Casey Jones Oldtime Music Festival Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012

     There is a dandy festival coming up soon! The Casey Jones Oldtime Music Festival will be held from 11:00a until 6:00p CDT, on Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012. The location is Casey Jones Village which surrounds the Old Country Store in Jackson, TN. Take I-40 Exit 80-A, which is also known as "the Highway 45 Bypass". Performances will be in the Casey Jones Home & Railroad Museum Theater. Admission to the theater is $5.00 each, which includes a tour of the historic Casey Jones Home & Railroad Museum. The Jackson Area Plectral Society and Casey Jones Village are the sponsors. This one is a MUST if you like good ol' festivals and food! There's plenty of both at this event!

Betcha me and my big brother here can out-pick ya!

The music stage schedule at the Casey Jones Museum Theater is as follows. Please come out and support these fine musicians. Come out any Thursday night from about 6:00 until the Old Country Store closes for the night! Unbelievable jammin' goes on out there! Fine pickers all over the parking lot! Whoo-wee!

Two scheduled bands have switched places. They are identified in RED in the schedule below:

11:00a   Open Stage
11:50a   Young Bluegrass Jam
12:35p   The Secret Society
1:20p     The Slaphappy Oldtime Stringband

2:05p    Highway 54

2:50p     Providence Road

3:35p     The Cartwright Family

4:20p     Kacey Cannon & Friends

5:05p     Jargon

For more information:
Phone: 731.668.1222
Web: http://www.caseyjones.com

Out of This World!

       On Monday, August 6, 2012, the United States completed a mission to send a robot device to another planet! Mars! Can you even fathom that? I thought that it was a very big deal for us to land and walk on our moon some 43 years ago. Now, we've gone into outer space and landed on Mars. Mars! Did that really happen? Yes indeed! The idea seems to be that one day the "red planet" could be inhabited by Earthlings. That won't be accomplished by this Thanksgiving, but it's definitely in the works.
       Congratulations to NASA, Johnson Space Center, the JPL, and especially to my friend Jason and his pals who contributed their efforts to the astronauts' many trips to the Space Station. It's just an incredible time to be alive. The horse-n-buggy days that my grandparents lived in seem like a very, very long time ago.
       Maybe you saw the specially designed open-face Oreo cookie that was made in honor of the Mars landing. The cookie was covered in red icing and tiny tire tracks ran across the top of the cookie! What's next?

Bluegrass content: I imagine that if you pushed the right button on the robot, it would play "Out Among The Stars" or "Vincent" (also called "Starry, Starry Night") or "Blue Moon of Kentucky," and a special cabinet would be well-stocked with...ready? Mars bars! What else?

HISTORIC NOTES: Neil Armstrong (age 82) departed this life to join his fellow astronauts 'out among the stars' on August 25, 2012. He planted the first footprint and the American flag on the moon. "One giant leap for mankind!"
Sally Ride (age 61) died July 23, 2012.
Columbia exploded February 1, 2003
Challenger exploded January 28, 1986 (Larry Rice's "Star-bound Heroes" is a fine tribute to Challenger!)
Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee died in a fire on the launch pad January 27, 1967

Remember all these 'star-bound heroes'.

Good Friends, Good Music, Good Times!

     Collierville (TN) has a delightful rehab center called Dove Rehab. What a peaceful name for a peaceful place. The County Line Old-Time Jam had an opportunity on Sunday, August 5, 2012, to play for the residents and their guests. The group has played at Dove before. In October of 2009, a group of dulcimer players gathered there to serenade their dulcimer-playing friend, Emogene Hill, who had been injured in a wreck. It's just a great feeling to visit and provide music for folks who can't get outside very often.
     The most recent visit provided the following musicians: Karl Gray, Donna Gray, Caroline Sanford, Peter Smith, Hilary Scheel, and Daniel Fleck. Along with the residents, a few onlookers sang and clapped along with the music: Carol Martindale (entertainment and recreation director at Dove Rehab), Valerie Gray (Karl and Donna's daughter), and Betty Westmoreland enjoyed their participation in the two-hour music session. See photos of the County Line Old-Time Jam below. Contact Carol Martindale if your group would like to play for the very appreciative residents at Dove Rehab.