flyingsquirrelinlay - Posted - 11/28/2019:  06:28:54

Put down the banjo for a moment, WARP, AND GRAB A DRUMSTICK. gOOD TO CATCH UP WITH YOU, dAVE. Forgive the typo.

Edited by - flyingsquirrelinlay on 11/28/2019 06:29:31

BanjoLink - Posted - 11/28/2019:  08:02:07

Have a great Thanksgiving Warp ...... and be safe on the roads!

chuckv97 - Posted - 11/28/2019:  10:35:44

Looks like you’re back into the trucking hours, Warp... which usually means ANY hour of the day,,lol. Have a nice Thanksgiving Day.

Mooooo - Posted - 12/07/2019:  02:53:44

Good morning everyone, here's a donut to eat with your morning coffee, Walt's Breakdown by Kevin "Warpdrive" Hendrix. Enjoy! It's been a long time but well worth the wait.

VIDEO: Walt's Breakdown - Kevin "Warpdrive" Hendrix
(click to view)

 

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 12/07/2019:  03:48:37

Yeah!!! "Look whose back" and on the first few beautiful  notes Warp gives us his signature and sets every highway patrol man looking to giving a speeding ticket on edge! Warp, the Hatfield sounds really beautiful! So good to hear you play again.

And Moo...Thank you for getting this to us!!!!

ken

warpdrive - Posted - 12/07/2019:  04:51:40

Thanks Guys,

I have some time on my hands right now.....a few hiccups in life, so yesterday i thought i would experiment with the phone and see if i could manage this.....now it's figuring out the limits of how much i can send!

i will try to find better angles for the video....the first ones had me playing left handed, so i still can't see me playing when the camera is recording.

As for the sound...overall i think the video sound is good and the Hatfield cuts like a knife to my ears in this corner of the room I'm using to record in!

i all try to get more out later today....for now....it's coffee and breakfast try a get the room to warm up...

thanks for enjoying....will do more later

ya'll have a gooderin

Warp!

warpdrive - Posted - 12/07/2019:  16:51:01

Hey Gang,

well....i just wasted 2 hrs or better trying to work up a christmas medley of "there is no place like home for the holidays...santa paws is coming to town, i saw mommy kissing santa paws, and Joy to the world"(and not the Jeremiah was a bullfrog)....only to find out the limits of my phone, i don't want to trim, and don't know how to trim, so for Christmas songs this year, they will have to be one at a time and probably no more that a minute to minute and a half.

sorry moo, i know you requested a christmas medley, but it just aint in the cards!

Warp!

Keith Harper - Posted - 12/08/2019:  04:45:06

You pick 'em however you want, Warp. We'll listen

warpdrive - Posted - 12/14/2019:  04:41:43

Saturday Dec 14th, My campsite with walls Cincinnati, Oh,...7:16 am

Good Morning,

Sorry it's been a while gang, i should have a slither of " Bear Tracks" i recorded last night on a whim, to be posted soon,
Moo said he will post it this morning, so when the technical supervisor for Warp/Moo productions gets up and gets around, you'll have my feeble attempt at another banjo endeavor!

I tell ya gang, i feel like the harder I try to climb back up the ladder of life, the more the big black boot in the sky, wants to come down out of the clouds and kick me off.

Thanksgiving day i worked, have been working and enjoying driving again...anywho , i went to the Rosenthals thanksgiving night and didn't over do it, small plate of food, only a couple of glasses of wine...really well below normal holiday spiriting.

I woke up at 0 dark thirty Friday after thanksgiving with a horrible bad belly burn, so bad i had to go to the hospital down the road for treatment....had to have narcotic pain relief and ct scans...the whole nine yard for my post cancer condition.

The Er staff was about ready to birth kittens....they said my blood work was so bad, that one of the oncologist they called in the practice i am treated at....said i needed a bone marrow biopsy and that i probably was out of remission....can you believe that?

Other than the belly ache i felt fine....took the next day off, and was back in the truck on Sunday....But...not before scheduling a follow up with my onc on Monday, this was Dec 2nd.

