Friday, July 30, 2010 ... 8:10 AM
Chicago Brand Banjo
This blog still get many hits every month from people searching for information on the Chicago Brand Banjo. I own one, bought for me about 6 years ago by my girlfriend at the time from a pawn shop on Central Ave in Charlotte. It cost about $75 and was in terrific condition. I swapped out the sort of lousy, worn out bridge -- which for all I know was the original -- for a lower-profile, wider bridge made of maple and ebony, and I've changed the strings a few times, and I've worn the varnish off the fretboard in many spots, learning how to play clawhammer-style -- "The Coo Coo" and "Little Sadie" and "Shady Grove" in the sawmill tuning, "I'll Fly Away" and "Going Down the Road Feelin Bad" in open G. "Little Birdie" in double C.
I've promised a few times over the years to do some research and write a nice long entry here about the Chicago brand, and maybe I still will some day. Who knows. But I just happened to stumble over a video this morning by a guy who tells us as much about this little Bakelite frying pan as I've ever heard, and then frails out a beautiful rendition of the haunting tune "Kitchen Girl." Ah, it just smells like apples and hay, doesn't it? Says the suburban boy sitting in his cubicle.
Brendan
Making Notes: Music of the Carolinas
(Novello Festival Press, April 2008)
includes my essay, "Link Wray"
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HickoryWind.org
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Fried Chicken and Coffee
Mungo (This was the blog of my friend, the late Cami Park. Miss you, Cami.)
Staccato Fiction
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PANK Magazine
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Cat and Girl
Film Freak Central
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