You know, just those two little words, "Thank You," from the grand gentleman of the business world, Mr. Gretsch, I think says a lot about a class guy.
Looks like a gigantic time was had by all. Ought to be against the law.
NorCal Roundup Roundup, or What We Did at Gretsch Summer Camp
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- Rated: 79 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 1:27 p.m. Richard Hudson:
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- Rated: 121 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 1:32 p.m. Ric12string:
Deed, we missed you, girl! I thought of you and Duane when I put that shirt on that morning. Someday, perhaps, we'll plan the Roundup on a weekend when you guys already happen to be in the area and can conveniently stop on by.
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- Rated: 328 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 1:51 p.m. Proteus:
Shake It Baby, Shake It: Sharing the Love, Carducci-style
Saturday night's grand finalé was the Great Gretsch Giveaway. We dropped our guitar picks (with our names on'em) in the 5122, then made poor Kim turn it upside down and shake it around till one or more fell out. The first pick Joe dropped his sneaker-clad foot on won the prize on offer.
Kim learned a lot about getting picks out of f-hole guitars, and is now available to free your lost picks.
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So, who wonna what?
• Ric12String: Gretsch poker set (actually he kept returning it as he already has one, but he kept winning it again. He decided to give up and open a casino. He's now looking for an Indian tribe to finance him.)
• Rick-the-Bassplayer: Electromatic 5222 amp
• Forest-the-Lodge-Manager (a guitarist himself, who joined in the event): Gretsch glassware set
• afm_380: pair of Gretsch barstools
• Ray, BigsbySlur's son: pair of stools
• DrGretsch: aluminum Tru-Arc (later traded to yettoblaster for whatever is behind Door 3)
• Parabar: choice of Tru-Arcs (he chose a prototype brass HoleTone)
• MacPhisto: ToneStyler tone control
• Dave, Scott's-friend: Compton Custom Bridge
• Sarah, wife of Scott's friend Dave: glassware set
• bonedaddy: poker set (he'll be a junior partner in the casino with Ric12)
• Sarah39003: Compton bridge AND Tonestyler
• afm_380: poker set and pair of stools (appropriate enough, since he and SissieKidd and Scott had put them all together)
• SissieKidd: 5222 amp (to go with the Country Club she won last year), glassware set
• yettoblaster: pair of stools
• Sturge: pair of stools, 5222 amp
• Hollywood: two sets of glassware
• Hot Rod Michelle: poker set and ToneStyler
• Ric12String: two sets of glassware
• Don the ToneStyler: poker set, pair of stools
• Proteus: pair of stools, two sets of glassware
• Sparky: pair of stools, two sets of glassware
• BigsbySlur: 5222 amp, pair of stools, two sets of glassware
• MacPhisto: 5222 amp
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And next...
All the picks went back in for a shot at the Grand Prizes.
Don the Tonestyler won another poker set (he may be in on the casino), a pair of stools, a 5222 amp AND a gleaming black Electromatic Pro Jet.
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Ol' bonedaddy (as we know) went home with the Electromatic 5122 Double Cutaway.
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The Gretsch Playboy amp went to Sparky the Luthier...
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... annnnd the Grandest of Prizes, the ebon-and-gold majesty of the rare Black Penguin went to none other than the Luckiest Girl at the Roundup, Hot Rod Michelle.
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I hear tell she hasn't been much for "plank" guitars in the past - and she didn't have Dynas. But I predict she'll be thoroughly seduced by the little blackbird.
It makes a fine mate to her big white bird; she can now cover lots of Gretsch territory and fly first-class all the way.
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- Rated: 328 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 1:57 p.m. Proteus:
Miss Kim's Handy Kitchen Compendium,
a behind-the-scenes glimpse of an exciting upcoming series, in which the lovely Miss Falcon hosts pinup models to discuss their favorite culinary and dishwashing tips.
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- Rated: 328 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:01 p.m. Proteus:
By which time it was well after electric-guitar curfew, and in truth most were jammed out for the day. I'm sure some campers stayed up late, trading licks and stories by flashlight in their bunks - but Fred, Joe, Kim, and I rolled down the hill to the 'oliday Inn.