My white counts and neturphils are low, as low as if i was still in treatment...so my onc decided to do a bone marrow on me last monday....yeah, got to love that pain, but this past thursday we did confirm....i am in remission, but they don't know why my blood work is so messed up, and right not....i am in apartment isolation, and i must go back to see the doctors for port draws the next two weeks.

They believe the fly in my tuna is one of my anxiety meds i take....along with a stomach med....so i'm off those 2 drugs, and hoping that my WBC and Neuts start climbing out of the basement and back up to normal.....i feel fine, but can't work for risk of infection....so here i be.

My good friend Vernon McIntyre and his band are "re-inacting" the recording of Foggy Mt Breakdown, and other recordings that Flatt and Scruggs did, this after noon at Herzog Studio here in Cincinnati...up on race street....just a mile from me, but because of my low blood counts.....i can't go and be around rooms full of people right now....with my luck....i don't think i could fall out of a boat and hit water right now.

So that is all that is going on in my life....just keeping on, keeping on, the best i can, and hope that my docs figure out my peculiar blood work soon....i'm ready to drive some more....but maybe not so much of the "swing shift " hrs i been driving.

Ok gang, y'all have a gooderin
Warp!

Aradobanjo - Posted - 12/14/2019:  05:00:12

Hello,

So glad to see this post from you Warp. I am also glad to see they found a solution to your physical problem(s).

My wife and I attended the Vinkolet Winery show of Appalachian Grass. Robert Campbell’s version of FMB on his 1933 Granada, with a Frank Neat neck, was played on 12/11 for the 70th anniversary of the recording. I enjoyed visiting with Vern, his wife Kit, and the band. I have some video I need to dress up for another thread. I plan to be there today.

I am praying for your speedy recovery.

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 12/14/2019:  05:23:59

Wow Warp, that is scary scary stuff. So Glad you are still in remission and hope they get this cleared up quick!. It would have been great to be at the FMB reenactment. Sorry you had to miss it.
ken

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 12/14/2019:  05:44:15

Sorry I tried to post the video but could not get the pictured link to come up like MOO does.

Moo, quite the milking and lend a hand here when you can.

ken

Edited by - From Greylock to Bean Blossom on 12/14/2019 05:45:55

jlsorbit - Posted - 12/14/2019:  06:08:38

I just clicked on the link and watched it on Youtube. It sounded great. Nice job Warp. Hope things start going better. Thanks for posting Ken.

Mooooo - Posted - 12/14/2019:  11:52:11

Here's Kevin "Warpdrive" Hendrix giving those Cheat-a-Keys a workout. Enjoy

VIDEO: Kevin "Warpdrive" Hendrix picking Bear Tracks
(click to view)

 

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 12/14/2019:  13:37:12

Moo,
Thanks for getting it right. Like my older brother told me and I should have listened: Never send a boy to do a man's job!
ken

dcraft - Posted - 12/15/2019:  05:59:24

Warp, normally I don’t get into the medical “second guessing”, but I will say that when my Mom was going through hard times on her health, she had a episode with blood tests coming back off the scales with no explanation of why. The doctors couldn’t figure it out. Well, an “old school” doctor did. She had developed an allergic reaction to the substance in the test vials. The vials either have a purple or blue substance in their bottom. Anyway, she always had to get her blood test done on the purple vials because the blue ones would kill off the white blood cells. Heck, they gave her 2 transfusions before the figured it out. I ain’t saying that is your issue, but ask the question.

warpdrive - Posted - 12/15/2019:  09:59:45

David,
i really appreciate your input....seriously, i am so ready to get back to some sort of a life that resembles what i once had....not that i am not grateful for what i have now...but after going on a year of everything i've been through.... i am growing a bit weary.

The docs are hopeing that the dropping a couple of drugs known to lower WBC and neuts will get me out of the " gophers basement" but blood transfusions have been put out in the air.....i am hopeing for remarkable upswing in my counts when i go back in this Thursday... Thanks again for telling me your mom's experience!

Warp!

