This is my personal blog, where I can document my interests in words, music, concerts, travel, and guitar-building.
September 25, 2011 – As soon as I heard that Gary Burton was playing at Berklee with his “new quartet”, I knew I had to go. I had seen Julian Lage at Passim with his band and was looking forward to hearing him in this setting as well. Plus the band includes Antonio Sanchez, drums [...]
I recently picked up this funky little guitar. I put some new strings on it (D’Addario Nylon Folk). Below are some pictures and a brief rendition of Freight Train – sorta – so you can get an idea of how it sounds. It is surprisingly loud for such a little guy. Of course, when it [...]
As previously tweeted and facebooked, J and I played at the IBM Centennial Celebration at the Museum of Science. Both of us being IBMers made it convenient, for sure. The event was an “IBM’s Got Talent” show with about 10 acts, ranging from rock and bluegrass to show tunes and dance numbers. I especially enjoyed [...]
J Johnson and I have been hanging out in my basement for a while shedding fiddle tunes. We debuted at the West Roxbury Open Mike night and have played at Roslindale too. One of these days, we’ll get more than 2 songs to play at a real gig. We typically include some form of improvisation [...]
On May 24, J and I went to see Chris Thile and Michael Daves at the Brighton Music Hall in Boston – actually in the neighborhood called Brighton on Brighton Ave and Harvard Ave. I’d never been to this place before; I think in previous incarnations it was a metal-band venue, or at least rock [...]
I was browsing through the Boston Phoenix paper yesterday and saw that Julian Lage was playing at Club Passim. How did I miss this? Anyway, I went to the Passim website and there was only 1 ticket left for the 7 pm show, so I snagged it. (I didn’t realize until later that he was [...]
On Saturday, July 24, we met our friends Dave and Lisa at the Lowell Folk Festival, a free 2 day event in the old mill town of Lowell, MA. The setting is very nice, in the middle of the oldest part of the city surrounded by the long-gone manufacturing buildings of the industrial age and [...]
A couple of weeks ago my good friend, Wayne Goins, came back to Boston to visit the gang here. I first met Wayne at Camp Encore/Coda in Bridgton, ME in 1985(?) where we were both guitar instructors. Back then, he played a strat and his main guys were Hendrix and Prince and the blues. I [...]
I almost forgot that we had tickets to Pat Martino, until Mr. Johnson rang me up to confirm a meeting time. 10 pm set on a Friday is risky due to the lack of sleep during the week, but we went anyway. I’m glad I did! It was the first time I’d seen him and [...]
On Sept 26 we went to the Homegrown Coffeehouse, in Needham, MA at the UU church to see Red Molly, an excellent group who we saw the past summer at Club Passim. Before the show, we went to eat at Sweet Basil, around the corner, a place that does not take reservations! Therefore, while we [...]