Community Weblog - [ CD & Concert Reviews ]

- Ron Stavale  [ 7/28/2010 - 22:37 ]   #

- Merv Collins  [ 7/3/2006 - 15:59 ]   #

Hi folks.. Looking forward to seeing the members of the Michigan Fingerstyle Guitar Society coming out in force to the upcoming show in Sterling Heights this coming saturday night.  This show is for a great  cause and is a terrific  opportunity for our Society members to show support for each other, which in the performing world is HUGE.  We really need to keep spreading the word of this great genre of music that we're all involved in and the best way to do that is to support as many of our member's gigs as possible and bring friends and family to show them just how marvelous this music is.  Its not just the board members that can do this... its each and every member. So please grab the family and friends and come out to the show.  Its an early night and I know I can speak for the performers in that we'd be honored and very very pleased to see you all. 

- Nathan Montgomery  [ 3/29/2006 - 14:09 ]   #

 

 

 

- Merv Collins  [ 3/3/2006 - 00:18 ]   #

Hi everyone,

Well the CD is FINALLY ready and available!  Bits & Pieces.. Merv Collins Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar

Please email me at merv2@hotmail if you might be interested in getting a copy. 

- Merv Collins  [ 2/21/2006 - 23:10 ]   #

HI everyone from cold chicago.. just wanted to announce that my CD, entitled "Bits & Pieces" is finally complete and is at the factory being duplicated and packaged.  When I get everything in order I'll post a picture of the cover art and will provide an email for anyone that might be interested in purchasing one.  The cd has 15 songs on it.. all fingerstyle of course.  I'll look forward to seeing everyone at the next concert.

Bye for now

 

Merv Collins

- David Pierson  [ 12/13/2005 - 11:04 ]   #

- Mark Hawks  [ 11/16/2005 - 00:24 ]   #

From Dan House:

Last night I witnessed something very special and remarkable. I saw a man and virtuoso musician who has been struck by a nerve and muscle syndrome which threatened his career start an amazing comeback. The truly remarkable thing about this comeback was the fact he has been and continues to retrain himself to play left-handed.

In 2000, Billy McLaughlin was at the top of his game. Touring the world, several CDs under his belt, sell-out audiences... and then his world began to crumble. Week by week, he began to notice his fret-board hand (his left hand at the time) was losing accuracy and speed and he soon began to realize it was no longer under his control. He tried rest and exercises, etc... but finally realized how much trouble he was in and sought medical help.

The diagnosis was devastating. The bad news - he had Dystonia, uncontrollable muscle and nerve spasms. The good news - it was Focal Dystonia, which means it was localized which in Billy's case was/is his left hand and arm... more bad news - but once diagnosed with Focal Dystonia, chances of it spreading into full Dystonia are greater than the general public.

Eventually, Billy was fortunate enough to find the right medical team and some fellow musician's who had similar diagnoses for a support team. After lots of opinions and treatments and self-evaluation, Billy decided to attempt to relearn to play left-handed... in his own words, "I need to create some beauty again."

So he restrung his guitars "upside-down" changing the nuts and saddles to match the new configuration and began again - one day at a time.

Billy is recreating his "double-tapping" technique that was a hallmark of his earlier playing. Basically this means hammer-ons and pull-offs with both hands. The afflicted left hand now does the bass lines on the two lowest strings while the right hand which used to do the picking and strumming now is used to control the treble melody. The dexterity and fine motor skill requirements of the left hand in this technique are significantly less than the right hand and so Billy has been able to adapt beautifully.

Billy played for an hour. Yes, there were flaws (anybody out there play for an hour flawlessly?). Billy pointed most of them out himself. At times you could see the fatigue setting in towards the end of the concert. This was not easy... but it was inspirational... and hopefully the start of a successful road back to what he loves.

After a break to sell his CDs and meet and greet the fans, Billy took center stage for a 1/2 hour to talk about this journey and to answer questions from the audience that remained.

I feel blessed to have witnessed this. This was Billy's first full length public concert since his diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation began. Today, I'm heading back for a two-hour workshop with him discussing his techniques and compositions. I'm geeked!