Mooooo - Posted - 12/15/2019:  10:28:44

Here's Warp picking Angels We Have Heard on High complete with a killer melodic run at the end and some Holiday Chimes. It really sounds like Christmas. I'm enjoying it while the snow falls.

VIDEO: Kevin "Warpdrive" Hendrix picks Angels We Have Heard on High
(click to view)

 

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 12/15/2019:  12:02:44

! That sounded GREAT!

Merry Christmas Warp!

ken

chuckv97 - Posted - 12/15/2019:  13:19:54

Excellent! Wow.

Mooooo - Posted - 12/16/2019:  12:01:30

Here's another great Christmas tune by Kevin on his Hatfield, as Warp says, "Have a gooderin!"

VIDEO: Warpdrive "Kevin" Hendrix picks What Child Is This?
(click to view)

 

ceemonster - Posted - 12/16/2019:  22:33:12

It is great to hear your music, and we are rooting for you. Stay rested and don't forget to take your Vitamin C and eat nutrient-rich foods for that immune system.

Mooooo - Posted - 12/20/2019:  12:38:15

I just uploaded tab for Kevin's arrangement for Angels We Have Heard on High for your picking pleasure. It's a great one for your Christmas repertoire.

warpdrive - Posted - 12/20/2019:  13:52:34

wow moo,

i don't think I've ever...in fact...i know I've never had anything of my picking ever tabbed out...

thanks man,

warp!

Mooooo - Posted - 12/20/2019:  15:00:30

My pleasure Kevin, I realized I hardly ever pick any Christmas songs. I am going to change that inspired by all the Christmas tunes you pick. I meant to leave a link to the tab Angels We Have Heard on High. Here's a Christmas Medley from last year.

Edited by - Mooooo on 12/20/2019 15:03:23

VIDEO: Christmas Medley By Kevin "Warpdrive" Hendrix
(click to view)

 

Mooooo - Posted - 12/24/2019:  14:09:44

Merry Christmas Keven and all you Kev-heads and Warp-watchers! I hope none of you wake up to a lump of coal in your stocking.

chuckv97 - Posted - 12/24/2019:  16:22:54

And the same to you all....

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 12/24/2019:  18:12:00

To Warp and all you guys-Merry Christmas!
ken

jlsorbit - Posted - 12/24/2019:  19:14:31

Merry Christmas to all you guys.

warpdrive - Posted - 12/25/2019:  08:23:14

Merry Christmas to all

Goes without saying, you people here on the hangout have helped me through the toughest year of my life...I can only hope to one day pay it forward somehow, to each and every one ...
Thank you!
Y'all have a gooderin
Warp!

BanjoLink - Posted - 12/25/2019:  15:00:49

Warp ..... Merry Christmas! You have given way more than you have received in many more ways than one. Hope this coming year is one of your best!

warpdrive - Posted - 12/29/2019:  07:00:58

Sunday, Dec, 29th, 9:03 Am, The West End, Cincinnati, Oh,

Good Morning, To One, And All,

Wow,....just noticed in the reads on this thread.....were approaching 20k, i never would have thought so many of you, had so little to do, but follow a wayward hillbilly in his banjo and life endeavors.....i would be lost with out y'all!

Ole warp is still battling, but we think were on a upward swing...finally after a week of and continued steroids....my counts are headed back up, and last thursday when my Onc called me...she was very pleased.....but, i've been stricken with some sort of sinus episutic (not a real word) and the most insane head pressure, with my normally ringing ears....now ringing like bells in a firehouse, it would seem i'm trading off one health issue for something else that is just serving no purpose but to annoy and disgruntle me.....on that note, i will add the following......

Last night, my friend Ron Simmons....bandmate, and Promoter and Booker for the Appalachian Festival, got me out, and we went up to Maineville Oh to a big jam session ....and boy was it loaded with good pickers....you couldn't swing a dead cat, and not hit a banjo picker in the room, . No less than 3 mandolins, another 3 guitars, and two basses, one fiddle....and everybody there could double on at least 2 different instruments and all were above intermediate to good, and there were a half dozen or so there like me....are ex road musicians . It was LARGE!

