The Northern Grass Summer August 2010 Edition Northern Kentucky Bluegrass Music Association Keeping Bluegrass Music Alive In The Northern Kentucky Area The NKBMA Supports Young People In Bluegrass Music I don’t know if you know it or not, but as a member of the All of this is taken into consideration by the NKBMA scholar- Northern Kentucky Bluegrass Music Association you are helping ship committee and one student is selected to receive this scholar- to support a young Bluegrass musician through college. The ship money. “Our hopes are to grow the amount of this scholar- NKBMA recently contacted The Kentucky School Of Bluegrass ship in the future” states NKBMA president Steve McCain. “We and Traditional Music located in Hyden Kentucky and offered a need the continued support of our members during the fund raising scholarship to one young student to help them financially through events we will hold throughout the year, we always have a dona- their college career. tion box out at our jam sessions at Willis Music and are now put- A total dollar amount of $1000 dollars was put together as a ting a booth up at many of the local festivals where we are able to scholarship for 2010 - 2011. This may not sound like much, but pass out information and take donations to hopefully increase this putting two kids through college myself, I know every bit helps. amount next year”. Dean Osborne, director of the Kentucky School of Bluegrass There is no better way of keeping Bluegrass music alive than to and Traditional Music said they are extremely grateful for the in- help the young folks who want to make a career in music a little terest we have shown in supporting their school and their students. easier. Many of these students are putting themselves through college and If you are interested in getting more information on the Ken- need every bit they can get. tucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music, you can visit Students who are interested in the scholarship provide resumes, their website at http://kybluegrassschool.com. a 300 word essay about themselves and what they plan to do in We will announce the winner of this years scholarship in our Bluegrass music along with personal references and their aca- next edition of the Northern Grass as well as on our website demic portfolio from the previous year. nkbma.com at the beginning of August. Thanks again for your support! Dean Osborn and staff on opening day at the Kentucky School of Blue- grass and Traditional Music Midwestern Hayride….What’s That? By Steve McCain If you were to ask a young adult today what the Simple comedy, good music and clean enough you could Midwestern Hayride is, they would probably say a wagon have your young kids in the room and didn’t have to keep your ride out in California somewhere. finger on the remote in case a love scene or bad language comes on unexpectedly. Now ask them what good TV is and you would get a host of mixed answers. A 30 something adult might say Now jump back to the 1940’ and 1950’s. TV was just a any number of Dramas like 24, House, Big Brother or Sur- baby and “live” TV was just that, live. What you were watch- vivor. A 20 something adult may answer The Simpson's, ing was happening real time in some TV studio across the Family Guy or MTV, and anyone under 20 probably country and the actors didn’t get 20 takes to get the scene would answer a cartoon of some sort or the latest video right, if they messed up, they had to pull themselves together game they play on TV instead of watching it. and start over. What kind of pressure that must have been. When it came down to it, that possible mistake is what made So many of our TV shows have evolved into violence, them special. Shows like Red Skelton, Bob Hope and Jack bad language and poor humor. Thinking where it all Benny were all examples of guys that could forget their lines started is just a distant memory, drowned out by shows and turn it into the funniest thing you ever saw. that try to see how many ways you can murder someone, blow up a city or more recently the ever popular reality On a more local level, we in the tri-State area were part of show where we sit around the TV watching, entranced as this live TV history. One of the more popular shows on in the another family does everyday things like wash cloths, evening was the Midwestern Hayride. This TV show which clean bathrooms, re-model their family room or argue with evolved from earlier radio shows such as the Boone County each other till one goes storming out of the house. I am Jamboree went on the air for the first time in August of 1948 waiting for a reality show of a family that sits around on WLW-TV. The show was produced at Crosley Square Stu- watching reality shows. What is sad is there are people dios in Cincinnati. In 1955 the show had become so popular out there that will sit and watch that. Is this a crazy loop or they moved to Castle Farms dance pavilion where they had a what? TV has become not entertainment, but a babysitter, seating capacity of 2,800 people. They had to turn away 500 something to do to take up time till you go to bed or even people that first show. People were driving in from 200 miles a blueprint for some stupid terrorist that watches an epi- away to see the show. The show became so popular that it be- sode of 24 and has a brainstorm for a new way to kill peo- came part of the NBC network on Friday nights just after the ple. Red Buttons and Jack Carson shows. Now ask someone who is in their 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and This arrangement would let thousands across the country up what good TV is. I suspect you will get totally differ- tune in and see Hugh Cherry emcee the show. The special ent answers. They remember good TV in the days when guest for a evening may have been Pee Wee King, Red Stew- you could watch TV and not feel like you had to relate to art and their band the Golden West Cowboys. Some of the a dysfunctional family on TV and just sit down and laugh other acts that would appear on the show were the Kentucky through a few half hour sitcoms of how Gilligan screwed Briarhoppers, The Trailhands, Jimmy Walker, Lafe Harkness, up again and how those castaways will be on the island for Prairie Songbirds and Paul Arnold. at least another week. Go back in time even further and Continued on page 4 now you are watching something called a variety show. Ah, the days of Dean Martin, Carol Burnett, Hee Haw, Sonny and Cher and Donny and Marie. Left : Dean Osborn and Higher Vision perform at concert in May At Willis Music. Right: Judy Pickett poses with one of her favorite Bluegrass musicians Glenn Richie Presidential Summit 20th Annual In Brown County Carrollton Kentucky Bluegrass Festival If you happened to be in Carrollton Kentucky on July 17th you had the opportunity August 26th, 27th and 28th to see two monumental 2010 events. Not only could you Tickets: Thursday - $ 15.00 see the 10th annual Carroll- Friday - $ 25.00 ton Bluegrass festival, pro- Saturday - $ 30.00 duced by Gary Strong, you Children 14 and under are FREE also saw an anomaly of four Bands Playing presidents, past and present, of the Northern Kentucky Thursday Friends Of Bluegrass Bluegrass Music Association Hazel Holler all in one place. You may Dixie Ryders have expected to see an Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out event of this magnitude re- From left to right - President Earl Wiseman, ported on CNN, FOX, President Ron Cornett, President Steven McCain, Friday WKRC or even RFD TV but President Ron Simmons. Bobby Mackey and Pine Hill Pickers they all missed it! Only this Big Country Bluegrass reporter for the Northern Grass beat all the big networks to the punch. Now if this Tommy Brown and County Line Grass gathering included Obama, Bush, Clinton and Reagan I bet they all would have Bill Yates Joe Mullins and Radio Ramblers been there! Come to think of it if Reagan showed up I know The National Enquirer James King Band would have been there. Well the networks don’t know what they missed. While our US presidents would sit around a beautiful table made of mahogany, plush chairs of velvet and food cooked by the best chefs in Washington, our down to Saturday earth NKBMA presidents sat in foldable lawn chairs holding on to a bowl of ice Crossroads cream or a grape slushy and solved many of our world problems today….well, ok, Wildwood Valley Boys Tommy Brown County Line Grass health care is still screwed up but everything else is fixed. It would be nice to re- Big Country Bluegrass port that was true but we stuck to what we knew best which is Bluegrass music. Higher Vision It was nice to sit and discuss events we have been involved with in the past, Jr. Sisk catch up on what is going on with common friends and what we can do as the JD Crowe and the New South NKBMA to help keep Bluegrass music in front of the people of the Northern Ken- tucky, tri-state area.