NW Bluegrass News Mag Dec 2000: Planetarium Picking Party

'Spaced Out' Picking Party, August 2000

A line from one of JK's songs - "There's always the sunshine to follow the rain". Ah! True indeed. The Wedding Festival bore the wrath of 'The Big Rain' (the title of SilverHill's latest instrumental) but the 4th annual 'Spaced Out' Picking Party at Planet:Earth:Centre basked in sunshine for most of the day. And what a success it was - Pickers and Partners started arriving on site around noon and within 10 minutes an informal session was under way.

A fair contingent from The Welcome Inn (Prestwich) helped swell the numbers and the Liverpool and Rainford pickers contributed so well. There was a surprising diversity here - people from Australia, and - a highlight - August and Nancy from Boston USA. In terms of numbers - let's just say the Observatory (The main venue) was full enough for an evening's no-seats-left-hear-a-pin-drop-concert, but not overfull!

A Beginner's Session in the Main Observatory

The earlier picks had been Bluegrass Standards, allowing for the learning and exchanging of ideas and information for beginners. A little later on came the opportunity for intermediate players to jam with several of the more experienced musicians, which hopefully will develop into the norm. After JK's illuminating Guitar Workshop, the whole thing culminated in an excellent evening's concert.

RoadRunner, (Bev's band) could not appear in their entirety; Pete Shaeffer (Banjo) had suffered a heart attack shortly before the day,unfortunately. (We're glad to hear that Pete has now made a full recovery - Ed.). Two of the band, John Feather and his son Joe, opened the concert. 16-year-old Joe played fiddle beautifully (including an exciting solo piece) over the dynamic strains of his dad's 'punchy' Martin guitar and their set was very well received.

Next up was Pete Simmons who sang and played an entertaining twenty minute set with a mixture of covers and his original songs - followed by Hickory who sang a few nonbluegrass standards but was none-the-less entertaining, with John Feather improvising Bass!

Bill Hyde and John 'JK' Keegan - SilverHill

Good scratch bands don't come that easy, or do they? JK (Bass), Bill Hyde (Banjo), Ian Wooley (Dobro), August and Nancy (Vocals and Guitars), proved otherwise. August (a professional guitarist) kicked off their set with three superb, almost classical, solo instrumentals, including one in 7/8 time! They then went on to put on an admirable Bluegrass show, after only 25 minutes of rehearsal! Intuitive musicians? Maybe, thank God for the 1, 4, 5 thingy chord progression - this is Bluegrass!

SilverHill closed and stole the show with an immaculate performance of original material. Of course, as with many Bluegrass events the end of a show is the signal to whip out your instrument - more picking ensued into the early hours.

During the afternoon there was a lovely tree planting ceremony for John T.Williamson; the tree and memorial plaque were again donated by Jim Burnett.

The really nice thing about this event, was notjust the music and friendly people but there was plenty to do and see. The kids seemed to gravitate around telescopes and such. People ambled along the Solar Nature Trail - others took off (and returned) to the local pubs for food. Many people brought their own drinks and picnics. It was a success and everyone is really looking forward to next year's event.

1st Dec 2000