Gang....last night, Ole warp had a night, that he has dreaded having, and knows full well, that we all have to face it one day, sooner or later, and that is this......

" YOU CAN NO LONGER PICK LIKE YOU DID WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG"!

I do know i am rusty, and battling illness....but for me, it is no excuse, i absolutely felt like i was having a outer body experience, watching my hands hit the strings, but un able due to my SEVERE stopped up ears and INSANE ears ringing...could not hear my banjo....if i concentrated on the bass and mandolin chops....i could not hear my own roll and if i concentrated on my roll and timing, i could not hear anything else, and forget about hearing the vocals....they were muffled noise to me....it was horrible!

The loudness of this jam to my damaged ears was Deafening to say the least, and after a few tunes...early on... i relegated myself to bowing out to other awaiting and good banjo picker attendees ...telling them to get there ax's out, and get on deck, because i had took my cuts and struck out to say the least and was taking myself out of the game!

In Retrospect....i was kind of relieved that i finally had this moment in my life, and in some ways....it gave me some closure...."does any of y'all get that?"

It's not that i've lost my skill set....my hands are good....but the thing that failed me was something that i never seen coming and i was blindsided to say the least.

When i was a younger man...and healthier , and working the road....these are the kinds of jams you only hope to get into, i mean you could make one hell of a good touring band out of these cats..... and i was in such discombobulation, i could not for the life of me enjoy it....it was painful.....it wasn't that i was even not cutting it in there eyes....but in my eyes....again....do any of y'all get this, or have had this kind of a moment....

My friend Ron is one of my biggest Champions, and he loves to drag me out when he can....he knew i was beating myself up...but good....he lectured me on the way home...

" he said Kevin look....you ain't been 100% in 9 months" your still a tad sick and you ain't picking with anybody but yourself, and your not doing that much at all right now because of your health....you got rust, and nobody comes back to full strength out of months of little activity...nobody..and that rule applies to EVERYBODY!

Ron said...when i first started...he could tell i didn't have it....but....he said after about 15 minutes....you were right back on top.....i didn't feel that way, but i will take it.
I had good conversation with a gentlemen upstairs when i went up for some food, i've seen him in some regional bands...and i respect his views...he's a picker...
he knows i have been sick and said he liked my melodic breaks i was playing on some of the tunes i took a break on...( when your jamming with mandolin plenty pickers, you tend to play a lot of fiddle tunes)...i felt he was being sincere, but he knew how disheartened i was, and he is 50 himself and we had a good conversation about age, and loss of abilities.... and just how you can be on top of it one day, and the the next day is a struggle.

Gang....i hope this post is very introspective for everybody, and for me, as you guys know....it is my Therapy ....i mean who else am i going to bare my soul too in the world of musicianship?

I keep hearing the words of one of the banjo legends i once had the ear of....
he called me at home one day....this was back about 98 or so...he says to me

" i aint going to be led to the microphone like "the old man"( meaning monore) or Lester...and he said...you know Roy Acuff was so blind at the end....he could not see the people in the front row...he said...i aint going out like that....and he didn't!

I don't know if this is the start of the end of it for me or not.....i don't want to believe that....and I'm only talking about the banjo...not life...and yes, i've always believed that there is life without the banjo...maybe i just need to not expect so much right now at this recovery stage of my life...maybe i am being really hard on myself .....but....if it is the start of transitioning to something else in banjoville , maybe due to the noise level of being in bands....i can no longer do anything but be a single....ive noticed that is not nearly as painful and taxing on my senses...but...

What ever i must due and face in this phase of my life and my banjo life....

I will do it with " Dignity "....

y'all have a gooderin,
Warp!

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 12/29/2019:  09:30:50

Warp, Sorry to disagree with:" YOU CAN NO LONGER PICK LIKE YOU DID WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG"!

Man, I have been in athletics all my life. I saw you when you first got you Hatfield. You were pickin like you were on fire for a 1.5 hour drive down and then did the same in Arthur's shop for another hour and a half. Here is a FACT, the human body does not go down that quick. It goes down in very small increments. You could not have gone down as fast as you think!

