Pine Cone - Posted - 11/26/2014:  16:55:57

Congrats!  The thread has passed the 200,000 views mark.  I'm honored to be a part of it and I even got a great banjo in part because of it.  Keep on keeping on...

DEmery - Posted - 11/26/2014:  16:59:03

Way to Go Dan! Onward to 300K. You cracked 200K a month ahead of my estimate earlier in the fall. David E.

rubicon - Posted - 11/26/2014:  17:04:56

CONGRADULATIONS Dan on a Great thread !!! 200, 000 + views!!!!!!

jbalch - Posted - 11/26/2014:  17:28:13

Best thread on the BHO!  Congratulations and thanks!

Nels - Posted - 11/26/2014:  18:13:42

Thanks Dan for a great thread!!  

Kaelri - Posted - 11/26/2014:  20:14:48

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

tylerandal - Posted - 11/26/2014:  20:24:36

Way to go Dan!  I agree with John, best banjo thread ever!

Dan Knowles - Posted - 11/26/2014:  21:34:07

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING HERE!

200,000 READS 

YOU FOLKS ARE SO WONDERFUL!

Eddie and I arrived here in Vicksburg and as  quickly as I could I plugged in my apple... We had made it! 200,000 reads!

So I went to our cruse directors Mindy & Jonathan, told them about our contest and they suggested that we do a drawing during today's banjo class. 

After the folks had mastered the clawhammer lick we did the drawing. 

This had to be legal like, respectable (as much as a banjo player can make it) and such. All 178 names were placed in my stingy brim Stetson hat and some of the guests helped...

Ok Dan at least get it where he can reach it!

And the winner is (big drum roll)...

Sean Measton of Princeton, Kentucky. Congratulations Sean. Your painting will head out Friday,

And here is todays happy Banjo 102 Graduating Class of NOVEMBER 26, 2014!

MORE SOON

Yanni - Posted - 11/27/2014:  00:11:13

Congratulations on 200k reads Dan, here's to the next 100k :)  Also congratulations to Sean.  I'm not at all jealous ;P

Ian

Dave1climber - Posted - 11/27/2014:  05:47:26

 

Dan

200,000 reads

 

 

 

This topic has become a part of my first cup of coffee in the morning.  Thanks for letting us into "A LUTHIERS LIFE".

Edited by - Dave1climber on 11/27/2014 05:49:17

DEmery - Posted - 11/27/2014:  06:13:40

Celebrated it on the water. Looked like fun.... David E.

60spicker - Posted - 11/27/2014:  08:17:34

Congratulations to you, Dan, and to the lucky winner, Sean Measton

Kaelri - Posted - 11/27/2014:  10:36:57

Yes, congrats to Sean Measton! What a wonderful way for Sean to kick off the holiday season! 

And Dan,......only 99,479 reads til the next big 300,000 mark!  I'm happy to ride along. 

kwl - Posted - 11/27/2014:  10:37:39

Congratulations on 200,000+ reads. I can't wait to see what is ahead. I truly enjoy this site. Best wishes.

Dave1climber - Posted - 11/27/2014:  11:08:47

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kaelri

Yes, congrats to Sean Measton! What a wonderful way for Sean to kick off the holiday season! 

And Dan,......only 99,479 reads til the next big 300,000 mark!  I'm happy to ride along. 

---

Me too!!  

ChuckHenry - Posted - 11/27/2014:  12:07:34

Congrats on 200K! I've been a longtime lurker on the thread. On a separate note, I've been using a hot air popcorn popper for about two years to roast, and it works great! I don't roast it too dark though. If my banjo playing could sound as good as that fresh coffee tastes, I would be a happy picker.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 11/27/2014:  15:28:28

Scott, David, John, Rubicon, Nels, Ellen, Tyler, Ian, Dave, Terry, Ken & Chuck,

Thank you for all of your kind well wishes, It is the fact that I know that y'all are readin' that keeps me writin'.

Only 99,479 to go...

I guess I better get my paint brushes flinging! 

THANKSGIVING DAY EVE

# 2

We had a very fun show last night. This is a great bunch of folks to perform for! Everyone joins in and sings. What's more they laugh at my silly jokes!

One of the guests made this photo of me being exuberant! 

And Eddie working out on the ole' Irish Bodhran drum...

THANKSGIVING DAY

This has been a nice relaxing day, getting up late, eating, kicking back & pickin'.

We joined the River Laureate Mike Link during one of his programs, playing a couple of tunes to help set up his talk on river ecology.

What did we play, you ask?

When the Saints Go Marching In and Old Man Liver (River).