HOWever, we did go back up after breakfast Sunday morning.
Views along Donner Pass Road as it runs past Donner Lake - and on up to the overlook, where we shan't overlook Kim, who braved the cool wind to put on another of her warming smiles.
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- Rated: 121 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:10 p.m. Ric12string:
The Lodge, as a Sierra Club facility, is set up to accomodate lots of skiers in the winter, and lots of hikers in the summer. The shoulder seasons (spring and autumn) are times when there aren't really that many guests in the Lodge, so it was perfect for us.
There was one older gentleman who was there participating in a workbee on some of the other Sierra Club "huts" in the area and he was the only guest that I was concerned that we might be disturbing. For example, when someone asked DrGretsch and yettoblaster to play some dinner music, he was the first guy that I went to and asked if he would mind hearing some soft dinner music. His response was, "As long as it is soft, then it's okay." As I did notice that he was clapping after many of the songs, I am pretty sure that he was okay with it.
But, all of the other guests seemed very much okay with our being there and playing music. In fact, most of them were in the Lewis & Clark Room on Friday evening listening to us play.
The sleeping accomodations at the Lodge, while perhaps semi-rustic, were just fine! (bonedaddy didn't sleep well the first night, but that was because he had been into bigsbyslur's "hootch" and was at a much higher altitude than he was accustomed to, both of which can interfere with a good night's sleep.)
There was a real sense of trepidation for me when I first put the Lodge out as a possible facility at which to hold the Roundup. My idea was that it would be like a summer camp facility, but that it was all Gretsch-centric. Towards that end, if we slept in bunks in sleeping bags, then so be it. But, I was concerned that not everyone else would share my vision of what this weekend would be like.
But, because there were so few guests, we actually were lucky enough to almost all have private rooms. (Now, when I say "rooms," we aren't talking "suites" here. You could almost reach out and touch all four walls. In fact, the Lodge refers to these rooms as "cubicles." But, still, they were private rooms.) There are also some larger dormitory style rooms where there were anywhere from 6 to 12 bunk beds, which seemed to be occupied more by the workbee folk.
The bathrooms had hot showers, which was a real treat! And, while the temperatures were lovely, I can imagine that that Lodge is a bit draftier-feeling in the middle of January and that the crisp air when stepping out of the shower might have turned to a bitterly cold blast.
The fellow who was in charge, Forest (as in "Run Forest, Run!") was a pretty funny character. I believe that, on Friday, as we began to arrive, he was pretty stressed out over what was going to take place and what kind of an impact we would be leaving on the Lodge and its environs. However, as the weekend progressed, and particularly after he met and hung a bit with Kim Falcon, and after winning some Gretsch beer glasses, he had loosened up quite a bit. On my way out the door on Sunday afternoon, I asked him if we had been okay as guests and whether we had left too large a footprint. He assured me that we were great and told me that we would definitely be welcomed back if we were to ever want to do the Roundup there again in the future.
One of the most enjoyable times of the day for us, at least from my perspective, was meal time. The meals were good, lots of flavor, not terribly unhealthy, and hot (when appropriate). We had eggs/hashbrowns for breakfast one day, pancakes and fruit the next, pesto tillapia (that fish for you non-gourmet types), chicken, and all sorts of other good things. Lunches were sack lunches consisting of sandwiches that we each built from cold cuts and cheese slices, PB&J, or some other exotic looking spreads that I avoided like the plague. The catch was that we had to make our lunches BEFORE we ate breakfast. I suppose that this allowed the guy running the kitchen to clean up the lunch-making area while we ate our breakfast.
But, the best part of it was the fellowship with other Gretsch-heads as we took our meals in the dining room. It was nice to sit around the table and talk about not only guitars and music, but world events, raising children, etc. Just deepening the relationships that had been started last autumn at the Roundup at Parabar's ranch in the Sonoma Valley.
