2014 Banjo [Collectors] Gathering, Sept. 4-7

[Greg Adams]

Dear Friends,

I am posting here the latest communique from Peter Szego, Jim Bollman, and Hank Schwartz regarding the 2014 Banjo Gathering (formerly known as the Banjo Collectors Gathering). This is the premiere event for those who are interested in modern scholarship about the banjo's historic role in the great tapestry of the American Experience! If you are able to be on hand for this event, you won't be disappointed. I've only missed one year since 2001 (and that was because of a hectic graduate school schedule).

I hope you'll consider attending and spreading the word. 

Best regards,

Greg

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Hank Schwartz a href="mailto:[e-mail]" target="_blank">[e-mail]>
Date: Fri, Jul 11, 2014 at 11:41 PM
Subject: 2014 Banjo Gathering, September 4-7 in Morristown, NJ. - further info.
To: Hank Schwartz a href="mailto:[e-mail]" target="_blank">[e-mail]>

Ladies, Gentlemen and Fellow Banjo Geeks, 

The next Banjo Gathering will take place in less than two months!

We’re meeting in Morristown, NJ, from September 4 through 6. We selected Morristown because of it’s close proximity to Manhattan and Newark Airport. It also is a wonderful historic town with several outstanding cultural and historical institutions worth visiting in the vicinity. We suggest you arrive early, either on Wednesday or Thursday morning, to allow time to visit at least one of these destinations.

The most exciting is within a mile of the Banjo Gathering: the Guinness Collection of Instruments and Automata at the Morris Museum, Morristown (http://www.morrismuseum.org/the-guinness-collection-of-instruments-...), among the largest collection of mechanical musical instruments and automata in the world. On Thursday at 2 PM, the collection curator and world-renowned authority on automata, Jere Ryder, will present a 1- to 2-hour demonstration of the mechanical instruments, including several special banjo-related pieces in the collection, including the Encore Automatic Banjo, c. 1901-04 in Newark, NJ, and the Muller Banjo Player Automaton, c.1900 (Germany), in honor of the Banjo Gathering. He will also demonstrate many ragtime-related mechanical instruments and other automata ranging in size from miniscule to elephantine. And there will be plenty of time after Jere’s demonstration to view the rest of the vast Guinness Collection.

Also within a half-hour drive is the Thomas Edison National Historical Park, Orange

(http://www.nps.gov/edis/index.htm), Edison’s vast laboratories where his earliest films — and banjo recordings — were made, and many of his inventions were developed. You can visit his various laboratories, extraordinary library, the “Black Mariah” film studio, and his nearby shingle-style house designed by Henry Hudson Holly.

As usual, the formal portion of the Banjo Gathering will begin after dinner on Thursday evening and will extend through Saturday evening.

We will spend Friday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and will be treated to a curator’s tour of the current exhibit of almost 40 antebellum guitars by C. F. Martin, James Ashborn and other early guitar makers featured in “Inventing the American Guitar, the Pre-Civil War Innovations of C. F. Martin and His Contemporaries,” and a private viewing of banjos and other fretted instruments, including the Hercules McCord cable-tension banjos and the infamous Boucher gourd banjo, currently in storage and rarely exhibited at the Met.

We’re very excited to announce that Jerry Fabris, the curator in charge of recordings at the Thomas Edison Labs, will be joining us on Saturday to discuss Edison’s recording devices and to demonstrate one of Edison’s earliest devices by recording a banjo performance by Greg Adams and Hank Sapoznik.

Sunday morning Peter and Kathryn will host a visit to their c. 1839 farmhouse, half an hour’s drive from Morristown, for a tour of Peter’s collection of banjos, guitars and related genre art and broadsides.

We can only accommodate a limited number of participants in the Banjo Gathering. To reserve your place, send your registration fee of $225 to:

Peter Szego

2 Beekman Lane

Hillsborough, NJ 08844

The guest rooms at the Morristown Hyatt are commodious, and include free parking and internet service. The special guest room rate is $129/night. We urge you to reserve your room ASAP since we have guaranteed a relatively small block of guest rooms at the discounted rate. You may reserve your room now through the dedicated website https://aws.passkey.com/event/11396715/owner/1459369/home.

If you have any questions you can email Peter at [e-mail] or Jim [e-mail].

We look forward to seeing you all in Morristown in September.

Banjovially,

Jim, Peter and Hank