Yes I AM STILL HERE!

That is what I am asking myself these days. I last left you promising to get back to you about the wonderful performances of two exceptional artists: PIA GAZAREK - OFFERMANN AND ANA VIDOVIC! My dear Pia has been anxious to check out my review of her great performances at The New York Classical Guitar Society and The Long Island Guitar Festival. Let me say that it was a rare treat to hear such an incredibly sensitive artist share her immense and deep musicality with us. Her encore of a simple Etude by Fernando Sor transported us into another world as inner voices fluttered like the wings of gentle butterflys! Her masterful performances left all saying "WHY HAVE WE NOT HEARD ABOUT HER"! Her ascent into the limelight has been delayed due to familial obligations setting her career back several times.She now is going full speed ahead and alarming all who hear her because her mastery of both Music and Guitar,will leave you so touched and moved that you will crave more and more. I am presently working on the review of her concerts and will offer you a great glimpse into the mind of a very, very special artist!

ANA VIDOVIC has taken the Classical Guitar world by storm over the last several
years! She is an incredibly gifted artist in every way and what an incredibly beautiful and thoughtful person! I have been lucky to have known her for several years and I even had the care free nerve to ask her to marry me during a concert for the Upstate Classical Guitar Society a couple of years ago! ( I was of course joking but that comment mirroed the thoughts of all the guitar playing/loving males in the room!).Those of you who know me know that I never hold back my thoughts about people who touch me deeply! ANA VIDOVIC deserves every single accolade she has received because it is all true! Take, for instance,her performance at the Long Island Guitar Festival! After completely sending us to heaven with her fantastic concert, she asked the audience "What would you like to hear?". I didn't need to attend her Sunday Masterclass as I have been to a couple over the years and know that she has a gentle and loving way with her students. This woman also has a stage aura that just glows. Every gown I have seen her in has been so beautiful and she looks model perfect in them all! Her beauty is natural and I told her a couple of times over the years that she doesn't need any makeup at all! Let me tell you that she always serves the main intention of each composition she plays. She will not play anything she does not love just to fill out a program. I will relay to you that when she played a concert here in New York a year or so ago , she chose to play some Tarrega because she loves his works. I heard that some people walked out of her concert exclaiming that it was beneath her to play such trivial pieces! I am glad I was not at that concert because I would have given them a piece of my mind. At this time, Dear Ana is incredibly popular because she has it all: Fantastic Viruosity,Top Shelf Musicianship,Great Beauty and Darling personality. I've told her that I hope she never changes because she is such a lovely person and great example of a great artist and warm human being! I am glad she has been a part of my life over the past few years and I hope to continue our friendship till I kick the bucket!

Let me end this post by getting back to you about PIA GAZAREK-OFFERMANN.She will cast a spell on you when you get a chance to experience her mind blowing depth of artistry. This wonderful artist and beautiful human being, will have you travel to every nook and cranie of the musical world.I will be doing my best to have her better known by you all over the next year or so. I have taken my time to write about her because I am trying to figure out what is the best way to open you into her magnificent musical aura! I interviewed her a couple of times during her one week stay here in New York and have so much material that I am slapping my head to make sense of it all.I want to do her justice because she is one of our Classical Guitar World's great treasures! Mark my words: "WE ARE IN THE COMPANY OF GREATNESS IN THE PERSON OF PIA GAZAREK OFFERMANN!". Here I am at 4:36 am Wednesday morning tearing up my keyboard feeling good once again about this wonderful and facinating world of the Classical Guitar. I will not give you a timeline on the final post of the concert reviews of these two exceptional artists as I can't trust myself these days as I drift in and out of depression about the world situations. There is so much that has made me so sad and depressed about the Wars,Oil Spill,Haiti,New Orleans, our so called Leaders and generally people killing and harming each other. I will tell you that at times I feel like ending it all so I don't have to witness yet another bad thing that bumans do to each other, the animals, the earth!! What keeps me from not taking that terrible step is the sanity of MUSIC and the deep and enduring love of my lovely wife! When I yet leave my house for another gig-especially when I really would rather lie in bed and feel sad,I get immediate feedback when I touch the strings of my instrument and do my best to conquer this negative world of ours! On my darkest days, someone always take a second or two to let me know that my music making matters. Being 60 may have a little to do with it in that I have not truly made the mark I want to make in my music,so am in the mist of finally being all that I "Should have been"! Stay tuned because my best is yet to come!! Till next post, may you all keep the child-like wonder for this instrument alive and growing.