Good news and bad news.

Good news and bad news.

First the bad news. I am going to miss the opening bullfight at Madera. This bit of bad news is mitigated by the fact that the next evening is a bullfight at Stevinson, so all is not lost.

The good news, however, is very good. The Campbell Brothers and Aubrey Ghent are going to be in town giving a concert. This is the reason I am missing Madera. Since they are on the Arhoolie label, it is pretty important that we show up when they are in town. If you have not heard of them or of Sacred Steel, the genre of gospel music they play, check out the gospel section of our website. I probably recommend this title, this title, or this title for an introduction to the genre. Or you can jump in head first and get the video documentary by the noted folklorist Bob Stone.

Please note that once in a great while I will plug Arhoolie titles, and that I wholeheartedly recommend just about all of them. Since we promote rather obscure music, none of us are getting rich off of this (we are here because of our love of the music - we would be insane to think that selling things like this is going to make us gobs of money), I don't feel bad about giving the occasional plug.

But that is why you will not get a bullfight review of Sunday's mano a mano in Madera. I will write something about Monday night in Stevinson, though. Of course if the rain holds up, there will be no bulls for a week or two. That would make me a sad aficionado indeed.