It is the love of music that got most of us here. Those who lack the necessary business skills are soon knocked for a loop, but ironically, those who successfully stay in business often find that they have no time to pursue the muse that first attracted them. Lightning first struck me when I was a teenager and heard Earl Scruggs play the banjo on a Northern Michigan radio program. I called the radio station and asked the DJ what kind of music it was and he told me “Bluegrass!” It wasn’t long before I had a banjo and was driving my mother nuts. That banjo became an extension of my body and wherever I went, it went too. I thought that I was the only person on earth who was so consumed with such a passion…and in Upper Michigan, I probably was!
I know that many of you share that same feeling with me…it might not be Bluegrass that got you, but something did, and it changed you. Let me encourage you not to abandon the siren that led you into the Music Business. Here at Saga, we’re picking everyday from 12:00 – 1:00 PST and if you are in town, stop by and join us, the Tora Bora Boys! The Tora Bora Boys started the year with an impressive appearance at the Saga-Shubb International Part at Anaheim NAMM Show. It was followed with a Best of Show (See the August Issue of “MUsic Merchandise Review”) at the Nashville NAMM Show and, as we go to press, they are off for a guest appearance at the Japan Music Expo in Yokohama Japan. Keep on pickin’…and if you see Earl, tell him “Thanks” for me.
Richard Keldsen
San Francisco
December 2003