Where's the most interesting place you've taken your Acoustic guitar to play?

[devellis]

It's a mandolin story rather than guitar, but a few years ago, the NAMM Museum of Making Music had an exhibit of Howe-Orme instruments and I was invited to attend the opening. Rick Turner organized the exhibit and an article Gregg Miner and I had written for Freboard Journal, with an introduction by Rick, was reprinted as an exhibit guide. The exhibit was held at the NAMM headquarters in Carlsbad, California, which houses their museum on the fist floor. Rick and Lowell "Banana" Levinger (another Howe-Orme enthusiast, perhaps best known for his vintage instrument dealership and as a founding member of the Youngbloods) loaned instruments for the exhibit in addition to Ricks organizational contributions.

When I got the invitation, I said to my wife that going would be fun but that it would cost a fortune to fly from North Carolina to California, get a place to stay, pay for meals and expenses, and so forth. She suggested that I check on airfare and that maybe we could make a mini-vacation out of it. We got an amazing off-season rate at the La Costa Resort and Spa and decided to hop a plane for the west coast, largely at my wife's urging.

The opening was a huge success with many more attendees than the NAMM museum could accommodate. They wanted Rick, Gregg, "Banana", and I to do a Q&A and to play a bit on vintage Howe-Orme instruments following a concert by the San Diego Mandolin Orchestra. When it became obvious that the museum's space was too small for the audience, they booked the Grand Pacific Ballroom down the road a bit. The idea was for us to play as an all-Howe-Orme ensemble, probably the first such ensemble to perform in over a century. We had Gregg on mandola, me on mandolin, Rick on guitar, and Banana on mandocello. I'm no performer and initially declined, but then Rick said something like, hey, this is the Museum of Making Music, it's dedicated to music makers at all levels, come up with us and just do whatever you're comfortable doing. So, we did our extensive Q&A and then played a bit, with me just trying to play softly enough so as not to throw off everybody else.

It was a lot of fun. It was great of my wife to turn "wouldn't it be cool if..." into an actual trip. She enjoyed the extensive spa facilities at La Costa, had fun at the exhibit, and provided encouragement at all stages of the process. I got to meet a lot of interesting folks including those I've already mentioned, the Museum's curator, Carolyn Grant, and Fretboard Journal editor Michael Simmons. Lots of great stories passed among us and it's an experience I won't soon forget.

An audience member named Glenn Crouse was kind enough to share a photo he took of the 4 of us on stage:



From left to right, Gregg Miner, me (the non-Californian who wore a suit to a museum opening), Rick Turner, and Banana Levinger.

[edmidlifecrisis]

Not too exciting, but last summer we brought my VA on a family vacation to Rome. We rented an apartment in the Trastavere district with a rooftop terrace and garden overlooking the city and the Vatican. My son and I played a lot of guitar on that terrace. Great memory.

[chitz]

I played in the Richmond Coliseum. Had the place all to myself

[mymartind35]

I worked in a fitness center in the 90's for a while. I would reserve the handball court for 30 minutes during the slow part of the day. The acoustics are amazing, once you find the right spot. Of course, the intermittent straggler would come in and protest that I was misusing it. I had it reserved. Period. From then on if someone wanted to play they would reserve it ahead of time. But, when someone cancelled. I got it. I always drew a big crowd. I quit when they made me janitor. Oh, busking on electric Avenue in Calgary, Alberta with a man who had and extra guitar was really cool. We played for about 3 hours. When he asked where I was from, I told him I was in a road band out of Nashville. He took the guitar away. It was fun while it lasted. Even though my work visa stated I couldn't play anywhere else. We would go sit-in on open mics,never telling where we were from.

[Yrksman]

Japan - interesting memories......

[Spook]

Back rooms, late nights, University of Texas Women's Coop (a type of dorm). A magical place for a young man to make music. Ah, the lost days of a misspent youth.

[jensenjeff]

Captain Tony's Saloon, Key West, Florida

[DCannon]

So many great memories of venues and places played over the years, but now that I'm not touring anymore, the most recent was being asked to join the incredible traditional Irish band Cherish the Ladies on stage for a few tunes at a Christmas concert a couple years ago. What a great time!



http://www.cherishtheladies.com/

[billgennaro]

played on the stage at Red Rocks in Colorado. the place was empty and as i played without amplification a friend walked around and found a dozen or so spots where he could hear me perfectly due to the wonderful acoustics of the place.

still the nicest concert venue i've ever been to.

bill

[Juan_Banjovy]

A 12 string dread sounds amazing in a small concrete room. I used to play guitar with a neighborhood friend across the street, 1973 or so. Usually played at the river. One day we popped open a manhole cover & climbed down this concrete encosure by the bridge to see what our guitars would sound like. Gosh, the reverby jangle was almost deafening! 3 or 4 songs & we climbed out & let our ears quit ringing. If you've ever played in a small, tile walled bathroom, multiply that sound times 3. I've since learned the city frowns on lifting manhole covers. Oops. My garage sounds good though & my wife can't hear enough to complain.

[trek1500]

Back in the early nineties I felt like dropping by one of my favorite guitar shops in Houston after work; a place called Rockin' Robin and much to my surprise Laurence Juber was there that night promoting his latest CD release..Solo Flight. There were only a handful of people there that evening and we were treated to a fabulous selection of his songs from the CD and he played so beautifully that evening. I knew of him from his work with Paul McCartney and Wings and never realized until that moment that he was a great finger style guitarist! One of the greatest in the world! I had an opportunity to talk to him afterwards and found him to very humble and dedicated to his craft! One of the most exciting encounters of my life with a great player. He has been a huge influence!

Other neat encounters were in Austin at a restaurant called Threadgills...now I have bumped into two great musicians there. Ronnie Lane from the Small Faces and Eric Johnson right before the release of his masterpiece...Ah Via Musicom! Great luck for me as I'm a big fan of both!

Any interesting stories out there?

[stoney]

I was on business for a long time in Beijing and used to wander around the city on my own a lot. On some nights one could find folks taking advantage of the tiled tunnels that are for foot traffic crossing the main road for music, ballroom dancing and just meetings. I came across three young men playing acoustic music one night and stopped to listen. I speak no Mandarin and they spoke no English, but we managed to communicate anyway. I went back to my room at the Minzu, came back with my guitar, and we jammed for a while. I love the universal language of music.

BTW; in one of the tunnels that same night people were dressed up and dancing to western big-band tunes from a boom box. These folks were remarkable! Ballroom dancing done correctly is a thing of beauty.

Stoney

[concretecowboy7]

On top of a snack bar at a local drive in movie theater....that's where the gig was at.