Roger Woods
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 8 May 2005 6:01 pm |
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Steel Pedalers and Other Pickers-- Pull In, Set Up, and Join In!
All Levels of Experience Are Welcome. Plenty of Chances to Learn from Old Pros!
WHERE: Slab City, Niland, CA. East Side of Salton Sea 30 miles north of El Centro, CA off I-8 west of Yuma, AZ.
COST: ZERO, NOTHING, NADA!
Unlimited Free Parking, No Limit on Staying!
This winter, October to June or so of next year, 2006, there will be constant jams and picking going on at an old abandoned military base in the CA desert. After WW II they tore down the buildings and left nothing behind except concrete slabs. On one of those slabs there is a picking stage called the Range. A sound system, AC generator for picking, free parking, camping, etc., for as long as you want to stay. There are acres of desert to camp on. No rent, no utilities, no water, but free water, cheap food, and services in town about 4 miles away. Dry camping with tent, van, pickup, travel trailer, whatever. Plenty of beer flows and smoke, for those who indulge. My vices are cheap beer and cheap cigars. We live on Slab time there. Pick late, sleep in, do repairs to our rigs, if needed, have a few beers, share some meals, now and then, pick into the night. Free shower on site. Water from one of the hot underground springs. Hot springs soaking pool free to all.
I’ll be there with pedal steel, lead, and bass joining some really great musicians for the entire season. Drummers, bass, lead, keyboard, harp, and other players spend all of, or part of, the winter there. Some really great singers, too.
There is a big jam the last weekend in January when pickers from all over arrive at the Slabs to join in the fun. Plenty of free food pot lucks during the season and at the January jam. Reno Jones did a big recording jam there and may be coming back for another round of some good get-down music again.
If there is any interest, I plan to hold some informal learning sessions on picking pedals, lead, or bass, sharing my style of picking with anyone who is interested and learning some licks from them. Naw, I ain’t no ex-Nashville picker, mainly because I never was that good, spent most of my picking days in clubs backing up various singers with varied degrees of talent. Long retired from the smoky bars and have no desire to go back to them. Might be I have a few pointers others can apply to their picking. Play strictly E9th on pedals, and old rock, country, and blues on all three instruments. Ain’t no hot picker on pedals but just good, smooth backup for singers.
You can read more about the place here
http://rogerwoods.bravehost.com/
and about the Range here
http://rogerwoods.bravehost.com/range.html
More about the Slabs here
http://rogerwoods.bravehost.com/slabs.html
For more info, contact me: rwoods4108 at yahoo dot com
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