One of our guests asked for a bit of banjo help and it turned into a group banjo class. Eddie came in and shot this photo. You'll recognize Tim (on the left) who chose the winning entry, then me, Lloyd (who spent most of today playing banjo) and then Dan who I showed some stuff to, then left to pass it on to the other fellas.

I believe that if one will teach, even the basic bit of playing to someone else it reinforces it to where it sets it in the mind. 

Well it's time to shower up, get on the white monkey suit, eat Thanksgiving Dinner, set up for tonights show and perform. 

As always,

I look forward to seeing y'all tomorrow!

Dan Knowles - Posted - 11/27/2014:  15:31:01

& Chuck,

I can't miss a fellow coffee roaster.

guitarman8491 - Posted - 11/27/2014:  17:56:36

Dan congratulations and Happy Thanksgiving!

Dan Knowles - Posted - 11/27/2014:  22:26:00

Doug,

Thanks! And Happy Black Friday to you and yours! 

Dan Knowles - Posted - 11/29/2014:  12:51:53

SATURDAY

around 2:08.354 PM

Here on the Queen of the Mississippi we have just departed from the Beale Street Landing in Memphis, Tennessee. The passengers from the last cruse have left the boat and a new group of folks have arrived.

(I'm gonna take a break from this to go and play the meet and greet. Be back in a few)

)Back(

We just played for the meet and greet. This is a small but raring to go bunch. This will be a good trip! They are stuck with us all the way down to New Orleans. We had dinner with a lady  who had ridden with us back in the days when we were performing on the River Explorer. It was great to reminisce about that wonderful time.

Talking about time I'll go back in time just a bit to Thursday evening when we did our last show (of the first trip). This was the sunset that evening. In my experience there is nothing quite compares to a Mississippi river sunset off the stern of a riverboat. 

Gittin' Down...

Over the Rainbow. Bass & Mandora d'Amore...

And yes, teaching coffee roasting. Ole' Tim made it into several of these photos. He's the fella the far left, holding the heat gun.

More soon as we travel to New Orleans!

Dave1climber - Posted - 11/29/2014:  14:37:31

Dan

I do like the Mississippi River Sunset!!  

Dan Knowles - Posted - 11/30/2014:  21:13:10

Dave,

 I do too! I hope you'll come and watch one of these lower Mississippi ones with us someday.

Edited by - Dan Knowles on 11/30/2014 21:13:45

Dan Knowles - Posted - 11/30/2014:  21:48:17

SUNDAY NIGHT

Vicksburg. We made it here around 6:30 tonight after a very windy trip on the river. This photo doesn't really express the choppiness of the river, but it was the best that I have. Still the temperature was wonderful, shirt sleeve weather...

Although this cruse is small in number, being the first cruse following Thanksgiving, it is mighty in wanna have fun! Here is today's banjo class graduates! 

I saw a celebrity of sorts on the river today... the DELTA MARINER. This is the ocean & river going ship that struck and ripped out a large section of western Kentucky's Eddgners Ferry Bridge a couple of years ago.

The Delta Mariner after she hit the bridge...

Showtime! 

More Soon!

guitarman8491 - Posted - 12/01/2014:  01:47:41

Well I see a lot of happy faces among the banjo class! Dan hop you and the family had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We were blessed with a third grandson last week, so it was a special Thanksgiving for us.

Dave1climber - Posted - 12/01/2014:  06:32:55

Sunset on the Mississippi with Dan Knowles...................on the to do list  

Crusty - Posted - 12/01/2014:  16:02:31

Got my beans in this afternoon Dan and I gave it a try with my HF heat gun.  I quit right after the second crack but before I made it to French roast (my preferred roast) hoping for more flavor.  It's too late in the day for me to drink coffee today but I may get up early tomorrow just to try it out.  It sure looks and smells promising.  That made a lot of smoke.

My first heat gun roast

 

Dan Knowles - Posted - 12/01/2014:  20:33:07

Dave,

In tonights post we'll have another!

Mike,

That looks like a very good roast! I'll be excited to hear how it tastes.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 12/01/2014:  21:51:21

MONDAY

VISITING

THE SPRAGUE STEAMBOAT

REMAINS

Back in the days when I performed for the Riverbarge Excoursion Lines craft the RIVER EXPLORER, the name of the show room was the Sprague Theater. There were so, so many shows played there under the mural of the pilot at the 13' wheel in the wheel house of the Sprague behind me. 

The Sprague was the largest most powerful steam towboat to work the Mississippi river system. She was 318' long, 61' wide. Her stern wheel was 38' in diameter. She was the holder of several largest tow records but one of he great feats was during the 1927 flood where she moved more than 20,000 people in barges to high ground in Vicksburg.

The City of Vicksburg acquired the Sprague in 1940. She was used as a museum, yacht club office and showboat. In fact she was used in the movie Showboat.

