Chester River Runoff: News

Hoy-hoy Runophiles!

happy holiday-ish times we be spitting English rhymes telling times and dates we'll be visiting your state with the 'grass that's great and blue played just for you by our crew our van ain't new

uhh

For those of y'all that don't follow us on bookface or read our twits (and WHY NOT?), November 21st was the 7th anniversary of the first Chester River Runoff gig.  We look forward to many happy returns with you, and have all sorts of exciting stuff in the works, but first the details of our last 3 performances of 2011...

Thursday December 8, 8-11pm
Denton, MD
Market Street Public House 
we've been playing the Public House monthly this year, but we're going to scale it back in 2012, so come see us in Denton.  We won't be there in January, so sieze the day!  We like this spot and it's always a lot of fun, so what excuse do you have to miss it?

Friday December 9, 8pm
Washington, DC, 9th & South Carolina SE
Corner Store
Finally, this is our first real listening room show in the District of Columbia.  We've been doing the bar thing there for a couple of years, but this is the first chance you'll have to see us in DC where we can play what we want and there won't be a bunch of folks gabbing away.  Be there!  This is a really cool small nonprofit art space with great sound.  Tix are a $20 donation with RSVP, $25 at the door, so go to cornerstorearts.com right now and reserve your spot. 

Saturday December 10 6pm -10:30
Snow Hill, MD - downtown on W Green Street at the old Fire Hall. 
Fundraiser for the Eastern Shore Land Trust.  This is going to be a great time.  Saltwater Stringband at 7, CRR at 8.  $20 ticket raises money for the Land Trust, which is a great cause that is saving the Lower Shore from the "Plastic Houses", and it also includes your first drink.  Burley Oak brewery from Berlin, MD will be providing the draft beer, we'll be providing the sound, and everybody has a great time. 

That's it!  And we don't have anything on the books yet for January, so that might be it for a while.  Get yourself on the road to a show!

I won't go into much of a recap of what's been going on, because I'm currently sitting in my car in front of a friend's house in Baltimore stealing his internet.  I just updated the mailing list, which took a long time; and after an hour and a half of sitting in the front seat listening to loud rap music and typing on a laptop the neighbors are starting to look at me sideways.  I noticed that the lady next door just started toward her house with bags of groceries and her car door open, saw me, and walked back to her car and set the alarm.  So maybe I'll keep it brief and move along. 
What DO we have going on?  Well, lately we've been recording most of our gigs on a portable 8 track.  And just last week, we finished sweeping the mouse poop and spiderwebs out of an old tackroom and set up a mixing board to start listening to and mixing them.  Once we've got some good stuff mixed we'll be releasing it somehow.  Anyhow, it's a little premature to talk about it, but there you go.  Live stuff!
Studio Stuff!  Also a little premature, but we're talking about making another studio album.  We're starting to perform some great new original songs, and have more in the works.  Anyhow, not too much to say there of yet, but if you see us, you'll hear some new stuff. 

OK, because all three of these shows are this week, I'm just going to send you guys the rough draft of the Flow (sorry!) and tell more stories later.  I gotta mosey for sure.  See you soon, right?!!?!?!

Ahoy nutrient-lovers -

lotsandlotsgoingonohmanihardly

Hoy hoy,
Runophiles, I know it's been a long time.  We've missed you like a pitcher swinging for the fences, but we've been too busy to write. 

What's with the natural disasters?  Hurricane on the way, earthquake in the Old Dominion.  We'll try not to participate any more than we have to....I already admit a degree of fault in the 'quake.  I happened to be on a trampoline in New York City when it struck, so I didn't notice, but once I heard what had happened, all I could think about was my fiddle hanging on a nail back in Maryland.  Before I left town, I thought to myself: "Maybe I should put my fiddle in it's case while I'm away....Naw, what could happen?  It's not like we get earthquakes here."  True story.  I sincerely apologize for the jinx.  The fiddle is fine.

July was wild, August was mellow, and we're getting back in the groove for the fall.  I'll run off a list of shows here that you can look for and get to story time after...

Wednesday, August 31, 9-12
Portside Tavern
2821 O'Donnell Street
Baltimore, MD
hey, another new spot in Baltimore!  we're getting over our fear of playing in big cities, so make the most of it.  you need to come, it's part of our therapy.

