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  #16  
Old 06-25-2008, 09:43 PM
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Okay... I have to play a bit of catch-up here, since I'm a day behind.

First, I had the pleasure of performing at a house concert hosted by Paul Cameron (AGF screen name "paxcam") last night. I got in town early enough to take a leisurely ride around Lake Norman on Paul's boat. (We also took the boat to get lunch today.) Boy, do I love being out on the water!

For the concert, Paul had about 30 or so of his friends and neighbors come by, and it turned into a very nice social event. I got to meet a lot of great people, and even saw a couple of familiar faces from past Monroestock events--Stan Jacques and Tim Pack. It was a real treat for me to see Stan again. Even though I've never taken a lesson from him (as many of our AGF members in the Charlotte area have), he's such a gentleman and a great player that you can't help being inspired by him and learning something just by watching.

After my concert, there was still plenty of good music to come. First, Paul accompanied his daughter, Andrea, on guitar while she sang "Killing Me Softly With His Song" and "I Don't Know How to Love Him" (from the Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack). Andrea is a a very talented (and beautiful) young lady, and she's got a fantastic voice--so it was a very enjoyable performance.

Then Stan played a few tunes, and eventually the crowd demanded that Paul join him for a couple of duets. They did some beautiful renditions of tunes by the Beatles and Jim Croce, and my favorite of the duets, a very pretty version of Bread's "If." I've heard Paul play guitar at a couple of Monroestock events in the past, and his playing has grown by leaps and bounds recently. Not quite up to his skills on the saxophone, but he's much better than he'd allow you to believe.

At the very end of the evening, one of the guests played a song she'd written on the piano. She's asked me to listen, because she'd been told that it had a Celtic flavor to it, and wanted to know what I thought. I agreed that there were passages that felt vaguely Celtic, but what I was most struck by was how beautiful the melody was. In fact, when she finished playing I asked if she'd write out the music for it so that I could learn it for guitar.

It was a wonderful, music-filled evening... but it was more than music that made the evening memorable for me. There's a special vibe that comes from house concerts that you never get when playing at a venue, and I enjoy the social aspect of it every bit as much as the musical part. I felt honored to be there, bringing all of these friends together for the evening. It went by all too fast, though!
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  #17  
Old 06-25-2008, 10:17 PM
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Okay, now for tonight's gig...

J.R. Baker (who most of you know as the SoundSeat guy), sponsored a concert at the Escape the Daily Grind coffee house in Spencer, NC. This is a neat little Mom and Pop type coffee house with seating for maybe 40 or 50people. They did a great job of promoting the show (they even had a write-up inthe local paper with my picture), and we had a very nice turnout--especially considering it was a Wednesday night.

I did three sets, and played for two-and-a-half hours... and boy, was I glad this concert was sponsored by SoundSeat! J.R. provided one of his chairs for the evening, and it made those three sets very comfortable. I could have played for a few more hours if I'd had to.

I had some nice conversations with folks who'd come out to see me; they seemed surprised that I'd bother playing in their little town, but they were glad to have me and I got several invitiations (including one from the owner of the coffee house) tocome back and play in town again. Very friendly folks. One gentleman even showed up in full Scottish attire, including the kilt and Balmoral-style bonnet. I have to admit that seeing someone dressed like that is a bit intimidating for a guitarist who dabbles in Celtic tunes, and I was afraid that when he approached me during a break he would reprimand me for playing a Scottish tune wrong, or chide me for playing traditional Scots tunes on a guitar.

Instead, he told me how much he enjoyed my playing, and he was the friendliest fellow of the whole bunch. Whew! :P

It was a long gig, but enjoyable. J.R. even put in an appearance, even though I'd told him not to (today was his preparation day for a colonoscopy tomorrow, and after reading the recent thread here about the horrors of the prep day, I didn't want him wandering far from home!). But you know J.R.... so he just had to come by and say hello. I sure hope he made it back home in time.