May 1971 the steamboat's wooden superstructure burned...

By the early 1980's all the attempts at restoration were exhausted so the Army Corps of Engineers dynamited the remains and the moved the pieces out of the Yazoo canal.

So enter Dan...

I always wondered where the boats remains were. Over the last couple of years of coming to Vicksburg and asking folks where she was and receiving no good answer. Folks just didn't seam to remember...

I finally found her.

The pieces were over grown with vines & trees and during the summer looked like a snake pit. Not being overly fond of snakes I decided to wait for fall to attempt a real visit.

Today was that day.

This is what I saw. The remains of the giant paddlewheel...

A hub for the wooden structure of the paddlewheel...

The stacks...

And oh yes, the sunset over the Yazoo canal...

Tomorrow,

Natchez, Mississippi!

DEmery - Posted - 12/02/2014:  03:22:39

Nice story and photos of your visit to the remains of the Sprague. It has t be interesting to visit the bone yard of an old paddlewheel like this. Great Photos. David E

Nels - Posted - 12/02/2014:  04:01:54

Nice story...I enjoy all the stories of your trips on the river.  Should we call you "Tom" ?   Sawyer

Brooklynbanjoboy - Posted - 12/02/2014:  04:05:30

I just wonder whether little pieces of that steamboat are going to find themselves integrated into future banjos...

Crusty - Posted - 12/02/2014:  08:13:44

And in this morning's coffee report I'm happy to announce that I had a very good cup of home roasted today. 

It tasted similar to the French roast that I normally drink but with more flavor nuances, and due to the roast stopping short of the charcoal stage has significantly more caffeine than I normally drink. 

I will have to reduce the quantity of grounds to make a cup because my teeth are rattlin' with my standard measure. 

Thanks for the tips Dan, I'm a home roaster now.

tylerandal - Posted - 12/02/2014:  22:42:19

Nice sprague find!  That's the one we stopped at near the main road?  Did you bring anything home?

Dan Knowles - Posted - 12/03/2014:  09:46:54

David,

Thanks! Getting up next to Sprague was a real treat!

Nels,

I may have to post my tune Feeling Like Huck Finn Again song for ya...

Lew,

The present answer (notice the word present) is maybe not...

Mike,

Congratulations and welcome to the Fer-turn-a-tee!

Tyler,

Yes it is the same one. You'll remember that I didn't feel comfortable wondering in those bushes and such. But now with it cool the snakes move slow and the alligators aren't around so.... As to your second question... there are just some things we don't talk about!

Dan Knowles - Posted - 12/03/2014:  12:28:19

WEDNESDAY

ST, FRANCISVILLE, LOUISIANA

I'm Sitting here on my bed in room 413 ( we just departed from St. Francisville headed to Baton Rouge) writing this post and thinking about the adventures of yesterday in Natchez, Mississippi.

Well maybe not adventures...

The Queen was docked across the river at Vidalia, Mississippi so Eddie and I jumped aboard a shuttle buss for a short ride across the river to Natchez, Mississippi.

This town has a very quaint pretty downtown. We didn't tour any of the "Big Houses" while we were there, instead we went through the African American museum and then visited the Dr. Gandy photographic collection in the second story of the Presbyterian church. 

Here is Eddie by the court house...

One of the more interesting photographs in the Gandy collection. It reminds me of a Rembrandt... especially my camera flash reflection...

There is a large collection of old steamboat photos. I figured that y'all might be getting a bit tired of such images, so instead...

Here is a young lady with a parlor guitar...

Stained glass in the Presbyterian church...

In the afternoon Eddie, a bunch of other guests and I hopped aboard a buss and went out to Frogmore a working cotton plantation. This plantation has been in operation since the 1830's. There are authentic Slave & Sharecropper quarters a working steam gin along with a modern ginning operation. 

Here I attempt to show out pickin' some cotton...

Slave quarters...

And for those of you who like such things , last night's sunset...

More after a while!

Dave1climber - Posted - 12/03/2014:  13:01:06

Dan

Nice sunset.

Were you able to get any photos of the working steam gin?

I know that these working vacations are hard, however i am sure that you won't weaken.  

Bufo Bill - Posted - 12/03/2014:  13:04:54

Dan, that Dr Gandy exhibition looked wonderful from the image you showed. Your own photos are endlessly interesting to me. I loved the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn TV show as a kid, and the written tales later on, so it is fabulous to see pictures of the modern day Mississippi.
All the best from Bill. :D

Dan Knowles - Posted - 12/03/2014:  19:15:28

Dave,

Yes I got a couple of photos of both the old and modern gin. I try to post a couple in the next day or so. 

