MUSICAL AFTERNOON KICK OFF

We had an unbelievable Sunday a week and a half ago, enjoying the music of The Jericho Mountain Grass musical ensemble, which blended traditional ballads with new-grass tunes. The Grass consists of Carl Klinger on madoline, Toby Hoffman on banjo, Peter Kane on fiddle, John Stetson on bass and John Gehman on guitar.

It was standing room only at one point in the afternoon! We had all the seats filled, the tables spilling over with food and drinks, and people still kept coming in. Luckily, we featured The Grass in our downstairs Rathskeller Pub (The Rat) lounge, which allowed people to have more freedom of movement to enjoy the live musical performance, while having food and drinks--and those who came to The Rat to watch the football game were still able to do so in the bar area, since the music was in a separate space.

We had guests who came from an hour away to enjoy a musical afternoon at The National Hotel, and to see The Grass. What a day!!! Pete and I were just bowled over by the depth of the musicians' repertoire and ability to engage with the audience. It was truly a wonderful way to launch our musical afternoons at The National Hotel.

Did any of you catch The Grass at our place? Did you like it? Should we have done anything differently? We want to keep the music running at The National Hotel and if you have suggestions, we are always open to hearing them. Thank you for your support and we hope to see you at The National Hotel when we feature another musical group in the very near future.