Vassar and Finn

Robert Altman has made great pictures, especially Nashville. In one scene, Connie White, played by Karen Black, performs in a Nashville club. In the middle of a song, she says,

"Here's the best. Here's Vassar."



And then the famous fiddle player Vassar Clements plays his solo. For just a few seconds, he's on camera and there's no jibber-jabber. Until I first saw that movie, a few years ago, I'd never heard of Vassar. I'm not a huge bluegrass or country guy.

A while back I bought the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will the Circle Be Unbroken record, and there was Vassar again, and wow. I think he's pretty much a household name in the bluegrass world.

Vassar died last year. Since I saw him in Nashville I've wanted to take up fiddle playing. Last spring I went to a violin auction and bought an instrument.

My violin sat for a long time. It didn't have a bridge, and I had no bow. Last week I finally took it to the Meyer Violin Shop down the street from my house. The owner, Finn Meyer, came out from his workshop and asked me what I needed. Finn has a big round beard, and his eyes sparkle. As soon as you make eye contact, you can see he's looking for a chance to have fun with you.

"I bought this violin last year ... could you help me get it together?" I asked.

He said that was too much to ask, but that he'd at least put a bridge on my violin and sell me a bow. Finn is a super cool guy, and he'll chat you up all day if you let him. He told me about coming to America from Denmark when he was young, and told me the story of how his wife put her foot through one of his guitars before they were married. He talked about living in Detroit. I told him I'd lived in Ann Arbor for five years.

"Oh, one of those," he said.

Eventually I made it out of there, and yesterday I returned to pick up my violin. Stupidly, I expected to pay with a credit card. Finn was closing up shop, but he let me take the violin with a promise to come back with money. I bought rosin and peg dope, hurried home, and set out to tune the instrument and begin hacking away. I opened the case, and noticed that Finn had written on the bridge:



Cool. I went to tune the A string, and SNAP! The peg broke in two. So until I get a chance to drop by Finn's shop again, I can either practice on three strings, or just look at the thing.