BUZZ Magazine September 2016

my® nominee Mary Gauthier, Kennedy Center Artistin-Residence
Pete Kennedy, the aforementioned Tom
Paxton, Don Henry, Kathy Mattea, and Jon Vezner;
Siobhan Quinn & Michael Bowers, Grammy® winner
and Kennedy Center Artists-in-Residence Al Petteway
& Amy White, Louise Mosrie, Ray Chesna, and twotime
Grammy® winner and 10-time nominee Janis Ian!
The concert was filmed by PBS and is being edited
down to a one-hour presentation that will air on PBS
stations throughout North Carolina, and will be on
PBS.org for worldwide consumption.
The next day in one of my classes, I was asked “Was
that the best night of your life or what?” I replied
“Well, I’m 51 years old. I have a wife and a 12 year old
daughter, both of whom I love more than anything. But
yes, that was the best night of my life!”
But that was just my experience at the Contemporary
Folk Week concert on Wednesday; I was there for
classes too!
Once class I took was SIX EXERCISES TO IMPROVE YOUR
PLAYING with Pete Kennedy. This was a toolbox-oriented
class to help improve your playing, help you relax
physically while playing, and learn more about the
instrument. It was really helpful, and Pete is a great guy
with wonderful stories about his illustrious career as
sideman to practically everyone; names from Bob Dylan
to Emmylou Harris to Marvin Hamlisch to Sinatra to
Elton John.
I took a guitar rhythm class with Celtic and Americana
fingerstyle wizard (and amazing human) Steve Baughman.
Steve asked me to help out by co-teaching with
him, as my drumming and bass playing experience
keeping good time helped him deliver the class material
with extra emphasis. We learned rhythmic strum
patterns and work in odd rhythms including 7/8, 13/8,
and 25/8. Great fun!
I also took a soul-altering songwriting class with Don
Henry called The Muse Likes to See You at Work. I took
it to get out of my two year writing rut, and I thought
that jumping off this particularly frightening cliff would
help. Boy, did I underestimate the potential. The class
was structured around a fictitious movie producer who
wants a song for a movie he’s producing. Each student
drew a vignette out of a hat detailing the particular
scene we were to write a lyric to. It was deliberately
not supposed to be a literal take on the scene, but a
broader approach that would have wider appeal. We
all wrote our lyrics, and turned them in. They were
then handed out at random, and we each set the lyric
we received to music. This all happened in very short
order, over the space of three days. The deadline pressure,
new and strange environment, and desire to do
well was exhilarating, and I came up with a compelling
lyric that drew a healthy round of applause and not a
few tears from the assembled students. The music I
came up with to the lyric I received was equally surprising
to me in its simplicity and power. I daresay a songwriter
was born this week.
In addition to the classes, and the Contemporary Week
faculty concert I described, there were TWO equally
awesome Guitar Week faculty concerts, and three student
open mics to attend, and one very special camp
event: BeatleScream!
There is an “unofficial” embargo during the week; no
Beatles tunes are to be played until Thursday. Why?
Well, on Thursday night at 11PM, the camp gathers in
Bryson Gym and we sing (shriek!?) Beatles tunes one
after another until we drop! This year, we got through
58 tunes and ran nonstop until shortly before 3AM!
The incredible John Tosco, founder of the Tosco Music
Party concert series in Charlotte NC is the main driving
force behind BeatleScream. John, along with myself
and a litany of other great musicians work together to
put on an accurate and fun show that everyone can
sing and play along to. This year, Jon Vezner joined us
on keyboards, Ukulele virtuoso Gerald Ross sat in with
his lap steel guitar, and a couple of dozen guitarists and
percussionists joined in. Over 150 people attended
10 / BAYBUZZ.ORG / SEPTEMBER 2016