Don Borchelt - Posted - 09/22/2012:  10:04:29

Ed Britt and I got out busking this week in Harvard Square for the first time in quite awhile. I had forgotten how much fun it was, and that I am supposed to smile more! This is our entry for the great old Sail Away Ladies/Sally Ann family of tunes. "Children, don't you grieve and cry; you'll be angels, bye and bye; sail away ladies, sail away." Ed is clawhammer picking in open G, capoed on the second fret, I am playing three finger style, also on the second fret, with the banjo tuned gDGAD. Yes, we know the tune is actually fiddled in G, but we were too lazy to remove the capos.  We did get a lot of picking in, even though some guy did come along and asked Ed about OME banjos.

- Don Borchelt

Edited by - Don Borchelt on 09/22/2012 10:06:40

VIDEO: Sail Away Ladies (click to view)

Winnieff - Posted - 09/22/2012:  10:49:50

Hey Ed and Don that was great !!!!!  A nice bouncy tune like that makes you want to get up and dance.

Andy

Edited by - Winnieff on 09/22/2012 10:52:09

Gareth Banjoland - Posted - 09/23/2012:  03:51:57

Always good to hear you guys. :-)

SCclawman - Posted - 09/23/2012:  05:29:53

Glad to see some videos from you guys busking again! Y'all make a perfect combo. Thanks for sharing.

salvatone - Posted - 09/23/2012:  05:32:56

Good job. Very nice.

Paul Roberts - Posted - 09/23/2012:  07:29:05

Some of the happiest picking I ever did hear in Harvard Square. Wonderful to see you the two of you, back in the square, doing your banjo missionary work.

PauL

Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 09/23/2012:  07:59:51

Beautiful - as always - great to see you two back at this stuff!

Is your banjo amplified there? (It looks like there's a cable running from your banjo to a small amp behind you.) And is Ed's not? (At least there's no sign of it being amplified.)

Don Borchelt - Posted - 09/23/2012:  09:30:32

Paul wrote: "Wonderful to see you the two of you, back in the square, doing your banjo missionary work."

Well Paul, I understand that as long as we continue with it, we are exempted from Selective Service.

Thanks for the nice comments, everyone, Ed and I appreciate it.

- Don Borchelt

Edited by - Don Borchelt on 09/23/2012 09:31:41

Don Borchelt - Posted - 09/23/2012:  10:24:28

Marc wrote: "Is your banjo amplified there?  And is Ed's not?"

Yes, Marc, I am using a Schatten BJ-02 PRO banjo pick-up with volume control, connected to a Crate TX15 portable amp.  Ed is also amplified, but he is using a Shure SM57 microphone strapped to the coordinator rods of his OME.  He is connected to a second TX15.  If you look closely at the screenshot below, you can see Ed's microphone cable just to the left of his leg, and the edge of his TX-15 on top of the stone bench, along the upper left edge of the image.   We are pretty happy with this set-up, although if I were to purchase the pick-up again, I would forgo the volume control feature for the straight no frills 1/4 inch plug.  The plug inside the black volume control box is not very rugged, and has been giving me trouble lately.

Ed and I didn't want to amplify, but we were forced to do it.  Under the Cambridge Street Performer's Ordinance, musicians must stay 50 feet apart, and emit no more than 80 decibals at 25 feet.  The fact is- that's pretty damned close and pretty ****ing loud.  We would routinely get to Harvard Square at 8:30 in the morning in order to get our spot, only to have some jerk come by around 11:30, just before the lunch crowd, set up just outside 50 feet, and blast us out with deliberately over-amplified output.  Since we have amped up ourselves, we no longer have had that problem.  The amps each put out up to 15 watts, for a combined total of 30 watts, more than enough to be suffficiently annoying to any potential trespassers.  Unless invaded, we keep the volume controls at between 1 and 2; I think just the sight of the amps discourages potential rivals.

- Don Borchelt

Edited by - Don Borchelt on 09/23/2012 10:33:37

g3zdm - Posted - 09/23/2012:  13:06:14

Nice to see and hear - and great that you're now fit enough to resume the outdoor jam sessions, Don.
(I had hoped our 3-way jam at your house 12 days ago would be an aid to recovery; I certainly enjoyed it, therapeutic to us all)...

Chris Muriel, Manchester, UK (just got back from a local picking weekend here in north-west UK).

JanetB - Posted - 09/23/2012:  13:36:28

Smooth duet, it brings a smile to see you two doing your thing.  Hope you made enough to replenish your coffee mugs.