SpringAlive 2014 workshop, part 1

We traveled last weekend up to La Grande, Oregon, for the SpringAlive 2014 workshop.  We've been several times in the past, and in the recent years have just really learned a lot from this event.  It is a contradance workshop, covering both dance and music.  I was involved in both parts -- fiddling and dancing -- so really didn't get any photos from the event itself.  Others did, and I will write more on the workshop itself soon, hopefully also including a few photos.

But I thought I'd add here a few photos of the trip up.  Monica drove, so I  had the luxury of just watching the scenery, scenery I've seen so many times, so familiar to me, and yet seldom with the opportunity to actually look at it.

I decided to take a few photos with my phone. Not great quality, but maybe of some interest.

The first one here is at La Grande, Oregon, just across the border at the Snake River.  I drive this way when going up to Weiser for the National Old-time Fiddlers Contest, and there is a little stretch of tributary river, right next to the freeway, which is so nicely wooded and tranquil that I always like seeing it.  Unfortunately, the viewpoint is at the top of a freeway bridge with no place to stop.  I tried to get 'the' shot, but failed.  I did get a decent one of the nearby railroad bridge.

As a side-note, for those who eat such stuff, many of the country's Tater Tots are made at the little factory on the reverse side of the freeway.  It's not so scenic, although it is fairly easy to spot a little steam 'smoke ring' coming out of one of the stacks.

Farewell Bend is the place where, in the old days, The Oregon Trail left the Snake River after following it for a few hundred miles.  Following the Snake River downstream takes you through Hells Canyon, which, as the name suggests, isn't exactly wagon country.  Nor freeway.  It follows the Oregon Trail crossland here.

This shot is looking downstream towards Farewell Bend, though it's just out of sight on the left.  Idaho is across the river.

And here's a shot that catches Farewell Bend on the right, and the entrance to Hells Canyon as the Snake veers downsteam towards the right of center.

As the Oregon Trail (aka I-84) continues cross country, we follow the Burnt River.  This time of year, things are fairly green.  When the Oregon pioneers came through, it would have been late summer, and fairly dry.

At the conveniently named Lime, Oregon, is an abandoned cement plant.

It's fairly interesting to look at, to my mind.

Between Baker City and Ontario, we pass a landmark that reminds us to be on good behavior because it's easier for Santa to see us now.

It's hard to tell in the photos here, but the Arrowleaf Balsamroot were in bloom.  Yellow flowers, smell of vanilla.

Ladd Canyon is a relatively steep but short canyon the descends down to La Grande.  In the winter time, it can be quite treacherous, and is sometimes closed.  I spent a few days in La Grande one December, stuck between the closed freeway in Ladd Canyon on one side, the Blue Mountains on the other.

Here we are just about to descend into the Canyon.

So then we got to La Grande, secured our hotel room, and headed off to the workshop.  A musicians workshop taught by Susan Songer  and Lanny Martin of Portland, a dance workshop taught by David Kaynor of Massachusetts.  Lots of good info.  A potluck dinner, then the dance, where all the musicians got to play in the band.

Sunday morning I had an hour-long private fiddle lesson with David Kaynor.  As I mentioned, I write more about the event itself in a following blog post.  I will mention that it is a worthwhile event.

We headed on home, and once safely on the other side of the 45th Parallel, out of Santa's view, we had a beer with lunch at the Bull Ridge Brewery in Baker City, Oregon.

The "Bull" of Bull Ridge being bull elk.  Lone Pine Lager in the rear, Sugarloaf IPA in the foreground.

Weiser 2012

The National Old-Time Fiddlers Contest has been held during the third full-week in June for many years now.  This year was its 60th anniversary (the same as celebrated by the Queen of England), though I don't know that it's been the third-full week in June all that time.  It has since before I've been going.  Went to my first Weiser in 1995.

Phil Stanley, a Boise bowmaker, and I have been running the repair shop for maybe 10 years now.  We're not sure, and would have to look through our records to figure it out -- clearly not important enough for us to actually do it.  We started out the first couple years running it under Hartz Music's sign, but since then on our own hook.

We set up behind the practice area in the Weiser High School.  Here's the view as you come in the door.

As you can see, visually its a mixture of high-school sports, woodshop, computer shop, and our violin and bow shop.  I have a place here in the foreground to do violin repairs, while Phil sets up at the back bench where he does bow rehairs and repairs.

We sell books, cases, bows, fiddles, some strings and tuners.

Phil tries to sell his handmade bows, and I try to sell my fiddles, both factory and handmade.

We've been there long enough that we have a good time seeing the same faces year after year, as well as seeing what were little kids becoming young adults.

Weiser Tuesday

Before things got busy, I took a few photos this morning, the 2nd day of the National Old-time Fiddlers Contest in Weiser, Idaho. We set up shop in the shop/computer-lab of the High School, right behind the warm-up area. A good bunch of folks. My work area is in the foreground, with the blue towel for padding. A customer is checking out a fiddle, while Phil is at his rehair bench. In addition to Phil's array of handmade bows, we have 7 Idaho-made fiddles on the tables -- 4 of mine and 3 of Ruston Ruwe's.

Hard to get a shot of the entire room, and many remnants of the shop room naturally remain behind, such as the stick-frame house model above the book case. We've done well selling music books this year.



A different view of the book case, with some of the table displays.

Playing the contra dance with the new fiddle

For the past several Decembers, we've played the Christmas dance for the Boise Contra Dance Society. We have a lot of fun with it, throw a few Christmas tunes in the sets, and get good, happy response from the dancers. And this was the first public performance on the new fiddle, strung up last week (as described in the previous post). It worked, I could hear it, and I had no disasters. For a less-than-a-week-old fiddle, I call that a success.

Rachel sat in with us, on fiddle, and off to the right, you can just make out Dana's face -- she's playing keyboard. A fellow violin-maker, Tim Black, of Silverton, Colorado, was visiting, and got these photos with his cell-phone.







This last photo shows Gary, one of the callers (the other being Denise), as well as Julia on cello. You can almost see Bill on mandolin, and the left-hand of Tim S. on guitar.

And here's a shot of Tim Black and I, back at the shop, the day before the dance, holding fiddles we've made.

Actually playing the fiddle...

... is something I do from time to time.

I do teach fiddle lessons in the shop, which gives me a good excuse to practice every so often. And we've had a couple of gigs in the past week to keep us busy. Last Sunday, our band, the Bru, played at a St. Andrews service for the First Congregational Church in Boise. It was a new experience for us, accompanying hymns as well as playing performance pieces. Seemed to go well, as they want us back next year.

Last night, Bill Elmer and I played for the preview of the opening of Alan Stanford's watercolor display at the State Historical Museum in Boise. Alan is a great painter, and had what looked like over 100 paintings hung on the walls in the Museum. Bill an Alan were best men at my wedding. (Photo by my lovely bride.)



We played whatever we felt like -- old-time tunes, Scottish, blues, folk. A nice evening.

The Bru's next gig is the Boise Contra Dance on December 19th. Rehearsal tonight!