Sunday, February 7, 2010

Back to posting after illness

Hi folks! I am attempting to get back into the swing of things after a very wierd 2009 in which I had a stent put into a vein due to 95% blockage and had also to deal with treatments for prostate cancer. This human body is a great invention but when things go wrong, it is always great to be able to catch it early in the stage.
Since this is my first post of 2010, I felt I should lead off with the reasons for no posts. I have been on the Classical and Jazz Guitar scene since the mid-60's going to workshops,masterclasses,lessons,Concerts like a madman! In 2008 an incident with the Classical Guitar Society of New York broke my heart so I decided to withdraw from the Guitar scene and concentrate on my own development which I have abdicated for decades in order to support my colleagues by attending their concerts and gigs around town. I will be 60 in April and find that I am playing better then ever because I have been using my private library to finally work with the great lessons I have collected over the decades. I am like a little child in a candy store because I am learning so many juicy things about playing this great instrument. Even on the web there is an enormous amount of great lessons for anything you may want to learn. Each of the major Guitar magazines have a site full of videos and lessons so the only thing stopping you is your laziness! As I return to this blogg, I intend to share what I have gathered in order to help you folks get into playing this great instrument. To those of you who know me, I remain a guitar lover of 1st rank. I'm getting back to hitting the workouts so I can live longer in order to accomplish my set goals for Guitar Mastery.
I am in my 14th year as a performing musician of the MUSIC UNDER NEW YORK program sponsored by the New York City Transit Authority and am proud of this achievement. I play year round in the Subway System and other public venues. I don't care what the weather is doing, rain,snow,sun, I make my gigs and am happy to show people what this great instrument can do with its' 6 strings! Even though we are in bad shape economically,I and my fellow artists in the program continue to move forward to add to the positive side of life by sharing our talent with the world. I have been fortunate to have studied with some of the greatest artists in the Guitar world, Classical,Jazz and otherwise.This year I hope to finally update my website which is woefully behind in current information about my most recent exploits. I must take a moment to publically hug my dear wife and life partner Heidi for putting up with me all this years! Especially through thick and thin, we remain in love with each other and I have many times told her how I don't deserve her. This woman is an incredible human being and would hope that you folks out there can be as lucky as I am to share your life with someone so special. Our body shapes have changed over the years but our devotion to each other remains as strong as when we first fell for each other!
Hope this is not too much rambling on. I know that at this point in my life, I want to accomplish all the things I have suspended by supporting my colleagues in their careers. Well as I listen to one of my favorite musicians - RALPH TOWNER who is 70 this year, I am stunned that I was a teenager following Ralph and his group OREGON ( which is 40 years old ! ). To know that I am as old as I am with so many great positive experiences under my life belt, I crave a future of more joyful ones. This coming Saturday, I will be giving a special Valentine's Day concert at the South Beach Branch of the Public Library System in Staten Island. It is a new program and I will be playing my butt off. It starts a 2pm and will be several sweet works to usher in the following days' celebration. See you there! Glad to be back in blogging service!