PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic BIAB forum get-together July 2017

Well, there are only three of us and I'll be playing, but we'll see what we can do. Thanks, everyone.

A lot of us are at least with you in spirit

Would love to see some pictures.

The concert went very well. It was my pleasure to host and meet MarioD and his wife Linda, and for my wife Denise and me to renew our friendship with Pat Marr. As all the pictures were taken by others, I rely on them to post what they wish. Warning: some pictures may include kayaks.

I saw a few on Facebook. Looks like a good time was had by all. And from the looks of things, some seriously excellent musicianship.

I just got home, so I have a car full of travel junk to take care of, and a lawn that hasn't been mown in 3 weeks! Once that's all done, I'll start cleaning up the video I took.

But first I'll post the raw footage so Matt can view them first and make recommendations on what to use, how to edit etc etc. Then it will take a while to whip the raw clips into a reasonably finished presentation. As soon as that's done, I'll post links here.

Mario separately recorded the audio and also took a bunch of high res photos, so I expect they'll be showing up here too as time allows.

There's a lot to say, but first I need to buy a book of superlatives so I'm properly equipped with words that accurately describe all aspects of this trip! Stay tuned!

OK, this candid shot has been "leaked" from the recent BB get together. Until we see the official pictures this is all we got of Mario, Pat and Matt and unidentified forum member (the crew)

Dang, you spoiled the surprise. I do have blond hair, so you got that right.

LOL, Dan! As we say here in the south:
"You Jes' so dang BAYud!"


On a more serious note, over the next few days I'll be posting a variety of thoughts, pics and videos... but I want to say up front that I don't want to present ANY of this as though it's about me. From my point of view, the ONLY reason for using forum space to talk about my trip is because the focal point is people we all know from the forum.

Also I think it is worthwhile talking about arranging meetings with forum friends, because it is rewarding and very easy to do! If you're travelling through a region where a forum friend lives, just PM them and ask if they want to meet for lunch! Easy as that!

As an example, prior to the 4th of July I got a message from Tommy Adams (Forum name tommyad) announcing he would be at a campground in NC, and did I want to join him and his lovely wife Benji? Of course I agreed... and the bonus was that upon arrival at Tommy's camp site, Bud and Janice Merritt were also there! With very little pre-planning we had forum friends from Fla, Ga. and NC sitting around the same campfire! You might say I was a happy camper!

No matter how well you might enjoy someone's interaction style on the forum, meeting them in person is a completely different experience. I can honestly say that everyone I've met so far has instantly seemed like a friend I've known for years.

I don't remember if anybody took a picture of this meeting.. but if Tommy, Benji, Bud or Janice has a pic to post, that would be great!

More to come....

Well now there is no reason to post any of the pictures that I took!

I just wanted to add that I met some of the nicest people in Lake George.

I want to thank Matt for opening up his home to myself, my wife Linda and Pat. Matt, his wife Denise and their friend Carol are fantastic people. I also want to thank Matt for suggesting places to eat. My wife loves German food and the German restaurant was great, but you may not want order a liter of beer! That was a real challenge but I did it!

Pat is another fantastic person. He and I had some very interesting conversations. It was like I have known him for years.

The concert was fantastic. Matt can really play those horns! Lucky for us Denise also sang a couple of songs. Everything was pro all the way.

I made some real friendships last week.

Let's put all this into perspective...

Matt joined the forum in 2000, Mario joined in 2003, and I'm the straggler who joined in 2008. That means Matt has been adding value to this online community for at least 17 years, Mario for 14 years and I've been lucky enough to interact with each of them for the past 9 years!

In that time my respect for both of them has grown substantially. I don't have many "real life" friends I've interacted with on an almost daily basis for the past 9 years, so it is fair to say that most of the active forum members are people I would consider to be friends. Yes, whoever is reading this... I'm talking about you too.

Nevertheless, there is only so much to learn from an online friendship. True friendship often assumes the role of give and take, and digital friendship doesn't lend itself to the same opportunities as real-life friendship. Hence, the road trips.

I want to talk about Matt in a separate thread because this entire event simply cannot be understood outside the context of his involvement.

Meeting Mario and his dear wife Linda was such a pleasure, I hate that it took so long to happen! We spent a bunch of time together, both as a group and as individuals, and all of it was like time spent with a lifelong friend! We have so much in common, I can see why Danny Campo described Mario as his "brother from another mother". I felt exactly the same way.

Not only are our life stories remarkably similar, but our values and core beliefs are also in alignment. If Mario and Linda lived in my town, I'm sure we would be best friends, hanging out together all the time. The interesting thing is that we live in a time when distance matters less than ever. Travel is easy, communication is instant, long distance calls are free, and the GPS lady knows how to find everybody's house.

Thanks to PGMusic for its role in making such friendships possible. Thanks to the people of the forum for being of one mind about making the forum a friendly place instead of a place like so many other forums where flame wars rage on a regular basis. It speaks volumes about the people of this forum that I can't remember ANY flame wars here in the entire 9 years I've been a member! Good job people!

I hope others will speak up about how the friendships on this forum have enriched their lives. Speaking for myself, I can honestly say that my life is better because of the friendly, interesting and helpful conversations that happen every single day on these forums!

