Berwyn Jam This Weekend
Early a.m. on Saturday, some of our regular players will be jamming at the Berwyn Farmer's Market in a lot down there by MacNeal Hospital on Oak Park Ave just south of the Metra tracks.

The Next Musicopia Session is Coming Up



It'll be Wed, Sept. 28th at 7:00 p.m.
at 6907 West Roosevelt Road in Berwyn/Oak Park

Free MP3 Sampler from Nettwerk Records
Click here for the download page
It's "Reverend Rico's Travelling Roadshow" and it features
Old Crow Medicine Show, Abigail Washburn, the Hackensaw
Boys, The Be Good Tanyas and more. It's got a downloadable CD cover booklet too. Ya cain't beat free!

Jim Polaski's Picture Gallery from the Columbia College Sessions
Click Here to See the Photos

Free Yonder Mountain String Band Downloads
Find 'em over at YonderMountain.com then click the "Music and Video" link on the main menu (or just go directly to the download page by clicking here).

New Orleans' Finest Bluegrass & Roots Band
Link to the Jeff and Vida Band's Web Site

Free Bluegrass MP3s on the Web

• The Hackensaw Boys
• Chatham County Line
• Abigail Washburn
• The Greencards
• Jimmy Martin

Kennedy Center Archive
There are literally dozens of performances captured in streaming video. I'm listening to King Wilkie in the background as I write this. Many more are available free -- click here.

Off Season Alternative to the Buzz?
Wendy Back, from Grounds for Appeal, 3242 S. Oak Park Avenue, a coffee house in Berwyn across from McNeil Hospital, said she would be happy to host the market group. She would open at 7 am and we could stay until around noon. Free coffee, of course.

The plus is that Grounds for Appeal can comfortably hold the group that normally plays at the Buzz. The minuses are that it is a little farther away, it doesn't reunite the entire group and parking might be a little bit harder. Also, Wendy permits smoking, though she has a pretty good ventilation system.

Please post your comments using the "comments" link below.

Jim's Links to Bluegrass On The Web

• WAMU Washington DC - http://www.wamu.com
• WDCB College of Dupage - http://www.wdcb.org/
• and for songwriters, Just Plain folks - http://www.jpfolks.com/home.html
• If you read NEWSGROUPS, there is a bluegrass NG on most newsservers, alt.music.bluegrass

Go see who's been nominated for the 16th Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards. The Award Show is the centerpiece of IBMA’s week-long Business Conference and Bluegrass Fan Fest, slated for October 24 – 30, in Nashville.

Vicki's Latest CD Update: Hi everybody. Good news. Just spoke with Erik today and we are rolling. I am meeting with him on the 18th and 24th to finish things up - mixing and mastering. After that, we will start the process of duplication and packaging. So - you'll be hearing from me more to verify song credits.

Setting Up the Tent - Tim has suggested that the tent be set up as far from the hedges as possible. This will create an arc of shade given the direction the sun falls in the morning.

Musicopia Session CD Update - Miguel has a single CD from the Wed, Aug 31st session at Musicopia. But due to time commitments he can only duplicate about five before this Saturday. He'll bring them to the market. Thanks for your patience.

Bayou Benefit Concert at the Old Town School
Old Town School of Folk Music staff, friends of the School, and students will gather for a night of music to benefit their fellow musicians in New Orleans struck by the recent flooding tragedy. All proceeds from this concert will donated to the New Orleans Musicians' Clinic.

Sunday, October 02, 2005 -- 6:00 PM - 11:00 PM
American Airlines Concert Hall :: 4544 N Lincoln Ave. :: $15

Open Mic Nights

Molly Malone's
It's every Sunday at 9 p.m. (sign up at 8 p.m) at 7652 Madison Street in Forest Park, 708-366-8073. Many traditional, folk and bluegrass pickers show up; including some associated with the OPFMB. Here's the link.

Fitzgerald's
Every Tuesday night at 9 p.m. (sign up at 8 p.m.) on Roosevelt Road west of East Ave. Several members of the OPFMB are regulars, including Jack, Miguel, Vicki, Rich, Bob and others. Here's a link.

A Note From Vicki - Apparently there has been some confusion - I tried to make it clear in my last email that we cannot do further edits to the songs. Please DO NOT contact Erik directly with edits. If you have something you want to talk about, please contact me. Erik had asked me to not pass out any rough drafts - I forgot about that when I got preoccupied trying to meet everyone's needs. This was my fault and I will try to make it up to Erik somehow. Please help me by honoring this request. Erik is doing a good thing for us here and his feelings should be respected.

Upcoming Shows Of Note at Fitzgerald's Nightclub

• Thu 9/8 - Chris Scruggs: young grandson of that Scruggs, sings 'n' strums rockabilly/honkytonk
  
• Thu 9/22 - King Wilkie: the young bluegrass band from Charlottesville, NC
• Fri 9/23 - Sam Bush: mandolin virtuoso
• 10/14 - The Green Cards: progressive bluegrass, toured with Bob Dylan/Willie Nelson over the summer
• 10/20 - The Avett Brothers: alt.country band also from the Carolinas
• 10/27- Susan Cowsill: the girl's all grown up
• Sat 11/1 - The Commander Cody Band: "Hot Rod Lincoln"
  
• 11/16 - Rodney Crowell

Roger McGuinn's Folk Den
The founder of The Byrds is a well-known "folkie." He also happens to be an audio recording aficionado. And McGuinn's got a home studio like you've never seen! To put all that high-tech hardware to good use, he's been making home recordings of the classic American repertoire and posting them song-by-song on his own Web site, the Folk Den at http://www.folkden.com. Many tunes associated with the OPFMB are represented: Haul Away Joe, Banks of the Ohio, Home on the Range, John Henry, I Am a Pilgrim, Salty Dog Blues (a bit different than Flatt & Scruggs' version) and others. More than 150 tunes in all. And they're all available to download for FREE.

Five Minutes with Wichita

Check out this funny Podcast featuring short interviews with Bluegrass and Country stars. Click this link. It's also available free on the iTunes Music Store in the Podcast section.

Jack Swain says, "Check out Folk Alley"
Go visit www.folkalley.com for lots of good stuff. Thanks, Jack.

The Wed Night Session at Musicopia was Good!
So, we're going to do it again. The next Musicopia Session will be Wed, Sep 28th at 7pm - 9pm. This time we'll add a lead vocal microphone and have an electric bass ready in case we have no bass fiddlers on hand. Plus, Stephan and Wes will try arranging the space differently to accommodate the band's size. We had 11 this time, but we should expect up to 15.