O-Bob

Moved from Michigan to Virginia 'bout three years ago and went from automotive design to shipbuilding... now there's a stretch! I'm closer to the Blueridge than I've ever been but find that there seems to be more Bluegrass back home in MI. than here... someone prove me wrong! I gotta get networking with some more pickers. HELP ME OUT WILL YA?

It's been an adventure, but is much better now that my family has joined me. Anyway... I'm a husband, father, & caregiver, a picker & a grinner, a lover, & yes, a sinner - though I try to keep that to a minimum.

Current & past member of IBMA, Michigan Bluegrass Music Association, SPGMA, the Lansing Area Folksong Society, Tidewater Bluegrass Music Association, Peninsula Acoustic Crowd, & the Peninsula - Folk with Shades of Blue Music Association.

I write melodies in the bluegrass/americana/folk genres and keep a shoebox full of two, three & even sometimes even four line lyric ideas that have yet to be developed, I'm a melody guy. Any co-writers in need of melodies or collaboration?

I ran HANNAH JO PRODUCTIONS - a Bluegrass/Folk Music event production venture in 2002-2004, and did some local Bluegrass/Folk band booking. I was co-chair and house manager of Folk With Shades Of Blue in Ortonville, Michigan, a traditonal music association in Michigan which promotes traditional acoustic music through local, regional, and national music acts, Town Hall Jams, instrument and songwriting workshops, & community education with the IBMA's Bluegrass in the Schools Program.

Please see: www.folkwithshadesofblue.com This site has not been maintained in quite a while, but it gives you an idea of what I'd like to help accomplish & establish in the Peninsula.
I've also got a MySpace site: myspace.com\mittenpicker.
see also Peninsula Acoustic Crowd (P.A.C.)at www.meetup.com

It's really more a hobby I guess, a labor of love.

I want to play some good music but need fun to go along with anything I do... nothing too serious. Getting too uptight and stressed is not my idea of the "harmony" I'm after...
Cheers!
O'Bob