Europe - May/June 2016

                   My wife, Nida, and I returned to Germany once again for my annual concert performance in Pforzheim.

After playing in southern Germany, we drove to Austria staying at various resorts on different lakes in northern Austria and southern Austria. This photo is taken on Woerther Lake.

From southern Austria, we stayed for a few nights in the Italian Alps, the Sud Tirol, at the Panorama Resort where I played my guitar for the "Germanic" Italians.

            From this resort, we drove to another resort hotel farther south in the Brenner Pass, where I performed for two evening concerts. I had played here two years before.

When our visit to Italy finished, we headed back through Austria to Germany. We stayed for a few nights in a wonderful old town on the Rhine River, called Bacharach, and  I performed one happy evening at a nearby hotel.

We spent a few more days touring Germany before returning to Toronto.

2016 10-day JazzSea Caribbean Cruise

The JazzSea Cruise organizers arranged a very enjoyable 10-day cruise from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to the Bahamas,  Turks & Caicos, Dominican Republic, Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba, from Jan. 8 to Jan. 18, 2016,  aboard Holland America's MS Oosterdam.

       My wife, Nida, and I enjoyed good food and good music along with a little sight-seeing.

 Every day, I conducted the "Banjos Aweigh" band, consisting of 25 banjos and ukuleles as well as harmonicas, drums, tuba, clarinet, trombone, washboard, drums, piano, and extra singers. We enjoyed performing in various venues on the ship. We always rehearsed and jammed in the lower deck Hudson Room, but on two concerts, we performed by the pool on the Lido deck. The lighting and acoustics were not the best, but here is a short video of 4 songs taken next to the pool one evening: Just Because, Somebody Stole My Gal, After You've Gone, You're Nobody's Sweetheart Now.

Aside from my own feature concert, I had the opportunity for some "trad jazz" jamming with other JazzSea  musicians, including Dick Williams, on two occasions.  Here is a video of a 2-song medley: Avalon and Indiana:

 Our next JazzSea cruise will be June 29 to July 5, 2016 for a trip to Alaska from Vancouver, BC, aboard the MS Volendam!

Video prepared for Tim's Sept. 11, 2015 Banjo Hall of Fame Induction

The American Banjo Museum and Hall of Fame prepared 5-minute videos for each of the inductees. Thanks to Johnny Baier at the Hall of Fame for his great work!  Here is the video he prepared for me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGi4fk2JFGU