Bill,

Thanks. It was a great exhibit. I wish I could get copies of their steamboat photos... the J. M. White and several others are quite amazing. 

Dan Knowles - Posted - 12/04/2014:  21:57:04

THURSDAY

BATON ROUGE

The best day of a great trip was just topped of by a wonderful performance by New Orleans piano maestro Tom Hook. Tom took us on a musical ride from pre-ragtime though the  swing of Jelly Roll Morton. What an amazing talent! Killer left hand and tasty tunes.

After breakfast Eddie and I took off by foot on a political tour... well sort of. We hoofed our way over to the Old and New Louisiana State Capitol buildings. It is amazing the amount of money spent on these very ostentatious buildings.

The Old Capitol building is a very impressive castle looking building which once overlooked the river front. Now the castle is over shadowed by many of the taller downtown buildings. Completed in 1848 it is very different from most other state capitol buildings in that it doesn't mimic the capitol in D.C. It is very stately and so unique.

Y'all know how much I love the writings of Mark Twain but this is one place I think he missed the mark. He said "It is pathetic ... that a whitewashed castle, with turrets and things ... should ever have been built in this otherwise honorable place. "

The rotunda with it's stained glass ceiling...

Both our stomachers were growling as we left the old castle and so we headed over to Poor Boy Lloyd's for a... you guessed it...

a po boy.

I've never had one of these sandwiches before and the shrimp po boy was wonderfully tasty! We've found another Gus's!

After lunch, the New State Capitol building awaited us. It was built in 1932 during Governor Huey Long's administration. At 450 tall it is by far the tallest capitol building in the United States. It is often called Huey P. Long's Monument. The building is a Art Deco pile  and while impressive, it is a massive, intimidating, ugly building which could have been designed for the third Reich. 

The good folks at the door who took our belts, watches, cell phones & money were so very nice and friendly. We all laughed and joked as they wanded us down after metal detecting us.

Another nice feller showed us into the State Senate  chamber...

Then it was up, up and away to the 27 floor observation deck. That's the space just above the upper windows and just below the big rectangular door/ window...

The view was great!

It made my feet sweat!

Yet I girded up my loins and braved the view.

And what a view it is! All of Baton Rouge was laid out before us like a living map. 

And look!

There tiz!

Our home away from home tied up at the landing just a couple of miles away...

This part of the trip has made me want to study Huey P. Long. The man made such a stamp on this state and is a fascinating character that ignites controversy. An enigma that is uniquely American.

Tomorrow OAK ALLY & NORLEANS

tylerandal - Posted - 12/04/2014:  23:00:19

That looks awesome!  I need to make the trip that far south sometime!  Does that happen often?

DEmery - Posted - 12/05/2014:  02:24:01

Dan those are fine photos and an interesting place to drop anchor. I agree....that old Capitol building is something - isn't it? Then along comes Huey and builds a new Capital that towers the area today and remains the tallest in the country of its type. I agree that Huey would be an interesting study. Bigger than life. When you get home let's talk. David E.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 12/05/2014:  07:02:17

Tyler,

This is my first trip on the river this far in maybe the last 10 or 12 years. We are sure enjoying it. Since we are looking at perhaps one more show tonight (#4 on this trip) I really wish you were with us!

David,

I spent a while researching books on Huey Long last night.  The Richard White book you've posted seams to be about the highest rated one out there. Huey Long holds a fascination for me. It seams like many men who rise to power, there are many faces.

I'll look forward to having us a good ole sit down chat soon!

FOG ON FRIDAY

At this moment we are on the bank of the Mississippi, 11 miles below Baton Rouge, fogged in, the bow rammed into the mud. We are about 12 river hours from New Orleans. 

So we are jumping and running, trying to figure out how to fill time which was to be taken up with Oak Ally plantation and New Orleans. In a moment I'll teach my Dotting With Dan program. The later it gets the more likely we that will be doing another show.

That's it for now I've got to get ready to Dot!

See y'all back here in a while. 

Dave1climber - Posted - 12/05/2014:  07:17:03

FOG.............The river has it's own schedule!

Dan Knowles - Posted - 12/05/2014:  13:38:43

Brother Jon Eaton just sent me this in an email!

kwl - Posted - 12/05/2014:  13:44:40

Very nice Dan. Unfortunately they missed labeling the Knowles banjo on the cover.

Steven M - Posted - 12/05/2014:  14:04:06

Jools Holland. A real class act!

guitarman8491 - Posted - 12/05/2014:  16:51:10

Dan..way cool and the only luthier that can do such amazing fingerboards owns this thread !! cheers

Pine Cone - Posted - 12/05/2014:  17:56:11

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dave1climber

Sunset on the Mississippi with Dan Knowles...................on the to do list  

---

+1 on that!