As a kid I was fascinated with the idea of messages and far-away lands. I was just a country kid who loved to read books and had a big imagination. In reality, my odds of a Tahiti tour were about as good as Jimmy Stewarts’ character George Bailey in “A Wonderful Life,” but it didn’t stop me from being a dreamer at times. I always wanted to put a message in a bottle, toss it in the ocean and see where it would wind up.
One day day I came up with an idea. Even though I’m an old man, deep inside I’m a kid who still wanted to float that message out to far-flung places I’ve never seen. I decided for me it had to be a message in a mandolin bottle. I’m sure you must wonder what I mean. Who ever heard of a message in a mandolin bottle? I guess it would take a fellow who wrote a book called “The Mandolin Case” to dream it up. Here’s how I’m gonna send it out there.
I have an old Kentucky ‘A’ style mandolin that has become the People’s Mandolin. It began its journey at MerleFest in 2010. There I turned it over to Ted and Irene Lehmann who plan to take it to Strawberry Park in Connecticut. After they play it and sign it, I want them to turn it over to someone else. If the mandolin makes it your way, I only ask you keep it for no more than a month, then pass it on to anyone you wish, but I hope you will try to choose true bluegrassers. You know who they are.
I would like for folks to put on a case sticker to promo their geographic area or favorite band. If you'll e-mail me at tom.bibey@yahoo.com with you-tube links or pictures I'll post them here on the website or on my blog (drtombibey.wordpress.com) to document the mandolin’s travels. If my mandolin shows up at your favorite festival maybe a picture of you holding it beside a banner to promo your event would help your cause.
I hope at times it might serve to introduce kids to the instrument. If your grandchild were to borrow my little mandolin and learn “You are My Sunshine” off my double-stop lesson of April 14, 2010 on my blog, that would be very cool.
It is my hope that my mandolin message in a bottle will find me new bluegrass friends and serve as a scout of sorts to show me and my wife the path to festivals and bluegrass events around the country.
As the mandolin makes it journey if you are uncertain of its authenticity, you can take it to the record table of festival performers to be sure it is the right one. Mandolin pickers like Darin Aldridge, Wayne Benson, Alan Bibey, Darren Nicholson, Mike Marshall, Sam Bush, and many others will verify that I am real and the little Kentucky is indeed my mandolin. Buy a CD from them, the road is hard and they make great music. Ask them to slap on one of their case stickers when you see them.
We have set the mandolin out on a five year journey, and it is scheduled to return to MerleFest in 2015. If it makes the journey intact Gabrielle Gray at the International Bluegrass Music Museum (
www.bluegrass-museum.org
) plans to put it there as an exhibit. But don’t forget, it belongs to the people. Send in your documentation; you or your people might well wind represented in the Museum. After all, the music belongs to us. If we all stick together, no one can take it away.
You can read more on this at
drtombibey.wordpress.com
. The link is on the right hand side of the front page under "Home" "About Dr. Bibey" and "The Charitable Arm."
Y'all watch for The People's Mandolin at a venue near you.