Clifftop 2003 was a mighty good year – remember? It was one of the last times we got to play with our buddy Jack Strickland. Jack was from Ohio and a veteran of Iwo Jima. He told us that in order to be safe he joined the Seabees, a naval engineering unit. Little did he know his group would be sent ashore before the main invasion of the island by marines to blow up traps and barriers in the surf! Jack was a great guy and a fine musician. He had a fabulous old Gibson Bluegrass banjo. Always love playing with Bluegrass banjo players at Clifftop as it rubs the old-timey police the wrong way in just the right spot.
We had great fun playing in the non-trad contest. This was before the strange rule change of later years, which changed it to “neo-trad” and basically made this contest a lot less fun and a lot less interesting. Our friend Cathy Casper brought a tiny melodian, which she graciously permitted Patt to use in the contest. The melodian was emblazoned with “Loyal Order of Moose, No. 437, Racine, Wis.” and so this was inspiration for the name of the band “Code 437”.
Yeah buddy! Maybe I was there. I don’t remember….!
I believe you were. I’m scanning some old pics from the original days ’93, ’94, when Nate came, too. Try to get those up next week. Great to hear from you hoss!