Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers

"It's long been a dream of mine to play bluegrass music at Virginia Tech, and tonight I think I'm one step closer to that goal." -Steve Martin


Shock and confusion were in abundance two Friday's ago as my normal pre-road trip ritual of feet-dragging and groggy packing played themselves out in my room.

I was headed back to Blacksburg for a weekend to take in the final men's basketball home game of the season, and unexpectedly I stumbled into a bluegrass concert.

A member of my legal defense team sent a frantic—at least I read them it in that voice—text message that said, "Dude Steve Martin and the steep canyon rangers are at Burruss Sunday".

A quick Google search confirmed that legendary comedian and noted banjo picker Steve Martin was coming to Blacksburg and there were still tickets available, which made very little sense to both of us.

"You missed out on seeing THIS live? HAHAHAHA!"

After giving the go ahead to purchase a block of seats, I spent all weekend cursing "kids these days" and railing against some vague and vengeful "youth" that had no respect for proper art.

In reality, the reason for extra tickets was likely that it was for a bluegrass show in a college town, but that didn't slow my whimsical denunciations of "millenials"—and yes, I came to realize that technically I'm a part of that increasingly narcissistic group, but why can't they be more like ME?!

Anyway, I've long been a fan of Steve's comedy and I've been aware of his banjo abilities since, as a child, I uncovered his 1977 comedy album, Let's Get Small, hidden in a box of old cassette tapes.

I'd argue having that tape during my formative years explains a lot of my deadpan style and penchant for sarcasm. Also, I've seen a banjo on television.

"I'm not into the drug scene or the booze scene or the dope scene, I'm not into that. And I think people who are should be taken out and maimed."

His delivery and style are truly unique, "Tonight I'll be the guy up here in the red suit." He told us during his introduction. 

Make no mistake this was a music concert, but it was hilarious too. 

The Steep Canyon Rangers are fresh off their win for Best Bluegrass Album at the Grammy's and they play along with the gags in between demonstrating their musical chops. 

At one point, Martin claimed he and the band had agreed the day they met that the moment it all stopped being fun they'd quit. The band then all set down their instruments and walked off stage leaving Steve to play a couple songs alone.

He had a total of five banjos on stage which he played off as an "ego thing". He then explained that he thinks of his banjos like his children, "which means that one of them probably isn't mine."

We were all particularly impressed with the talents of Nicky Sanders on fiddle and harmony vocals. In fact the entire group, Charles R. Humphrey III (bass, harmony vocals), Mike Guggino (mandolin, harmony vocals), Graham Sharp (banjo, harmony vocals) and Woody Platt (guitar, lead vocals) are all terrific singers and their voices blend beautifully.

Woody Platt is straight from central casting for a country singer, a fact he's ribbed about from Mr. Martin. He just sounds like he should record the vocals for everything coming out of Nashville. 

The best example of the group's vocal prowess is, "I Can't Sit Down", an a cappella number about arriving in Heaven that leads into the much funnier, "Athiests Don't Have No Songs".

The latter provided a subtle yet impressive feat. During the last refrain when Steve is screaming, the other four guys actually harmonize with his off-putting pitch to form something quite pleasant. Steve held his note a bit longer in person so the effect was a bit more dramatic, but it's still awesome.

Finally, an expansive tune called "Auden's Train" handled the encore in a big way.

Martin wrote this song as a tribute to poet W.H. Auden and like the title, it winds and weaves its way punctuated by the long wail of the fiddle. 

Sanders stretches his legs on this one, referencing such classic works as The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" and The Beach Boys "Good Vibrations" and doing it in a manic style that brought everyone to their feet.   

Hokies Defeat Georgia Tech 28-21

It was an excellent Thursday night in Blacksburg as my house christened our new (used) kegerator and the Hokies pulled off an exciting victory against the Yellow Jackets.

The nation was properly introduced to Virginia Tech's David Wilson who returned a kickoff for what would turn out being the winning touchdown.

With the win the Hokies are now 7-2 (5-0) and are in the driver's seat for the ACC Coastal Division crown.

Here's the kick return for those who missed it.

Ugh No Updates Again!

I was once again out of town, and though I had my computer along didn't post anything. Neither did Brian. I suppose it's partly my fault for going down to Blacksburg for the weekend two weeks ago and staying through until the next one.

For now, we'll just bring you a pretty amazing video showing us an unbelievable golf hole in South Africa. Nice shots by these guys also. I'd say this course is worth the $220 to play it.



Also a link to the Yahoo Sports story here.

Rivalry Week

As Virginia Tech prepares to play Virginia Saturday in the battle for the Commonwealth Cup, it's important to remind ourselves just what makes rivalries great, namely, the fact that your rival school sucks.

It's no different in the commonwealth of Virginia. The shirt and tie wearing, wine and cheese crowd of UVA descends on the fair hamlet of Blacksburg this weekend to tell us how much more their degrees are worth, and to shower us with insults regarding our blue-collar nature.

Thank goodness it's going to be too cold for sundresses.

Football is a dirty, tough and often ugly slugfest. It's about hard-hitting and snot bubbles. It's about getting your bell rung. It's about beating your rival and holding down the home turf...unlike some schools below.

