Question Of The Week: Do You Have Any Good Bing Futch Stories?
I realize that this won't pertain to everyone who gets our newsletter. But since we're dealing with a Bing-Futch-only theme, this question had to be asked...
Do you have any good Bing Futch stories?
If you've had any association with Bing, be it through reading his books, taking his workshops, listening to his music, having dinner with him, watching his videos.... ANYTHING. We want to hear about it.
The Bing and I, 2014 Indiana Dulcimer Festival.
I've got some good Bing Futch stories, and will try to tell the best one in next week's newsletter.
If I remember correctly, the story ends with "See you tomorrow, Bing." "Nick, it is tomorrow."
Have pictures to help illustrate the story? Include those, too! Let's try to get a novel's worth of memories, tall tales, and incriminating evidence to share with the world. I'm sure Bing will get a kick out of it... I know we will.
Do you have any good Bing Futch stories?
Your Answers
Do you have any good Bing Futch stories?
Name: Carol Stewart
Location: Lakeland, Florida
"I first met Bing years ago at the county fair in Orlando, Florida. I was playing with a dulcimer group at the fair and noticed this handsome guy who looked like Johnny Mathis with dreadlocks standing with a beautiful woman, watching us play. When we were done, I went over and introduced myself to them and complimented him on his dreads - always loved em - and I boldly asked to touch them, with Jae's permission, of course. So soft! Told him to never cut them. Jae said she would never allow it. Both Bing and his wife Jae were so very nice and we started talking about dulcimers - said he played a little and asked about our group: where and when we met to play, etc., and could he come sometime and join us, which he did. He is a delightful man, a genius with musical instruments, especially the dulcimer. Always a treat to watch him perform. Both Bing and Jae have done so much for the dulcimer community - their talents, kindness, and beautiful spirits shine through."
Name: Dale, John Chris S.
Location: Galloway, NJ
"We took 2 workshops with Bing in Nov. 2011 at Music By The Bay in Waretown, NJ. Excellent tips on performing and a very inspirational instructor. Learned lots of new techniques and chords. We performed Someone To Love Me which Aubrey Atwater had taught us the previous year. Great experience ! Just found this picture of us with Bing at Music By the Bay Fall 2011 in Waretown, NJ. We took a Dulcimer Band and a Performance Workshop and also watched his presentation on the native American Flute. Our experience with Bing has helped us as Creative Arts and Healing Hospital Volunteers and in the classroom."
Name: Alan R.
Location: Chicago
"I took an informative class with Bing Futch a few years ago at the Gebhard Woods Dulcimer Festival. However, he didn't have enough materials for everyone present, so he gathered a list of emails and promised to send the instruction materials later. I, as well as a friend who also attended the class, have yet to receive them, but there's always hope."
Name: Sharon D.
Location: Spiceland, IN
"Did you know: On February 16, 2011, during the finale of a three-day Jeopardy! pitting returning champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter against IBM's Supercomputer Watson, Futch's name appeared as one of three possible questions for the answer "Nearly 10 million YouTubers saw Dave Carroll's clip called this friendly skies airline breaks guitars." Watson offered up United Airlines with an 81% probability of being correct, United Breaks Guitars was the second choice with a probability of 13% and Futch was the third choice with a probability of 7%"
Editor's Note: More info and pics of this Jeopardy! episode may be seen in this earlier Folkcraft Post.
Name: John Keane
Location: Shreveport, LA
"In March of 2014, Bing had come to Shreveport to hang out with me and Karen for a couple of days. It has become somewhat of a tradition over the last few years and we really look forward to it. We played some shows, ate at some familiar places, recorded some Dulcimerica episodes, jammed up a storm, and had a fantastic visit to boot. Unfortunately, Karen and I were somewhat distracted on this particular visit. My mom had been battling cancer and to say that we were more than a little preoccupied would be an understatement. Bing kept us busy and engaged for the entire visit. He basically used himself as a human distraction for us to lighten our mood and tensions. For the duration of his visit he never left our side. It was quite possibly the most selfless demonstration of goodwill and friendship that Karen and I have ever witnessed. Bing had to roll at 5:30AM on March 11. We had been playing WAY past midnight the night before so I was somewhat skeptical that his departure would be timely, but he departed right on schedule. Before Bing and Rita could have gotten to the end of our street...the phone rang. My dad was calling to tell us that my mom had taken a turn for the worse overnight and had just passed away. The world changed quite a bit for us in that moment. Later that afternoon we were already out in the Dallas area taking care of arrangements when my cell phone rang. Bing was calling to make sure that we were doing okay and to talk us down a little bit. Bing has always been a blessing to us, but for those few days he was a guardian angel. We love him like a member of the family, and we are proud to be his friends."
