SEGOVIA LIVES AT THE 92nd Street "Y" / This And That

This past Saturday evening at the 92nd street "Y", here in New York, we celebrated a totally awesome evening of SEGOVIAN proportion in that several of the worlds' great Classical Guitarist paid tribute to the Greatest Guitarist in history by celebrating the 120th year of his birth. I just wanted to touch base with you as I am preparing a very long report on the whole evening of greatness.I am happy to say that I know each and every great artist on the program; some of whom I really count as friends I have not seen in a few years and some whom I have run into when they were in the New York Guitar concert platform. I am a little swamped with performances over the next 3 days but will inch my way through the gathering of the sights and sounds of this great evening so hold on partners as this report on the Segovia Tribute will give you a juicy treat over the next week.

I will be doing an "up close" report on my favorite magazine CLASSICAL GUITAR MAGAZINE. The October issue has quite a few entries that I was personally involved with and I had to jump for joy at the bounty of goodies in its' pages and am foaming at the mouth to share them with you!!!

How about that JULIAN BREAM turning 80 and ALIRIO DIAZ turning 90!!!! Two of my great heroes!!! BREAM of course, is not on the concert platform but that ALIRIO is still tearing up the fretboard!!!! My other hero at 70 is known to be ready to hang up his performance spurs:JOHN WILLIAMS!! Say it ain't so Johnny!!! A few years ago I gave myself a treat by attending  THREE John Williams concerts in a two week period!!!! For one I actually rode the express train with JOHNNY from New York to Boston where he was picked up by MANUEL BARRUECO and his gorgeous wife!! What a lucky guy I have been in my life to have met so many great artists and none of them were ever stuck up!!!! BREAM was a little brittle when he gave his Master Class at the Manhattan School of Music but apologized for his shortness to me the next day. I have always loved Breams' fantastic way with the guitar. In particular his ability to make music colored with excitement in every performance. I will be posting my own tribute to BREAM this month and hope that somehow he gets a chance to read it!

If you love the Classical Guitar, this coming Monday you must attend a special Lecture/ demo by the incredibly fabulous GARRETT LEE at the Mannes College of Music. My fellow Mannes buddy from 1968-9 FREDERIC HAND will be playing a totally awesome Guitar he built for Fred. I have been to several lectures by Garrett over the last couple of years and he is also one of the finest Guitarists you can imagine. At the past MANNES GUITAR Week, he made my Eliot glow with his beautiful playing. What a treat it was for me to be on the "other end" of the guitar as GARRETT had the most "knowing coaxing" of sound!!! He gave me a fantastic lesson in instrument sensitivity awareness! I point you to his website for a mountain of Guitar knowledge this young man has at his fingertips : leeguitarworks.com. This young man is a GENIUS and a glowing example of a fine human being with one of the most beautiful smiles in human kind! I am proud to know him!!!

I have also recently really revisited the HUMAN GUITAR TORNADO by the name of ELIOT FISK!!!!!!! I will be devoting a separate post to this young man I have known since the late 60's W H E W !!! THAT IS A HELL OF A LONG TIME! My wife and I were in a weekend vacation when we saw that Eliot was giving a concert with his wife and daughter at a College in Bethlehem Pa and we missed it because we had a full day at the HARVEST FESTIVAL in town and I was worn out!!! Told Eliot this past Saturday that we were there but had to pass. I have the local paper which laid out the program. This is one of those times when I kicked myself in the butt for missing my man Eliot!! Sorry buddy. ANYWAY you should all be aware of that unique master ELIOT FISK! Check out his you tube performances! Buy and listen to the 24 Caprices of Paganini and turn it up high! IT WILL BLOW YOU A W A Y !!!!! He is the reincarnation of Liszt and Paganini rolled into one great performance machine!!! He may not be every ones' cup of tea being a bit over the top but he is one of History's greatest musical marvels and you should experience at least once in your lifetime.

That is all for now! It's 1:24am Friday Morning and I have to be at an 8am gig so I had better wrap it up for now.Keep strumming your Guitars out there and see next time at the DONNIE CHANNEL!!!!