hipfish
January 2006

Floating Glass Balls Live at the Coast

by Jenny Gamroth

Certain things remind us we're alive: a laugh, a brief and immediate connection with a stranger, witnessing live music unfold before our very eyes. Live music can really stick to the ribs, uplift or make us weep, cause us to sit in rapture or pull us out onto dance floors. So when given an opportunity to experience truly live music (instead of wincing to your neighbor's karaoke-rendition of Love Shack or King of the Road), I strongly suggest you take it.

It's especially fun to attend a show of a group that has a following. You're guaranteed to be mixed in with folks thrilled to be there. At Kernville Steak and Seafood house (just south of Lincoln City, along the central Oregon coast), I met such a group of men last spring: Floating Glass Balls.

The name may not work well on a marquis, as bassist Bill Uhlig was quick to point out. In fact, not one of the five would admit to coming up with it. But it stuck and is perfectly suited for their folksy, traditional, bluegrassy... well, beachgrassy sound. Ask anyone along the north coast where you can catch The Balls and they'll point you to Bill's Tavern in Cannon Beach, where they perform every Thursday night. Each of the band's five members has played there, together or individually, for years. Mandolin player Peter Siegel has since 1977, when Bill's hosted a weekly open jam. Over the years Bill's remodeled and became a little more refined, wanting an actual band. Hence, Floating Glass Balls.

Peter Siegel ('Spud') met the others in turn playing at one spot or another. First there was dobro player Dan Conner at a jam session at Spud's brother's house 20 years ago. A retired army colonel and engineer, Dan is a combination of West Point grad and life-long bluegrass fan. A man of few words, but a glance from Dan speaks volumes. Next came Uhlig. Bill and Spud have played together in coastal staple Bond Street Blues Band since 1989. To watch Bill play is a joy. He typically has his eyes closed and a peaceful smile on his face, looking as though dancing with his favorite partner. Between beats he'll suddenly let go of his instrument and grab it up again with an accented thump. Then there was fiddler Gary Keiski, who was introduced to Spud through guest washboard player Billy Hults. The three of them were roommates for a time in the early '90s. Gary is a kind- hearted fellow with a pleasant smile and a non-judging nod for anyone. Lastly, we have the band's youngest member, the group's practical joker, guitarist Joel Marshall. He watched the others play at Bill's and at the American Legion Hall in Cannon Beach about 6 or 7 years ago. He sings most of The Balls songs. He may be the youngest, but his band mates say he is extremely responsible and wise beyond his years. These prolific fellows have been playing together as a band for three years now.

To watch them, you'd imagine they weren't thinking about what they were playing at all; their movements seem unconscious as all good musicians do. Something about their music makes one willing to be chatty with the person sitting nearby. In fact, the last time I was at Bill's, the man sitting next to me couldn't wait to share his Balls enthusiasm with me. This man comes from Sisters every year to write his Christmas cards and have an extended stay in Cannon Beach. When he is at the coast, he is a Thursday night regular for music he says reminds him of small clubs in Tahiti and Greece. It is great fun being part of the comraderie this band inspires. At the same time they are so good I am tempted to ask my neighbors to stop talking just so they don't miss anything.

One night I asked Gary why he keeps playing with these guys and he told me, "Cuz they let me keep trying to get the style right and it's just too much fun not to."

I encourage all of you readers out there to meet the Floating Glass Balls -- each one polite, each one an excellent storyteller. I love these guys.

Pick up FBG's latest release ASHORE. The 15 tracks include vintage string classics like Bill Monroe's flowing but intricate Evening Prayer Blues, demonstrating FBG's adeptness of mando, dobro, fiddle and guitar picking. Just Let Me Fall, originally recorded by Happy Smith in 1952, features Dan Conner's vocals, lending authenticity to this Appalachian-rooted tune, and righteous old-timey harmonies contributed by Siegel and Marshall -- a constant you can count on from the band. ASHORE is a great mix of tunes passed between fellow musicians (the aural tradition continues) as well as stringband versions of tunes done by, for example, Springsteen, Gordon Lighfoot, and Townes Van Zandt, and treated to diverse and appealing arrangements. In addition, Seigel, Conner and Keiski originals (including Keiski's reggae paeon to clean air, Respiration), enliven this recording and add to the spirit of North Coast musical ensembles.

Jenny Gamroth is a freelance writer from Lincoln City. When she's not writing, Jenny is tending bar at the Kernville Steak and Seafood House.

Photo inset, clockwise from top left: Bill Uhlig, Joel Marshall, Gary Keiski, Billy Hults (who, with his washboard, often sits in with the band), and Spud Siegel. Credit: Steve Larrance.

 

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     "We're into the second set. Spud, the intense fellow with the bandana and mandolin, has been taken suddenly barefoot and Gary's fiddle is having its way with him again. Joel and his six-string are kicking up serious dust, Dan's watching a melody sliding around on his dobro, and Bill's hugging his bass, eyes closed, nodding his head and smiling that smile. People are whooping and hollering and stomping their feet. You'd have to have been there. Next time, maybe you should be."

— Michael Burgess