The NCBS National Bluegrass Stolen & Missing Instrument Page is on this website. It provides a central reporting location for the recovery of stolen or lost bluegrass instruments. This service is for both theft victims and used instrument buyers. The FREE page is searchable, and links can be added to connect additional information. Please post again when the instrument is recovered.
Author: Michael Hall
NCBS Board Of Directors Elects Officers For 2025-2026
The Northern California Bluegrass Society Board Of Directors has elected officers for the 2025-2026 year. They are:
President — Michael Hall
Vice-President — Mike Russell
Secretary & Treasurer — Bruce Edmundson
IBMA Foundation Holds Silent Auction To Raise Funds For Bluegrass Philanthropy
The IBMA Foundation’s Biscuits for Bluegrass Silent Auction is live now through September 20, 2025 at 10:15am Eastern Time. Check out the link below, take a look at the auction items, and help support a bright future for bluegrass music! The auction will take place at the IBMA World of Bluegrass Convention in Chattanooga, TN, but bids may be submitted online and you do not need to be in Chattanooga to win.
One item up for bid is a pair of tickets to the 2026 NCBS Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival.
Silent Auction Online: <https://go.rallyup.com/biscuits-for-bluegrass-2025-silent-auction>
The IBMA Foundation is affiliated with the International Bluegrass Music Association. The Northern California Bluegrass Society is a longtime organizational member of the IBMA. NCBS President Michael Hall is an IBMA Foundation board member.
Jamesburg Schoolhouse Bluegrass Festival Returns On October 4 Near Carmel Valley
The Northern California Bluegrass Society welcomes The Jamesburg Community Schoolhouse Bluegrass Festival, set for the schoolhouse on Saturday, October 4 in Jamesburg, up in the mountains south of Carmel Valley. There will be lots of familiar musicians onstage for this small, fun mountain gathering!
September Events Of Interest To Northern California Bluegrass Fans
SEPTEMBER
16-20 —International Bluegrass Music Association World Of Bluegrass Convention, Chattanooga Convention Center, Chattanooga TN (NCBS welcomed)
17-21 — Berkeley Old Time Music Convention, various venues, Berkeley.
19-21 — Frankly Bluegrass Festival, Amador County Fairgrounds, Plymouth.
26 — Snazzy Presents Water Tower, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Santa Cruz. (NCBS welcomed)
Water Tower Set For Santa Cruz Snazzy Concert On September 26
The Northern California Bluegrass Society welcomes the Snazzy Productions concert with the NCBS GOF favorite Water Tower. The show will be held on September 26 at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz.
NCBS Membership Is Available On This Website
Your Membership in the Northern California Bluegrass Society supports local bluegrass music in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Monterey Bay Area, and in all of Northern California.
Join or renew today! Membership is available on this website.
Support Area Bluegrass Music With Your Donation To NCBS
The Northern California Bluegrass Society accepts donations to support area bluegrass and is a California Not-For-Profit Corporation with Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) status that is also known as the Santa Cruz Bluegrass Society. The NCBS/SCBS Tax ID No. is 94-2907716.
Mail-In Donations: NCBS/SCBS, PO Box 390846, Mountain View, CA 94039-0846.
Los Gatos Invitational Jam Will Raise Money For Jambot Creator Tom Lucas On September 4
Tom Lucas created and now maintains a software program that organizes invitational bluegrass jams around the Bay Area. The “Jambot” creates opportunities for outstanding individual musicians to play together in front of audiences at taco places, coffee places, hotdog places, and adult beverage places in the South Bay, East Bay, San Francisco, Marin, Half Moon Bay, and beyond.
The inventor and community creator has not been compensated for his ongoing expenses and efforts.
On Thursday, September 4 a fundraiser will be held to give much-needed funds to Tom. The Bay Area bluegrass community will come together to support this excellent piece of bluegrass infrastructure.
7:00pm, September 4 — Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company, 101 West Main Street, Los Gatos. Free admission, reservations also available. Donations for Tom gladly accepted. Be there!
Suzy Thompson Retires As Director Of Berkeley Old Time Music Convention After 2025 Event, Revised Convention Will Continue
Here is a news announcement from the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention about changes in that long-running gathering and the retirement of festival director Suzy Thompson:
Some of you may have heard that after 23 years as Director of the BOTMC, Suzy Thompson will be stepping down after this year’s festival. She’ll still be involved with the BOTMC, but no longer responsible for every aspect of the festival as Director. Going forward, the festival is being re-organized with various Organizing Group members taking collective responsibility for various aspects of the BOTMC. We definitely will be looking for more community members to get involved! Lael Sigal, our longtime Valiant Volunteer Director, is also a professional Project Manager and she is overseeing the transition. In future, the festival will probably be shorter and smaller, but all the activities that you love (jams, concerts, dances, string band contest, workshops) will still take place.
Suzy is performing at the BOTMC this year, Weds. night with the Aux Cajunals & Blake Miller, and in a solo opening set at the Friday night concert.
Suzy says: “When the BOTMC started, and for about the first 10 years, it was fairly simple to keep track of everything, but as the festival has grown, and various aspects (venues for example) have changed, it has become a much, much more complex event to manage. Marketing, bookkeeping, paperwork, fundraising , with more days of programming, more activities and a rich and complicated schedule – it makes sense now to divide up the work rather than leaving one person to make sure that everything gets done.
“It has been a very amazing 23 –year run!! When I think of the musicians that we’ve been able to bring to Berkeley, to play alongside of, to dance to their music, and to get to know them, I am amazed. New Lost City Ramblers, with Mike Seeger making many visits. Ginny Hawker and other ballad singers including Sheila Kay Adams and Donna Ray Norton. Another personal hero of mine, Alice Gerrard, also making many visits. Old timers like Benton Flippen, Frank George, and Thomas Maupin. And so many more! I’m sure we each have our own cherished memories of past BOTMCs. You can read the whole list on berkeleyoldtimemusic dot org if you want to take a walk down memory lane.
“I am proud of our old-time festival for being one of the first to foreground Black performers of old-time music, starting in our very first year. Earl White, Jerron Paxton, Dom Flemons, Cedric Watson, Hubby Jenkins, and Piedmont Blüz (Valerie and Benedict Turner) have graced our festival. The BOTMC collaborated with Oakland Public Conservatory to create the innovative Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellowship program, which has been hugely successful. The first cohort of Fellows has completed the program and a second cohort will launch this fall.
“A heartfelt thank you to the countless people who contributed their energy, their ideas, their music to the BOTMC. I feel very blessed to have had this wonderful 23 year long adventure, and it ain’t over yet!!!”
Want to do something to honor Suzy and her 23 years of service to the community? She asks you to consider making a donation either to the Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellowship or to the BOTMC – or both!! These donations are tax-deductible.
Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellowship donations via Oakland Public Conservatory of Music
Berkeley Old Time Music Convention donations (via Ashkenaz, our fiscal sponsor): Currently, we don’t have a way to receive online donations. Instead you can send a check (very old-time!!), made payable to “Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center” with a notation on the check saying “For BOTMC” and a note enclosed that says that your donation is earmarked for the BOTMC. Send your check to: Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley 94702.