Ian Bell's Blog (27)

A good new year to all at MB.

I'm heading down to my museum in Port Dover for the annual "Captain's Polar Bear Levee & Old-Time Fiddle Party" which takes place just after the Polar Bear Plunge at the Beach in which brave souls (not me) take a (brief) swim in frigid Lake Erie. There'll be fiddles, accordions, guitars, mandolins, bagpipes, tinwhistles, piano and at least 3 banjars of various species  - good noisy fun for New Years Day!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my compadres below the 49th Parallel!

We had ours 6 weeks ago and I had such a good time I think I might just do it again!

(Come to think of it my part of Ontario is below the 49th too - so why not?)

If anyone's in the market, there's a tackhead with a Dobson-esque peghead on ebay. Closes in a couple of days. I didn't notice a maker's name anywhere on the listing but probably worth taking a look at.

For your consideration:

A forgotten B-Side by Chubby Checker.

I went to a house concert last night where I heard a mesmerizing "Pompey Ran Away" played on an old Dobson banjo. (Not an everyday occurrance around here!) Came home and checked out Tim's video version, and am trying to get it into my head and fingers. I understand this is one of the first documented "Negroe Jigs". Can anyone fill me in on the provenance of this tune? Thanks.

Just stumbled onto the website of the 2009 Dan Emmett Festival - The headliner that year was the well-known minstrel act "Sha Na Na"! (Younger members may have to Google that name) I guess they are a "period music" group at that.