Archive for September, 2006
Jason and I are still at the IBMA Festival in Nashville and I just haven’t had time to blog. I’ll be back home on Monday and I should get back into the swing of things then. If you want to find out what’s going on here in Nashville, check out the Bluegrass Blog. They have a team of guys here and they’re doing a fine job of covering the event.-MJS
September 30th, 2006
Here’s a nice article about the Canadian luthier Michael Greenfield and the guitar he made for Keith Richards.-MJS
September 22nd, 2006
Arizona guitarist Al Casey passed away this week at the age of 69. Casey was a highly regarded studio musician in the 1960s and 1970s who played on hits by the Monkees, Gene Vincent, Harry Nilsson, the Beach Boys (he was one of the guitarists on Pet Sounds) and Frank Sinatra. He also released a few records under his own name, including Surfin’ Hootenanny, and he was the main guitarist on the Exotic Guitars series of LPs. When he was younger he played in Duane Eddy’s band, The Rebels, and he worked extensivley with producer Lee Hazlewood. On a spooky note, another guitarist also named Al Casey who used to play with Fats Waller passed away almost exactly a year ago.-MJS
September 22nd, 2006
I love stories about stolen instruments that are recovered. This one is from North Wales and has an odd twist at the end. On a personal note, I know exactly where this happened because I used to live in Beaumaris, which is very near to Menai Bridge, the town where the bass was stolen.-MJS
September 21st, 2006
This column by Suzanne Kaiser on writing and words has a lesson on the proper pronunciation of the word ukulele.-MJS
September 21st, 2006
Just a quick post to tell you all that your friendly Fretboard Journal representatives will be on-hand in Nashville next week for the International Bluegrass Music Assocation’s World of Bluegrass week. We’ll undoubtedly see some great bluegrass so check the blog regularly for concert reports and photos. During Fan Fest (Sep. 29 - Oct. 1) we’ll be manning a FJ booth in the vendor area. Come say hello, grab a FJ guitar pick or browse through our back issues. If you ask nicely, we’ll even offer you a sneak peek of issue four! -JV
September 21st, 2006
Here’s a good article about a guitar that saved a life.-MJS
September 19th, 2006
The Mandolin Cafe has posted audio files from the panel discussion from 2006’s LoarFest West, which I covered in the third issue of the FJ. There’s some fascinating info here, so if you have any interest in old mandolins, you should set aside a couple of hours, head on over and listen in.-MJS
September 19th, 2006
When Gustav Holst wrote his suite, The Planets in 1916, Pluto had yet to be discovered. (It was spotted in 1930.) In 2002 British composer Colin Matthews was commissioned to write a movement based on Pluto, sort of a footnote to Holst’s work, which was recently recorded by Simon Rattle and the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and released at the same time that the erstwhile planet was being demoted. Although the reclassification was bad news for Pluto fans, the congruence of events has apparently given Matthews’ visibility a boost. -MJS
September 19th, 2006
Andy Statman, who we covered in our second issue, was on NPR last weekend. You can listen to the show here.-MJS
September 18th, 2006
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