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John Rosett
Apr-18-2009, 5:58pm
I went to a week long workshop with Jethro in 1983 at the Augusta Heritage Festival. To say I learned alot would be an understatement! I've recently got my scanner working, and I'm trying to find all the pictures. Here's the three that I've found so far.

barney 59
Apr-18-2009, 6:02pm
I am in that picture!

Mike Bromley
Apr-18-2009, 6:34pm
Why the whiting-out of JB's headstock logo?

barney 59
Apr-18-2009, 6:41pm
It was a Washburn!?

John Rosett
Apr-18-2009, 7:06pm
He had a sticker from the music store in Evanston over the "Washburn" logo.

delsbrother
Apr-18-2009, 7:32pm
Dude. That was a serious 'stache. :)

I love that fingering Jethro's using in the second pic... Also that Flatiron pancake in the background was probably brand-spankin' new.

barney 59
Apr-18-2009, 7:43pm
Actually that is a picture of me standing in front of you -yellow shirt A-0. I am still working on some of that tab. You were from W.Va or so I thought at the time. I was from just down the road a piece.

Charles E.
Apr-18-2009, 8:10pm
I lived in Doddridge Co. WV for a number of years and I was at Agusta that year. I can still see Jethro drinking beer and Jamming at the Icehouse in the evenings. Those were some good times.

barney 59
Apr-18-2009, 8:27pm
Were you in the mandolin class? I don't remember names that well anyway but I can picture people from that thing mostly by where they were from-- where were you from then?

Charles E.
Apr-18-2009, 8:42pm
Barney, I was not in the mandolin class, I was in the class with Lorraine Duisit I believe. I saw some of the gun slingers from Jethro's class and felt out of my league. I realize now that those feelings were probably unfounded. The workshops were so fun and everybody had a great time.

barney 59
Apr-18-2009, 10:07pm
Well, Lorraine was kind of the "it" girl anyway -- & she sure can play!

Charles E.
Apr-19-2009, 2:25pm
If I did'nt know better, I would bet that Fred Oster ( wearing white pants, blue shirt ) is behind Jethro in photo # 2. Fred has a vintage instrument shop in Philly and is an appraiser on the Antiques Road Show.

barney 59
Apr-19-2009, 4:23pm
I have been searching furiously for and have now found the computer printout(it seems there was at least one computer in W.Va in 1983) of the names of the people that were in that class. It seems to only be the names of the people in the Jethro class and not Lorraine's class.It lists 22 names. Nope,no Fred Oster, at least in the Jethro class. There was a group picture taken as I remember -I'd love to see that one.

John Rosett
Apr-19-2009, 5:51pm
Barney 59 I remember you from your picture. I have some group shots that my wife took, but I can't find them yet. I have some of the tab that we scribled down in class, and some that we came up with after the class.

barney 59
Apr-19-2009, 7:59pm
I have some of the tab as well and I still am working on like I said. I have what was once an expensive cassette player that a couple of weeks ago was about to dump -what do you do with a thing like that today? I came across the cassettes that I made during the class and figured that I better keep the thing. They're pretty scratchy recorded with a cheap portable & from across the room to boot. They're hard to listen too with everyone trying do what Jethro was doing all at the same time and everyone out of time. I'd like to figure out how to get them on a computer and see if I could clean them up.

JeffD
Apr-20-2009, 8:37am
Well, Lorraine was kind of the "it" girl anyway -- & she sure can play!

She is the first picture in the "women with mandolins" thread.

barney 59
Apr-20-2009, 3:03pm
If I did this properly there should be a picture of Jethro Burns abnd Lorraine Duisit from Augusta 1983

barney 59
Apr-20-2009, 3:28pm
Wow, I did something on a computer!
So now that I did that I could probably post some of the tab from that workshop. I was wondering how many people who were part of that workshop still play and /or are on this forum? Some of them were certainly lifers. I have the list but I'm not sure that it would be appropriate to just post the names. Someone might have married a banjo player or something---"I didn't know you played the mandolin!" ...."That was from a former life,please,please don't leave me!"
Is there a list of member names available here? I have found 3 names that are members of the Mandolin Cafe so far that are on my list. I've found 2 others that are still active in music but I don't know if they are members.