(And best of luck with the exam, buddy!)
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Old 06-25-2008, 10:22 PM
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Next stop... Greenville, SC. I'll be playing with two other guitarists--Brandon Dyke and Dave Wike. (Which makes me feel like I should change my last name to Tyke for this show so that I'll fit in!)

The concert will be hosted by CenterPointe Church... see Bryan "bnjp" Parris' post above for more info.

If you're in the area, come on out!
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Old 06-26-2008, 04:10 PM
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Jim-- My sincere apologies for not getting these pictures up sooner-- after you departed Tuesday, I spent the day fielding calls from folks at the concert who were still buzzing about your performance. Many thanks and a safe journey ahead. What a night!

Jim Tozier in concert at Paul Cameron's home 6/24/08

Tozier's Graphite RainSong guitar

Jan Cameron enjoying Jim's music from the back row

The "Toz" playing his keester off
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  #20  
Old 06-26-2008, 05:38 PM
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That looks like it was a blast. I wish I could go to one of these. You have to come to Huntsville one of these days.(:
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  #21  
Old 06-26-2008, 06:08 PM
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I'm glad Paul got a picture of Jim's boots. Not sure what they are made out of, but it's some pretty impressive stuff!

Ok, so the Charlotte house concert crowd outnumbered the Blacksburg house concert crowd (or mini-crowd!), but at 2,073 feet above sea level, I still think Blacksburg is going to be the "high point" of Jim's tour!

Continued safe travels Jim!
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  #22  
Old 06-26-2008, 06:43 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Raggamuffin View Post
I'm glad Paul got a picture of Jim's boots. Not sure what they are made out of, but it's some pretty impressive stuff!
!
I think he's the original "snakeskin" cowboy - LOL
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  #23  
Old 06-26-2008, 09:30 PM
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Just wanted to show a couple of my photos from Jim's concert here in Greenville, SC tonight. It was a great time and all three guitarists were excellent! My photos are pretty bad because of the low lights, but you'll get the idea.

Brandon Dyke opened with some beautiful playing on his classical guitar. Brandon is a guitar instructor here in Greenville. His website is http://www.myspace.com/brandondykeguitarist. One of the coolest things I thought was that Brandon played his guitar through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp! It sounded SOOO great!



Dave Wike (http://www.davewike.com/) is another local musician here and played some cool stuff with a computer looping software that was pretty impressive. Dave also brought his BOSE L1 system, which I have read about but never heard live. It's got an amazing sound.



Jim Tozier can play with three capos. (...but we all knew that already.) Jim was fantastic as usual. He played a few of his originals (He opened with "Monkeyshines", and I always love "Song for Shannon") and a few of his Celtic tunes as well. ("Spatter the Dew", "Planxty Irwin", and "Pretty Girl Milking a Cow" that I remember). He played his Rainsong guitar and it sounded very nice with his Ultrasound amp which we mic'd through the house system.



This picture looks like Jim's singing! (he didn't sing though...)


EDIT: Not a great photo, but this one shows the whole stage, AND the boots!
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  #24  
Old 06-27-2008, 12:54 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Raggamuffin View Post
I'm glad Paul got a picture of Jim's boots. Not sure what they are made out of, but it's some pretty impressive stuff!
They're ostrich.
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  #25  
Old 06-27-2008, 12:59 AM
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Quote:
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Jim, looks like a great tour. Very cool. I can't not ask your impressions of the Bose L1, good or bad.
I thought it sounded fantastic. Only Dave Wike played through the Bose, but it sounded so good that it took me a while to realize he wasn't laying through the house speakers like Brandon did.

I'll have a full report on this concert soon. It's now close to 3 A.M., and I just got back to the hotel after going out with Dave and Brandon after the show.


It's a good thing that tomorrow (errr... make that today) is an off day, and that all I have to do is drive from Greenville to Memphis....

Next stop... Little Rock!
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  #26  
Old 06-27-2008, 08:32 AM
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Come on! See you tomorrow Jim.
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  #27  
Old 06-27-2008, 10:33 AM
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Default St. Louis area?

