November 12-13, 2005  This year, Mac Traynham took first place in the banjo competition at Clifftop.  We heard why when he traveled north from his home in Floyd County, Virginia to give us a workshop.  Hubie and Howard organized everything and Hubie and Chris hosted it in their lovely home.  Mac taught the fiddle players on Saturday and then taught the banjo players the same tunes on Sunday, so hopefully we'll start hearing a few of those tunes at the FOB Slow Jam.  An added attraction to the workshops that Hubie and Howard pull together is the jam on Saturday night.  We get a chance to play with the instructor and other folks we don't normally see and also tape a bunch of new tunes for learning later.  The hard part is getting up early the next morning to begin the banjo workshop.  However, after we all fortified ourselves with coffee that, according to our in-the-know librarian Jill, is full of health-promoting antioxidants,  Mac was able to guide even the sleepiest among us through a rousing Sunday morning version ofI'll Fly Away.  Then we moved on to Yellow Cat, New Jordan, Jimmy Sutton, Rattletrap and Old Corn Liquor.  We also learned to accompany waltzes.  Throughout the day he gave us a few special effects, including the "Mac Attack." A special treat was seeing and playing the banjos that Mac makes.   He also makes step-a-tunes -- see picture above -- and it's fun to watch him tapping out the rhythm as he plays.  At the end of the workshop he played some of his prize winning tunes when he treated us to a mini-concert.  (Paul -- I hope you got all that  on your mini-disks ;>)