Now maybe you can no longer pick each and every day - ALL THE TIME, like you once did but what the heck. Our bodies have histories and sometimes bear more load than at other times and the meds you have been on and what your body has had to deal with....well its got your ears ringing like the liberty bell, so you think it won't effect other parts too?? come on. And the body will heal itself- the ears and the hands.

I heard a funny story about a band that I won't name. the festival promoter had a scheduling problem and he asked the leader if they could go on at 1 in the after noon instead of their scheduled 5:00 time. The band leader declined saying: Hell, my boys don't get done throwing up till around noon! Fact is, we all used to put ourself thru some kinds of things and keep on ticking. Got to be a little more aware of this as we age.

So you do need to understand your body a bit more now and not take it for granted as much or at least accommodate it a little more.

And you are NO   Where   Near having to worry about being led on to the stage. I taught tennis to a 70 year old violin player. He played in the relief band in Vegas. When Caesars band had a day off they played there and likewise at other places. His daughter played 2nd violin in the Boston Symphony. Burton was the type of talent that had him playing in symphonies at age 5. I asked him if was playing as well as he used to and he said he was playing the best he ever played. The hands stay good a lot lot longer than legs.

Chalk it up to experience and part of the body putting energies elsewhere. Learn to read your body better and be grateful for the healing and for your talent. You got a lot more great years left Warp.

ken

warpdrive - Posted - 12/29/2019:  09:46:45

Thanks Ken,

Your positive optimism is a shot i need this morning...not that i was fishing for that kind of a response....you know me better than that,....

These last 9 months really have been a learning process for me, and you are right, and i am grateful, to what ability i still have, both in by banjo playing, and my natural ability to heal from with in, i guess i just never figured a thing like this to manifest itself with out some kind of notice like it did..... so i'm no longer 10 ft tall and bulletproof.... i will have to learn to deal with it they way i guess everybody else does....when you can.....lean on the help of friends like you, and others!

Thanks again Ken,

Warp!

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 12/29/2019:  09:56:41

You know warp, they say "you are never as good as they tell you are when you are winning and you are never as bad as you think you are when you are losing. Hope to see you soon.

And Warp, none of us were ever 10 foot tall and bulletproof. we just thought we were.

ken

BanjoLink - Posted - 12/29/2019:  14:10:57

Ken .... great response to Warp. I go to an event every year where there are a lot of "older" pickers ..... very few young ones .... guys like Gene Parker, Dick Smith, Eddie Adcock (occasionally). I don't care that they may not be able to pick like they used to, but the wisdom and experience they bring, and still darn good playing means more to me than listening to younger guys that may not know all the nuances of playing yet. Dick Smith (hope I don't get this wrong) talks about staying ahead of the beat of the bass player, saying if you think you are right in exact rhythm with the bass, you are late. Of course, that just may be Dick's way of explaining how he hears the bass ...... kind of like when golf pros explains their swing, what they "feel" is not always what they think they are doing. Anyway, you get the picture.

Warp, don't worry about it too much and start using your experience as a wily (not so old) veteran to make up for anything you may "think" you have lost.

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 12/29/2019:  14:38:12

quote:

---

Originally posted by BanjoLink

Ken .... great response to Warp. I go to an event every year where there are a lot of "older" pickers ..... very few young ones .... guys like Gene Parker, Dick Smith, Eddie Adcock (occasionally). I don't care that they may not be able to pick like they used to, but the wisdom and experience they bring, and still darn good playing means more to me than listening to younger guys that may not know all the nuances of playing yet. Dick Smith (hope I don't get this wrong) talks about staying ahead of the beat of the bass player, saying if you think you are right in exact rhythm with the bass, you are late. Of course, that just may be Dick's way of explaining how he hears the bass ...... kind of like when golf pros explains their swing, what they "feel" is not always what they think they are doing. Anyway, you get the picture.



Warp, don't worry about it too much and start using your experience as a wily (not so old) veteran to make up for anything you may "think" you have lost.

