Oct. 2011

OCTOBER 2011 E-ZINE
Short and sweet this month - the new website is ready to roll in the next few days, new songs in the works, new videos at the Facebook page, and a solo house concert vidcast this weekend. It's tiring just looking at it all! Whatever you'd like to keep up with, I'd love your company. Happy Friday, Happy Halloween, and just plain be happy.

Concert details, latest news, much more at http://andrewmcknight.net
1. Upcoming Shows
2. Solo Concert Vidcast This Sunday
In My Ears: David Grier "Red Haired Boy"
Essay: "Talking Guitar"

Help a little or a lot by sharing a song or CD from the website via email or Facebook, hosting a house concert or something in between: http://andrewmcknight.net/help
Thanks most of all for reading this!
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1. UPCOMING SHOWS More details and links at website.
SU 10/2 * LIVE SOLO VIDEO WEBCAST 3:30pm
A full-length house concert; tune in from anywhere http://andrewmcknight.net/vidcast

TH 10/13 * RALEIGH NC - North American Environmental Educators Conference
"Arts & The Environment" showcase for conference attendees only

FR 10/14 * NEW BERN NC - Trent River Coffee, 8pm
208 Craven St. [ZIP 28560]

FR 10/21 * BROADWAY VA - Plan B Music Hall, 7:30pm
202 North Main Street [ZIP 22815]

SA 10/22 * SPOTSYLVANIA VA - House About Tonight, 7:30pm
Reservations required: RAGwoman1@aol.com or 540/846-2380 [ZIP 22551]

SU 10/23 * LEESBURG VA - Oatlands Plantation, 1pm
"BBQ, Beer & Brownies at the Barn" fundraiser; at 20850 Oatlands Plantation Lane [ZIP 20175]

TH 10/27 * BLUE HILL ME - Barncastle, 6pm
With Frank Gotwals, at 125 South St. [ZIP 04614]

FR 10/28 * LUBEC ME - Crow Town Gallery, 7pm
At 406 South Lubec Rd. [ZIP 04652]

SA 10/29 * TBA (Downeast ME) - Cobscook Bay Music
Watch http://www.cobscookbaymusic.com for details

SU 10/30 * PITTSFIELD ME- Special Music Service, 9:45am
All are welcome. At First Universalist Church of Pittsfield, 112 Easy St. [ZIP 04967]

SU 10/30 * PLAINFIELD CT - Coffeehouse Concert, 7pm
Central Village Congregational Church, 33 Main St. [ZIP 06332]

ON THE HORIZON
SU 11/6 * PITTSBURGH PA - Alleghany U.U. Church (service & concert)
FR/SA 11/11-12 * KERHONKSEN NY - Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA)
SA 11/19 * BLUEFIELD VA - Bluefield College (workshop & concert with Beyond Borders)

Do you see an open date when Andrew is within a reasonable drive of your area? We're always happy for help hosting a show, little or large - please email us with ideas. We keep the full confirmed tour calendar up to date on the website.

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2. SOLO CONCERT VIDCAST THIS SUNDAY
Next up in our irregular series of video webcasts, you have a reserved seat at an intimate house concert this Sunday Oct. 2nd, from Leesburg VA. Unlike our usual video webcasts with the interactive chats throughout the show, this time we simply present a live concert broadcast, unplugged and intimate, in its entirety. Two full sets with an intermission, at a secret location. All very intriguing, sneaky, and we'd love to share it with you. 3:30pm Eastern time, which means for the first time we are broadcasting a show that isn't in the middle of the night Europe time!

As always the vidcast is free, but we greatly appreciate the Donations via the PayPal link on the page. Watch it at http://andrewmcknight.net/vidcast or directly at our Ustream page, http://www.ustream.tv/channel/andrew-mcknight

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"IN MY EARS"
Flatpicker David Grier showcases his fluid and ear-pleasing skill on his amazing solo arrangement of the classic " Red Haired Boy";
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkorhLJ0YIw
David Grier's magical touch on the steel-string guitar is no secret to bluegrass players. But I've spent a lot of time lately listening and learning to his style - never forced, full of equal parts talent, skill, speed and grace. And drawing in elements of many styles, even on a relatively straight traditional fiddle tune, makes his arrangements as mesmerizing as his playing.

For the non-guitarists, there are those who play guitar with their right hand fingers (fingerstyle) and those who play with a flatpick - David manages to make his flatpicking sound as complex as fingerstyle players. His version of this well-worn tune leads off his instructional DVD, and I'll be trying to figure out pieces of it for the next ten years!

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ANDREW'S ESSAY: "Talking Guitar"
Another of my irregular musings on the infamous Circle remaining unbroken.

"The summer of 78'. I was a teenager aspiring to be a guitar player and part of the jaw-dropped world that heard Eddie Van Halen for the first time. And everything that I had thought about playing guitar got pretty radically altered. Like Jimi Hendrix did over a decade earlier, EVH changed the conversation about electric guitar. Many innovators and fabulous players have come along since, but in my life hearing "Eruption" for the first time was a watershed event.

I admit it - I love my instrument, maybe even more now after some 30 years have passed since that passionate teenage love affair with rock and roll began this long relationship. While I've been inspired by many players over the years in ways great and small, I've never approached the skill level of the acoustic and electric guitarists that I consider the greats (though I've been told I bear a more than passing resemblance to the bespectacled Eric Clapton). I know I don't want to emulate the hard living that many of them have done!. . ."

[Read the rest at http://andrewmcknight.net/talking-guitar-oct-2011]

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