Open Mic Thursday, and Ian won't stop our strum!

World of Bluegrass festival moves indoors to Raleigh Convention Center; see you Saturday

On a gorgeous Tuesday at Pelagic, our new host Sybil not only survived the bluegrass experience, she also said she’s ready to promote our monthly jams on social media (she’s a uker and a singer!). We’ll probably be indoors for the next several months, and she promised she’ll urge the patrons to sing along.

Open Mic Thursday; 9th Anniversary Potluck Oct. 6

Our normal jams at the church resume Thursday with an Open Mic at 7. As always, bring a song or two to showcase. We always feature some fine performances. If you aren’t up to participating, join us and become part of our friendly, supportive audience.

On Thursday the 6th, the first jam of October also will be our 9th Anniversary Party, and it will be a potluck! A cake is forthcoming. Please bring a dish to share if possible. I’ll have a signup sheet at the Open Mic and email a separate nudge to the group for those who couldn’t come to Open Mic but want to join our celebration (and yes, we’ll play some tunes as well). If you want to let me before Thursday what you’re bringing, shoot me an email.

Let’s party!

Ian forces IBMA indoors; we’re still jamming Saturday afternoon

Once again, a late September hurricane will disrupt the IBMA World of Bluegrass festival downtown. Ian has pushed all the outdoor events to indoor venues.

If you planned to catch shows at Red Hat Amphitheater, they’ll instead occur at the Duke Energy Performing Arts Complex at the end of Fayetteville Street.

The street scene — including all the vendors and live music — will move to the Raleigh Convention Center. In 2015, Hurricane Joaquin forced everything inside. This year, Ian is the culprit.

We will still participate in the Open Sing-Along and Strum-Along led by Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer Saturday afternoon! The jam will take place from 3-5 either in one of the conference rooms or at one of the stages in the common areas. Cathy and Marcy will lead the group in some simple, fun songs. If you don’t have a uke or you want to bring another instrument (?!?), please join, too.

As I write this, the location hasn’t been published. Visit this link to find out where you should be. If you want to help some newbies learn a few chords, drop by at 2:30 and you can give us a hand. Extra ukes will be available for those with none. If you’d like to lead the group in a song, let me know and I’ll pass the word along to Cathy and Marcy — or you can catch up with them before things start.

I went to the 2015 festival, and it was fun. Being in the fresh air is better, of course, but you can still see and hear great music and patronize fine vendors, the beer garden, and the festival food. Everything is closer, and you have an excellent chance to see bluegrass royalty up close and personal. (They don’t mind paparazzi!)

If you were at the Ukester Brown event, you might recall he mentioned Elderly Instruments as a store to visit if you’re visiting the upper Midwest. Elderly has had a huge presence at all the IBMAs in Raleigh, so if you go, be sure to drop by their large vending area and ogle (and even pick a few on) some fine axes. They usually have ukulele accessories, too — strings, humidifiers, capos, etc. — all for below-retail prices.

I will send a newsletter Monday with detailed information about the first official Whirligig Festival practice Tuesday in Wilson. Let’s survive Ian first!

But first …

Here’s a bit of goodness from the Garner Night Market.

Battened Down Rick