---

John, Just to be clear, I don't think Warp has to slow down one bit or be wily or be veteran. IMO he can shove it to the floor and let the devil take the hindmost.

ken

BanjoLink - Posted - 12/29/2019:  16:24:31

quote:

---

Originally posted by From Greylock to Bean Blossom

quote:

---

Originally posted by BanjoLink

Ken .... great response to Warp. I go to an event every year where there are a lot of "older" pickers ..... very few young ones .... guys like Gene Parker, Dick Smith, Eddie Adcock (occasionally). I don't care that they may not be able to pick like they used to, but the wisdom and experience they bring, and still darn good playing means more to me than listening to younger guys that may not know all the nuances of playing yet. Dick Smith (hope I don't get this wrong) talks about staying ahead of the beat of the bass player, saying if you think you are right in exact rhythm with the bass, you are late. Of course, that just may be Dick's way of explaining how he hears the bass ...... kind of like when golf pros explains their swing, what they "feel" is not always what they think they are doing. Anyway, you get the picture.



Warp, don't worry about it too much and start using your experience as a wily (not so old) veteran to make up for anything you may "think" you have lost.

---

John, Just to be clear, I don't think Warp has to slow down one bit or be wily or be veteran. IMO he can shove it to the floor and let the devil take the hindmost.

ken

---

Ken .... I understood that.  My point is don't worry about that if and when it happens.  Some pitchers don't become great until they understand how to pitch and that comes when they may lose some of their velocity or other physical skill.  Some golfers get better when they start quit trying to overpower the ball and learn how to control it.

Those are not really good analogies, but only point out that "thinking" you are losing something is not always the case.

warpdrive - Posted - 12/29/2019:  16:45:04

Thanks so much guys...and the sports analogies really do help...

The closest I could get to remembering this kind of personal disappointment, was about 3 years ago..when at 56, I could no longer bench 300lbs...I only worked my way back to 250...and in my prime, also the same time of life I was out on the road..450 was my max...and put 315 over my head...fairly easy...
My point is...I've always set my bar fairly high...
But....I'm learning to except that now...I can have a off day banjo picking....I just wish it would have been more private and in a smaller group.....

Again, thanks for the responses,
My initial reason for posting was and is...you guys always keep me accountable for what I post...and I've never been more honest with anybody in life,than I am with the hangout
Thanks again,
Warp!

adl1132 - Posted - 12/30/2019:  10:37:03

Kevin,
Don't forget to get yourself a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones. I use them all the time to practice--they make a huge difference for me. It saves my ears (I also have ringing/tinitus)) for the times that I play with a group and can't wear them. No guarantee they will work for you, but knowing my experience with the headphones, I would certainly give them a try.

Best of luck to you, and don't be so hard on yourself about your picking ability. As noted by others, you have a bunch of good reasons that, on a given day, you may not hit your previous highs. But it is amazing how the body can repair itself from so many things, so don't give up. A lot of us are slowing down, but my take is that it's an extended process over years/decades, not something that shows up one weekend. Be optimistic and, above all, enjoy the sweet sounds you can make on the banjo every time you pick it up.
Allan

warpdrive - Posted - 12/30/2019:  11:50:47

Thanks for support allan,
You know the damable thing about tinnitus especially in very severe cases like I am suffering with....people that don't have it...have no idea what one goes through with...and not just with my banjo life...but my every day life ,
Social interaction now is a nightmare for me, it is such a pain to try and hear conversations in a noisy place, I'd rather sit home by myself...or just pick by myself,..it takes the hassle down to a more tolerable degree,.instead of having to invade peoples personal spaces like your some sort of creeper..up close reading there lips...
This started getting bad, a couple of years ago, now, it's become life altering , and after comming out of chemotherapy...it's worse, and doctors..even hearing specialist, don't have any idea how to help me
One thing I want to get in 2020 is a high end pair of electronic in ears noise limiting hearing protection
I've heard that symphony musicians use them to cut back on the deciphial input that comes into the ears..this makes alot of sense to me!

