When: Thursday, Feb 11, 8-11 p.m.

Where: Sally O’Brien’s in Union Square, Somerville

Why: Because you want to hear some great music, buy an autographed CD and maybe a t-shirt!

There’s no cover charge – so you have no excuse NOT to come. : )

NOTE: The Red Clay Rascals are the sister band of the Goodtime Stringband

An eco-conscious wedding showcase for New England engaged couples!

Sunday, February, 14, 2010
12:30 pm to 5:00 pm

Hyatt Harborside Boston
101 Harborside Drive,
Boston, Massachusetts, USA 02128
Tel: +1 617 568 1234

Come to the Hyatt and spend the day -and night- with your honey. The Hyatt is offering a limited number of hotel rooms, at a special rate, to people attending the show. On Valentine’s Day enjoy the Hyatt’s Valentine’s Day dinner special, a three-course meal, at a 10% discount per person. If you stay at the Hyatt overnight, your entrance to the show will be complimentary.

1. Eco-Swag bags for the first 100 Guests through the door
2. Music and drinks in the Chillax Lounge!!
3. Informal Eco-Couture fashion show
4. Prizes and Giveaways
5. Bring your old Cell Phones in for recycling

Please visit the website to pre-register www.elegantlygreenweddingshowcase.com

USE PROMO: CODEEGWSVENDOR to pay $12 in advance (you must pre-register to receive discount) It’s going to cost $25 at the door!

Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)  has scheduled an academic event on February 6 focused on bluegrass music. The one day seminar is entitled, Fire On The Mountain – A Bluegrass Symposium, and will feature a keynote address and panel discussions including a number of prominent bluegrass musicians and educators. Things kick off at 10:30 a.m. with an opening keynote from Berklee’s Matt Glaser, and will run throughout the day, capped by an early evening concert.

Presenters and panelists include legendary musicians Sam Bush and Bobby Hicks, noted banjoist, producer and record company exec Alison Brown (a 1984 Harvard grad), luthier Lynn Dudenbostel, historian Neil Rosenberg, and Jack Tottle, founding director of the bluegrass program at ETSU. Topics for the panels include a look at the history and traditions of bluegrass, the craftsmen and the instruments who make the music, and where the genre is moving in contemporary music.

A pair of current Harvard students will also be featured. Forrest O’Connor, a senior music major who is doing his undergraduate thesis on luthiery, proposed this topic to the administration, and has been involved at every level of planning and implementation. He is the son of fiddle/violin master Mark O’Connor, and founder of the Harvard College American Music Association. Clint Miller is set to graduate in 2011 with a Philosophy degree, and is a blues and bluegrass guitarist. Both will perform in the evening concert.

The Symposium will be hosted by the Harvard Committee on Degrees in Folklore & Mythology, along with the Office for the Arts (OFA), the Office of the Provost, the Undergraduate Council, and the Harvard College American Music Association (HCAMA) There is no charge to attend, nor reservation required. Full details can be found online here.

Don’t miss your chance to study with topnotch musicians who will be playing at the Joe Val Festival
Most are IBMA Players of the Year!

• Michael Cleveland on fiddle
• Jesse Brock on mandolin
• Greg Cahill on banjo
• Marshall Wilborn on bass
• Jimmy Heffernan on dobro

More information can be found here:
http://www.bbu.org/JVMasterClasses.html

Join us at the Hyatt in Boston this Valentine’s Day and meet New England’s finest eco-conscious wedding vendors. These are folks that can help you plan, organize, and green-up your big day… and your new life together. The Goodtime Stringband will be appearing as special guests, and will be providing our special blend of fun music for the crowd.

Couples can attend educational seminars, book signings, and tastings, tour the green Hyatt Harborside with the Hyatt staff, talk to and buy directly from green designers and exhibitors, see the up close informal fashion show throughout the day. It will be a fun day for sure!

1. Master Classes at Joe Val! Boston Bluegrass Union has announced that once again, master classes will be offered the day that the festival begins, Friday, Feb. 12th.

They have Jimmy Heffernan on dobro and Greg Cahill on banjo confirmed….and more on the way!!T hey have also announced a banjo fast track class for beginners that day, taught by Rich Stillman.

Keep an eye on the Master Class Page on the BBU website for more details, coming soon.

2. The Passim Folk Music & Cultural Center is offering a “Beginning Bluegrass Mandolin with Jiro Kokubu” course.

The Passim Folk Music & Cultural Center
Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. January 14-February 18, 2010
$132 nonmembers / $108 members

Jiro Kokubu, of the David Wax Museum, will teach a bluegrass mandolin class for beginners – no experience necessary. Jiro will start with the very basics, and you’ll learn how to hold a mandolin, how to hold a flatpick, and how to tune your instrument. As you learn to pick and strum, you’ll learn some traditional fiddle tunes and variations for mandolin. Through these songs, Jiro will teach you the chords and scales. At the end of each class, he will give you exercises and tabs to practice each day.

Jiro, a phenomenal multi-instrumentalist from Osaka, Japan, found a home in the Japanese bluegrass community, and on his band’s first tour of America, he met his hero Bill Monroe. He later returned to the United States to study at Berklee College of Music, graduating in 2008. In The David Wax Museum, Jiro’s breath-taking dobro solos and spectacular mandolin ability make him a thrill to take in.

3. Boston Bluegrass Union’s Bluegrass Academy will offer Tony Watt introductory courses for mandolin and guitar (rhythm and lead)

Both courses will be taught through the Boston Bluegrass Union’s Bluegrass Academy, and complete details can be found below, and on the BBU website (http://www.bbu.org/tony_watt_winter_classes.html) and on Tony’s website (http://www.theoriginaltonywatt.com).