Name: Sam E.
Location: Connecticut
"I chair a dulcimer festival in the Northeast. In 2006, Robert Force and Dan Landrum were two of our performers, and they both told me I should look into Bing as a possible future performer. Two months later, I was going to be in Orlando for a business conference, so I called him up, and we arranged for him to come to my hotel with two dulcimers. We may have looked like the odd couple to the other folks from my conference, but we jammed until half past midnight. (I believe that night was the introduction of Another Brick In the Wall to the dulcimer world beyond my basement.) I wound up booking him for the festival -- his first gig in the region -- and I'm proud to say that several other groups in the region have booked him since."
Name: Richard Ash (from Folkcraft)
Location: Woodburn, IN
"The first time I met Bing in person was in Anaheim, California. I had spoken with him on the phone, but never actually seen him until the NAMM show in Anaheim. That was in January of 2009. The first time I saw Bing (not in person) was on YouTube. Back in 2006, when I was contemplating the purchase of Folkcraft Instruments (from Folkcraft founder David Marks), I did a lot of research on the company. I spoke with an active dealer (Dennis DenHartog, who has since passed away), and got his thoughts on Folkcraft. Dennis had nothing but good things to say! I lurked on EverythingDulcimer.com and read every post I could find that compared the various builders. (And came away with yet another positive Folkcraft experience.) And then I visited YouTube.com. I found a person that had a series of videos titled "Dulcimerica". The performer had done a nice job on the videos, and was clearly a talented teacher and player. I watched all the videos, since the instruments in his lap looked like they were made by Folkcraft Instruments. So, my first experience with Bing, via YouTube, was one of the deciding factors that enticed me into purchasing Folkcraft Instruments. And now you know!"
Name: Ken Longfield
Location: Reedsville, PA
"I first met Bing in 2005 when his band, Mohave, was playing at the Hard Rock Cafe. We had been talking with each other on EverythingDulcimer.com. When I told him I would be in Orlando for a conference he told me if I could get away for the concert he would give me free tickets. When I arrived at the Hard Rock, I was to call him. I couldn't call from inside because it was so noisy. I walked out to the lobby and called. It was hard to hear him on the phone because he was inside where it was noisy. After a minute or two I heard him just fine. He came out to the lobby, still on the phone, and was standing next to me carrying on the conversation. I tapped him on the shoulder and we met. We put our phones away and wound up playing dulcimer in a janitor's closet until the Hard Rock staff came and gave me, and the friends who were with me, back stage passes. It was a great night."
Name: Janis Lewman
Location: n/a
"First time I saw him was at KMW some years ago. He had on that "white suit" and was seen with a huge video camera, everywhere. Watched him walking down center aisle while recording, with tremendous controlled "knee action" as he got lower to the floor and approached the stage. Oh and then WOW on Friday night he is up on stage playing like you wouldn't believe. I had never seen him before that and had no idea he was also a great dulcimer player.....(duh - sheltered life?)"
Name: Pixie Wright
Location: Lebanon, PA
"We met him at a church in Lititz PA a couple of years ago--right after getting my Folkcraft dulcimer and wondering what to do with it. Bing was giving a group workshop and concert...and I arranged a private lesson with him too. He taught the group "Edelweiss" and I thought it was so very difficult. Now, I can play it with ease!"
Name: Nick Young (from Folkcraft)
Location: Fort Wayne, IN
"2010 NAMM Show. Nashville, TN. After a long day on the convention floor playing and selling dulcimers, Bing and I head out to see what we can find. I had to be back at the Folkcraft booth early the next morning, so I wasn't planning on anything big. Well, what was supposed to be a quick drink and then back to the hotel, turned into an all-nighter. We started at the country bars and wound up at the rock clubs. We made friends everywhere we went, which is easy when you're with Bing. When the bar yelled "last call" and the band stopped (which is late in Nashville), I couldn't believe I was still up. But before we could take off, the band came down and hung out with us, which led to another hour or so of cocktails and socializing. The waitresses and bar staff eventually had to kindly ask us to leave, because they had their coats on and were ready to go home. So we head back to the hotel. But were we done? Apparently not, because we wound up back at his room, drinking Heinekens and telling stories back and forth. I finally had to force myself to leave when I heard the birds starting to chirp. So I got up and said, "See you tomorrow, Bing." To which Bing replied, "Nick, it is tomorrow." I made it back to my room in time to see the sun starting to rise. And yes, I made it to the Folkcraft booth after a quick power nap, and worked another full day at the biggest music convention in the country."