With the Lodge being operated in the nature of a youth hostel, everyone had to take a turn doing a chore or two. Those chores could be helping set the tables for meals, making salads, serving meals, or washing dishes (not by hand, but with a professional-type dish washer). I didn't see (or hear about) anyone having to clean a latrine, or mop a floor. All in all, it was nothing significant and actually lent itself to the Gretsch Camp atmosphere.
The main room, where we spent most of our time, was very comfortable. It was large enough to allow us to set up lots of musical gear, and to have Joe have a place to display a ton of Gretsch swag, as well as bridges compliments of Compton Compensated Custom Bridges and Tru-Arc™ Bridgeworks, but also intimate enough to make everyone feel a part of the activity. Upon arriving on Friday evening, we immediately began pushing around the couches and chairs to make it conducive to listening to music and chatting and it worked out just great. The Lodge was also large enough where, if someone wanted to talk away from the music, they could move outside and talk a bit on the porch or out on the grounds at the picnic tables. In fact, after we had packed up the last of our gear, the SissieKidd/afm_380/Scott family, Parabar and I sat down at those picnic tables to enjoy our lunches before hitting the road, and to take a deep breath and reflect a bit on what we had just experienced.
One thing that I did vow after this year's experience was to travel much lighter to any future Roundups. While I thought that it might be fun for folks to display their gear (much like SissieKidd and afm_380 had done back in the corner) for others to view, I quickly realized that there just wasn't going to be enough room for everyone to do that. I took about a dozen guitars with me, but only about four or five saw the light of day. My Ricky-12 only got out for one song! Oh well, it was nice having them nearby just in case someone wanted to play one of them.
What I didn't realize until I arrived home was just how tired I was. There was not a moment of down time from the moment we got there. That's not bad, but it was just that we were playing music, or talking with someone about their guitars or musical experiences, or we were attending one of the GREAT mini-seminars put on by yettoblaster, DrGretsch, Randall "Sparky" Kramer, or Don Stellartone Ayers.
While I think that Parabar may have stolen 20-30 minutes to meditate, I don't think that anyone else strayed away too far from the scene. While I got to bed at a reasonable hour on Friday night (maybe 11:30 p.m. or so), bonedaddy and I stayed up talking until about 1:00 a.m. or so on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Yet, we were all up bright and early in the mornings (some were brighter than others, if I am comPLETEly honest). But, when I got home Sunday afternoon after my long and arduous drive of about 20 minutes, I stretched out to catch a few innings of the Giants game, only to find myself quickly falling asleep. Only when I awakened did it hit me that that was the first down time that I had had since I started packing up my gear on Friday before leaving.
Forest (remember him? "Run Forest, Run!") suggested to me that a Roundup like this would have been much more fun if we had had the 30 or 35 reservations (I forget which it was) that are required to be able to have the exclusive use of the Lodge and grounds. So, I guess that we would have to see if we could muster that many Gretsch-heads for this kind of event. I think that we certainly had that many people or more at various times over the weekend, as people came and went, but we would still need another ten to fifteen overnighters to reach that amount. Hopefully some of you who didn't quite know whether a weekend like this would be worth it will now have a greater understanding of what it was all about will decide to venture off to next year's Roundup (whenever and wherever that may be!).
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- Rated: 328 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:14 p.m. Proteus:
Last Jams
Joe finally slung on a guitar for a couple late-morning/early-afternoon jams, working up his original "A Man of My Word," and following up with "Killing Floor." Then I played that gorgeous Country Club again for a couple of tunes: always a fan of ballads and mid-tempo floaters, I requested same from Parabar and then bluesgoober, and we finished up with "Spooky" and "Bring It On Home" – as BigsbySlur, MacPhisto, and others packed up their gear and carted it out.
Herewith, some pics of the morning's music (many of them taken by Kim).
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Some folks may have stuck around longer, but for those of us headed to the airport in Reno, the last notes of the 2009 NorCal Roundup faded into the pines around 1:00.
My compliments to the primary architect of the event, Ric12String, who did a top-shelf job in every way. From venue to program, to the great players he brought in from his circle of players as "sidemen," to the companionable vibe sustained among everyone through the entire weekend - just a great time, and I'm grateful to have been included.
