—illustration by Bud Wudlick

The Depot Creek Stringband performance at Bittersweet Coffee in Henderson on March 21, 2009 has been forever immortalized in an illustration by Excelsior artist Bud Wudlick. Thanks Bud, we love it.

One more chance to catch The Boxcar Children.

Sunday, March 22 at the Nicollet High School

Music starts at 1:30 p.m.

Performances dates are Friday, March 13, 14, and 15 and next Sunday March 22nd.

Times of performances are Friday the 13th at 7pm, Sat. the 14th at 7pm and Sunday the 15th at 2pm. The following Sunday, March 22nd, will also be a 2pm performance and will take place at the Nicollet High School. For more informantion call: 934-8228

Ticket prices are: $6 for adults and $4 for seniors and children 12 and under

The play takes place during 1930 after the market crash of ‘29 and the start of the Great Depression. It tells the story of the Alden children, Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny suddenly orphaned after their parents drowned while saving them. During the hardships and lessons they faced, they come across an abandoned boxcar which they creatively turn into a home of their own. Along their journey, they meet up with hobos, a baker’s wife and eventually their long lost Grandfather.

Depot Creek was approached in the beginning of this year and asked to add a little music flavor to the production. As some of you know, depression era music is our bread and butter and we were more than excited to help out. One-half hour before the actual play starts, the band will perform musical selections alongside a show of photographs from this moment in American history.

Their theme this year: The Darker Side of Nature, explored the yuckiness of the natural world. Squeamish things such as fish guts, rattle snakes, bugs and deformed frogs. I, unfortunately, missed out on Dr. Mark Seeley, U of M climatologist and frequent Minnesota Public Radio guest, talk about traumatic weather trends in Minnesota climate.

Really, a big thanks to these people again. These are the folks that slave tirelessly in our parks and nature centers to teach us, and more importantly, our children about the natural world. Many are volunteers, and if they are getting paid for their work, it is little, and completely at the mercy of obtaining that next grant.

A special thank you to Crystal for booking us, and negotiating warm accommodations for us.

Best of luck to all, and keep up the hard work.

Let us know what size you want. We have M, L and XL.
Contact us, and we’ll arrange immediate delivery. Operators are standing by.

After scouring craigslist, ebay, etc. I have given up on finding a replacement whammy, and diverted my energies to crafting. As you may have learned from earlier posts, playing guitar doesn’t lead to a low-life of drugs and cheap women; it leads to crafting. And it’s second cousin collecting.

Cleaning out my shop last week, I was preparing a 5 gallon pail full of lock and window crank assemblies for the steel pile behind the shed when I noticed that the linkage arm for the assembly matched my criteria for rigidity and flatness, and it had just the right bend too.

I hacked (because hack-sawed isn’t a verb) the toothy part off of one end, and the plastic connecting rivet off the other. Then I spent 10 minutes operating my favorite tool; a bench grinder with an 8″ grinding wheel on one arbor, and a wire-wheel brush on the other. Then a 9/32″ hole by the drill press, and the prototype is ready for testing.

I love it. The tremolo is much more like a Bigsby than the Fender trems I’m used to. I’ve avoided using the tremolo on my Strat for years because it just required to much finesse. It’s great for a dive-bomb but not a subtle waver.

Anyway, it’s a little too long, and it still needs a sanding and polish. Once I get the electronics cleaned up, it’s definitely gonna reduce my Strat to back-up guitar.

Tin Whiskers.

John would always request Hank Snow, and we usually obliged with Hank’s lonesome I Wonder Where You Are Tonight. Of course he sang along; he was a great singer.

A complete obituary is published at gaylordhub.com. Here’s a video of the Singing Ranger and his band playing Movin’ On and Fool Such as I.

Design by Free Man

Don’t forget about this Saturday at the Coffee Hag. More info here.