# General Mandolin Topics > Jams, Workshops, Camps, Places To Meet Others >  Mando Gathering at Wintergrass

## mandopete

The Wintergrass team has been gracious enough provide us a space for a Mandolin Cafe gathering at Wintergrass!

I have secured the Larch Room on Saturday night around midnight for this gathering.  I know a lot of us will be bringing along some electric mandos, but any and all are welcome.  Hopefully we'll get a few of the performers to join us and I expect a jam or two will break out as well.  I'm gonna try to tote my bass so it won't be a total mando army!

We should have some signage around the festival and I will try make an announcement from the stage so everyone knows what's happening.  Looking forward to seeing everyone and getting to look at and play some mandolins!

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## Rroyd

Electric mandolins???  Electric mandolins??????  At Wintergrass?????  NOOOOOOO, Pete, NOOOOOO!!
How could you do this to us?!?!?  I can see it now--that 10 foot high stack of Marshalls along the wall, shaking the entire building, while outside lightning flashes and thunder shakes the earth, as Bill
lets his feeling be known. . .

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## mandopete

Who is Bill?

 :Wink: 

Don't worry Duane - my amp only goes to 2!

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## Patrick Gunning

Awesome, will have to drop by.

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## mandopete

Put new strings on #39.

Just sayin'

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## Pete Martin

Guess what all you WGrassers?  Its going to rain this weekend  :Disbelief:  :Crying:  :Coffee:

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## mandopete

> Guess what all you WGrassers?  Its going to rain this weekend


Rain?  It never rains during Wintergrass.

I'll bring my blue tarp!

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## Pete Braccio

I'm looking forward to this. 

Pete

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## mandopete

Hey, if we get one more "Pete" we can have a quartet!

 :Smile:

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## Adam Sweet

where is wintergrass?

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## Mandobart

> where is wintergrass?


Bellevue, WA

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## esslewis

I'm a volunteer there; I'll be on the lookout!

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## Clement Barrera-Ng

This sounds like fun.  Hope to see some pictures from the gathering afterwards. 

And I just checked the lineup - the Swedish band Vasen is going to be at Wintergrass? Wow that's awesome. They are one of the best acoustic group around. Though not exactly bluegrass music, they have been playing with the likes of Mike Marshall and Edgar Meyers, so they've got some 'street cred' so to speak.

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## zeke

Good job, Pete, will be seeing you'll there then. I have a room at the hotel this year, so a quiet place for an hour or so jamming is immediately available. See some of you tonight then....

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## zeke

Btw, what's up with the electric deal? I haven't been on site here for a while (work-aholism), so I'm out of the loop I guess. Should I be bring some of solids along too?

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## mandopete

Zeke - look forward to seeing you good buddy!  Bring along whateve you like, we don't discriminate.  It's just a few of us who expressed some interest in eMandos.  For my part I am toting my Collings MF-5R (#39) and the Jonathan Mann Octave-Baritone eMando.  I decided against bringing the bass as it's just too much to lug around.  I'll bring the Collings D-3 just so we have a guitar available for jamming.

Like I said, any and all are welcome.  Bring whatever you like.  We don't have any agenda except a chance to meet up and have some fun.

Pete

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## DPrager

Yeeks! I was planning on arriving in Bellevue by noon today. We awoke this morning to a plumbing "event." Hopefully the septic pumping guy gets here this morning :Smile: 

I don't have any electrics to bring, but I'll pack something fun to play with.

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## zeke

But you're local, Pete! The plan was just to bring #19 or #20, and the guitar player from my band (who is really good!), but now I'll rethink if I want to bring part of the "holy trinity" as well ('58 em-200, '67 mandocaster, and , and my 50-ish factory gold topped em-150 (according to Charlie Derrington (RIP) anyway). Hmmm makes flying tricky. They are so fun! Well I'll cogitate over it whilst   packing the rest of my crap. Looking forward to seeing you as well, my friend!. Too may choices....

