House Concert in Florida, Don Alder

[mike o]

Hey AGF folks,

Were very happy to host this special house concert at 8PM Friday evening March 16 with the amazing Don Alder. Location is Sebastian, Florida. Were charging $ 15.00 per person. All money goes to the artist. Appetizers and soft beverages will be provided. Seating is limited. Please confirm ASAP.


http://www.drrufftuff.com/don.jpg

[mike o]

Bump for a great show. We still have room for more. Show starts around 8PM. We're expecting some AGF and APM members to show up early to hang out, talk guitars and play!

[ricks]

I'll be there, but don't know how early I'll make it from up here.
Mike, are we supposed to bring along a geetar ?

[Antz_Marchin]

I wish it wasn't such a long drive :( ....I'd be there

[tbondo]

I'll be on the way home from marshaling at the Arnold Palmer Invitational...why does everything happen on the same weekend? (there's like two a year...)

[mike o]

Less than 24 hours to go. Keep our fingers crossed for nice weather. We're planning on being outside in the screen room Lanai next to the pool with tables, candles, light show, etc. We can always go inside but, this our time of the year in Florida to enjoy the outdoors. The head count changes hourly but we do have room for up to 8 more people. Just call or e-mail. It's going to be a GREAT SHOW for those who can make it:) .

[fitness1]

wish I was down for that one, sounds pretty cool. Then I could help you control that Skeens character.

[fitness1]

well, anybody awake yet to tell us what went on???

[ricks]

Hope I'm awake, as I just now got home. I do hate driving and napping at the same time, the road noise keeps waking me up.

Don put on one amazing show. VERY talented player, and not a bad singer either. Very percussive style with lots of thumping and slapping, both the strings and the guitar body. He did two sets for us, only interrupted by the ever vigilant Sebastian PD telling us to turn the volume down. Old fart neighbors complaining. BOO !!! HISSS !!

You all missed a good time. Lots of great guitars and players, 5 , count em,
5 Mustapicks in the house. 3 wooden ones and two of the human variety.

Let's do this again SOON. Or, even just the jam part of it will work for me.

[ScottAllyn]

I'm going to invoke the powers of Cut 'n Paste to save my fingers the ordeal of typing this again :lol::

It was a fantastic show, made all that much better by the intimate setting. Hat's off to Mike and Kayte for sharing their lovely home to host such a great event for us.

Don performed two sets. The first one was out back on the lanai and lasted about 45 minutes. The Sebastian Police showed up twice during that first set and we were forced to move everything inside, to prevent Mike & Kayte from being hauled off in cuffs. :eek:

Both sets were sensational. Don can absolutely shred on the guitar and also has a great singing voice. Doug, you hit the nail on the head with your tornado description - Don's right hand was a total blur for half the show. It looked like he was just waving his hand up and down in front of the strings as fast as he possibly could, yet he was still managing to hit individual strings! It was a blur to my own eyes, so I can't imaging what the camera picked up at only 30fps!

Don is also a great story teller with a lot of interesting and funny stories that tie into the songs that he's playing. Walkin' (Wokin') the Dawg, The Wall, and Taiwan Traffic Jam are great examples of this. The short story that led up to Double Cappuccino had us all rolling. :roll:

After the show, Don hung out for a few more hours, during which time, he and Mike jammed for a number of tunes. Mike's no slouch on the guitar, so it was a real treat to see the two of them playing together. Mike and Kayte even performed a few songs for us (don't worry Kayte, there's no video!) and Kayte also sang for us as Don played a tune.

I have audio of the entire show, tho the outdoor set has pretty severe clipping. I regret not spending a few more minutes to figure out how to tweak the Zoom H4's input levels *while* it's recording - I just wanted to enjoy the show and not fuss with gadgets! The recording of the indoor set also has some clipping, but it's barely noticeable. I also have video of most of the show, but the camera doesn't seem to want to give it up! I'll try to transfer the video at the office in a couple of hours. If I get the "go ahead" from Don, I'll post some of the clips for you guys.

Matt Mustapick's brother and nephew were at the show and Mike snapped a few great photos of them holding Mustapick guitars - hopefully he'll post those here.

http://www.scottallyn.com/media/don-alder.jpg

[mike o]