There's no real point to this post. I'll have some actual football analysis tomorrow sometime. But just food for thought, sometimes I think Virginia Tech is the smarter school...

Goin' Down In Florida

TALLAHASSEE- Eric and I successfully made the lengthy trek from Blacksburg to the state capitol of Florida yesterday. The trip took us somewhere around 11 hours, though we were delayed with several wrong turns near the end of the journey.

I didn't think we would ever get out of Georgia. The bulk of the trip went through the peach state, and somewhere amongst the cotton fields and tall Georgia pines I nearly lost my mind with road weariness.

But as I pointed out, we made it. Today we plan to explore Florida State a bit and get a fix on Doak Campbell Stadium. We've set up headquarters not too far away and we'll probably wander over in a bit.

As Muddy Waters told us on the way down, "Yeah I be goin' down in Florida/Where the sun shines damn near every day."

Well today it's cloudy and overcast, but we'll do some scouting none the less.


RANDOM

I noticed a political sign when we were nearing our destination for Peter Boulware. Sure enough, it was the same Boulware who starred at linebacker for the Seminoles years ago and is still the Baltimore Ravens all-time leader in sacks. Apparently Boulware is running for the Florida house as a Republican. He won the Republican primary with 84.1 percent of the vote.

Improving Hokies Edge Huskers

With all the question marks surrounding the Virginia Tech offense, they stepped up and turned in an impressive performance defeating Nebraska 35-30 in Lincoln Saturday night.

Sophomore Tyrod Taylor completed 9 of 15 passes for 171 yards and added 87 yards on the ground.

The Hokie defense absolutely shut down the Big Red Rushing attack, holding Nebraska to just 55 yards on the ground.

Meanwhile between Taylor, Darren Evans and Kenny Lewis Jr. who had 72 and 50 yards respectively, the Techmen amassed 206 yards rushing and Evans had two touchdowns.

The performance was by far the best offensively this season, and despite some struggles in the first half, Taylor settled down and really showed some impressive progress as both a passer and a runner.

Some critical defensive plays, including Macho Harris' interception deep in Cornhusker territory in the first half along with Stephan Virgil's blocked punt to open the scoring gave the Hokie offense enough help to secure the victory.

The Hokies are now 4-1 overall and 2-0 in ACC play. The Hokies find themselves ranked #20 in the AP Poll and will now return to Blacksburg for a match up with Western Kentucky next Saturday. WKU is coming off a 41-3 loss to Kentucky.


OTHER NEWS AND NOTES

-Sophomore Davon Morgan tore his ACL and will be out for the rest of the season. Davon was the starting rover, and will likely be replaced by Dorian Porch.

-The Hokies wore their new white throwback uniforms for the first time on the road. Tech previously wore them in their victory over Furman.

-Tyrod Taylor remains undefeated as a starting quarterback in college. His record now stands at 8-0.

Hokies Outlast Heels

It was ugly and at times downright embarassing, but the Hokies found enough offense in the second half to sneak past ACC foe North Carolina 20-17 in Chapel Hill Saturday.

Tyrod Taylor struggled in his second outing after being named the sole starter. Taylor finished 11 of 21 for 125 yards and 2 interceptions while rushing 12 times for 35 yards before leaving the game with an ankle injury late in the fourth quarter.

Despite that, Taylor is now 7-0 in his young career as the starter in Blacksburg.

Tech's offense was anemic in the first half, but found some rhythm on some good drives in the second half. Darren Evans ran the ball well, especially late, toting the rock 14 times for 61 yards and an all-important touchdown.

Despite a wildly inconsistent offense, the Hokies managed one of the best comebacks in the Frank Beamer era scoring 17 unanswered points and climbing out of a 14-point hole.

“We never claim to be pretty,” Beamer said. “But I give our players and coaches credit for hanging in there and finding a way to win. And that’s the bottom line – to be able to win. And win together as a football team. I thought our team did a great job of that.”

Next up for the Hokies they step out of conference and head to the "Sea of Red" to take on Nebraska in an 7pm primetime match up on ABC.


ANALYSIS

At the risk of beating a dead horse, the most villified man in Blacksburg (not Sean Glennon) offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring did little to help his case in this game. The Hokies managed less than 100 total yards in the first half, but managed to finish the game with 268 to UNC's 307. UNC also lost starting quarterback T.J. Yates to a sprained ankle in the third quarter. That seemed to be the turning point for both teams though UNC backup freshman Mike Paulus (brother of Duke hooper Greg Paulus seen here doing what he does best) played well before learning what his family knows so well, that feeling of getting owned by the Hokies. Tech desperately needs to find some offensive consistency before the journey to the midwest. I'd like to think that Tech will start moving the pocket more with Taylor and give him chances to throw down field. More likely, get ready for a whole lot of running next week in Linclon.

OTHER NOTES

-Virginia Tech is now 16-1 all-time in ACC road games and won its 18th straight conference road opener. Tech is also 5-0 against North Carolina since joining the ACC.

-Dustin Keys kicked what turned out to be the game-winning field goal on a career long attempt of 45 yards.