Met some new people at the bluegrass jam last night. Didn't catch their names exactly, but we chatted and they seemed pretty enthusiastic. Why not, it's a pretty enjoyable evening as far as I can tell.
As they were leaving they asked me for a definition of bluegrass music. At first I was horrified - I prefer answering questions about topics where I have a clue, but I was inspired by a couple thoughts such as the instruments are all acoustic...that means they don't plug into anything, right? I'm thinking about how we don't go to concerts where the fatal error of using an electric bass is made. Well, acoustic stuff is what I told them, and then they said something about drums, and I remember Michael being quite agitated when Alison Krauss and Union Station have drums, so I said nope, no drums.
One of the people said that the songs sounded a lot like country...yes, dear, I know...toooooo much country in last night's jam...anyway, I said that the difference with bluegrass music from country is that the woman always dies at the end of the song. This was the point that they realized what I knew all along - I have absolutely no clue to what I am speaking about, and they left. Whatever. It all sounds the same to me. Hopefully they will come back and I can put them in front of Michael for a few mintues.
On a different note, when I opened the American Express bill a couple nights ago (these things seem to come around FAR too often) I noticed a rather large charge to our bill and I didn't recognize the merchant. It was for a hotel and the charge had been converted from USD...ah HA! I thought. So, I called American Express to question the charge...I am a patient person in dealing with this type of thing, but let's just say the amount of time I spent on the phone to no avail was remarkable. Finally, I got the phone number of the merchant and instructions to call them first and then AMEX would dispute the charge if I had no luck. Sigh.
I called the merchant...he was a pleasant individual and told me he runs a little inn near the New Hampshire border. I explained my request and he told me the person that had made the charge was Michael Floyd. Oh. He proceeded to tell me what it was for...one night's accomodation, dinner, breakfast, and tickets to the Ralph Stanley concert. I said "Oh". He kept telling me he hoped he had not ruined a surprise for me. Hello? Roses are a surprise...diamonds...rings...shiny stuff, even hubcaps, are a surprise. Ralph Stanley...no. In no way does Ralph enter my 'surprise' category.
Have a good day, unless you've made other plans.
Hugs,
Helen
No comments:
Post a Comment