Thursday, September 1, 7-10
Bayou
2519 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC
what!!  we're owning the south end of the megalopolis this month.  looks like we'll be in DC a fair amount this fall, bring a friend the first time, bring 5 the second....

Sunday, September 4, 5-8
Brasserie Brightwell
Easton, MD
you Talbot county people never get to see us, bam!  come on out.

Thursday, September 8, 8-11
Market Street Pub
Denton, MD
once again, second Thursday of the month!  Marc has a family commitment, so our good friend Mike Buccino will join us on the *upright* bass.  this is your chance to witness the unthinkable, ye bluegrass purists. 

Friday, September 16, 10ish-?
Green Door
Park Hall/St.Mary's, MD
whoah doctor...back at our favorite spot in Southern MD.  If you like to dance, come see why the Green Door inspired us to build a second set of speakers...

Saturday, September 17, 12-4
Corsica Watershed Awareness Day
Centreville, MD (just north of town on 213)
as in years before, providing the soundtrack for some deep thoughts about water.  we like water, and so can you! 

Thursday, September 22, 8pm
Acre 121
1400 Irving Street (Columbia Heights)
Washington, DC
another new spot in DC!  hooray!

Saturday, September 24, 3-6
Wilmer Park
Chestertown, MD
an annual fall classic, come before we play and watch college students race cardboard boats, stick around for some tunes.

Friday - Saturday 9/30-10/1
Bluegrass By the Bay Festival
Castaways Campground, Berlin, MD
come camp out, hear a ton of bluegrass music.  we play Friday at 1, Saturday at 6.  Don't miss it.  This is the first year for this festival, so come have a good time, bring an instrument, and hang out and pick into the night.  that's what this music is about.  that's what i'll be doing.

Friday, September 30, 10-1
Dogfish Head
Rehoboth Beach, DE

plus a smattering of private events (hey, email us, we're for hire.  odd jobs, too.)  check the website, we're actually updating it now!  this is just the beginning!

What the heck has been going on?  Shall we work backwards?  As usual, August is a mysteriously slow month for CRR.  It lets us do other stuff, like see what it's like to have weekends free, and pursue other projects.  I was just up in New York to record some old-time music, and once again was awarded a ribbon in the Galax, VA Bluegrass Banjo Contest ("Participant").  Ben put on a show with Pearl Creek that is rumored to have gone well.  Nate played to packed houses all over the country as a sideman to famous people, and is allegedly off doing some sessions in Nashville.  Marc built a record-cleaner with a built in vaccuum.  Great achievements, yes, but we're all missing the infusion of nutrients we get from Chester River Runoff, and we're looking forward to picking again. 
What has the band done lately.....
We played in Cambridge, MD, at the Ruark Boat Works last month.  It was a great time.  The most exciting thing, however, was that we played on gravel...Those of you who are fans of Marc's right foot will be pleased to know that after 2 sets he had left a trench 6 inches deep and 2 feet long.  I believe Ben captured this on film, and hopefully will release these photos to the public on the facebook.
We were (technically) co-headliners with the Carolina Chocolate Drops at the Austin Dam Festival in Pennsylvania.  If you don't know who they are, that's surprising, because you're reading this and they're way more famous than we are.  When we arrived, we were pleased to see on the program: "Sharing top billing with the Carolina Chocolate Drops is the Chester River Runoff."  Heck, these guys have won Grammys ("Grammies?") and we're "co-billed", so to speak.  We didn't even mind the verboten "the" before our name.  It's no secret who the backstage cheese-and-fruit plate was really for, but it's still pretty cool.  The dam show was great, too.  Look up the Austin Dam, it's a great spot for a festival for sure, and a dam spooky historic site.  We hope to be back there next year, and you should think about coming...
What else have we done...We accompanied an operatic baritone singing Civil War camp songs.  Really.  We wore army hats and I played the fiddle in public.  Not kidding.  The guy flew over from London to sing, and we were his backing band.  Hah!  And the next day we played on the Annapolis City Dock and a huge square dance broke out!  How have you been missing this???  Get with the program!  We've got a website that is sometimes accurate!  Sometimes we bookface and even twit! 

Heard enough?  I've written enough.  We'll see you somewhere?

Sam