NIBGA Board minutes Oct. 18, 2009

The Oct. 18, 2009 meeting of Northern Indiana Bluegrass Association was held at Southwest Conservation Club, 5703 Bluffton Road, Ft. Wayne, IN 46809 260-747-4677

The November newsletters were addressed and stamped for mailing.

The board meeting was called to order at 1:00 P.M. by President Jim Winger. Other officers present were Secretary Barbara Collins, Treasurer Linda Winger, Board officers T.J. Collins, Joe Wyandt, & Paul Saurborn. vice-president Sandy Carnes was present via phone. Board officer Pam Keiper was absent due to a family event.
Also present was Band Chairman Joe Steiner, and Chris Cooperrider taxi chair.

Secretary Minutes: The August minutes are posted on the NIBGA blog.
Paul Saurborn motioned to accept the minutes. T.J. Collins second. All approve. Motion carried
.
Treasurer Report: Treasurer Linda Winger gave Aug. 09, Sept. 09 financial reports to all officers. Reports were reviewed. Linda said she would be sending the financial statements out on the computers to officers from now on to save paper and to allow review of the reports prior to the next board meeting.
Paul Saurborn motioned to accept the financial reports. Joe Wyandt second. All say yes. Motion carried.

TABLED ITEM: Pres. Jim W. reports there could be a $80.00 fee to connect and disconnect the 50 amp plug ins behind the bleachers at the Noble Co. fairgrounds. Jim will check on it and report back.

Pres. Jim W. – reviewed with the board the NIBGA festival history from May 2000 to Sept. 2009.

Linda W. reports that merchandise totals were over $100.00 inventory versus sales. After discussion with Tonia Bacon, merchandise chair, and the difference was not resolved.

NIBGA received a bad check at the festival for $50. It was returned with a $25 bank fee. After discussion on check cashing policy there will be no change in policy. Linda has written the person requesting reimbursement.
 
OLD BUSINESS:
The new 'Stage on Wheels' storage is about one mile from the Noble Co. Fairgrounds. Paul Saurborn was there and said the place is very nice. Dry and safe.

Cheri Frantz confirmed at festival that she will return to take care of the Rest Room cleaning during the festivals for 2010 at the same price.

NEW BUSINESS:
Vice President Sandy Carnes is stepping down as V.P. of NIBGA. Sandy has been a loyal and important officer in our club for the past consecutive 10 years as V.P. In the 80's she was a board officer for two years. Thanks Sandy for all your hard work. She will not be running for office this year.

Joe Wyandt purposed that any officer leaving office after 10 years will receive a Life Time Pass for all the NIBGA Festivals. Paul Saurborn second. All say yes. Motion carried.

Sandy Carnes nominated Joe Steiner for office of Vice-president for the year of 2009/2010.
Joe Steiner accepted.

Sandra Carnes has submitted her resignation as Northern Indiana Bluegrass Association Vice-president. Joe Steiner has been nominated and approved as Vice-president for 2009/2010. Joe Steiner has access to all Financial Accounts and Sandra Carnes is to be removed.  The above is motioned by Paul Saurborn. T.J. Collins second. All say yes. Motion Carried.

Jeanette Young has offered to be Vendor Chair Person. She will be able to take that week off from her job. Sandy Carnes agrees to advise Jeanette. Sandra will pass all information she has to Jeanette Young.

A letter from Indiana Pork Producers is thanking Northern Indiana Bluegrass Association for the opportunity to open their food stand during the festival at Noble Co. Fairgrounds in Sept. 2009.
TABLED ITEM: Discuss how many food vendors should we allow for the festivals. consideration: Space and no duplicates of vendors.

November will be the final on board changes for the 2009/2010 election. Pres. Jim Winger says, "All officers are as is for 2009/2010 with Joe Steiner as the new VP."

