I just wanted to add my positive comments - I'm new to CBG's (I won mine about 2 weeks ago in a raffle at the Crossroads Blues Club where the festival was held). I was very inspired by the whole day. Chickenbone John was a great host and leader for the event, but everyone who helped out made the day really smooth. I met a lot of great guys, was blown away by the instruments on display and being played, and the enthusiasm was infectious. In terms of playing ideas I have already come on in leaps. I'm a player not a maker (me and tools have an agreement never to mix) and as I say I found the day a great inspiration. There HAS to be another!
I was so enthused by this event that I posted my initial reactions directly after getting back home at 2am. For some reason the thread I posted in seems to have disappeared so I'll reiterate here. The day was enjoyable and truly invaluable and it looks like it might be the start of something which takes CBGs and similar instruments to a whole new level in the UK. John, and the others at the Crossroads Blues Club who made it all happen, did a heroic job.
While it's great that we have internet resources such as Cigar Box Nation, there's no substitute for getting your hands on real instruments and hearing them played live. (Speaking as a builder who isn't a great player, it's always rewarding to hear someone with real talent play something I've created). And while the various planned sessions were the backbone of the event, one should never underestimate the value of merely meeting people and chatting with them - I certainly learned a great deal from that side of things.
With reference to the question about Birmingham - it seemed like a good location as it's reasonably central distance-wise within the UK. My journey was a couple of hours by car in each direction, however there were others who travelled much further. Hopefully, though, this first event will lead to things in other places as well.
Birmingham is pretty much in the centre of the the UK....and there were a few people from nearby who came, but we had folks travelling from all over the UK - from 400 miles north in Scotland, from the West in Wales, from down South in Devon and from Lincoln in the East. It meant quite a lot of travelling for many people, but this didn't seem deter them!
We'll see what the general concensus of opinion is...but I think there will be another one. Because of the way friendships have been forged at this first fest, I wouldn't be at all surprised if there are some smaller get-togethers, now people have met up and realised that there are like-minded folk living fairly close.
I don't really have a feel for where everyone in the CB Nation is located in the UK--are most of you close to Birmingham? Riding on the wave of this success, does it make sense to start thinking of organizing another one 4-6 months from now in another location so you will have a spring and autumn festival going (the idea is to repeat this one next autumn)?
It was a superb well run event from what I saw .....informal cozy and bloody good fun.
Maybe we should re-title the "Brits are coming" group to "The Brits have arrived" the standard of some of the CBG builds was impressive going to have to up my game. Any one posted vids or pics..... can't seem to find any.
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While it's great that we have internet resources such as Cigar Box Nation, there's no substitute for getting your hands on real instruments and hearing them played live. (Speaking as a builder who isn't a great player, it's always rewarding to hear someone with real talent play something I've created). And while the various planned sessions were the backbone of the event, one should never underestimate the value of merely meeting people and chatting with them - I certainly learned a great deal from that side of things.
With reference to the question about Birmingham - it seemed like a good location as it's reasonably central distance-wise within the UK. My journey was a couple of hours by car in each direction, however there were others who travelled much further. Hopefully, though, this first event will lead to things in other places as well.
ps . steep learning curve - train travel is trial which i think I have now failed - 9 hours in one seat is a bad idea!!!!
One String Willie said:
Best regards, Willie
We'll see what the general concensus of opinion is...but I think there will be another one. Because of the way friendships have been forged at this first fest, I wouldn't be at all surprised if there are some smaller get-togethers, now people have met up and realised that there are like-minded folk living fairly close.
I don't really have a feel for where everyone in the CB Nation is located in the UK--are most of you close to Birmingham? Riding on the wave of this success, does it make sense to start thinking of organizing another one 4-6 months from now in another location so you will have a spring and autumn festival going (the idea is to repeat this one next autumn)?
Best regards, and keep on playing!
Best regards, Willie
Maybe we should re-title the "Brits are coming" group to "The Brits have arrived" the standard of some of the CBG builds was impressive going to have to up my game. Any one posted vids or pics..... can't seem to find any.
Sherb
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