Stephen Perry updates, shop running again, located N. Va.

Greetings mando peoples. Things have settled down sufficiently that I'm starting to touch mandolins again. I'm just outside of Old Town Alexandria, VA. After fits and starts, my shop is fully up and running, mostly on violins, but I'm going through mandolins at the moment.

My house in TN is sold. I did a year in Chicago, which rejected me pretty hard. Saw my mother through gradual illness, a couple of surgeries, and hospice. Then my dad through gradual recovery, then a fall with two surgeries, rehab, and now assist him all the time. I've picked up my son, who lives with us, and a delightful full-time partner in all things ("M"), who will be helping me in the shop as well.

I have been taking on bits and pieces of restoration work, built a couple of fiddles (need a fiddle?), and am finally having the bandwidth to actually get things rolling again.

Don't be shy, say hi via stephenkperry @ gmail or telephone.

It's nice to be back.

You should probably edit your Cafe signature to reflect your current location. Welcome back.

Wellcome back. On and off I have noticed your contributions here as well as your wanderings. As I seem to see in your post that the last year(s) posed some hardships I wish you all the best. Do take care of your health, physical and emotional.

So sorry the Windy City didn’t accept you with the “Big Shoulder” generosity it used to be famous for. Prayers offered for your mother also, for continued health rest of your family.
I think I need to take a trip down that direction and visit some places I’ve always wanted as well as see Bill Halsey and maybe swing by your place and visit a bit as well.
Glad you’re getting settled in again.

Thanks all. I'm actually doing pretty well, overall, was stretched very thin for a good while, spent a lot of time in hospitals and rehab! It's nice, but demanding, to have a family of sorts back together.

Welcome back.

Jamie

Welcome back to the Cafe, and to the NoVa neighborhood!

Hi Stephen,

Good to see you back.

Been down some of those roads myself.

Take care.

Jeff

Good seein 'ya here. Like old times again. Minus the koi pond.

Good to see you are back in the swing and have your shop set up again. I pray you find your new place fulfilling and peaceful. I don’t travel much anymore, but if I get that way, I will be sure to stop by. I know you love getting your shop up and going and getting back to work in it.

Mid-atlantic needs more quality folk instruments- I got an Eastman from you quite a while ago and it served me well until I moved on to a Silverangel. I'm up in DE but if I need any setup work, it'll be an excuse for a trip to NORVA.

I considered a retail shop in Old Town Alexandria, one of the walk ups. But folks expect one to show up, keep regular hours, be friendly, be dressed, all that difficult stuff. If I had a business partner that wanted to do all the business stuff (which is kind of fun, but I'm burned out on it) and entertain tourists, I'd be all in. But alone, eh, I can pass!

I was just in DE, at the beach for a few days. It was fun! My adventure buddy's parents got a place for a week. Nice break!! I used to go to Wilmington to visit Bromberg, but it's been a long long time.

Welcome back Steve!

Glad to hear things have leveled out. Your move to the Windy land made me anxious. Glad you landed where there is solid support. I am eternally grateful for the friendship you showed me when times were tough for me.

Don't be a stranger. You're always welcome down here in Townsend.

Good that you're back and things are going better. If it wasn't for my aversion to being outside of New England, I'd be happy to help run a shop!

Nice to hear from you, Stephen. All best wishes.

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Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton

You should probably edit your Cafe signature to reflect your current location. Welcome back.

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And update websites. Mandovoodoo, etc. appear to be dead.

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Originally Posted by David Eriksen

And update websites. Mandovoodoo, etc. appear to be dead.

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They were worse than dead, they were pointed at compromised sites. I edited his profile to remove them.

Steve hasn't visited this site since October of 2021.

I'm glad to hear things are better now and sincerely wishing you and your family peace and joy in this new chapter Stephen.

Glad to hear things are going well. I’ve missed you in the Knoxville scene. You were a great friend when I first located here. Old time music has exploded in the area and we could use your talents.

I could use your expertise. I have a beautiful MD-904B two point which could use some vocal adjustments. She sounding loud but a little harsh and strained. A little Voodoo treatment might be in order.

Damn, wish I'd known about this earlier myself. I had some extensive set-up work I needed done over Christmas. I drove nearly an hour to Stuart Orser out near Brunswick. Stu did an outstanding job, no complaints there at all, but Alexandria is only about thirty minutes away with decent traffic.

Bart, George and Alex... I admire your optimism!

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Originally Posted by FLATROCK HILL

Bart, George and Alex... I admire your optimism!

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I think they just didn't look at the date. I posted because (I'm assuming) Steve lost control of his websites. One is now wrapped in Chinese characters and the other has a warning that it may contain a virus that was posted by his hosting company. We haven't seen him since October of 2021. I would advise against visiting any of the sites he used to have listed.

This is what happens when people reply to really old threads...

Sigh.

Kirk

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Originally Posted by tiltman

This is what happens when people reply to really old threads...

Sigh.

Kirk

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Yes, but to be fair, his service was for a good while a hot item on the Cafe and folks may be trying to refind him for a new instrument. That said, we should be mindful of our internet savvy and skip or be very cautious visiting old links or start from Google.

Jamie