Happy New Year

I hope you all arrived safely into the new year. 2010.. can you believe it's finally here?

I'm looking forward to learning some new banjo tunes and continuing on the journey this year. As always, meeting more new friends and fellow pickers is a must-do on the resolution list. I had the pleasure of meeting a few of you last year, and am glad for the experience. We should really get together on sharing events and jams and trying to plan a meeting as the weather gets warmer (I'm sure it will get warmer.. I hope it will get warmer.. it better get warmer! lol).

Anyway, have a great 2010, and keep on pickin'.

~K

Good Tidings..

I miss our little blog here, so I thought I'd post a short note. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, and welcome in a safe and healthy New Year. May you not be burdened with snow above the knees, or cold below the zero's. It's not too much to wish for is it?

Be well my friends,
..and keep on pickin'.

~K~

We've Moved!

Yes folks, we've moved. It might not feel like it, but it's true. Last night (and into the early morning hours) I crammed everything I could get into our Ford Pinto, left the rest for the city to pick up and drove us to our newest location.

Lucky for us our address will stay the same (think of it like the post office forwarding your mail). So you can still find us at www.banjolounge.com or www.banjochat.com. So you should be able to find us without a hitch or hiccup.

Now, I understand that the new location is different. It has fewer features and might feel smaller, but we don't need the R. J. Reynolds Mansion for the few of us.

We've aleady had a few good evenings in the new chat, and I hope everyone enjoys the new website as well. We have plenty of room to grow, so feel free to suggest something!

-=Jim

TinyChat - Pulling the Trigger

Change is good.

As of the first of September the Banjo Lounge chat will be on the TinyChat platform.

Feel free to move on over there. It's up and running. No, it doesn't have all the features that we have on the old system, but the cost is a key factor, and I feel like it will serve our purpose just fine. We're not a large group, and TinyChat just fits.

Visit us here: Banjo Lounge

So far, so good.

-=Jim

~~WINNERS~~

So we had a nice little giveaway in the Banjo Lounge Tuesday night... and some of you have won some sweet prizes! In case you're wondering who won what, here's a list. Everyone was in the first round of drawings, but as a person won - his or her name was taken out of the list. The order of names was completely random, as were the numbers drawn. Everyone's name was put back in again for the second round of drawings for the DVD's. So, here's the Winners and the goodies they'll soon receive.

Rod Durst - Beacon Banjo Wallet Calendar and Ink Pen
Karyn - Bill Keith banjo strings
Jim Clark - Shady Grove Band CD - featuring John Boulding
Steve Tharpe - Dara and the Noxie Ridge Band CD - featuring Rod Durst
Joe Richman - National Banjo Champ Sonny Smith CD
Jack Baker - Durst Family Band "Much Obliged" CD
Jimbo78 - Dara and the Noxie Ridge Band CD - featuring Rod Durst
Jen H - National Banjo Champ Sonny Smith CD
Dennis Rose - Lone Mountain Band "Highway of Regret" CD
Ray Sharpe - Turbo Pro Project Daydream CD - Autographed, and a sticker too.

Charis - Acutab Jim Mills DVD
Jim Clark - Ron Block DVD set

I beg your forgiveness for any misspellings there might be.

A HUGE Thank You goes out to all of our donors, without them none of us would be reveling in the lovely gifts we are about to receive.

THANK YOU

~John Boulding~ ~Sonny Smith~ ~Bill Keith~

~John Lawless~ ~Rod Durst~ ~Adrian Trbovich "Turbo"~

~Lone Mountain Band~

Thanks to everyone who donated funds - it's your time and attention that make the Banjo Lounge a fun place to be, and everyone's donations keep it up and running. The weather is nice and we're all spending more time outside, but let's not forget our little home away from home. Banjos have feelings too, and they need to be played with now and then or they get grumpy. So... what better place to play with them than at the Banjo Lounge?

...Stop on over and Pick a while. :-)

~K~

Don't Forget...

...tomorrow's drawing!

I have the rest of the prizes to give out to the folks that have made donations.

Your name will go into the virtual hat once for each dollar you contributed. I'll be using random.org to select the numbers. You don't have to be present to win, but folks that are present will get 1 extra entry for every $10 they donated. That said, it's not too late to make a donation. As a matter of fact anything donated up until 9pm EST on the 30th will get your name in the drawing. So if you've not donated yet it's not too late! So get with it! Donate a dollar or three. It'd be a real shame if one person won all of these cool prizes.

CDs
Sonny Smith - National Banjo Champion (I have two of these)
Durst Family Band - Much Obliged (featuring our very own Rod Durst)
Dara and the Noxie Ridge Band - Like the Rain (featuring our very own Rod Durst)
Turbo Pro Project - Daydream (featuring our very own Turbo)
The Shady Grove Band - Back in Circulation (featuring our very own John Boulding)

DVDs
Jim Mill - A Winning Banjo Style
Ron Block - A Fresh Look At Bluegrass Banjo

I'll see you there tomorrow night!

-=Jim

Winners So Far

Remember I said we'd be having some door prizes and premiums?

So far we've had a couple of prizes go out. Charis got the ultra rare Bill Keith compact disc and a cool Beacon Banjo letter opener. Jimbo78 got a set of Ron Block DVDs (from Acutab) and a set of Bill Keith Banjo Strings). Rod D won a copy of the Lone Mountain Band's CD (featuring me).

There are still more prizes to win, like an Acutab Jim Mills DVD, Sonny Smith CDs, and more!

I bet you're wondering how to get one of these cool prizes. It's simple, just make a donation to the Banjo Lounge and you could wind up with one of our exciting door prizes. Or, if you want, check out the whiteboard in the chatroom for our donation premiums. As for the door prizes I'll be holding an online LIVE drawing for those on June 30th at 9pm EST. So mark your calendars to be there, and don't forget to donate; you can't win some spiffy door prize if you don't make a donation. :)

Thanks for your continued support.

-=Jim