Sad News about John Mack

I'm sorry to have to pass along this information. Mr. Mack has been diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. They are not expecting recovery. More information is available through the IDRS website and doublereed-L.

John Mack Camp has been cancelled!

John Mack is not doing too well. It was decided to cancel the whole camp a few days ago.

Any further news is appreciated.

wish u were here

in sunny North Carolina. Today was a day offf at the Popkin camp, and myself and four intrepid bassoonists went in search of gem mines. We took a great sidetrack hike to a fairly beautiful waterfall in the woods, and then did a little view peeping from the blue ridge skyway. The mine was not anywhere near as much fun as I had hoped, but it was interesting anyway. Tourist traps seem to be similar everywhere you go.

Popkin Camp - day one (for me)

The camp actually started on Monday, but I arrived at 3 pm on wednesday after a 15 hour - 2 day drive.

The rental car company ran out of cars, so I got this cool upgrade to basically a stock car racer. Fun and not too bad on mileage, considering.

About fifty players here, and there is a feeling of real camaraderie among them. Some have been coming for years, others are first timers, but there's laughter in the halls, and lots of bassoon solos in the air as well. It's nice to put names and faces together, inclusing Mark Popkin, who I've known for twenty-five years and yet never met in person (other than a brief wave at an IDRS conference).