From The Desk Of Allen Dresser

Here are a couple of great places to get the latest in bluegrass news. Cybergrass is the oldest source of bluegrass news. Bob Cherry does a great job of providing the latest news in the community.

The BluegrassJournal is another great site with current news. The Directory Page alone is worth the price of admission.

In the Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama area, the South East Bluegrass Association is another great source of information. Check out SEBA!

If you have another good source of bluegrass news and info, please leave a comment!

Every Tuesday evening from 7 to 9 on the historic square of Marietta, Georgia pickin’ and grinnin’ are happening! The Australian Bakery host the Banjo.com Bluegrass Jam. This is a great jam with players of all levels, so feel to come on down and join in!

Earl Scruggs and Steve Martin and more on David Letterman

I have played guitar and bass for years but have always had a hankering’ to play the 5 string banjo. Lately, I have been taking lessons and really enjoying it! I have found out that this “wild and crazy guy” was right about banjo music…  “The banjo is such a happy instrument–you can’t play a sad song on the banjo – it always comes out so cheerful.” -Steve Martin.

Our great American humorist, Mark Twain,  put it like this: ” When you want genuine music – music that will come right home to you like a bad quarter, suffuse your system like strychnine whiskey, go right through you like Brandreth’s pills, ramify your whole constitution like the measles, and break out on your hide like the pinfeather pimples on a picked goose – when you want all this, just smash your piano, and invoke the glory-beaming banjo!”

So, if you are feelin’ a little down, get our your banjo and pick some rolls. I guarantee your troubles will melt away and you will be healed of all your sad thoughts…. And if you don’t own a banjo, go to Banjo.com and getcha one!

Whether you agree with the President and the Congress or not, you probably have a check coming soon. Retailers and “W” want you to spend it to stimulate the economy. However, I would contend that too much spending ( and too much house and too much car and too much STUFF! ) is what got us in trouble recently. So the money gurus are recommending that you PAY DOWN DEBT! Do a debt snowball and pay off your smallest balance credit card if you can and start working on the next one. If you do not have credit card debt, then put it in savings and work at getting your emergency fund going, if you have not already done so. If you do not need the rebate at all, give it to your church or other deserving charity and help others. Please, think carefully before you act. So, what are YOU going to do with your rebate check?

My friend Donna Robinson has written a great OP-ED on the mortgage bailout. http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/12212007_Mortgage_Rate_Freeze.asp