Sorry for the late post...what can I say? It took a couple of days to fully recuperate from Don's kick-butt show! Kayte and I were completely wiped out but have been unable to stop smiling since Friday! Concert day began when fellow APM member Chris Ruble showed up around 4:00pm with his Mustapick Semi-Bari in hand. We got to swap guitars, hang out and jam for a little bit before the others arrived. Chris is a great guy and is quite a player, especially for someone who has only played for 6 years. Don arrived around 6:00pm just as the rain stopped and the sun came back out (thank you!). We had decided to set up the concert outside under the lanai (an outdoor covered porch area for all of you non-Floridians) and around the pool in the screen room. By 6:30, Don was doing a sound check as Tom Young and "The Lone Gunmen" (our four friends from Tampa: Sean Williams, Rich Ellis, Rob Ellis and Scott Smith) showed up. We were hanging out with Don outside when Rick Skeens and his lovely wife, Sandy arrived with Simon Fay and his sweetheart of a mom, Alicia. Don had finished his sound check and everyone was milling around outside just getting reacquainted. Kayte was in the kitchen putting the final touches on the food. She realized that there was no music being played and she stuck her head through the kitchen window and yelled "Hey! How come there are 40 guitars here and there is no music!?! If we had wanted silence, we would have invited all of our NON-GUITAR playing friends over! Somebody pick up a guitar and do something!!" This prompted folks to get out their instruments and what followed was some fine playing from Tom & Rick as well as from others as guitars were passed around. As time for the show drew near, some very special guests arrived...Andy and Evan Mustapick. Andy is the older brother of none other than, the phenomenal Matt Mustapick and Evan is Matt's 11 year old nephew. They live in the neighboring town and had decided to come for the show. Needless to say, we were very happy to have them here. Andy is every bit as much of a gentleman as his brother and Evan is super kid...personable, bright, pleasant and well-mannered and just a pleasure to be around.

By 8:00pm, we were ready for the show as all of our guests had arrived. We had a little over 20 folks which was a pretty good turnout for our first house concert. Don came right out of the gate with both barrels blazing...opening with "Over the Top" and proceeded to wow the crowd with his unbelievable chops. He is the type of performer that within seconds of beginning a show, he has everyone's full and undivided attention. Not only is he an incredibly talented player, he is a great performer and entertainer. Don writes fantastic songs and draws the audience in with his dynamic energy/vibe while really understanding how to build a show through song selection and dynamics. Unfortunately, one of our neighbors didn't share our views and called the police twice before 9:00pm to complain about the "noise level". After the first set, (thanks to everyone) we basically rearranged the inside of the house, closed the windows, cranked up the A/C and moved the show indoors. We settled in for the second set with Don adjusting to the new setup in his usual professional manner. With Don working his magic, I looked around the room at everyone who was grinning from ear to ear in amzement. I was asked many times throughout the night "How did you get such an amazing performer to come to your house in Sebastian"?

Don closed the show around 11:00pm and everyone again chipped in to break down the equipment and get the furniture back in it's original place. Don hung around after the show to talk with folks and autograph some CD's while I had a jam session with Rick Skeens which was a lot of fun. By midnight, we were down to about ten guests. Don sat around with us until 1:30am playing different guitars and jamming with everyone. While I was playing "Accufuse" by Preston Reed, Don grabbed a guitar and turned it into a jam tune somehow and at one point, incorporated "Mary had a Little Lamb" into the song! (I think he was mocking me!) Kayte and I did a couple of songs and she got to try "Rhiannon" with Don which she loved (you know how she is about Stevie Nicks!) Don tried kidnap one of Simon Fay's guitars which he was blown away by. All in all, it was a fantastic evening...one which we will never forget. All I can say is, if you ever get a chance to see Don Alder perform, you must go. It is not merely an acoustic guitar show...it's a great life experience.

[ricks]

Thanks to Mike and Kayte for both their hospitality and their patience with people. (including the cops) And thanks to Mike for the review, much better than I could have done.

I'll have to agree with everything both Scott and Mike said about Don, and his playing. High energy is a term that comes to mind. All I want to know is when are we gonna do it again?

BTW, I would not believe anything said about that Skeens fella.
He can't be trusted you know !

[ScottAllyn]

Below are some additional photos. Most were taken by Mike, a couple by me. You should be able to click on any of these to view a larger version:

http://www.scottallyn.com/images/don-alder00_tb.jpg (http://www.scottallyn.com/images/don-alder00.jpg) http://www.scottallyn.com/images/don-alder02_tb.jpg (http://www.scottallyn.com/images/don-alder02.jpg) http://www.scottallyn.com/images/don-alder03_tb.jpg (http://www.scottallyn.com/images/don-alder03.jpg) http://www.scottallyn.com/images/don-alder04_tb.jpg (http://www.scottallyn.com/images/don-alder04.jpg) http://www.scottallyn.com/images/don-alder05_tb.jpg (http://www.scottallyn.com/images/don-alder05.jpg) http://www.scottallyn.com/images/don-alder06_tb.jpg (http://www.scottallyn.com/images/don-alder06.jpg) http://www.scottallyn.com/images/don-alder07_tb.jpg (http://www.scottallyn.com/images/don-alder07.jpg) http://www.scottallyn.com/images/don-alder09_tb.jpg (http://www.scottallyn.com/images/don-alder09.jpg)

[ricks]

NIce pics, thanks for posting.
That is one Pretty geetar Tom is holding.
LOL

[ScottAllyn]

Hi folks,

We've received permission from Don to post some of the videos from the house concert, so I've added a page to my website with a brief review plus the videos and photos. Here's the URL:

http://www.scottallyn.com/guitarists/don-alder-house-concert-followup-with-videos/

The review is pretty much the same one I posted here, so if you've already read that, you can scroll down to the bottom to get to the videos.