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The Crazygrass Tribe
Yeah, lots of stuff happened to get us all the way to the middle...
Dave around 400 BC | 
The 1st Crazygrass, circa 2003 (Featuring Bruce McMillan and Lancer Hardy)...we were happier than we looked! | 
The bands first meeting (ick) | 
Remember the "Jam Grass Revolution"? | 
Sid with "Jew-Grass" band the Klezzbillies (they still play Bar Mitzvahs and such) | 
Band groupie George Osama (he | 
Sid and Ton on the beach in Eureka | 
The "Lewis Brothers" band (they would be famous now if they just could have gotten along...) | 
The old days at Stormys with Bythos (fiddle) and Bobbie (drum) | 
Sid tries the 'lectric guitar...WOW, this could be FUN! | 
Sid chills with his computor guru Ron | 
Sid's lil bro Ton hangin in Humboldt | |
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Pickin with the stars
We've had the good fortune to pick with a few Super-Pickers, and a few of those jams are below:
Jammin with Hot Buttered Rum, Chico CA | 
Jammin with Hot Buttered Rum, Chico CA | 
Jammin with Tony Furtado (Been Scene in Chico) | 
Jammin with Tony Furtado (Been Scene in Chico) | 
Sid and Nor Cal legend Bhoddi Busick | 
Pickin with Dr. Dan Crary | 
Sid and Renay with Utah Phillips! | 
Sid pickin with dobro legend Rob Ickes and mr. Joe Craven (Craven and Ickes came thru Chico as a duo) | 
Sid hams it up with Craven and Ickes | 
Craven playing Dales cast (actually on the 2nd track of "21st Century Hillbilly Music"!) | 
Sid and Radim Zenkl tear it up... | 
Jammin with promoter and harmonica virtuoso Bob Litel (he | 
Sid picks a banjer tune with Hot Rize banjoist Pete Wernick (thanks again Brookdale!) | 
Sid and Joe Craven picking in the living room (kind of like a bluegrass museum) | | |
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The Crazybanjo: It's birth and early encounters...
The Brain child of Sid Lewis, the vision for the Crazybanjo came into Sid's head one night after watching Star Treck reruns and wondering what kind of banjo a Klingon warrior would play. Also the need to play in rock bands with ROCK drummers (Dave) drove Sid to these desperate measures. He teamed up with student and Chico luthier Matt Brown, and what followed may change the face of bluegrass, and music, forever! Folloing are some commentaries by Matt thru the building process:
"...It is difficult to bring someone else’s vision to life, but that is what Sid asked me to do when he gave me the opportunity to built the Crazybanjo. I began taking guitar and mandolin lessons with Sid about the time I seriously began building musical instruments. The second mandolin I made impressed Sid for its volume and tone and it planted an idea in his head. After that, he played a few of the other guitars and mandolins I made and he began to believe I was up to the challenge of building his electric banjo. I, on the other hand, was not so sure. After a series of design negotiations and evolutions, I selected some Birdseye Maple, some hardware and pickups, and I got busy cutting wood.
That was the easy part, though. Not only are there precious few electric banjos to use as models, I didn’t know a thing about a banjo design and construction before I started. As I began to get acquainted with the ins and outs of the banjo, I recognized that the project would require diverse and varied skills—such as complicated wiring, drum making, and metalworking—that I had no opportunity to practice in making all-wood acoustic instruments. Laminating and lathe-turning the drum shell, in fact, and modifying a standard metal drum hoop so that it would sink into the body of the instrument was by far the most challenging aspect of this project.
Sid and I are still working out the details on the further evolution of the Crazybanjo, still trying to make it match the original and yet adapt to the new needs we discover as he plays it . We are making steady progress, though, and Sid has taken it on the road a few times and I think it will hold up—even to the abuse Sid seems to put his instruments through. Since it has been in Sid’s hands, Bela Fleck has played the Crazybanjo and it has made it onto the main-stage of several music festivals. One of the most rewarding moments for me, however, came when I was standing in the audience at the Trinity Tribal Stomp, and one of the sound guys walked up to me and said, “Hey, they told me you made that banjo, good work!” It is, indeed, a crazy banjo, and only a banjo maniac like Sid would play it, but I think it will suit him just fine!" -Matt Brown, Summer 2005
Solid body head hollowed out to fit the bongo head... | 
The "Crazybanjo" | 
As a banjo fetus | 
Sids "guitar-pelli" tattoo/12th fret inlay | 
This looks painfull (ask Matt whats going on here, I dont know) | 
Powertools for a powefull banjo... | 
Making the rim | 
Bela Fleck fondles the Crazybanjo | 
Sid approaches Bela with the Crazybanjo (security gets nervous) | 
Taking it to the stage...(it | 
Sid poses with his new toy (sexy) | 
Mug shot | 
Matt demonstrating the "whale tail" mark | 
the builder of the Crazybanjo Matt Brown hanging out with his baby (he and Sid share custody) | | |
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