My hat is off to all of you and I look forward to meeting more of you as time allows. I hope everyone reaches out to whoever might be nearby.

I didn't take any photos, but I did take video of the concert. Mario will probably be posting some of his photos before long, and I'll start posting video as soon as Matt has had time to preview and approve . Meanwhile, here's a teaser of the the pre-concert landscape. You can at least see what a beautiful lakeside setting Matt chose for his concert!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/96tsp0egg6a5lm9/pre-concert.MP4?dl=0

Based on what I knew of Matt Finley through his interaction on the forum, I wasn't really prepared for the man I met in real life.

Yes, Matt is often the first person with the correct answer to questions on the forum... so I knew going in that Matt is very knowledgeable about BIAB. What I didn't know is that he is also a deep well of information on just about every topic that arose while I was at Lake George.

It turns out that Matt's IQ is somewhere in the mid 160s. (he couldn't reveal the exact number because his brother's IQ is also mid-160s, and his mother wisely withheld the information that would have made one of them intolerable toward the other.

Point of perspective: Stephen Hawking's IQ is reported as being 160. Yes, really.

This isn't just random information. The bane of high intellect is that life may not seem challenging enough, so Matt looks for ways to challenge himself and his band. For example, they don't practice before performances! Everybody gets charts that Matt prepares, and there is a meeting in which Matt goes over hand signals
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gv5tjy0f4bfecr9/meeting.MP4?dl=0

Armed with charts, hand signals and a whole bunch of talent, Matt and his friends march out on stage and totally kick @$$!

I'll let the videos speak for themselves, once they've been posted... but Matt's masterful performance did not end after the concert... he actually managed to ramp it up a notch.

Back at the cottage, he invited everyone present out on a late night boat ride. In the absence of city lights, the stars were amazing... (you could see the Milky Way!) Matt brought along a laser pointer ...which seemed to reach all the way to the stars... and he gave a most impressive private tour of lake and sky... naming the stars and constellations and throwing in interesting facts to boot!

Pretty awesome, right? Well... The hospitality didn't end there! The next day he taught me how to ride a kayak (something that's been on my bucket list for years)

But none of this is the most amazing thing about Matt. It is almost a cultural truism that brilliance and benevolence rarely walk together. But in Matt's case they do.

At no time was there any indication of high-mindedness. In addition to everything else he has mastered, he is a master of making people feel comfortable in his presence.

Matt, my respect for you is off the chart. This road trip turned out to be the best vacation of my life, and a large part of that is directly due to the hospitality bestowed on your guests and audience. I will be forever indebted to you and your lovely wife Denise.

Thank you Pat and Mario. Everything I have read about the events is just so absolutely impressive.

I am really looking forward to any photos and videos.

It must have been a wonderful experience.

Trev

I experienced the same hospitality from both Matt and Denise when my wife (Anita) and I met them several years ago on our vacation trip to the Hyde Park NY area.

And, Pat, I thoroughly enjoyed our visit when you came through Pensacola on your "forum" tour through the south. Your comments above are spot-on.

I totally agree with Pat. Matt is a brilliant person with humble roots that he did not forget.

I also have the upmost respect for Matt and for Pat.

Add generosity to Matt's copious attributes. Upon learning that I was having pointing difficulty, Matt sent me a vertical mouse then refused payment.

I know that Matt is deeply involved in the R&D of BIAB and volunteers his time for the benefit of all of us users.

I would love to meet Matt before I exit the stage.

Thanks Matt!

Donny

Many thanks for all the kind words here. I also passed along compliments to Denise and her friend, without whom the concert could not happen. I think Pat gives me too much credit and not enough to his skills as an interviewer. Each of you will discover a warm, meticulous, and introspective friend when you meet him.

Let us not overlook that Pat singlehandedly has made great effort to bring us together. I truly treasure that.

When you finally see video of the concert from Pat, or audio from Mario, I hope it lives up to all the hype. I don't usually care about documenting my live events because as Pat mentioned, we don't rehearse. This is intentional, to give us spontaneity, and because I hire players who can do it, but we still have train wrecks on stage.

The delay in posting video is entirely on me. I went immediately to playing piccolo trumpet in a church service to three big band concerts this week. When I come up for air, I'll give Pat my opinions on posting them. I want to emphasize the originals I wrote, because they were composed in BIAB.

FWIW, I wrestled with the question of whether or not to add comments about Denise and her friend Carol, but at the last minute I decided to orient the discussion toward the people who are already known in the forum.

Denise would require her own fully articulated story, as she is a high-achieving musical artist in her own right. Here's a link to her Youtube page:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjEiVqpbYNsB1cupPwOZ4kw

(goosebump warning!)
list of her songs:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjEiVqpbYNsB1cupPwOZ4kw/videos

Yes, she IS that awesome!

And like Matt, success has not spoiled her humanity. A sweeter, warmer human being would be hard to find.

Carol (Denise's best friend) was not only a big part of keeping the host-hostess infrastructure moving, she also reached out to me and made me feel included 100% of the time. We're staying in touch and I feel sure Carol will be a lifelong friend, not just a weekend acquaintance.

I know Australia is huge... it's hard to wrap my brain around the distances between BIAB forum members who live there. Is there any chance of a BIAB get-together between forum members in Oz? If so keep us posted... you never know who might travel to be part of it!