The Ashland Annual Musician's Swap

I learned about the Annual Musician's Swap the day before it happened, and glad I was that I did. Held at Bellevue School during a Saturday in early December, the place was pretty well packed from the opening bell, and if business wasn't too brisk, the atmosphere of friendship more than made up for it. I found myself a great little Fender Acoustisonic amp with inputs for mike, drum machine, guitar, and one more instrument. A real portable ensemble machine. Now if only I can learn how to play that darned guitar. Real musicians abound in Ashland, though, and if you can't learn by hanging out with them, then at least you can enjoy their company and pick up some inspiration. For the ride back to our respective places, Casey Bourgeois, Dave Hampton, his wife Sage Meadows and I all managed to squeeze into my car, along with several thousand issues of freshly-printed copies of the AFP. Just shows, when you get into music, you've always got friends.

Carlos Ramone