Posts filed under 'FJ Issue 1'
In the debut issue of the Fretboard Journal, we ran a lengthy photo essay of Tucson’s Chicago Store. The Chicago Store is perhaps one of the more infamous guitar stores in America and we wanted to capture the aisles, hidden rooms and basements filled with piles of cheap and vintage guitars. Our photographer for the assignment was acclaimed landscape photographer Elias Butler. Butler did an incredible job for us, so it’s no surprise to us that one of his photographs is gracing the cover of this month’s Arizona Highways. Congrats, Elias! BTW, if you haven’t seen Butler’s Chicago Store essay in the first FJ, he’s posted some highlights on his website.-JV
November 27th, 2006
New Shabbos Waltz, the new CD from mandolin masters David Grisman and Andy Statman is now available for pre-order from Acoustic Disc. It will be released on August 8, but there are a couple of streaming clips up on the site right now so you can preview it. Grisman, of course, graced the cover of our now sold out first issue and Statman was profiled in issue 2.-MJS
July 6th, 2006
Neko Case, who interviewed Charlie Louvin for our first issue, has a free concert recording avaible for download over at NPR. She’s also going out on tour to promote her latest CD, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood.-MJS
April 11th, 2006
David Grisman, our issue 1 cover boy, is touring with his band, so check this list of dates to see if he’s coming to your town. If he is, then go see him and tell him the FJ staff says hello.–MJS
April 10th, 2006
In our first issue, we interviewed Evan Marshall about his contribution to David Grisman’s Tone Poets project. Well, he has just launched Solomandolin.com, a new webpage that has sound clips of his amazing duo-style of mandolin playing. You should check out the video clip of his solo version of “The William Tell Overture,” which has to be seen to be believed.-MJS
April 4th, 2006
In our first issue, Allan Evans wrote quite movingly of his relationship with the great Reverend Gary Davis. As well as being a fine writer, Evans runs a CD company call Arbiter that mainly specializes in rare recordings of classical musicians such as Paul Hindemith and Bruno Walter as well as curiosities like Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Co., who performed using synthesizer prototypes hand built by Bob Moog himself. Evans also has a subsidiary label called World Arbiter that has issued a wonderful CD of home recordings of Davis’ music that were made between 1955 and 1957. Entitled The Sun of Our Lives, the CD includes some rare blues intrumentals (Davis almost never recorded blues, sticking instead to gospel music) and a long segment of Davis preaching in an intensely hypnotic rhythmic manner. These recording offer a unique insight into the music of one of the greatest guitarists of the last century.
Arbiter also has a few recordings of the violinist Erica Morini, whose violin was stolen from her in 1995 as she lay on her deathbed. The instrument was made by Stradivari and it has never been recovered. The loss of her violin, which was known as the Davidoff after a previous owner, is listed as one of the top ten art thefts by the FBI. It’s likely that the violin made its way into the secret collection of some shady fiddle connoisseur, but there is a very slight chance that the thief didn’t know the instrument’s true value and sold it off cheaply somewhere. So keep checking those fiddle cases. There’s no telling what might turn up.–MJS
February 16th, 2006
In our first issue Jason Verlinde wrote an overview of the career of Nic Jones, the brilliant English guitarist and singer whose career was cut short by a car crash. Nic’s recordings have been very hard to come by but his two collections of live recordings, In Search of Nic Jones and Unearthed are now available from Elderly in the US and from Nicjones.net in the UK–MJS
February 10th, 2006
Skip Heller, who was the subject of an article in the first issue of the FJ, is in Nashville, where he met and videotaped Charlie Louvin talking about the Delmore Brothers, which was the subject of another article in the first issue. You can check out a clip of the interview on his Live Journal. -MJS
January 23rd, 2006
In the first issue of the FJ, Duck Baker reviewed Derek Bailey’s CD with Evan Parker The London Concert. After the issue came out, all of the staff here was saddened to learn that the great improviser passed away on Christmas Day, 2005 at the age of 75. He will be missed. -MJS
January 16th, 2006
In Issue 1, Frank Ford wrote about building a banjo. As some of you already know, Frank is a wonderful repairman, co-founder of Gryphon Stringed Instruments and the proprietor of Frets.com, an amazing website devoted to the craft and lore of instrument repair. Frets.com has hundreds of pages devoted to just about every aspect of the luthier’s craft. It has photo essays on complex repairs, tips on quick repairs, clever uses for ordinary items, photos of rare instruments, and a good dose of goofiness. It will take you days to go through everything here, so why are still reading this? Get to Frets.com and learn something new about the instruments we all love. -MJS
January 15th, 2006
Previous Posts
In the debut issue of the Fretboard Journal, we ran a lengthy photo essay of Tucson’s Chicago Store. The Chicago Store is perhaps one of the more infamous guitar stores in America and we wanted to capture the aisles, hidden rooms and basements filled with piles of cheap and vintage guitars. Our photographer for the assignment was acclaimed landscape photographer Elias Butler. Butler did an incredible job for us, so it’s no surprise to us that one of his photographs is gracing the cover of this month’s Arizona Highways. Congrats, Elias! BTW, if you haven’t seen Butler’s Chicago Store essay in the first FJ, he’s posted some highlights on his website.-JV