I don't see how a better time could have been had by anyone.
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- Rated: 328 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:26 p.m. Proteus:
These pics, taken by Kim herself in the classic "we're buds" pose, pretty much capture the smile quotient everyone had reached by Sunday afternoon.
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Then it was more trees, another mountain, a last bridge, and silver wings carried me away.
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Audio and video still coming...
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- Rated: 121 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:29 p.m. Ric12string:
One of the strangest things that I have experienced as a member of the GDP has been seeing photographs that Proteus posted of himself and Joe at or in places in MY little town. Kind of gives you an out-of-body experience.
Fortunately, they left it in pretty much the same condition that they found it, so no harm was done in the process!
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- Rated: 328 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:30 p.m. Proteus:
Of course you haven't really inspected thoroughly yet.
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- Rated: 121 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:35 p.m. Ric12string:
So what say you GDP'ers?
Look like fun? Does it make you wish that you had been here? (We begged you to come, don't forget!)
Does it make you want to be out here for next year's Roundup?
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- Rated: 48 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:39 p.m. tommy59:
The bruising around my gluteal area is of my own doing, believe me. I won't miss another one.
Just curious - were there any 6122s (of any ilk) in attendance?
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- Rated: 40 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:41 p.m. Ripley1046:
Tim, in that last pic of you with the Spruce Club, you bare quite the resemblance to Fred Gwynne. Not so much as Herman Munster, but the man out of costume.
Thanks for the great coverage again Proteus. I can't wait to make it to one of these roundups. It would be easier if there was one in Milwaukee or Chicago, but hopefully I'll make it to one eventually.
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- Rated: 328 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:43 p.m. Proteus:
Interesting observation - you know, I quite like Fred Gwynne. I've noticed him in lots of roles, always gracious and classy. He's also written and drawn at least one great children's book, which my grandkids quite like.
And tommy, I really hoped you'd be there and was surprised you didn't come! With you, yetto, and DrG it would have been a true trifecta of maestros.
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- Rated: 121 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:45 p.m. Ric12string:
tommy59, I had my G6122SP Country Classic II Custom there, but it never made it out of the case. By necessity, I spent much of my weekend laying down the bottom end of things on bass.
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- Rated: 120 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 3:10 p.m. Curt:
Musta killed you playing that Falcon.
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- Rated: 121 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 3:12 p.m. Ric12string:
If that was directed at me, Curt, mine didn't even make it out of the case!
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- Rated: 328 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 3:12 p.m. Proteus:
Purtnear.
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- Rated: 120 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 3:16 p.m. Curt:
100% aimed and accepted by Tim!
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- Rated: 121 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 3:18 p.m. Ric12string:
He leaned more heavily in the direction of afm_380's spruced natural Club.
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- Rated: 48 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 3:18 p.m. tommy59:
Very kind of you to say, Prote. Shoulda, coulda, woulda . . . live and learn. I'll definitely make the next one that's within driving distance.
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- Rated: 121 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 3:21 p.m. Ric12string:
Well, the other option, tommy, is to start one up in your neighborhood and invite folks to you. It works quite nicely, actually!
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- Rated: 40 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 3:37 p.m. Mikey:
That all looks like too much fun. Nice to hear everyone's stories, for sure.
I'm thinking of organizing a Vancouver Roundup. Kim Falcon will be the only person invited. I'll post pics!
I'm pretty sure my wife will be fine with it.
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- Rated: 328 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 3:42 p.m. Proteus:
Let us know how that works out.
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- Rated: 58 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 3:53 p.m. JC:
Thanks again Tim,i've been living it all through your great coverage!
Everyone obviously had a great time,i only wish i lived over the pond,don'tcha know.
Congrats to all the winners,especially the grand prize winners ,Michelle ,Bonedaddy ,Don and Sparky !
I think i've fallen in love with that blonde Club!
And Kim looked cute as ever!
I wouldn't mind one of those posters ,the one with Kim and the DSW, if there's any going spare please.