At this point..I can not afford to loose more hearing and do more damage to my ears

Mooooo - Posted - 01/04/2020:  12:10:55

How's it going Kevin? Haven't heard from you since last year.

warpdrive - Posted - 01/04/2020:  12:42:05

Hey moo,

For the most part, not bad..
Still battling low blood counts, not that there is much physical effects of that,
I am still on a short leash as far as where I go and public interaction, I will have a face to face with my Onc, on this Thursday the 9th, after a port draw, and we will discuss the treatments going forward based on my counts at that time.

On the banjo front...I've been playing with clothes pins on my bridge...and I rather like it, not as bad of ringing after shock, as playing full warp inside...makes me approach different aspects of how I want to to portray songs, that have become stale due to playing in regular banjo.

I found my self yesterday playing out of first, d7, 5th string, capped at A, for no good reason just started wailing on " last train to clarksville " from there it was just a hop, skip, and a jump, to Haggard's..Momma Tried..,
All this because of the
Sound of muting the volume

It would seem that after upwards of 48 yrs, picking a banjo, I still can't predict where it is going to take me!

Thanks for looking in on me,
Have a gooderin,
Warp!

warpdrive - Posted - 01/08/2020:  07:40:06

Wednesday Jan,8th, My Apartment, The West End Of Cincinnati, 9:20,am

Good Morning,

Eighth Of January, the day the battle of new Orleans was
fought...I actually worked with a teen, when I was a teen, whose dad was in Jimmy Driftwoods classroom and took the infamous history test, that would become the hit song for Johnny Horton, I found this out whilst we were squirrel hunting one early fall ozark morning, out on my grandparents and uncles property on Crowley's Ridge, just thought I would interject that piece of Warp history brought to mind by today's date.

So, on the banjo front,....I have graduated from clothes pins on my bridge, to stuffing my resonator full of towels, although the resonator full of towels adds considerable weight to the banjo, it does cut back the volume by at least 75%.. and allows me my natural hand and fingers full striking pressure with a more natural banjo tone w/o the volume that inflames my tinnitus...this is a win,win, for me, as I do enjoy playing most every day, but most days after playing full warp, my ears are so destroyed, I just can't suffer the volume of my banjo.....
This resonator stuffing reminds me of the first time back in 1989 when I went to see The combined band concert of The Bluegrass Album Band, The, Tony Rice Unit, and Doyle Lawson And Quicksilver.

I had in my posession at that time..a 1934 TB-1, it had been intended for sale to Scott Vestal, we both bought and traded banjos with Jim Yarboro, of gun barrel city Texas, and when Scott declined his first right to buy on the banjo, I pulled the trigger...it was my first of many pre- war conversions.

Anyway, I showed up early to the concert....in Hope's of jamming...but ended up meeting Doyle's new banjo picker Jim Mills.
I had been wanting to meet scott Vestal, and show him the banjo he had passed on,
But I did not know that Scott had recently moved on, and Jim, was the new banjo man,
as it turned out, the new banjo lead for doyle was quite knowledgeable both on my banjo and my friend and luthier Jim Yarboro, and asked me to join him on the bus after there show.

The atmosphere on the bus was typical post show, everybody just wanting to shed there stage attire for more comfortable leisure wear, Jim, got right to it, and put my banjo through its paces, it was then, right there, up close and personal, that I learned about what it was...I Was Missing in my picking...and to this day...I believe that every banjo picker needs to experience this in there life, if they expect to move forward.

It was during this interaction with jim,that he told me of a recent prank that the rest of the band had played on him, by stuffing there socks in his banjo resonator, and doyle commenting on the diminished volume and tone at the next rehearsal and the laughs from the band when he took off the resonator and all those socks came tumbling out.
Russell More said,it got quiet deafening trying to drive down the road with jim playing Sally goodin bouncing off the sides of the bus inside, thusly, they had recently built a enclosure for the driving compartment and shotgun so as not to distract the drivers from there duties.
I have pictures of myself along with Russell Moore and Ray Deaton standing in the enclosed driving compartment of that bus...somewhere in one of my stored containers in my friend Ron Simmons storage building.

