I'm having a ball. A few weeks ago I started talking about initiating an innovation in our Friday Night Group and a couple of weeks ago we implemented it.

I proposed to the group that about once a month we have a showcase of one of us who is ready to become a performer. That person or group is permitted to have any backup they wish. The format is that when we get together at about 7:30 we'll jam until 9:00 - that late so as to give everyone a chance to get there- and then we'll put down our instruments and listen for 15-20 minutes to whoever is being showcased that night. At the end of that time we'll go back to jamming.

I'm here to tell you it's a great success. I'm taping all of it with my minidisc recorder- later I'll put the evenings onto CDs for souvenirs.

We've had only two showcases yet, only a week apart. The next two are also scheduled just a week apart because several of us will be traveling this summer and don't want to miss the showcases. I don't know if we'll ever back off to just once a month- let's just say that at this moment that is the plan.

There are 12-15 of us who get together weekly, with multiples of fiddle, mando, banjo, dobro, bass, guitar and voice and there are only about 4 people who are not ready to perform- count me as one of those - and there are several of us who are professional and semi-professional.

It is great fun.