Note number one: Last night I decided to go to the Midwest Banjo Camp in East Lansing, Michigan, which has a great lineup of teachers, particularly (from my point of view) of old time styles. It's June 2-4, and I'll probably fly into Detroit on the 1st and drive to Lansing.
Anyone else attending?

Note number two:   I received another invitation to attend the camp as a result of having purchased from Elderly a Renaissance head to replace the skin head on a Slingerland I have, with an A scale 5-string neck. The skin head had a great tone but not enough volume for my taste, and when the Renny arrived yesterday I immediately took off the old and put on the new (I was surprised by how quickly I managed to get the job done--the key being that for a head bolt wrench I used a screwdriver with two replaceable double ended shafts (four screwdriver heads) that fit into the two ends of a sleeve which fits into the ample handle. The sleeve is like a socket with two different size hexagonal sockets, one of which was perfect for the bolts on the Slingerland.   

Note number three: After I had replaced the head, I installed a no-knot tailpiece I had also just received from Elderly, then restrung the banjo and decided to take it and show it to my clawhammer teacher, Jim Carr, at the Fifth String, Jim Hyatt's store. I also packed my dogs into the car so I could stop off at the dog park on the way home (see my dogs in my album at banjosnbluegrass.com).   

Note number four: After talking to Jim Carr a few minutes, I headed for the park, got my dogs out of the car and the Slingerland out of the trunk, and entered the park, freeing the dogs from their leashes. I spoke with a few people, some of whom I knew, and when one of the tables cleared of its people and dogs, I grabbed my banjo and leashes and headed for it. A young woman came to the table at the same time, and when I pulled the banjo out of its gig bag, said she was a banjo picker too. I tuned the banjo--new strings, remember--and handed it to her. She was right--she could play, a very unique clawhammer style that for some songs featured a thumb lead, and, althought the banjo was tuned in open A, her first few tunes were modal (Cluck Old Hen, Reuben's Train, Shady Grove). She also had a very sweet mountain singing style and voice--she said she used to be in a group with two or three other women, but had since moved to Oregon. We passed the banjo back and forth for about an hour, and toward the end I invited her to join my Monday night group and she seemed excited to do so, and will--if she can convince the friends with whom she's travelling to stay a day or so. Her name, if I remember it correctly and can guess the correct spelling, is Kaya--maybe some of you know her.

Note number five: I have a perfectly good 10 3/4 inch mounted Slingerland calfskin head now sitting in the box the Renny came in from Elderly. If anyone has a 10 3/4 inch pot and would like to try a skin head on it, send me a note and an address offline, and I'll ship it off to you via USPS.   

Charles