John Rosett
Apr-20-2009, 3:59pm
Nice picture!
Do you remember the night at the bar that Lorraine sang a bunch of standards and Jethro backed her up on her mandola? Someone would call a tune, Jethro would ask Lorraine what key she did it in and he would play a beautiful chord melody backup. We never once stumped him.

barney 59
Apr-20-2009, 4:50pm
I remember when someone asked him how many songs he knew and he said he did try to figure it out once but gave up at 800! He qualified that by catagorizing them as songs that he would feel comfortable to perform without practicing..!!!..... Lorraine is a wonderful performer of folk music but I had heard her play some really complicated jazz pieces -like Coltrane/and Parker-before I ever I went to Augusta. I was living in the backwoods of W.V. in those days and it was Lorraine that told me about Jethro coming or I never would have heard about it. I wonder what she is doing now. When Freyda Epstein was killed that pretty permanently ended it for Trapezoid.
For fun I typed the names of the classmembers into Google and so far I have come up with 11 out of 22 still active in some way with music and some in a big way. This is great fun --I am supposed to be remodeling my bathroom and I am soooo not into it and it's about 100 degrees out, any excuse to procrastinate!

journeybear
Apr-20-2009, 9:26pm
If I did this properly there should be a picture of Jethro Burns and Lorraine Duisit from Augusta 1983

Um, yeah, you ought to post that at the Women With Mandolins thread before someone else does ... ;)

And any more if you've got them. Even though she was in post #1 pics of her have been hard to come by on the web.

Thanks!

PS: I saw Trapezoid back then, '82 or '83, when "Now And Then" was just out, playing in a church in New Haven. Magical show.


I love that fingering Jethro's using in the second pic...

Yeah, looks like an E demented chord :grin:

Jim Garber
Apr-22-2009, 7:08pm
I was also in that class -- it was the one and only one that J taught there. I have been trying to find my copy of the class photo and John Rosett and I spoke about digging that up. I remember you by your photo Barney E (is that your real name?). I am not in that group photo that John posted but that one was taken right before the official one. I played a black snakehead A2 back then. I remember that Jethro did not show up until Monday afternoon, possibly later and that Lorraine taught u a rag tune or two while we were waiting.

The guy right behind Jethro's head, out of focus, is Bob Smakula who is an ace musician and instrument restorer. The guy on the left with the big stache is definitely not Fred Oster. I think the woman with the flatiron is Becky Smith. There was probably at least one other person I have corresponded with who was in that class.

My other memory was an hour or so of Joe Venuti stories by Jethro one afternoon. I count that class as one of my few contacts with the greats: the other two were Roy Smeck and Tiny Moore.

barney 59
Apr-22-2009, 9:51pm
I see that you have assumed "The Position" in your photo.
There were four women in the class and one named Elizabeth Ann which could be a Becky, I guess ,but it's not Smith --but those last names for women can change . It's the one last name I can't make on the printout but it begins with a "W" and she was from Black Mountain N.C.
No, Barney is not my real name, my name is Jim Barnhardt. I am in California now.
Bob Smakula had such a good time that he lives in Elkins now? I always thought that I would hear alot about Bob Green, he was a pretty talented guy-- what became of him?

Jim Garber
Apr-23-2009, 11:57am
Yes, this is one of the only threads where most people know that chord.

Bob Smakula I believe met his wife-to-be at that time (I was there when they met). I think she worked in the area and I guess he did decide to stay.

I don't recall the Bob Green at the workshop who I know who now lives in NY, but maybe I didn't know him back then. it sometimes is all in a blur. here is the guy I know: Bob Green (http://home.igc.org/~bgreen/).

John Rosett
Apr-23-2009, 5:01pm
I'm pretty sure that that's not Becky Smith.

AlanN
Apr-23-2009, 5:04pm
Bob Green is a good musician. Back when I lived up north, there used to be a weekly jam at The Jolly Roger in the Lower East Side. I'm there one night picking Texas Gals, he comes up behind me and twinned it perfectly, all 3 parts.

Scotti Adams
Apr-23-2009, 6:02pm
Bob played breifly in an band I was with back in the 80's "Muddy River". Yes..he has a very good musician. I sold him an old Thompson mando I had...wonder if he still has it. I may have some pics I could scan and post.

barney 59
Apr-23-2009, 11:34pm
At the Jethro workshop Bob Green had the worlds ugliest mandolin. It was homemade and in a state of collapse it looked like it was made with a hatchet --but it sounded real nice. He was from Yellowspring Ohio area. It is definately the same guy- I can recognize him from the photos on that site. He had hair then. I ,of course, look exactly the same!

Scotti Adams
Apr-24-2009, 6:51am
At the Jethro workshop Bob Green had the worlds ugliest mandolin. It was homemade and in a state of collapse it looked like it was made with a hatchet --but it sounded real nice. He was from Yellowspring Ohio area. It is definately the same guy- I can recognize him from the photos on that site. He had hair then. I ,of course, look exactly the same!

