President's Message

Toby Vanderbilt - May 2008

Dear Membership:
I can't tell you how excited I am about some of the things that are happening with our Association. By now you have received your first real edition of our revised Midnight Flier prepared by our great Assistant Editor, Mr. Wayne Loggins. When you see Wayne at the next gathering tell him how happy you are about the changes, I know he would love to hear some compliments for his hard work, he sure deserves it.

The Slo-Jam this past weekend was great and now we have implemented a Slam-Jam (advanced Jam) under the direction of Mr. Cliff Slade. The first slam-jam was held at my camp site and was well received. This new slam-jam will be each month at our events, just look for the sign. Lorraine's, Slo-Jam is at 1PM and Cliff's Advance jam should be at 2PM. There both about an hour long.

I was so impressed this past weekend at how much our members get involved to celebrate one of our finest members birthdays ! Roscoe Canady had a birthday party at Waldo for his BRIDE and we all had a ball. Roscoe, you out did yourself, this is a hard act to follow!

We have also signed the contract for our new web site prepared by the same company that prepared Doyle Lawson's web site. This new web site should be up and running within 30 � 45 days and will be maintained by our webmaster, Mr. Rick Torzinski. If you have an event or are one of our affiliated bands, please get your updated information to either to Wayne or Rick as soon as possible.

We have also implemented a new bargain for our membership. We have made an agreement with First Quality Music in Kentucky, that will benefit our membership. When you want to order strings or parts for your instrument or even buy and instrument please call First Quality at 800-635-2021 and mention that you're a member of the North Florida Bluegrass Association. Not only will you get a 5% DISCOUNT on most of your orders off their advertized rate but you will help support your great Association, the N.F.B.A. The 5% you save will be handed back to the NFBA enabling us to have door prizes, raffles and etc. It's an all win for both sides, especially us.

Please mark on your calendars for June that we are going back to Flamingo Park and having our First Membership Drive in a long time. So tell your neighbors, friends and family to come on out and enjoy the fun. Bring their instruments and lawn chairs, listen to some great jamming. We are even going to feature some of our bands in the Rec Building for a free concert and most of all, if they don't belong to the NFBA now is the time to sign up... Just tell them to look for Danny Williamson, our Membership Director; he would be more than pleased to inform anyone the benefits that we offer.

I don't know if you all were able to attend the St. Augustine Seafood Festival last month but our own Coastal Blue was there and performed at a Superior level. I can't tell you how thrilled and pleased I was to hear them. They are performing at a professional level and are definitely a fine bunch of outstanding young adults.

If you have any ideas to pass on how we can make our Association better, please tell one of your Board Members or me. We are really excited about the new level of enthusiasm already and want to keep the momentum going strong.

I had the pleasure of picking and visiting with the following people this past month. John Hawkins, Judi Johnson, Irby Brown, Mike Murphy, Jake Hawkins, Bill Bennett, Paul Drummond, Jim Shroka, Terry Dillhyon, Jimmy Carter, Greg Ard, Roscoe and Rosalie Canady ,George Wells, Scott Anderson, Roland Hendry, Lorraine & Tom Keener , Jimmy Carter, Virginia & Steve Wilson, Lamell and Peggy Harvey, and Melvin Harvey.

Thanks again for your support,
Toby Vanderbilt
President
North Florida Bluegrass Association