Everyone comes to Rick's
6/12/20
I'm as anxious as anyone to see musicians get back to work, but I fear we are moving too fast in our zeal to "open up." In trying to rekindle the economy, we're fueling the virus. Covid-19 is NOT in decline, it is on the rise. It now becomes even more crucial for each of us individually to strictly observe social distancing, and to wear those masks!
Our time to relax about all of this will come, but it is not here yet.
Lately I've been writing my memoirs. I'm not under the illusion that there would be any general interest beyond my own circle of friends, but it's been fun to do, and it's approaching book length now.
With the passing of Earl Crabb, many of our mutual friends have stirred up memories of Humbead's Map of the World. Here is the chapter from my memoirs in which I recall Earl and myself creating the map:
Humbead (pdf, 4 pages)
I went up to Seattle to record a couple of tracks with fiddler Hank Bradley. I had a wonderful time, and the two fiddle tunes - Bradley originals - came out great. More on the release of his CD soon...
• A video interview of me talking about the beginning of Shubb Capos. Taped in June 2010 as part of NAMM's oral history project.
• For an article about me from the January 1996 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited, written by Sandy Rothman, CLICK HERE
A couple of friends have asked for an example of me playing in a more traditional bluegrass style. I reached pretty far back in time for these three tunes with Vern and Ray:
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• I've played the same instrument for almost all the years I've been playing. My banjo...
• My old friend George Jansen is a writer, and recently had his second novel published. It's about amateur baseball in 1900. I read it, and loved it. More...
• I was featured in Business 2.0 magazine. This was just a one-page piece, which is essentially accurate, but kind of truncates the development of Shubb Capos just a bit for the sake of brevity. You can see it or download it here (pdf)
The same article ran in FORTUNE magazine, as well.
Here I am with Saga's Tora Bora Boys
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previous articles from Rick's Cafe:
• The Michael Richards thing
•The Rudeness Epidemic
• Do You Play Requests?
I am proud to have been granted a lifetime membership in the California Bluegrass Association.
more...
Some of you may be familiar with my work
years ago as a graphic artist. I did posters, some work in comic
books, and various other illustrations, including work for the Carousel Ballroom and the Grateful Dead.
Three of my posters were reproduced in the book "the Art of Rock," the definitive reference work on rock poster art.
All four Carousel posters are now available: digitally restored, and printed on high quality photo paper with archival ink. Check them out here...
One of my best known posters was Humbead's Revised Map of the World (with List of Population). Humbead was Earl Crabb, who collaborated on the project with me. I believe that he still has copies of this poster, if you want to check his website.
Here are more samples of my early art. Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
click image for PDF
poster circa 1966
click image for PDF
click image for PDF
drawing, circa 1965
click for PDF
I did this festival poster in 1974. (click for PDF, 877kb)
Besides the poster, I played in the festival, too.
Rick
