blickstein@orphan.DEC (Dave Blickstein) (02/11/85)
One name that is conspicuous by its absence in the acoustic guitar digitalist discussion is Guy Van Duser. Van Duser plays "finger-style" guitar solos that are clearly influenced by the stride piano style. Van Duser lives in the Boston area and appears frequently in clubs around Cambridge, most often Passims. He is an incredible performer. The version of "Stars and Stripes" that someone mentioned Chet Atkins plays is actually a Guy Van Duser arrangement and Van Duser plays it with much more authority. Van Duser has several records out on the Rounder label. They are all excellent but I particular recommend "Finger-style solos" which includes "Stars and Stripes", and a Gershwin Melody. db
ryan@fremen.DEC (02/12/85)
I'll just throw my two cents in here. In recent months I've seen Preston Reed, Guy Van Duser, and John Fahey at the Arlington Town Hall. Reed and Van Duser are incredible guitar players - the afore- mentioned "Stars and Stripes Forever" is a wonder to behold, and Reed has written several excellent guitar pieces. Van Duser has the edge on stage presence, being very relaxed and friendly, while Reed seemed rather more self-conscious. I'd heartily recommend the music of both; don't miss them if they play in your area. I can specifically recommend one of Reed's albums which I bought immediately following his performance; the name escapes me at the moment, but one of the songs is called "Accufuse". John Fahey is another story. I saw him perform just before Christmas, and after all I had heard of his talent what I saw was a great disappointment. He was late taking the stage, leaving promoter Harry Lipson dangling for several minutes. When he finally came out he appeared to be drunk. His face was red, his speech a bit slurred, and his playing seemed sloppy. He played aimlessly for a while, stopped to make some strange comments, and then played aimlessly for a while longer before leaving the stage with a promise to be right back. An embarrassed Harry Lipson then filled the time promoting future concerts as several of the audience (myself included) left. Perhaps I mistook his "strangeness" for drunkenness, I'm not really sure. I don't know if what I saw was typical, but I was very disappointed and got very little enjoyment out of the show (a first for me with the Folktree concerts). I know Eugene will disagree with me, but I can't really recommend him, not if what I saw was typical of how he performs these days. Mike Ryan
elf@utcsrgv.UUCP (Eugene Fiume) (02/13/85)
[] > John Fahey is another story. I saw him perform just before Christmas, > and after all I had heard of his talent what I saw was a great disappointment. > He was late taking the stage, leaving promoter Harry Lipson dangling for > several minutes. When he finally came out he appeared to be drunk. His > face was red, his speech a bit slurred, and his playing seemed sloppy. > He played aimlessly for a while, stopped to make some strange comments, > and then played aimlessly for a while longer before leaving the stage with > a promise to be right back. An embarrassed Harry Lipson then filled the time > promoting future concerts as several of the audience (myself included) left. > Perhaps I mistook his "strangeness" for drunkenness, I'm not really sure. > I don't know if what I saw was typical, but I was very disappointed and > got very little enjoyment out of the show (a first for me with the Folktree > concerts). I know Eugene will disagree with me, but I can't really recommend > him, not if what I saw was typical of how he performs these days. > > Mike Ryan Fahey strange? Yes, very. Fahey drunk? Possibly, but I thought he was off the bottle (hence his frequent references to soft drinks on stage.) I don't disagree with Mike if this is this is Fahey's normal behaviour. He's always played well into the wee hours of the morning whenever I've seen him, typically giving the impression that he'd keep playing as long as someone is willing to listen. Too bad about that night though. I find the use of the adjective "aimless" above very interesting. I used to call his music (and playing) that too. Then I realised that the only way to enjoy him is to suspend all intellectual pretenses. There is nothing there intellectually (compare to the other musicians mentioned in Mike's article). It's meditation, dance, rhythm. By the way, has anyone heard Fahey's latest album? I think it's called "Railways" or some such thing. It costs $14 as a special import here, so I'm a little cautious. Eugene Fiume {decvax|allegra}!{utcsrgv|utcsri}!elf
steiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny) (02/14/85)
> > John Fahey is another story. > . . . he appeared to be drunk. His > face was red, his speech a bit slurred, and his playing seemed sloppy. > He played aimlessly for a while, stopped to make some strange comments, > and then played aimlessly for a while longer before leaving the stage with > a promise to be right back. Yep . . . sounds like Fahey. He goes on and off the wagon. I was real into Fahey in about 1968-1972. He was famous for getting on stage with a gallon of rot-gut red wine and drinking the entire gallon by the time the concert was over. I have seen him 1/2 dozen or so times. Occasionally, he will drink 7-up instead of wine, indicating that he is in a sober period of his loosing battle with alcoholism. Tom Waits is another one whose concerts are a chancy business. -- scc!steiny Don Steiny - Personetics @ (408) 425-0382 ihnp4!pesnta -\ 109 Torrey Pine Terr. ucbvax!twg --> scc!steiny Santa Cruz, Calif. 95060 fortune!idsvax -/
boyajian@akov68.DEC (02/19/85)
> From: dec-orphan!blickstein (Dave Blickstein) > The version of "Stars and Stripes" that someone mentioned Chet Atkins plays > is actually a Guy Van Duser arrangement and Van Duser plays it with much > more authority. I could be wrong, Dave, but I believe that Atkins has been playing "SASF" long before Van Duser has. Van Duser has mentioned at at least one concert that I've been to that he learned to play guitar by listening to Atkins' records. I have to agree with you on the stupendous skill of Van Duser's on the guitar. He has to be seen to be believed. One of my favorite bits of his is something that he does live (with Billy Novick), but hasn't appeared on any album. He talks about his learning guitar off of the Atkins records when he was a boy in upper-state New York. One of the things he never knew then, was that Atkins occasionally used an echo box to double-up the notes. Van Duser, being the naive kid he was, knew nothing about echo boxes, so he worked harder and harder to duplicate what Atkins was doing. Then, Van Duser surprised the shit out of everyone in the audience by playing "Caravanserai", with his thumb playing the bass double-time to simulate the echo box, and his fingers playing the melody at the same time. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA
ponce@tty3b.UUCP (2-8-84"Lorenzo D 97720) (03/05/85)
<......> I had been a fan of John Fahey for a long time and I got the chance to see him perform a few years ago. It turned out to be an awful evening. It got to the point where he stopped playing and demanded a six pack of beer and he then later excused himself to "get rid of some beer". His records are the only way I'll ever hear music again. By the way, I'm happy to see the interest in guitar music on the net. I'm planning to eventually pick up some records of the artists that have been mentioned. On that note, I'll like to mention Michael Hedges. I saw him perform last May and I was mesmerized. He is REALLY worth a listen. Lorenzo De Leon ..ihnp4!tty3b!ponce