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Old 01-28-2010, 07:13 PM
guitaniac guitaniac is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2004
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Thanks to everyone for all the kind comments.

As I mentioned in my opening post, I'm very fortunate to have these old videos. With respect to this particular concert, they held open auditions (in Manchester, Concord and Portsmouth) for the NH Folk Festival back then. I happened to fill a niche (for a change-of-pace act) that the judging panel was looking for, as I was an excellent yodeler back then. As it turned out, the crowd was quite ready for a change of pace by the time I took the stage. The concert was televised live, so it worked out pretty well in terms of capturing a well-received performance on video.

Of the forty-four videos which I currently have on my YouTube channel, six are from this festival and five are from a Boston area cable TV show which I did in December of '85. I plan to upload another performance from the Folk Festival (Jim Post's poignant song of enduring love, "Three Soft Touches") around Valentines Day. My YouTube channel is at
www.youtube.com/user/guitaniac

Regarding the guitar, that's the same Martin (1968 D28) which has appeared (in more beat up condition) in a couple of my most recent videos. It will also appear in the "BFD" video which I'll be uploading onto YouTube later tonight. ("BFD" is a hilarious, yet heartwarming song from Nashville writers Don Henry and Craig Carruthers.) I bought the guitar used, in a San Francisco pawn shop in '71. Even back then it had some finish checking on the top, but its been a dependable friend thru a great deal of knock-around use. I had to have the entire fretboard replaced in the early '90s.

Regarding kevdog's question about the "journey since", a family emergency returned me to Ohio in '88. Leaving New England reduced my gigging options quite a bit (far fewer concerts and no more Boston area street singing or subway busking), so I gave up the full-time folkie thing. I've done a lot of music-related "administrative" stuff in the years since (hosting open mics, running sound, booking bands), and still manage some solo gigging. I'm excited to be opening a Cleveland area show for Bill Staines in March. That's quite an honor for me, as Bill Staines is the New England folkie who inspired me to take up yodeling, way back when.

Gary

Last edited by guitaniac; 01-31-2010 at 11:00 AM. Reason: spelling
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