I wanna jam it wit you

This week is Alleghany Echoes, which is a workshop for musicians and there are other activities throughout the week.  There's a writer's workshop too that stopped by PSBB on Wednesday.  But there are classes all week for a bunch of different bluegrass instruments and everybody stays at the Marlinton Motor Inn.  So Monday night, Andrew and I cruised down there to see if anyone would be jamming.  Well, duh.

I apologize about the crappy quality of the picture, but if I whip out my camera, I look like a freaking tourist, so I try to take covert pictures.  The guy in the middle is playing the dobro.  I thought I had never heard of it before until I actually heard him play it.  And man did he kill it.  This guy was totally kick ass at it.  When he walked up, I thought to myself "this guy is in the wrong place.  I think the Star Trek convention is next month" but man oh man was I wrong.  I could have listened to him all night.  Here's a video:

Tuesday, Clay asked if I wanted to float the river with him and Lynn Marie, another VISTA.  Apparently they had to do it for work.  Yep just another day at the office, floating down the river.  They were taking notes on specific areas of the river to make a better map for tourists, I guess.  So I got to kayak down the Greenbriar for 5 hours.

If you squint one eye and close the other, you might be able to make out the bald eagle just right of the center of the picture.

A couple hours into the float, Lynn Marie takes off and keeps paddling way ahead of us.  When we finally catch up, she tells us that she had been following an eagle down the river.  I definitely didn't believe her until it flow out of a tree just ahead of us and flew down the river.  It stayed with us for a while, flying just ahead of us the whole time, as if he were leading the way.  Yeah, just another day at the office.  Freaking A.

But 5 hours of paddling (and getting sunburnt) really wore me out and I was looking forward to gorging myself with food and passing out for about 15 hours but then I found out that that night would be hosting square dancing lessons at the Marlinton Opera House.  And seriously, how could I pass that up?  Having not square danced since 3rd grade gym class, I was interested to see what the deal was.  So I'm off the river for just over an hour and then I'm off to square dancing.  Jesus.  How hillbilly could I get.

swing your partner do si do

Josh and I show up and we're supposed to meet up with Clay and his buddy, but they're a no show.  We stick around for a while, although we don't participate.  I think being a spectator might be a bit more enjoyable than being a participant.  But by the time we got there, things seemed to have cooled down and Josh was interested in checking out the Motor Inn so hear some jams.  And yet again, bad ass live bluegrass music.  I can't get enough of the stuff!  And there certainly isn't a shortage here.  Another great night to check off the calendar.

Wednesday night, I again went up to the Motor Inn (I'm like a dorky groupie).  It was definitely more chill than the previous nights, but it was still pretty great.  I got to try some moonshine.  And that shit will put hair on your chest, man.  This week is AthFest back home in Athens, GA and I haven't been since 2007.  Somehow it worked out that I was out of town that weekend for the past couple years.  I kept getting updates on Facebook about it and I was getting a little bummed out, but I am definitely not missing it anymore.  I am on bluegrass overload.  And I've been convinced to take up the mandolin.  Tyler has offered to let me use his, so at least for now I don't have to buy one.  I'm kind of nervous to ask anyone to teach me because I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing, I gave up guitar because even that was too difficult, and I get really frustrated and I don't take criticism very well.  Which all adds up to me being a wonderfully positive student.  I wonder if they make one of those Dummies books for the mandolin.  I gotta get to the library.

I've found out that I have a lot more readers than I expected.  I kinda just thought it would be my mom and maybe Jordan and Bethanne.  But people I haven't talked to in years are reading, and I strongly support that.  I've also learned that my WV friends have found the blog.  I'm not so sure how I feel about that one.  Also mi madre is getting all her friends and fam to read.  Hopefully I am entertaining you enough.  I mean this has got to be better than watching paint dry right?  But I definitely encourage the new readers to leave some comments.