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  1. Session #1 "Dollars to Dharma"

    "Dollars to Dharma," despite its allusions to eastern philosophy, has a latin feel. A few years ago, Carlos Santana had a nearly ubiquitous hit with the lead singer from Matchbox 20. You remember it?

    [I can hear you saying, "Yes, thanks so much for reminding me. Now I have to go post to the ear-worm thread."]

    Well "Dollars to Dharma" is kind of that feel, so I went for a Santana kind of sound on the Mando(la)bird.

    ...

    Updated Feb-15-2009 at 4:11pm by Daniel Nestlerode

    Categories
    Recording Sessions
  2. Recording Sessions, Introduction

    My friend and band leader of Seņor Circus, Tim, has taken Seņor Circus into the studio. We're recording tunes in his nicely outfitted basement. It's paneled, soundproofed, and it has an isolation booth.

    I'm not new to recording. I did some in my rock band days and I've done some for myself. But my role has always been lead vocal and rhythm guitar. I'm in a different role now. Seņor Circus is Tim's band, not mine. So he does all the lead vocals and rhythm guitar parts. (He's ...
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    Recording Sessions
  3. A Little Jamming at a Party

    So I've been shaking off the rust lately (see my last entry) by reconvening the regular Friday jam session, getting back to Wednesday night practices, and taking the mandolin to work. And it's all beginning to pay off.

    The Friday jam sessions are fiddle tune heavy. We have a fiddler/mandolin player who loves the old timey stuff and Texas Swing too. We've been working on "Pig Ankle Rag" recently. Which is an interesting tune. It doesn't sound difficult, but the return ...
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  4. Attention, Bald Men

    OK, enough with the attention grabbing headline. This will not be a Bosley Hair Club replacement commercial.

    We recently met an outstanding locally owned company that does a first-class job producing custom ball caps and thought it was high time to produce a Mandolin Cafe version.

    So, off I send my talented graphic artist wife assigned the task of trying to squeeze the Cafe's horrid logo (she didn't do it) onto a ball cap. And yes, don't worry, we'll tweak the tuners ...

    Updated Feb-14-2009 at 7:50am by Scott Tichenor

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    Mandolin Cafe Site Information
  5. The Road Home - A Tribute to Butch Baldassari

    inline imageThe Road Home - A Tribute to Butch Baldassari is a new recording that should be out in a few weeks. Right now we don't have an exact date on when that release will be. Some history on this: the project was spearheaded by Dr. Brian Hull of Wichita Falls, Texas and was conceived in August or September of last year. Brian is a mandolin player, long-time friend of Butch's and a supporter of the arts. All proceeds from the sale of the recording will go ...
  6. Rust Never Sleeps

    Now I know what Neil Young meant when he used the phrase to title a live album. Well, maybe that's presumptuous... Let's say I've discovered one of the possible meanings of the phrase.

    On Wednesday night, I attended the first practice we, Zero Visibility String Band, have had in a few weeks. I've cut down the playing time this month for a number of reasons, some of them were not in my control. But the result is the same: Rust

    Wednesday night we played a lot of fiddle ...
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  7. Bluegrass loses another great fan...Jerry Hinton.

    Jerry Hinton

    HINTON, JERRY, of Leeds, Alabama was born May 13, 1936 in Birmingham, Alabama. He grew up in Irondale, where he was a member of Irondale United Methodist Church and attended Shades Valley High School. He served in the U.S. Army from 1959-1961. He retired from Boggan Carpet Installation. He had lived in Leeds since 1962 and was a past member of Leeds Lions Club and served as club secretary for 3 years, he was a charter member of Alabama Bluegrass Music Association, ...
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  8. 1923 gibson A4 blaceface snakehead mandolin

    I would like to ask why Gibson company can,t come out with a reissue of a snakehead A4 black or red sunburst top???? why does everything have to have " F " holes???? Would it cost a hundred thousand dollars for them to build one???? Can they no longer obtain or manufacture the pickguard clips used on the teens and early twenties models?. A 1923 reissue Gibson A4 snakehead blackface complete with pickguard and side clip and original style hard shell case is long overdue! ja
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  9. Classifieds Bulging? Or Not?

    This will be the week the Classifieds hit over 400 total ads. Normally it runs something in the low to mid 300s. It's just a number, but what does this all mean?

    Not much in our opinion.

    It's not due to the economy, as lousy as we all know it to be and as loudly as some sing the tune. It's not due to the collapse of the entire mandolin market as is boldly predicted...oh, about once a month by some message board user. Sorry, it's not even the first time we've hit 400. ...
  10. Trinity College Deluxe Octave Mandolin

    Having purchased a Trinity college Deluxe octave mandolin last Christmas thru a trade I thought I would take a moment and say that in my opinion its a very nice sounding and looking instrument. I have found that the sound and playability has and is opening up nicely and is very responsive. The neck is comfortable and string spacing close and neck and scale length just right...especially if you,re also a tenor banjo player!. The purfings and headstock inlay is all in good taste and the instrument ...
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