You also may be interested in knowing that Billy's rehabilitation is the subject of a film documentary called REWIRED that is being produced. The film crew was there at the concert last night recording this small miracle. Also, an organization has been founded that has been supporting Billy in his rehabilitation and will be assisting other musicians with similar diagnoses.

You can read Billy's introductory remarks and find out more about the film, his condition, and the HEALING HANDS organization at: http://www.billymclaughlin.com/hhintroletter.html

...and above all, keep playing, the world needs as much beauty as we can create...

- Merv Collins  [ 10/11/2005 - 19:43 ]   #

HI folks from the windy city.  Doing good here but just wanted to really recommend that if you can, do NOT avoid seeing Tommy Emmanuel's show when he comes to michigan.  I caught his show here in chicago and it was incredible.  He's a great entertainer and an absolutely incredible guitarist, both in terms of technique and feel.  Do yourselves a favor and don't miss seeing Tommy. 

 

See you all soon!

 

Merv Collins

- Nathan Montgomery  [ 7/14/2005 - 00:56 ]   #

Bridge Guitar Reviews
         Intuition

Nathan Montgomery       For Your Ears Only    2005

With a passion for acoustic guitar Nathan Montgomery plays many styles
like blues, jazz , funk, rock, finger-style, Zen to classical music. In a range
of various techniques, like tapping, slapping, hammer on and pulling off, he
has the ability to fully absorb a listener in various moods. Nathan goes far
beyond any safe territory which many other guitarists do not dare to explore.
In 2002 he graduated with a Bachelor degree in Jazz Performance.Influences
from the late Michael Hedges, Jon Gomm, Kaki King and John Danley can be
heard, but nevertheless Nathan Montgomery has his own rousing signature.
On his album For Your Ears Only he impresses in any area with compositions
which groove a lot ,fantastic harmonics and brilliant percussion which touches
one lower chakra's and sometimes have a hypnotic effect as on Beneath The
Surface. Three Shades of Black show his melody line building abilities and his
knowledge of percussion. One on his impressive enchanting ballads Flowers
Fallen shows he is a top composer with strong melody lines like for instance
Don Ross and Preston Reed excel in. The virtuosity  of playing energizing
songs with a lot of groove gets one fully absorbed as on Maybe Next Time,
Gravel Train and Groove Thing. Pictures of You has a soothing, melancholic
atmosphere which really moves one. The versatility, the composing skills and
the way to entertain surely puts him between the best guitarists on this globe.

Henk te Veldhuis
Bridge Guitar Reviews.
(headphones advised)

http://www.xs4all.nl/~guitars/intuition.html

- Mark Hawks  [ 7/9/2005 - 23:23 ]   #

It's been a great past few weeks for new CD releases from our alumni artists.  Stephen Bennett has just released a disk of Beatles acoustic guitar solos.  On the disk he features 15 Beatles arrangements played with many different types of guitars.

The Beatles for Acoustic Guitar
Now available - A Hard Day's Night, All My Loving, Hey Jude, Yesterday, In My Life, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, If I Fell, Penny Lane, Blackbird, Eight Days A Week, Hello Goodbye, Here, There and Everywhere, Strawberry Fields Forever, Something, All You Need Is Love

www.HarpGuitar.com

- Mark Hawks  [ 6/30/2005 - 13:00 ]   #

I just got the new LJ CD called "One Wing".  On this disk LJ covers a number of "Wings" tunes.  There are some really cool arrangements.  From LJ's website:

A follow-up to Laurence's smash, "LJ Plays the Beatles", this CD features Laurence's amazing fingerstyle arrangements of popular Wings tunes, such as "My Love", "Live and Let Die", and "Silly Love Songs"

The titles, all in DADGAD tuning unless indicated, as they appear on the album: 

Band on the Run (drop D tuning)
Another Day (standard tuning)
Jet
My Love
Every Night
With a Little Luck
Maybe I'm Amazed
Silly Love Songs
Listen to What the Man Said  (CGDGAD tuning)
Coming Up
Arrow Through Me  (standard tuning)
Live and Let Die  (CGDGAD tuning)
Mull of Kintyre

You can buy it from AMR's website:
http://www.acousticmusicresource.com/