Mandolin Moments

By Reidar Falch

The only image of Scott Tichenor at Mandolin Cafe

Scott Tichenor is the man behind Mandolin Cafe. Photographs of him are hard to find. He says, "As a rule I'm not crazy about posting images of myself on the web because after all, the Cafe isn't about me."

He describes himself as a life-long musician who has always had an interest in computers, even back to the days when personal computers didn't yet exist.

At the time he was self-employed working with books and technical papers, "A local music store asked if I'd build their first web site. I told them if they weren't in a hurry I'd build my own to gain the needed experience. At the time I didn't have a vision for creating what people think of today when they come to the Mandolin Cafe."

The initial site was launched November 18, 1995, "Work on it started a couple of months earlier. I attended the Boston MacWorld conference in early 1995 specifically to look for information on how to build a web site. I could find only one book. I bought it and read it cover to cover before writing my first line of code."

"The original was mostly text and contained a single image, a painting by my wife, Annie. It shows me seated at the table with a cup of coffee and a piece of sheet music playing mandolin. That painting now hangs above my desk," Scott says.

Painting by Annie Tichenor

He continues, "There were a few pieces of tablature, some content that still resides on the site in the Cafe archives like chord charts and scale patterns. Early on I created online chord patterns using HTML tables and radio buttons to show where the fingers would be placed. That would be considered silly now but was fairly adventuresome for the time."

"Most of my early designs were simply dreadful. One day I came to grips with the fact that I'm a technical and content person and not a designer. Things got better from that point on," he states.

"Early text-based web sites reminded me of restaurant menus with lists of links running across the top. My lifetime love of cooking and mandolins strongly suggested Mandolin Cafe," Scott says about the name.

"A lot of the early site was created alongside a full-time web developer position at a couple of Universities and the task of being a new parent. It was built and maintained in short time stretches, lunch hours, vacation days, weekends, late nights and early mornings," Scott recalls.

He says, "With my daughter now 14 and the fact this has been my sole day job as of about a year ago, a lot more development time is being devoted in larger chunks so it's slowly undergoing some fairly major changes."

Scott Tichenor - Photo by Ted Eschliman

Scott thinks it's an interesting but demanding job, "I grew up on a farm in central Kansas so I can say with certainty that running a large web site populated by user input is a lot like being a dairy farmer. You get up early every morning and work, and then you return and work again, and again. And I do mean every day. Ignore it and there'll be an enormous price to pay."

"Dan Beimborn who administers the Cafe's dedicated server and assists with various projects allows me to run off on vacation once a year and takes over for me for a week or more so I can lay on a beach somewhere and sip beers. He'll yell at me if he finds me online during that time. I am forever in his debt for his assistance and friendship," Scott says.

New technology helps, "The advent of mobile phones with reliable web access and custom apps has really freed up my schedule as I can manage most of the site from that platform if need be. I volunteer a lot at my daughter's school so while I'm popping popcorn or flipping hamburgers at the girls volleyball game I can be answering emails or chasing off spammers in a moment's notice."

Running a forum demands attention, "One person can have a public meltdown or make a pest of themselves and gain a lot of attention, but the 99.5% of good going on is never discussed. It's like a train wreck. Everyone stops to look."

"The mandolin community is not so much different than much of the web although we're skewed heavily white male and in the 25-65 range. Many of the problems of society I've seen in action on the forum, and just about the time I think I've seen it all, someone new comes along," Scott says.

He assures, "We've established firm guidelines that we vigorously enforce with the idea that we want it to be a safe and friendly environment where beginners can mingle comfortably with more experienced people."

"Ted Eschliman and a small group of dedicated moderators take care of much of the work on the forum which saves my brain. Ted is also a dear friend and someone whose opinion I respect and seek out on a regular basis," Scott continues.

He has no doubt, "Without Dan and Ted's support some of the Mandolin Cafe features simply wouldn't exist."

Scott is aware of the future, "The Cafe itself is undergoing major changes at the moment, and that will continue. It's probably not obvious because it's like watching an ant hill. In regard to the future, it's all about about expanding and improving upon what's already there and making sure I don't take on content I can't maintain for the long haul."

"There's no intention of trying to be everything for everyone. That's a folly. I'm glad there are sites like JazzMando.com, Mandolin Archive and others filling a niche for people with more specific interests," he says.

He has thoughts about evolution, "Social networking has altered things dramatically the past few years but I see evidence of fatigue with Facebook and Twitter. Sure, they're still expanding, but like anything (listservs, message boards, social groups, etc.) there are people leaving in droves daily and they won't be back."

"No one should think we've come to the point where there's nothing new on the web. Some kid somewhere is dreaming up the next new Facebook-like experience this very moment," Scott says.

Scott plays the mandolin. He performs locally on a regular basis in a real band, a pre-bluegrass/old-time duo, a jazz standards and gypsy swing duo, and with a finger-style and flatpicking/rhythm guitarist.

Scott (left) and Rick Desko - Photo by Brad Levy

"I'm kind of all over the place. My early years (late 70s to late 80s) were mostly fiddle tunes and bluegrass bands but I love playing jazz standards, choro, Brazilian, Irish, etc. My love affair with the music of Turlough O'Carolan has been going on for 30 years," he says.

Scott and Bill Crahan - Photo by Mark Powls

He is moving, "The past 18 months I've been obsessed with Bach solo violin and piano music. I'm glad to have headed this direction but have no intention of passing myself off as a classical musician, but I do pay a lot of attention to the techniques. I'm happy to just have this music in my head and under my fingers on a daily basis."

"I started playing guitar when I was just big enough to hold one and had a wonderful band teacher throughout middle and high school. He was a big influence on me as a person and musician and as a result I had scholarship offers to play trombone and baritone from various Universities," he says.

Scott passed up and accepted an athletic scholarship as a distance runner, "I sometimes regret that decision, but I assure everyone I never spend any time wondering what the Trombone Cafe would have looked like."

Mandolin Cafe