The would probably be the Luke Thompson mando I spoke of. YellowSprings isnt far from where the band Muddy River resided...SpringValley, Oh. Bob rented an apartment in Springvalley at the time we played together.:mandosmiley:

Jim Garber
Apr-25-2009, 4:02pm
Oh, I guess she just commented on your Facebook posting. I thought that that was her.

Steve Weeks
Apr-26-2009, 10:51am
My wife and I met each other at our mandolin lessons in the basement of HogEye Music (Central Street, Evanston) sometime in 1981. We were married in August of the next year (still married!). Sometime around then- maybe early 1983- we had to stop taking lessons for some reason, and our teacher, David Neidig, said "Before you stop, you have to have at least ONE lesson from Jethro." He arranged this, and we met with him and Jethro at a guitar store on Main Street in Evanston. It was an amazing half hour; I don't remember if I learned anything, but Jethro was very friendly to two complete neophytes, and played amazing things while making it look easy. All these years later, I'm still just poking around...
Steve

journeybear
Apr-26-2009, 11:51am
... All these years later, I'm still just poking around...

Pretty much sums it up for so many of us! :)) Doesn't stop us, though ... :mandosmiley:

TerryBurnsKing
Apr-28-2009, 6:35am
John,
These pictures are really fun and I love reading the stories all of you have about my Dad and this workshop! Thanks for posting.
Terry

John Rosett
Apr-28-2009, 8:30am
Terry-
I'm glad that you enjoy them. One of these days I'll find the rest of them and post them.

SternART
Apr-28-2009, 9:53am
definitely "not" Becky Smith in the group photo.......she did get cassette taped lessons from Jethro though.....

Jim Rowland
Apr-28-2009, 3:25pm
Bob Smakula is still there, and runs a little buy swap in the student building and some string changing workshops and such.
Jim

barney 59
Apr-28-2009, 3:40pm
John,
These pictures are really fun and I love reading the stories all of you have about my Dad and this workshop! Thanks for posting.
Terry

Interesting that you should be living in The Smoky Mts.
Your Dad 's comment on West Virginia--
"Beautiful scenery--but you can't eat it!"
So I ended up in California where I thought they might have scenery that you can eat.

Jim Garber
Apr-28-2009, 4:20pm
Bob Smakula is still there, and runs a little buy swap in the student building and some string changing workshops and such.
Jim

He also buys and sells instruments and repairs them as well. Smakula Fretted Instruments (http://www.smakula.com/)

TerryBurnsKing
Apr-29-2009, 7:13am
Interesting that you should be living in The Smoky Mts.
Your Dad 's comment on West Virginia--
"Beautiful scenery--but you can't eat it!"
So I ended up in California where I thought they might have scenery that you can eat.

He also used to say that he liked living in Chicago because he could see the air he was breathing! He was a city boy at heart.

superc_1
May-08-2009, 11:07am
just remember:

NO MATTER WERE YOU GO? THERE YOU ARE!

John Rosett
May-09-2009, 12:17pm
just remember:

NO MATTER WERE YOU GO? THERE YOU ARE!

Is that why I'm here?

Jim Garber
Jan-06-2012, 9:05am
I have been trying to find my copy of the class photo and John Rosett and I spoke about digging that up.

Dredging up this old thread... I am still trying to locate that class picture. It is real funny that John, Bob Smakula and Lorraine all cannot locate their copies either. I even talked to the current director of Augusta to see if we can figure out who the photographer was back then and maybe get a print of the photo. It was a posed group picture of the whole class and many of us were "playing" the Jethro demented chord. I think the photo guy went around and shot one of each class and you could buy it or not. I know I did but, for the life of me, cannot find it.

Anyone? Someone must have it!

John Rosett
Jan-06-2012, 11:56am
I don't think that I bought the official photo, but my (ex)wife took a shot at the same time as the photographer. I know I have it somewhere, but I'm afraid that finding it will have to wait for spring, when the scheduled cleaning of the garage takes place.

Jim Garber
Jan-06-2012, 12:14pm
Hey John: I waited 28 years for it, I can wait a few more months. :)

impressive... scheduled cleaning of the garage... I think I need to get 20 dumpsters and start excavating on my junk or book myself on that hoarder show. Maybe I will actually find that photo. Someone else must have bought that photo... there were quite a few folks in that class. Come to think of it I should ask Bob Green.