No Rock And Roll Fun

A DECLARATION OF PEACE: We got a little over-excited when we read the headline Settlement in Bill Monroe Mandolin Fight, as we were hoping this was some sort of sequel to the great Didsbury Lute Riots of 1987, but instead it turned out to be a court-based struggle to try and decide who actually owned Bill Monroe's mandolin. The son of the bluegrass legend said it was his, while the Bill Monore Bluegrass Foundation of Kentucky said they'd agreed to buy it off him for USD1.1 million (which seems a hell of a lot even with the way the exchange rates are); when their attempts to put financing for the deal together had collapsed (and who knew that there are few banks brave enough to invest a million bucks in a mandolin in these times?) the son, James, had attempted to seek other buyers instead. Terms of the deal - struck before the whole thing wound up in front of a judge - aren't being released, presumably because nobody wants to hear about a million dollar mandolin.