...and a good time was had by all

This has been Mountaineer week at West Virginia University. There have been various events for this taking place on campus all week. Last night, Mr. UF's parents took my son to see a concert at the Mountainlair, the WVU student union. Tonight, I let them drag me along for a fiddle competition there.

The evening got off to a shaky start when the microphones were misbehaving. The show was ten minutes late because of it, but that wasn't really a problem.

The MC came on stage and announced a change from previous years. They added a new age group this year for the young people. It wasn't fair to have young kids playing against seasoned adults. So this year, the categories were: 16 and under, adults, and 60 and up. The 'old folks' got to go first. There were four of them.

Now I have to confess something. I had my Palm Pilot with me, but I never thought to make notes until close to the end of the evening. Names will therefore be sketchy. And don't take my spelling of them as gospel.

All I remember was that my Dad's cousin came in fourth. This is not because he wasn't as good, but because everyone was damn good, and someone had to be last. If you have 60 or 70 years experience playing the fiddle, you'd get good at it, too.

They let the kids go next. The first boy (all the kids were male) came onstage with his accompanist. He had on a great grey fedora, and played his heart out. He was the youngest, and if he keeps at it, will be a very good player someday. The other two boys were both accompanied by their teacher, Rachel Eddy. If I could afford it, I would have my son take lessons from her. She's good.

They finished with the adults. There were ten or so contestants in the adult category. Rachel Eddy and her sister, Libby, both entered. Since the Kings (of which I am one) and the Eddys are related, I was rooting for them.

Then, a young man from Elkins named Andy Fitzgibbons came on. The first thing that got my attention was the way he held his fiddle. Instead of tucking it under his chin, he held it with the butt of it against his chest. His playing was wonderful.

I'm no judge of fiddle music. I don't have a clue what constitutes proficiency and what is sloppy playing. I do know that, in my opinion, he was the best.

He got first place.

Afterwards, Rachel came up to me to talk about my son. My son loves music, and he's a natural. At the age of four, he taught himself how to play 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' and 'Frere Jacques' on the keyboard. He hears a song once, and he can sing it. Apparently, last night at the concert (Rachel was one of the performers), AJ went to the front row and watched everything intently. He did the same tonight. In between eating popcorn and dancing. AJ gave Rachel a big hug, and she left to go to the Rosewood Theatre for a jam session.

There was a concert at 10 pm by Stewed Mulligan. http://www.stewedmulligan.com/

The music was good, the banter was amusing. The lead singer, however, got on my nerves. Too much crotch thrusting, and his voice was grating at times.

By 11:30 pm, it was time to head home. AJ went straight to bed. I'll be going to bed as soon as I finish this.

Oh, here's a link to Rachel's website: http://www.racheleddy.com/

You can listen to some mp3's of her and her band, the Mo'Town Rounders here: http://tinyurl.com/9wnnz

Here: http://music.download.com/morgantownrounders

And here: http://www.myspace.com/racheleddy


Be warned: when you click on the last link, the music starts playing automatically. It's good, though.