Band Chairman Joe Steiner gave each officer a list of bands booked, strong possibility, no longer under consideration, others. There was a lengthy discussion on bands. It was agreed to not go too far out with nontraditional bands. Twelve (12) bands are needed for each festival.
Joe Wyandt motioned a budget of $xxx per festival for 2010. Paul Saurborn second. All say yes. Motion carried.
Linda says, "When Joe Steiner sends confirming notes to bands, attach a W9 to be returned before festival, for the IRS use."
TABLED ITEMS: 1. Port-a-jons 2. Golf Carts 3. Review procedures for Golf Cart Taxies. 4. Discuss Dues.

President Jim Winger recommends the club change from a C4 to C3. Jim explained the difference and benefits. As a C3 Not for profit club we could accept tax deductible donations to support TAM, scholarships, and club sponsored events 'As a Social Organization for the Betterment of the World'. Jim said he would research and report back to the club at the February meeting. Paul Saurborn makes a motion to give Jim Winger permission to research possible changes. T.J. Collins second. All agree. Motion carried.

Joe Steiner will investigate the possibility of Northern Indiana Bluegrass Association being a International Bluegrass Music Association sponsor for the 2010 World Convention in Nashville.

Approval of Expenses: Phone bills and IBMA Convention expenses.

Joe Wyandt motioned to adjourn at 2:45 P.M. Paul Saurborn second. All say yes. Meeting Adjourned.

The next meeting of Northern Indiana Bluegrass Association will be November 15, 2009 at the Southwest Conservation Club, 5703 Bluffton Road, Ft. Wayne, IN 46809. 12 noon to 6:00 P.M.
Barb Collins - Secretary

Toy Hearts perform at Avilla nursing home

While they were at the Kendallville Tri-State festival this Labor Day, the Toy Hearts went to the Provena Sacred Heart Home in Avillia, IN for a 45 minute performance. The residents loved them. This short YouTube video gives you a flavor of their show.

NIBGA is dedicated to providing quality entertainment to those who cannot attend Kendallville.

First winter NIBGA jam, Sun Oct. 18 noon 'till 6p

Our meeting conflicts with the memorial being held for Jim Cornell at Meta park this Sunday. We considered canceling our meeting to be their but decided that some folks would not know Jim and would want to be at the regular jam.

Hope you will be at one or the other.

Dr. Ralph Stanley on NPR Oct. 14, 2009 @ 11a

You can listen to Ralph discussing his new book, Man of Constant Sorrow on the Diane Rehm show.

Grammy-award-winning banjo player and singer Ralph Stanley on the history and future of the remarkable music he brought from his home in the mountains of southwest Virginia to the world.

Dr. Ralph Stanley, musician; awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2006; awarded a Grammy in 2002 for his song Oh Death, featured on the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou?

NIBGA web site being revised

A suggestion from a seminar at the IBMA World of Bluegrass was to revise the NIBGA web site. The upcoming events page was organized by date for most events and the reoccurring club events were at the end of the list.

A brief review of the site by professional web developers suggested that all events including clubs should be in one place. Events should be listed by state then in date sequence. Yesterday, that was done. Give some feed back pro or con on the new look of the NIBGA events page.

Bobby Davis leaving VS

Oh my! I feel bad now that I teased him earlier in the week about everyone asking who Valerie's bass player was.

"Bobby who?"

I hope things go well for him with a new band.

That's a good picture of Bobby (blog below). Here is one taken recently at the Awards Show in Nashville 2009.

Bobby Davis leaving Valerie Smith

Bobby announced that he is leaving Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike for other opportunities after last weeks IBMA conference. We wish him the best. He is a great bass player and a good bluegrass friend.

For the love of music

From a comment posted about a recent blog about our long, last day at IBMA -
".....sounds like a labor of love."

That reminded me of comments that I heard during the week. During the World of Bluegrass trade conference, I was a presenter in a seminar on how to recruit, train, and retain volunteers for festivals. The other two presenters represented two BIG festivals, both of which I believe are for-profit festivals. NIBGA is a non-profit.

After the session, and for the rest of the week, many, many people came up to me and commented about how much they liked our system of volunteers. They commented that I was the only one on the panel that seemed enthusiastic about the music and festival, and that the others treated it as just another business venture. Their "volunteers" do it because of the perks. For some, that is the only way they could possibly afford to attend the festival. No matter how you look at it, they are volunteering their time, in exchange for a ticket, so that someone else can make a profit.

