The Steel Guitar Forum

Sunday 12/11/11 Branson Community Center, Annual Christmas Party & Jam.
I'll post some pictures and let Jerry and the rest chime in with various info, suffice to say : great crowd, great times, great food, 13 or 14 steels, I lost count !!








As customary, Jerry & Venda Hanley presented their Annual Opening Christmas Message.



Back up band Russ Burns- Drums Buddy Lewis- Bass Venda Hanley- Key Board



Jerry Smythe



Bill Dobkins



Roger Hurst



Jerry Foster



Mike Beasley



Jerry Hanley



Eddie Lane



Bob Alsup



David White



Steve Melchi



Mike McGee



Larry Gerdeman being interviewed by Terry Bethel. I missed getting a pic of Larry playing his Emmons. (He'll get me for that)



John Farrell relieved Buddy for a spell.



Jean Devore entertained with some great vocals



More great vocals from Sharon Robertson



It was great to have our web site editor, Shelley Rader and daughter, McKenna with us.



As always great foods of all kinds



I can't say enough about Vice President Charlie Steichen and wife Rose Mary for all they do including smoking the turkey and ham for this event and so much more to even try to remember.

Hey Guys.... That was a great party. Thanks to all the wives who put out that huge spread of awesome food. Special thanks to Charlie and Rose Mary for all their hard work on the Christmas Party and throughout the year.

Mike McGee and Steve Melchi.... you guys just knocked me out trading "4's" on several songs. And Eddie Lane, what a touch on that steel guitar!

What a great time We had at the Branson Christmas party. Lots of great music, fellowship, and of course the Food, Food, and Food. It was all really great. Thanks especially to Charlie and Rosemary for all of their hard work. Larry and Jean

Mary and I express our thanks for the great food and fellowship provided by OzSGA. We always have a wonderful time visiting with our dear friends. We wish for all of you God's blessings and a joyous Merry Christmas.

I just wanted to thank everyone who attended the OzSGA Christmas. It was the first one I have been able to attend in 2 years. Work just really interfers with having fun.
The steel guitar players were awsome, as was the backup duo Russ and Buddy. Venda was there at the beginning of the jam but her duties called at the check in table.
I wanted to play but my left foot got wore out at the jam the night before at the Hanleys.
I start treatments again this week on it. It is better but!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To Charlie and Rosemary our vice presidents you two are the greatest. Venda, Jerry and Bill Myrick the OzSGA wouldn't be what it is today without you. I personally can't thank you enough for what you have done since your arrival as VP's, Sec, Treas,official photographer and I loved the new and improved newsletter.
To the ladys My go to H--k hat is off to you , everything was great great greeeeeaaaaat.

Terry Bethel
Lame Duck President

Is Eddie Lane playing a keyless G2?

Yes,Eddie's guitar is a keyless and, boy, did it sound good! Anything that man touches sounds good!!

Bill, again you've done it! You do all of us a great favor and service by capturing these "fun" events! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Just think how your steel missed such a fine party!!

Apology accepted....

Thanks to all for a great time, great food, great music and the acceptance of some mighty fine musicians. Thanks again for a great time.

Yes the steeler certainly does look bored,prolly not the case but ..........a picture speaks a thousand words.

Could be he is thinking"ok how do I play this thing?"

Or maybe he's thinking"I'm hungry"

Or he's thinking"What would Paul do?"

It is good to see that there are men who still have strenght of character to do the right thing. Thank you Rick. Jean

The Steeler is my friend Mike Beasley who came to the party with me. I can assure you Mike has the deepest respect for Jeanie and was not thinking what it looks like. If you look closer he was looking to the left at Mike Magee who was playing some awesome background steel. I have to admit when I saw the photo I busted a gut, but knowing Mike I never read any dirt into it.

As for my part: I was just trying to interject some humor into an otherwise taken out of context comment.I think were it not the fact the steeler has the look of boredom this would not have even been a discussion.It was meant as an amusing comment,not a slur against the steeler,the person up front or anyone else.Who by the way was not even mentioned until Mr. Baker decided that he would be a hero & defend his wife & admirably so I might add.IT IS ALL IN FUN FOLKS!!!!!!


The only reason I wasn't there is $$$$ or the lack thereof,glad everyone had a good time.

I usually don't comment on much, but since the comments are such that need explanation. I have played and been around our steelers only a couple of times. I have listened to Miss Jean a couple of times and respect her and Larry as friends. I was distraught on my hearing and playing that afternoon and wished I had a chance to play over all my parts on the jam. Till next time, Mike

thanks for the invite, I had a wonderful time of picking & visiting with all my Friends. thanks to all the great folks that put on the Food & show. it is hard work to get this kind of response, I look forward to Feb. show & next years Christmas Party.love you all.God Bless, Jerry & Dee foster.

This year's OSGA party was one of the best ever. Thanks to the regular steelers who showed up and the new ones that I haven't seen and played with. As always, it would not have happened without the hard work of Jerry and Venda Hanley, Charlie and Rosemary Steichen, and Bill Myrick. Thanks guys and gals.

Thanks for coming, Mike Beasley! You sure contributed wonderfully to the music that afternoon! I don't think there were any of us that didn't make mistakes. At least I know I did.....so please don't feel bad at all. I heard Lloyd Green say, "When you hear a record, that we steel players are on, we all made mistakes before they got the right 'take'! And I've found out in my own playing, that some of those mistakes sounded pretty good, and I've used them over and over again purposefully. As the old saying goes, 'We learn from our mistakes'! You did a fine job playing and fitting in with all us. We were SO glad you were there. And I hope we'll see you many times in the future!!

To quote Bob Ross"There are no mistakes,just happy little accidents".

I used to tell the guys in the band if they had all hit that same note I did it wouldn't have sounded near as bad as it does with only one person doing it,(I call em' abstract notes)

Buddy :
It's humbling to me to be put in the same list as Charlie, Rose Mary, Venda, Jerry and YOU when it comes to work and contributions to The Association's success. My hat's off BIG TIME to you five and people like Leonard Robertson, Chad Jones, and a host of others as well as the wonderful ladies that make everything work so well. All I am guilty of is coming and having a good time and snapping a few pics. Thank you so much, I appreciate it ! -

It was wonderful that our president, Terry Bethel, got to be with us! He has lamented over the fact that he hasn't been able to come to the events like he wants to! We all missed his expertise on his steel guitar, however, he was experiencing a lot of pain in his left foot. We have a new individual who is interested in learning to play the steel guitar. He called me and wanted to know how he could obtain a steel guitar. I contacted Terry and he said we had a Sho-Bud Maverick donated to the club. So, Terry brought the Marverick, a Peavey amplifier, cables, Sho-Bud volume pedal to our house. I asked Dave Musgrave if he would put strings on it and he found that one of the tuning keys would not function. He worked on that tuning key for about an hour and got it working very smoothly. Terry Bethel came up a few hours later and tuned the pedals. The tuning mechanism is push-pull. Later he jumped on the Mel Tillis bus and headed for Iowa. And while I'm writing here, their show is probably in progress right now. After the show, they load up and jump in the bus and head back home. After an all night ride, he'll arrive home about 8:00 in the morning. The reason I've told you all this is because these 2 men, Terry and Dave, have a big heart for music and musicians and they're going out of their way to help a young man who wants to play the steel guitar. I want to tell you, "that's class"!!! Terry and Dave, along with Roger Blevins and Tom Brumley are to be thanked for starting this club and Hank Ruf is to be thanked for bringing the club into a new dimension that we all enjoy today! Hats off to these 5 guys!!