BUZZ Magazine September 2016

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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
BeatleScream this year, and several people live streamed it to Facebook! The Swannanoa Gathering is an exhausting, exhilarating, and deeply moving experience for most everyone who attends. It is the safest audience you will ever have as an artist; being surrounded by 350 other musicians, with skill levels ranging from multiple Grammy and Emmy winners, to “I just bought my first guitar”; and each and every one of them wants you to succeed. Lots of other great things happened, including 13 year old Aron Stornaiuolo taking the Guitar Week open mic by storm with his amazing rendition of the Julie London arrangement of “Cry Me a River”; the fantastic Adam Rafferty showing up at camp after his Thursday concert in Asheville; the great chats with Janis Ian and Mary Gauthier, the jam with Vicki Genfan and Daniel Barber on the porch while Sean McGowan, his wife Andrea, Al Petteway and Amy White, and Greg Ruby listened; and watching my friend, colleague, and first-year Gatherer Doug Kelley soak it all in with the sense of wonder that I had my first year so long ago. He’ll be back, and so will I. www.swangathering.com Jam with Vicki Genfan (Gathering 2015) Aaron Stornajuolo’s Open Mic Performance WLOS TV (Asheville ABC Affiliate) News: The Gathering BeatleScream Video “Swannanoa” By Janis Ian BAYBUZZ.ORG / SEPTEMBER 2016 / 11
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BUZZ Magazine September 2016

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