Monroe Gathering....very cool

[Bill Nichols (CaptBill)]

Hi All....
I arrived home sometime between 3and 4 am so I'm up a little late this morning but.......
It was well worth it!!
What a great event!
My many thanks to Rick Crider and Marion Holloway for all their time and hard work putting the event together. I had such a great time getting to meet everyone. This is such a very special group of folks that we have here on this forum and any opportunity to actually meet folks in person is terrific!
The open mike performances were great, I very much enjoyed hearing all the fine talent.
I really just can't express how much I enjoyed getting to meet everyone.
What a great time!

Great Job Rick!

[jmeinel]

Now is this 3-4am after setting your clock back or before? :roll: How slow were you going??? I left about 3 hours after you and got home at 3:15am (before setting my clock back). hehehe

Didn't you just LOVE all that fog between Salisbury and Richmond? :p

[JW]

We left the motel at 5:30 am (then found out later it was 4:30) and the fog was so thick we couldn't see more than 100 feet until we got into Florance SC, Yee Haa! JW

[deltoid]

I thoroughly enjoyed the event as well. Rick did an excellent job. The Holloway people were all superb as well. The open mic was definately my favorite event, even though I had to leave early and couldn't hear everyone.
I can safely say that I didn't meet a person that I didn't like.

[CDT]

I had a ball and think it could almost be a 2-day event..:) I can't wait until next year..

I have been reading all sorts of message boards for about 5 years (music related, gaming, computer, etc..). I had never met anyone from those boards in person until I met Deltoid and cocobolo_guy (they live in my area) a couple of months ago. With the event yesterday, I met probably 30+ others (it's hard to talk to everybody with all the activities).

anyway, what it does is put a face and a personality to the typed conversations..gives a better understanding of the people behind the type and an even more friendly atmosphere to the board. It's hard to refer to these people by their handles now..

Man, we laughed so hard at dinner I thought I would die..."free bird!!"...

[JW]

Originally posted by CDT
I had a ball and think it could almost be a 2-day event..:) No doubt!!! JW

[wthurman]

Just got home... and I have to say, this was an amazing bunch of people!!! Patient, kind, and supportive through every open mic snafu (they were even kind enough to be nice to me after I foisted myself upon them).

I could get very sentimental and schmalzy... so I will. After nearly a year of TGF Open Mic and wonderfulness and weirdness and all that, and all the other discussions, there is a kind of loving, tender and compassionate place that everyone seemed to fall into... It's been rare that I've been with people so willing and able to simply celebrate everyone who was around. Meeting all these folks was, quite simply, a highlight of my year.

It's hard to keep being cynical when you're around such great folks. On the way home, I heard Garrison Keillor on the "Prairie Home Companion" telling one of his stories... take two friendly, easy-going people and have them talk about poilitics, and they'll hate each other within oh, say a half-hour. However, inebriate them a little and you can get the same result in about two minutes... :D :D :D

The cure? Give 'em both a Taylor and have them play a song together!

Thanks, Rick and all the participants... you all are an incredible group of people!

[cocobolo_guy]

I had so much fun.I can`t hardly wait for the MS4.On a funny note I had only about 4 hrs sleep fri night,so you can imagine by the time I left sat night @ 11.30 I was dog tired.I made it about 3/4`s of the way home and I got so sleepy I could no longer stay awake,so I slept in a grocery store parking lot for about 3.5 hrs.Totally out of character for me......:roll: