MAY/JUNE

THIS WEEKEND I'll be playing the Blues Between the Bridges festival in Lexington, KY....then announcing more ukulele and songwriting workshops....then the week of JUNE 5 we begin a new session of guitar lessons on Monday at COC and Thursdays at Willis (in Lexington).

SDML Academy of Guitar lessons available in Lexington, Shebyville, Louisville, Chicago, and more locations soon!

RIP Chris Cornell

2, maybe 3 hours ago. I never write this soon after. I took me a day to write about Michael Jackson. 2 weeks for Prince.

I first heard Soundgarden with their 2nd album, "Louder Than Love" (from the best drummer on Planet Earth, Mike Froedge) and when their 3rd album - "Badmotorfinger" - came out, I played the cassette tape until it broke. They were among the most unique & creative bands around, and were playing at the highest level. And the singer....the singer. Chris Cornell was a god. Straight from Olympia to the stage.

My sister, Vicki, turned me on to Temple of the Dog's song "Hunger Strike" when it was released and I was stunned into silence.

Fast forward to a decade or so, and Cornell joined forces with Tom, Brad, & Tim of Rage Against the Machine, and Audioslave was born.

His work with this band was, to my ears, equally unique, creative, and of the highest order.

Fast forward another decade, and I'm sitting (guitars in hand) with Chris Norris (the biggest Cornell fan I know), and he's telling me about Cornell's solo acoustic shows. And we're talking about Cornell and Steven Tyler and only a handful of others and how so few vocalists just keep getting better with age. How so many peak in their 20s and how Cornell just doesn't stop improving...with his playing, his voice, his fearless explorations in composition. He's like a machine...moving forward...moving up...moving on....

Fast forward to 5-18-2017 at roughly 6am...and my phone chimes...and I see a text from Paulie Felice. And I read it. And I make coffee and handle the morning routine because others rely on me to get things done. And then its 9:30am...and I'm sitting here numb, but not quite numb. And I can't quite bring myself to put on his music just yet.

But I will.....

MAY Gigs

THE SHELBYVILLE GIG was fantastic...songwriting workshop at 2pm followed by the evening gig at Harvest. Looking forward to returning before the end of the year!

Just a few quick items...

1) RECITALS: The next SDML guitar student recital is Sunday, MAY 21 at Doowop Shop in Lexington! We'll start at 1pm, so drop in early to make sure you have a seat, your guitar is tuned, etc.

2) ROCK BAND: We're securing location & date of the next ROCK BAND Recital, too. Details soon!

3) NEW SESSION: The new GROUP guitar session will start the week of JUNE 5 (Monday, June 5 at COC and Thursday, June 8 at Willis Music)! 

4) WEB-SITE: Remember you have an excellent (and growing) resource on-line at our website www.sdmlguitar.com Just go to the "resource" page and enter the password: (ask your instructor for the password)

5) YOUR GIGS: If you have gigs, be sure to keep us up-dated so we can help you promote them! If you want gigs, be sure to let me know! We have SD Booking, and thru it students are playing not just recitals & open mics, but coffee shops, restaurants, pre-show entertainment for Woodsongs and Troubadour, preshow & main stage at the Lexi Music Awards, Lexi-Fest Series, and more!
Speaking of open mics...be sure to attend the next LexJam (2nd Saturday of each month) and Open Mic SEC (every Sunday).

6) MAY WORKSHOPS & GIGS:

Lousiville May 20 (songwriting clinic) 

Lexington May 21 ("play today" ukulele clinics) 

Lexington May 28 (Blues Between the Bridges show)

7) SD MAGAZINE: Remember that Skinny Devil Magazine hosts everything from the "Guitar Gods" interview series (from unkown gurus to Grammy Award winners) to poetry, articles on the music business, and more.

Recent "Guitar Gods" intervirews with 7-time Grammy nominee Steve Morse....Michael Jackson guitarist Tommy "O" Organ....5-time Grammy nominee Ottmar Liebert.....Juno Award winner Jesse Cook....Berklee grad & SDM columnist Alan Robinson....Grammy winning blues legend Roy Rogers.....and more...with more on the way!!

http://skinnydevilmagazine.blogspot.com/

8) NEW MUSIC: We just released my new 3-song EP of old blues & folk songs called "...Public Domain..." and I'm also featured on 2 songs on "Memories in Metal" by Gregory (the songs "Night Moves" and "Baker Street").

9) PRODUCTION: Working on Lexi-Fest Festival (Labor Day weekend), which should feature a dozen or more musical acts....plus Lexi-Fest shows like Prince and Michael Jackson Tribute shows (which will both feature a house band and a LOT of guests)...and more!

Much more going on, but we'll leave it there for now!

Stay tuned!

“...You’re always learning about this thing everytime you pick it up...”
- Keith Richards (guitarist, Rolling Stones)