TommyFest in Virginia

Thursday night I met friends, Ted, Don, Mike and Linda for refreshments in Hampton and from there we headed to the Tommy Emmanual concert at the Ferguson Center for the Arts at Christopher Newport University. (Quick aside, the Ferguson Center is a great place for a concert — very intimate, approximately 450 seats with not a bad one in the house).

For those of you not familiar, Tommy Emmanuel is a native of Australia, with a small but strong army of fans world-wide. When I say small, I mean relatively small... say, compared to Britanny Spears. Tommyfest, as it is appropriately called, is a yearly three-day event but this was the first time I had made it. I knew of Tommy Emmanuel's music and had watched his live performances on youtube, and I knew he was going to be good, but I had no idea what I was really in for. I find myself wanting to write to y'all about this experience, but the fact is I don't really know where to begin. TE does so many different things on the guitar so well that it leaves me kind of speechless.

I don't want to get into the list of exhausted adjectives used already to describe his performances, so let me just say this: TE played that poor guitar within an inch of its life (and that poor guitar looked like it too); at times sounding like Earl Klugh, at times Chet Atkins, then Stevie Ray Vaughn, even Django Reinhardt. That said, don't let me make you think that TE is anything approaching a copycat artist; there was never any question who was playing the guitar here. It was all-Tommy-all-the-time. But he had incorporated the styles of many other great guitar players and blended them into a style that is all his own. Call it alchemy. At one point he started playing percussion on the guitar, with a snare brush in one hand. With eyes shut you would have thought an aboriginal marching band was strutting proudly through the hall.

A great part of my enjoyment too, came from TE's totally self-deprecating persona. even acting as stagehand for the other players in the show. Anthony Snape, another Australian, evidently hand-picked by Tommy opened the show, followed by Stephen Bennett of Gloucester, Virginia who later joined TE for a few duets. Both very good performers.

I remember afterwards saying to my friend Ted Pollard, who is a seriously good guitar player that I think I'm becoming a "total Tommy Emmanuel sell-out". I guess I could say that he's a pillar of modern guitar technique. That sounds lofty, doesn't it? In a very strange way, I felt like I had never heard anyone play the guitar before (and I've heard some of the best).

As I said before, the videos don't do him justice but I want to include one here for your enjoyment anyway. This is TE playing his original song "Angelina". The tune was in my mind for the next several days. In a couple of shots you can see the scratches on the finish of that poor guitar. Note too, the hybrid technique he's using with his right hand — playing with pick and fingers. I suggest you look at all of his stuff on youtube. Click: Tommy Emmanuel's Angelina.

Oh what the heck, here's another fun one of TE playing (click:) "Mombassa", another original with percussion solo. Listen carefully at the beginning and hear him affecting the sonorous sound of the didgeridoo.

Guitar Stories

One of the great things about the life I lead is the opportunity to go out and play guitar at ever-changing scenarios, and for ever-changing faces. Playing the kind of music I play often gives me the opportunity to perform at wedding receptions for instance, or to play in someone's home. Part of the fun of this is that I'm playing for people when they're most relaxed, surrounded by family, friends, friends-of, and business acquaintances. I've done my share of playing in restaurants, bars and pubs, which can be a lot of fun, but this is different.

Now one of the amazing things about playing the guitar is that everyone seems to have an interest in it on some level, be they guitar players or not. It's an instrument, that's so versatile that it fits naturally into any kind of music, has universal appeal, and it just seems to react at the gut-level. When I'm playing in this kind of setting, it gives people an opportunity to get physically close to the guitar (and guitar player) in a way that they might not always get a chance. It also gives them a chance to perhaps hear styles of music played on the guitar that they don't normally listen to. Also, given that outside of the people who hired me, there's a better then good chance that no one else there has ever heard of me.

Usually on this kind of gig, my job is to play ambient music. The hosts want the atmosphere of live music, but still want people to be able to converse at normal levels, so my volume is adjusted accordingly. (I think this is a great idea by the way, and strongly urge you to do it for your own parties.)

Here's the real fun part. While I'm sitting there doing my ambiance thing, it's not unusual for someone, or even a few people to pull up a chair and sit right next to me, within a couple of feet. On occasion these people are not the designated driver for the evening. This is when this gut-level reaction to the guitar becomes most obvious. Naturally conversations start, and I find people want to share their guitar experiences with me as players, students (and we're all students) or great experiences they've had in the audience. Sometimes I meet new students this way, or get new gigs.

But mostly I get to hear all kinds of stories; lots of times about people's favorite guitar players. Chet Atkins is still very popular, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page of course; George Benson, Django, I even hear Segovia, Bream and Williams stories. I could go on. Oh, and Roy Clark is still much more popular then he probably realizes. Anyway I love these conversations — I have a few guitar stories myself.

It can be really funny, it's an education for me, and it gives me insight on people's reactions to this instrument. Maybe the most fun part of all is ebb and flow of music and conversation. Plus it gives me a chance to play a gig within the gig so to speak. While being my ambient self, I'm doing a personal mini-concert for the people sitting around me who've taken an interest.

This past weekend I was asked by Roland and Pam M. of Virginia Beach, who had heard me play at another event, to play for a private party in their beautiful home. My thanks to Roland, Pam and beautiful daughter Sarah who were just the kind of people that make my job so great — gracious and generous hosts, who right from the start provided just the kind of atmosphere that makes any musician comfortable.

So picture this. I'm at a party where everyone around me is there just to have a good time, people tell me amazing funny stories, great jokes more suitable to someone else's blog, and I'm playing guitar. Life is beautiful. Once again, my kinda livin'.