Soggies Reunite

Well, it’s been all of 5 days since it says this entry was first drafted but for the life of me I don’t know what I was going to say, nor am I really certain that it was me who posted. Sometimes the very proactive Ms. Herzog steers me towards being less reactive and more active. And I happen to know that she has the keys to this here website so there’s no telling what might pop up. <G> But it’s all in the name of helping things along and I know that. She really is most often more concerned for me than I am for myself. So, beings this is here I’ll write something but I’m not sure it will be entirely about the Soggies (Soggy Bottom Boys consisting of Pat Enright, Stuart Duncan, Dan Tyminski, Barry Bales, Ron Block and yours truly, the current incarnation and only one version of several). I have a few things running around in my head.

The Soggies will indeed reunite in a couple weeks on the upcoming Cayamo Cruise headed for Antiqua and St. Croix. The rest of the time we’ll be on board ship riding the waves and playing gigs. There looks to be about 4-5 gigs in all, so not a lot of work for time spent. Heidi and I have a pretty nice cabin with a private balcony (boat lingo for “porch”) and at least 7 complimentary restaurants on board. If we want to just blow a bunch of money there are others that would be happy to relieve us of our cash. After looking over all the extras that we can be charged for (things like water and internet for $30 an hour) it will be a daily challenge to see if we can indeed hold onto the money I’ll be making on the cruise. But this is not my first cruise. Oh no sir. Non of it will likely be a surprise. Bring on the hand washing stations.

The last two cruises were Prairie Home Companion cruises, one went to Alaska and the other to Norway. Both skipped up their prospective coastlines going into small ports and smaller and occasionally into a more major port. The cruise prior was an Australian cruise that left Sydney and went to New Zealand, Tasmania, Adelaide and round to Perth. That took 19 days. I only had officially 3-4 hours work to do the whole time so needless to say I felt a little penned in after a while and spent a lot of time working some with other bands, doing workshops, jamming, finding ways of getting from one end of the ship to the other without encountering crowds, napping, whatever. The first cruise ever was a trip that John Hartford, Darrin Vincent and myself took. We all showed up in casual (jeans/overalls) clothes and basically we were not allowed to go much of anyplace on the boat because there was a daily dress code and the most laid back it got was what they called dress casual. So, we spent all our time out of sight at the request of the crew. Darrin spent the first few days laid up in bed with motion sickness. We had a young Scandinavian woman who worked our room everyday, the first two days with no bra on and bending over a lot. After Darrin and I didn’t let it get to us she stopped being friendly. Whatever.

It does look like there will be ample opportunity to hear some great music on this cruise though. Brian Wilson is headlining I believe. Jeff Tweedy, Mavis Staples, Rodney Crowell, Dirk Powell, Ashley Monroe, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale (who gives tai chi lessons every morning), Watkins family, Quebe Sisters, Molly Tuttle, Amythyst Kiah (going to check her out. Huge voice) and a lot more. Here’s a link to the lineup…https://www.cayamo.com/lineup/. There are a lot of acts on board that I’ve never heard but will probably go give a listen just to edu-ma-cate myself some. No need to live under a rock all the time and I have the time to do it. So this should be good.

But first I have to finish my obligations for next week, those beginning on Monday in San Rafael, CA. I’m flying out tomorrow morning to get ready for a couple days’ worth of filming lessons for my Peghead Nation course on Monroe tunes. This year’s section will begin and end in the early to mid-50’s. Chronological order right through the discography. I’m up to some gems. “Close By”, “Happy On My Way”, “Sitting Alone in the Moonlight”, “Wheel Hoss”, “Used to Be”, “Roanoke”, “Tall Timber” and more. Some of the really big ones. I have some optional tracks to explore too. Peghead has just recently moved to a new video studio and are very proud of it. From what I’ve heard it seems to be a very important place in the grand scheme of audio/video production over the years. I think they said that they have moved production to a room at 32Ten Studios, a space that has ties to the history of the “Star Wars” series, “Indiana Jones” movies, “Pirates of the Caribbean” and Pixar’s early work. Way to go, boys. There should be a good vibe about the place and make things a lot easier. I’ve been asked to consider doing another course, this one in oldtime and country blues mando. I’ll probably do that too. I have been thinking quite a bit about starting my own lessons site and running it full-time too with everything from beginner onward, all kinds of tunes, technique, guest videos, etc. Basically whatever is on my mind or on my plate. I will likely need some help with that. But there’s not really any limit to what I can do there and nobody to tell me what/how/when to do anything. I like that. It needs to be done. Somebody has to promote what Banjo Ben calls “trashy” mandolin playing. That will be me, ya’ll. Thanks very much.

Did I mention that after Mr. Gilchrist did another set up on this #536 F5 that it is a force to be reckoned with? Lord have mercy.

After I get back Wednesday night I’ll jump in on working some more for a project for Friday morning which will be at Ben Surratt’s studio in East Nashville. Mark Stoffel is putting together a version of Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood” with about two dozen mando family players from all over the place. I’m not really on top of it yet so I need to get myself where I can at least do the job on Friday and then I might just go back to enjoying the tune without me playing on it. <G>

I’ve got other things I want to say here, some of it about lawyers and publishing companies and ‘the little guy’, streaming services and such, but right now I just don’t want to get into it. I need to start packing for tomorrow and go try out the new Thai/Sushi restaurant right up the road.

Life is good. MC