Ok gang, that is enough of one of my " warp tales ".. for today....
Y'all have a gooderin ,

Warp!

Mooooo - Posted - 01/08/2020:  10:43:51

quote:

---

Originally posted by warpdrive

Wednesday Jan,8th, My Apartment, The West End Of Cincinnati, 9:20,am



Good Morning,



...<snip>...it was then, right there, up close and personal, that I learned about what it was...I Was Missing in my picking...and to this day...I believe that every banjo picker needs to experience this in there life, if they expect to move forward.



It was during this interaction with jim,that he told me of a recent prank that the rest of the band had played on him, by stuffing there socks in his banjo resonator....etc,,,

Y'all have a gooderin ,



Warp!

---

I'm a bit confused Kevin. Are you telling us that, what every banjo picker needs to experience, in order to move forward, is some socks in their resonator? If so, consider me a pro. If not, please explain what we need to know, or is it something we need to hear?

You probably know this, but others may not. I have to warn you not to play with socks in there all the time. It does something to your picking that is a bit hard to explain. Your ears get used to the extra sustain or something and it affects how you pick and fret. Pick as often as you can without the stuffing, use it only when you have to.

This has been a public service announcement. Back to your regular scheduled programing.

warpdrive - Posted - 01/08/2020:  11:10:37

Lol Moo,

i don't think it would hurt anybody to have socks stuffed in there resonators, if only to realize just how loud these dang things are!

But no, what i was trying to get across was my " aw hah "moment sitting in front of Jim, hearing in his rolls, and timing what i was not doing, or capable of understanding until then, the very moment when you realize that you need help.

Its one thing....to be happy with your playing, at which in that time in my life, i was very much ...." In Search Of" , i knew i wasn't doing some things right, and hearing someone who the very first notes of his roll, you knew was, just made me want to seek out....the sound.

Its a complete other and different thing....to know what you want, but not know how to get there.....again, the aw hah moment in front of Jim...and i for got to mention....my first in person playing in front of JD Crowe....that was a freaking disaster.

The socks in the resonator....are the, and are meant to be, the fun parts of this story, i guess the learning parts should be....

you can have negative or bad experiences with the banjo, and still have a positive learning experience....it may take several years, maybe even decades, but it still is possible to turn a bad experience around to work for you!

Not that this experience should be viewed as bad.....hell i know many pickers that would love to have had my experiences from life and the road, and through you guys on this very website, i have learned that even though my experiences may not have made the intended " 10's of dollars" that they made...the experiences and the telling of them are worth more than gold.....i feel blessed!

Warp!

glosardo - Posted - 01/09/2020:  17:44:07

quote:

---

Originally posted by warpdrive

Wednesday Jan,8th, My Apartment, The West End Of Cincinnati, 9:20,am







 and allows me my natural hand and fingers full striking pressure with a more natural banjo tone w/o the volume that inflames my tinnitus...this is a win,win, for me, as I do enjoy playing most every day, but most days after playing full warp, my ears are so destroyed, I just can't suffer the volume of my banjo.....



Warp!

---

I'm sure you know this, Kevin, so please excuse the sermon: Why, oh why, are you not wearing hearing protection while playing?  I have significant hearing loss in one ear with constant tinnitus, probably aggravated by 21 years in the Army and encroaching old age, but to preserve what I have left in that ear, I wear a pair of those low-cost yellow foamy earplugs (the kind that you roll between your fingers to compress, then insert and hold until they expand and seal the ear canal).  They're great and incredibly cheap.  You need to do everything possible to protect and preserve what hearing you have left.

Edited by - glosardo on 01/09/2020 17:45:46

warpdrive - Posted - 01/09/2020:  17:53:55

Hey Gerry
Your absolutely right, I should be doing everything possible to preserve what I have left...I keep holding out for electronic decibel limiters,but I may have to settle for the foam insert like you have..I've just always found it easier to mute the banjo, rather than my natural hearing...I may try it your way soon
Thanks for the pep talk
Warp!

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 01/09/2020:  19:06:34

Warp, If you have some decent headphones they will take the edge off a loud tone.
ken