blue Ribbon Guitar, which is okay if you like guitar but it's not...
  • Blue Ribbon Banjo
• That last CD is especially cool because the redhead got me the tabs for it: Mel Bay Presents Rounder Blue Ribbon Banjo
• I got the licensed version of TablEdit.
• About 30% of this week's one-and-a-half hours of TV was spend watching online videos. I decided to track my online stuff very closely this week. Here's what I watched:

  Video	Length (M:SS)
  MST3K - Progress Island (Short) (Part 1 of 2)	5:23
  MST3K - Progress Island (Short) (Part 2 of 2)	6:38
  hamster vs door - criceto rosicchia porta	2:08 x 4 = 8:32
  hamster piano and pop corn - criceto pianoforte e popcorn	1:15
  Dramatic Look	1:05
  Star Wars according to a 3 year old.	1:30
  Talking Pug	1:58
  	25:21

  Yeah, I watched that hamster vs door thing over and over. Take a look. You'll do it, too.

The Jenks Shack is a little old place where we can get together

Want to see what my employees did while I was away, honing my banjo skills at Shorty's Strickly Bluegrass Festival? Sure you do.

Yes, it's a hillbilly shack, built out of office materials. (Specifically, the shipping box from a new whiteboard and the board from an old whiteboard. AgileTek has a whiteboard-in-every-office policy and we're in the process of upgrading all of our employees to higher quality boards.)

It totally enclosed my desk:

WroteASongAboutIt. LikeToHearItHereItComes:

(Sung to the tune of Mountain Dew)

AgileTek’s CTO
Coming home from the show
To work for an hour or two
Was surprised to come back
To a hillbilly shack.
Had he drunk too much mountain dew?

Add that to your list of Mountain Dew verses. Some detail shots:

I assume that's the redhead in the right window. (It had better be!)