Everyone from the for-profit festivals were flabbergasted that we could put on a festival of such high caliber 100% by volunteers. Every person there, from the president of the association to the person that fixes the electric circuits, is a volunteer. Oh wait....the lady that cleans the toilets gets paid a small stipend - but would YOU volunteer to clean those toilets??!?! Didn't think so.

Our volunteers do it as a labor of love....for the love of the music. They know that Tri-State is run "by the people, for the people" (hmmmmm....that phrase sounds familiar). If we didn't have so many dedicated, conscientious, enthusiastic volunteers, we couldn't have a $25/weekend ticket price that is affordable to all. It all boils down to this....without our volunteers, we wouldn't have a festival! My hat is off to all of you!

Whew...made it home

We finally hit Findlay about 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Didn't grab a thing out of the van except our cellphones...stumbled into the house and into bed. Had to go out the next day (??? Ok...same day....just later) and get my toothbrush, etc., out of the van so I could get dressed.

Yesterday, after we got the van packed in Nashville, we spent the next couple hours getting ready for the Bluegrass in the Schools program that Joe was helping with. Thank goodness Janet Deering (of Deering banjos) came by and helped tune all the banjos. He taught 50 people (+/-) how to play banjo in 45 minutes. They were doing a good job, too! I was impressed that they were all playing and singing songs using 2 or 3 chords and ROLL PATTERNS! Nancy commented that it was the largest class in their history. It was fun.....but I was WAY ready to get out of town.

Once we got all the banjos packed back into the van, we walked over to our favorite restaurant in town, Demos, and had lunch/supper. Back on the road by 8:30ish, I think. LONG TRIP.

Got the van unloaded about noonish....now we're repacking for a quick overnight trip to the Cleveland area. Who planned this agenda?!?!?!?

Tired

It's only 1:11 a.m., but GOSH, am I tired!!!! I think I'm going to go to bed soon.....that will be about 3 hours earlier than normal. Before the awards show, Joe and I, Jim and Linda, and Marianne and Dave attended the pre-awards cocktail party. We got the "invite" because of our nomination for bluegrass event of the year. It was fun to have an excuse to dress up...most of the women were in glamous dresses and the men were all in suits. A sea of black and sequins.

The club was given two complimentary award tickets, and since the others had all been there several times, Joe and I went. Since I'm too new to bluegrass, I didn't understand a lot of the humor tonight. Waldo Otto, Slade, Red Knuckles, and Wendell Mercantile made guest appearances. I guess they have something to do with Hot Rize. Don't ask me.... I don't know.
The best part of the show for me was watching the Dilliards. (Actually, I didn't realize they were even still alive). They were inducted into the hall of fame. The funniest part was when one of them said that they were honored to be inducted....while they were still alive. They said they had discussed it and decided that someone would have to die before anyone was inducted...and no one wanted to volunteer.

Ok....going to bed now!!!!!

Congratulations Grey Fox

Oct. 1
Grey Fox was selected as the 2008 Bluegrass Event of the Year at the IBMA awards luncheon.

NIBGA showcase room Weds. late night

Sept. 30
We had very good crowds for most of the shows. Special Consensus closed the evening at 1:30a and almost packed the house. He has a new guitar player Ryan Roberts replacing Justin Carbone. He was very good and fit right in. Justin came in just to put a little pressure on the new guy but he did very well. Ashby Frank couldn't make it so Greg had a substitute mandolin player. You would never know he wasn't in the band for years.

When introductions were made, Ryan joked that he had been with the band for 5 days but he was no longer the new kid since the mandolin player was new.

We saw two bands that go onto the 2010 short list. Joe Steiners list is getting very long with top talent. Now the job is to put together a budget and select a balance of bands for the 2010 festivals.

With the help of all six of us, the showcase room was tore down in a record 40 minutes. Back in the room we unwound for an hour and hit the sack around 4:20a. We were up 4 hours later and are now getting ready to go to the awards luncheon where hopefully NIBGA will get the Event of the Year award.

Watch a YouTube video of the official IBMA showcase bands.