Thursday, August 21, 2014

Howdie - I needed a rest.

I have been on the New York music scene since 1955 and have not given myself any real time off to concentrate on my own development so decided over the last couple of years decided to pull out of the scene with the exception of my Music under New York gigs and concerts in the Library System. I even passed up my attendance at the Mannes Guitar Seminar this summer. I received no messages wondering where I was so I guess I was not missed at all. I have also not rejoined the New York Classical Guitar Society since I am moving in other Guitar directions these days. I am having a fine time learning all sorts of Guitar styles and am very pleased by my progress. I would love to publicly thank SUE WALL and DENNIS KOSTER for remembering my Birthday and 27th wedding anniversary. Two really classy people!!! I also give a big hug out to the great DAVID LEISNER for bringing only the best to the Guitar community with his cutting edge concerts. One night a while back I was on my way into the city and bumped into David and his partner Ralph as they came out of the train and found out that he was performing at the BARGEMUSIC Concert hall in Dumbo! I immediately told him I would be there and it was another great evening from the hands and mind of one of the greatest musicians in History-DAVID LEISNER. As I have mentioned many times before, David is a caring and loving human being whose Bright and shining smile just radiates so much sunshine. He and I continue to go for the "SHIRT OF THE YEAR AWARD". I must also publicly thank my friend over in England - The wonderful MAURICE SUMMERFIELD of CLASSICAL GUITAR MAGAZINE for his continued great coverage of the Classical Guitar World events in that glowing periodical. I look forward every month to those Classical Guitar pages of joy! I have been collecting my writings,reviews in an effort to start posting them here on my blog. I am once again starting to look into working on my website as I have sinfully ignored it for so long. I have stopped going to every Guitar event in the City. I have spent a ton of money staying on top of both the Classical Guitar World and Jazz Guitar world here in the city. I used to hang like a fly on the wall at Luthier Music Corp for decades! I have been to so many masterclasses - and not only Classical Guitar but Jazz,Piano,Voice Violin! There is so much music in our lives and thanks to the Internet and YOUTUBE we can touch the  legendary performers of the past. I have spent many hours with my iPhone in bed checking out masterclasses and performances while my dear wife is sound asleep! Even though I am in my 65 year of life here on earth, I am still GUITAR CRAZY!!!! My playing is getting so damn good I can't stand myself. I listen to old performances of mine from a couple of decades ago and am so proud of what I did then and how I continue to progress even now! I am like a kid in the candy store with every bit of musical knowledge I acquire!!! Well let me take a break now and hopefully get my butt back on this blog. I have a meaty list of posts for you guys and gals!
Before signing off let me shout out to a couple of my favorite Female Guitar Magicians: PIA GAZAREK-OFFERMAN in Germany and the Fabulous GOHAR VARDANYAN. I will be covering these two gifted and supremely talented artists in my next couple of posts. ALSO the PERUVIAN GUITAR HERCULES: JORGE ,the GREAT CABALLERO!!!! JORGE IS IN A CLASS BY HIMSELF!!!! After you hear him, your head will snap back and fall off - he is so damn great! Even our greats concedes that this is a once in a lifetime musical wonder and we are so lucky to have him in our Classical Guitar Community. I have been eating up his YouTube videos like a rabid dog. When I want to be proud of my instrument, I put on one of JORGE'S Videos to show myself what can be done on this wooden box with six strings!  W H  E  W  !!!!!!!! As John Shaeffer once said. " If you have something no one else can play, give it to Jorge"! JORGE is already legendary and I hope he stays around for a long time. THANKS JORGE FOR YOUR BEING HERE IN OUR COMMUNITY!!! I Also must tell you to check out Jorge's recently added videos on "Technique". So profound is this GENIUS!!!! If he ever puts out a book on the Guitar, I will be the 1st on line to gobble it up!! By the way before I really leave you, see if you can pick up that fantastic book on technique by one of my former teachers: HUBERT KAPPELL. My wife and I were in Germany a few months ago and I was knocked out by this massive book on Guitar Technique! More on that in an upcoming post! SEE YA LATER!!!!!