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## mrmando

I'll bring an interesting EM150 ... late '30s, Charlie Christian pickup, but we'll never know the whole story because it has a replaced back! Bunch of other cool stuff too. 'Twould be nice to meet a member of the trinity if you can manage it.

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## esslewis

I'll be the House Manager at the Cedar Ballroom from 4:00 to closing on Friday there (wearing the handsome red vest!); say howdy if you want!  That festival is always a lot of fun...

- Sean

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## Mandobart

One day in and it is a blast!  Hope to see some of you all here.  I'm the guy with the Zappa moustache and cedar-toped OM.  Heading out to jam then a few workshops.

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## mandopete

Ran into Akira this morning - no duck, but hopefully he will make over the event on Saturday night.  Spead the word.

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## mandopete

Seeing Greg, Zeke and Nina makes me feel like it's the good ol' days!

Heck, I even played a cittern yesterday.

 :Cool:

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## thunderplucker

Great seeing everyone this weekend.  Played some great instruments. The cafe mando jam was fun.  18th year in a row going to Wintergrass.  Good to see Greg Fisher back in WA.  Can't wait till next year.

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## mandopete

For me the highlight of Wintergrass 2012 was hanging out with Akira Otsuka from Bluegrass 45!  He dropped by the Mandolin Cafe gathering and stayed to the bitter end at 4:00AM.  I got a real good look at the F-12, we picked tunes and then spent some quality time with a few of Martin Stillion's eMandos.  Turns out Akira really likes to "noodle" - now that's a mandolin player after my own heart.  The performances from Bluegrass 45 were spirited and delightful.  It's clear to me these guys really love playing bluegrass music.

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## mandopete

...and another big highlight of the gathering was Martin Stillion's eMandos.  Picture here are 16 that he brought (I think there may have been more).  What a blast getting to play these, it was like being a kid in the candy store.  I barely knew where to start.  I was trying to get a picture that would convey the massive amount of instruments he brought.  Suffice it to say I was a little less of a blast to pack 'em all away and haul them down to his car at o' Dark Thirty!

Thanks Martin!

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## mrmando

Thanks Pete! The photo doesn't show the National Silvo tenor hiding in the corner. Clockwise from left: Schwab tenor, Earnest Radiator tenor, '30s Gibson EM150 (went home with Zeke), National Silvo, Josh Hegg octave, Yanuziello, JBovier, 1980s Kentucky KM300E, G.D. Armstrong, Old Wave e-mandola, Kent e-mandola (not mine, brought it up from the Christian Musician booth), GoldTone GM110, National Triolian, Fender FM-984, Bacorn, Roberts Tiny Moore. 

Pete brought his Mann baritone and Mandobart brought his MandoBird. I hope we didn't scare off people with all the electrics ... the fact that we had only two amps helped keep the cacophony down.

I think the only electrics I didn't bring were the Antoniotsai "Little Ricky," because it's still in pieces, and my other National Silvo. Just missed having a Fender FM60E 5-string ... I shipped it out Saturday morning, but there's another one on the way in. Also coming in are a Chris Eccleshall 8-string and something from Andrew Jerman. I also brought Rita, the snakehead Gibson A4, to the gathering ... at various times during Wintergrass I also had along the Jonathan Franke fiddle, 1912 F4, 1923 A2Z, Rigel resophonic, Rigel R100 and upright bass. 

Special thanks to Cameron from the hotel staff, and Mandobart, for helping me schlep everything up to the meeting room, and to Pete for helping me pack and schlep it back down to the car. Couldn't have done it without you guys! 

Akira is a wonderful musician, generous soul, and sweet fella. He seemed to like the Bussman e-mandola in particular. Great time jamming with Akira, Craig Korth, Pete, Zeke and several other super pickers. We played everything from bluegrass to a G minor "space jam" that reminded me of Otis Taylor. Before he left, Akira thrust John Duffey's F12 into my hands so I could try it out. Still speechless about that.

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