It happens to all of us Bobert. Mick, Kendall and I have to miss all of your mini (and Elizabeth!). You could still get to 45 minutes of the Utah workshop. Last year I had a workshop at the same time as Gordon Bok's mini, and only one person showed up. (And I'm still grateful you came, Mom!)

I thought the "All About Instruments" workshop could use a little explanation, for those who haven't figured out how to get the workshop descriptions on the schedule. (Move your cursor over the title.) The official description is: "Bring instruments, questions and knowledge for a show-and-tell about many kinds of folk instruments." This will be a chance to show off your cool or weird instrument, to ask questions of other instrumentalists about playing and proper care and maintenance (ie, How do you play basic autoharp melodies? How do I know when it's time for a neck reset on my guitar? What are my cheaper alternatives? What difference does the tension on my banjo head make? What should I look for when buying a concertina?) and to generally pool our knowledge about these tools of our trade. And, of course, we'll play and hear tunes. What the workshop turns out to be will largely depend on who shows up and what the needs are.

So I hope some of you can bring some of your more unusual or interesting instruments for the "show-and-tell" portion.

Dan