I’ve Seen Some Good Picking Weekends, But....
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By Derek Brandon 
WHAT DO YOU SAY when you get an invitation to “Come to our annual picking weekend in May - we’d love to see you here and you’ll love it!” Well, you go, I suppose. But this invite was from Mike Hall, of Palo Alto, California, and the ‘do’ was the La-Honda Campout... Now our daughter lives in San Francisco and by chance we went to visit in May, so Mike was very surprised when I phoned and asked “We’re here - how do we get there?”!! 45 minutes drive south down 101 in our daughter’s old Ford camper truck (no power steering/brakes!) and we found La Honda. Actually, we had tried to find it on a previous visit, driving from the coast to Palo Alto for the Suzanne Thomas & Friends gig (NWBN Jan 1999) but blinked and missed it. That’s not surprising - there are only about half-a-dozen buildings. One is Applejacks, a bikers bar. In another is The Merry Prankster Café, centre for the La Honda Campout and regular Bluegrass Session venue. La Honda is a tiny hamlet in a valley in the Santa Cruz mountains - so small it doesn’t even have a gas station - surrounded by tree-covered hills - the setting is absolutely beautiful!
We’ve been to several picking weekends in England and they nearly all have a lot going for them - bands, contests/games, beer, camping, beer... So what is so special about the La Honda weekend? Well, first off it is a small affair with the emphasis on sociability and family. Then the price - $5 (about £3) per person for the weekend. And that included everything - dinner on Friday night, a concert with 3 bands and camping! There were two camping areas - one for RV/Camper-style vehicles, flat, level and easy for big things to get on and off, and another flat, level site for tents in a clearing the pines. Oh yes, and there was beer - Gordon Biersch - at the Merry Prankster - $1.50 a US pint Friday and Saturday, free on Sunday.... As soon as we had set up on the camper site a guy bearing bottles of beer came rushing across - “Hey!” (sentences always start like that). “Hey - you’ve come! Have a beer!” It was Mike Hall. “Hey, let me introduce you to everyone!” and off we were whisked to meet, well, a lot of people, if not everyone. First came Elena Corey and Jim, butwe had already met them the week before when they came to see us and the band at a disastrous gig.... enough said! (Though our previous gig at the same venue was a great success...) You’ll remember Elena - she wrote on Harmony Singing in NWBN, March 1999. Everyone else was new but all were enthusiastic - “Hey, great to meet you! D’you wanna beer? You sing? Hey - c’mon - let’s have a session!” It washard trying to play, sing, meet people and drink beer all at the same time. Soon it was time for dinner, which was held on the main picking area - a small, flat, mowed field behind the café - with lots of those combined table/chair bench things set out under fly-sheets. Dinner was barbecue-based - a long barbecue - masses of chickens, sausages, chilli (good chilli!) & beans, rice, tortillas, salads, corn, salsas & ‘chips’. A real, sociable feast of good, down-to-earth grub! Unfortunately, more beer just had to follow...
Derek keeps cool as Jean sings... Next came the Concert, held in the ‘back yard’ (rear garden) of the Merry Prankster. Good lighting, PA and three good, local bands: Grass Menagerie, Mr.Banjo & The Whalers and Ants In The Butter. Excellent presentation and performances by all. I shouldn’t show bias, but my vote went to Grass Menagerie, Rick Cornish’s band. The concert was followed by picking in groups large and small. We were very impressed by these sessions - everyone seemed to know when to stop and start - no-one drowning everyone out - lots of 3 and 4 part harmonies - everyone asked to ‘do one’ and many other things uncommon at home. It was hard to go to bed... It was hard to get up on Saturday, something not helped by “Hey - do you wanna beer?” There was no need to cook - wonderful breakfasts were to be had inexpensively at the café. We passed a great afternoon mingling, picking and singing in the sunshine until dinner time. Now here was another event geared towards socialising and having a good time. It was organised as a “semi pot-luck” event. In a true pot luck dinner everyone takes a main course and a sweet course, lays them out and you take what you fancy; it’s very easy to lose out! Here, if you wanted something special you took it, cooked it and ate it. But everyone had to take something to share - from stews to asparagus vinaigrette - the variety was amazing! And there was more chicken and sausages provided by the organisers as part of the $5!!!
The evening finished off with a huge campfire circle and jamming all around. The hard cases (like us) who stuck it out until early morning had a really cosy session. Sunday dawned early (for a few) with a Gospel Set around the fire circle but for others the free beer was hard to resist. In the afternoon everyone drifted away - some had many miles to go. Our daughter arrived so we all staggered across the road to Applejacks to see Jimbo Trout and TheFish People... Like I said once before, don’t ask! Full marks to spring campout co-ordinator and author of The (never quite complete) Bluegrass Song Book, Rick Cornish (“I plan, execute and clean up!”) and Mike Hall. They obviously put a lot of work into it and the resulting success was well deserved. How can it get better??? Derek Brandon, Chester
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Photo right:
The Last Survivors as the fire dies down: Jean Brandon and
Rick Cornish (fiddle) singoff together....