All the Concerts Fit to Print

Me, Cyn and my mom went to the Cedarburg Cultural Center to see the Nob Hill Boys. The Boys are a bluegrass quintet - madonlin, guitar, banjo, fiddle and bass. The two new members were the bassist and the guitarist. The guitarist was a young guy - Seth Foerster. Looked like he was in his twenties. He was good. His fingers really flew. Looked like he was working hard at it - he certainly didn't make it look easy. The bassist was Mark Hembree, who has played with Bill Monroe. He was the band's spokesman onstage. I liked his technique with slapping strings on the fretboard. It sounded like a rockabilly rhythm, tapped out on the rim of a snare drum. He was pretty funny, too. He'd say things like, "and that concludes the musical portion of our show," which would get a laugh, and then he'd continue, "I'm going to sing this next one." John Fabke was the mandolin player. I wasn't all that impressed with his playing. He's one of the founding members, along with Jon Peik, a great banjo picker. Paul Keinitz is the fiddler, and the only one who doesn't sing. Right after the break, the band invited Seth's wife onstage to sing a duet with him.

Cyn and I were just about the youngest people in the room (which was full). There were others in our general age group, but only about half a dozen who I was sure were younger than me (the sound guy, the guitarist and his wife were three of those). At one point, the bassist asked if anyone had heard of Hayseed Dixie, which is a bluegrass/country band that covers rock songs, like AC-DC. I had, but I didn't answer because I didn't want to blow my cover.

I'm pretty sure there was an opener for this show. A singer/songwriter acoustic guitar guy.

Celtic Roots Bluegrass Fest at the Irish Cultural & Heritage Center. I wasn't familiar with bluegrass, but thought it sounded like fun. A local band, Frogwater, opened up the show.

The Nob Hill Boys were second. Guitar, banjo, mandolin, violin and bass. The five guys stood around a single microphone, and each stepped forward when it was his turn to sing. They had choreographed it pretty well, since it's a little tricky to do this without stepping on each other's toes. I loved their set, partly for this single-mic style, partly for the mix of the five instruments, partly for their vocal harmonies, and partly for their musicianship. I became a fan, and have seen them several times since.

The headliner, Turkey Hollow Consort, were not strictly bluegrass, like the previous two bands. I thought they were more country, bluegrass and maybe rock. They were decent, but nobody I'd go out of my way to see again. They're no longer around anyway.