Jim,
Did you ever get anything set up for the St. Louis area?
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Old 06-27-2008, 01:37 PM
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Jim's going to be playing Wed. night July 2 (I may do a short opener and a duet on dulcimer on a couple of trad. Celtic tunes) at Broadway Cellars, 5900 N Broadway (cor. Rosedale, across from the Park District Armory just s. of the Dominick's) starting at about 6 pm.

B'way Cellars is a terrific restaurant with an innovative menu (effusive reviews from Metromix and Chicago Magazine) that still has some bistro and down-home classics (steak frites, skate wing, short ribs, burgers, seafood "sliders"--mini Maryland crabcake, coconut shrimp and classic New England lobster roll, lobster ravioli, salade Niçoise, seasonal specialties, creme brulee trio, and killer bread pudding) with a diverse, imaginative and carefully chosen wine list as well as full bar and coffee/espresso menu. Yet the prices are reasonable and the dress code is "no shoes, no shirt, no service."

I can't imagine a better atmosphere in which to enjoy Jim's fingerstyle wizardry--or a better way to kick off your extended holiday weekend. My one regret is that since he needs to be in Michigan the next night, Jim'll miss the Grant Park fireworks and Taste of Chicago.
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  #29  
Old 06-27-2008, 08:18 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bluecollarman View Post
Jim,
Did you ever get anything set up for the St. Louis area?
Nope... but it's never too late. Well, I take that back. It will be too late after Sunday.
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  #30  
Old 06-27-2008, 09:00 PM
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Checking in from Memphis, where I just met Brian (AGF name "usb chord") for a terrific sushi dinner. He'll be bringing his sinker/brazilian Taylor to my hotel room shortly for an after-dinner jam session.

Now, to get caught up, I need to go back to last night in Greenville, SC....

Bryan (bnjp) Parris was gracious enough to host a guitar concert at his church--which turned out to be a wonderful venue for this sort of thing. They have a great sound system and the room is the perfect size.

I invited a couple of other guitarists to join me for the evening's performance, for a very selfish reason: I wanted to hear them play!

First up was Brandon Dyke, a very talented classical guitarist and one heck of a nice guy. For those of you who have been around the forum long enough to remember Doc Jacobs, Brandon was Doc's guitar teacher. In fact, I first met Brandon when I was in SC for Doc's funeral. (As a side note, Doc wrote one of the songs that I included on my Solo Guitar CD, titled "The Magician's Jig." In addition to guitar, magic was Doc's other passion. Sadly, he never got to hear my recording of his tune.)

Brandon isworking on his first solo CD (he has spent the past several years playing and recording in a classical duo by the name of Spatha), and he showcased many of these new tunes in his set. Brandon has a real gift for composition, and his music combines beautiful, memorable melodies with some very fancy fretwork. He's a top-notch classical player, but never gave me a hard time about standing up while I play, or anchoring my pinky, or only using two fingers and my thumb, or using capos and a carbon fiber guitar, or any of the many other things I do wrong that snootier classical players would ridicule me for.

By the way, the classical guitar that Brandon is using in the picture that Bryan posted above was made by Del Langejansand features a top that's made out of Douglas fir. I had never seen or heard a fir-topped guitar before, but it sounded terrific! As Bryan noted, Brandon played it through a Fender tube amp, and the sound was very warm and sweet.

Following Brandon was Dave Wike, a fingerstyle guitarist whose music reminds me of some of the early Windham Hill stuff. He has a very rich, textured sound, and listening to him play I kept thinking that his songs would have fit in perfectly on the Windham Hill Guitar Sampler that I listened to endlessly in college. Although Dave has released two CDs, I believe this was his first gig as a solo guitarist... although you'd never know it. His performance sounded flawless, and he was very poised and personable on stage. He's also a great guy, and I hope that we'll share a stage again in the future.

Dave's guitar got a lot of compliments, too. I can't remember what type of spruce the top was made from, but the back and sides featured some gorgeous cocobolo. The builder is Marc Maingard from South Africa... and I'd never seen one of his guitars in person, let alone heard one. It looked and sounded very impressive!

Playing with these two guys was a real treat, and an extremely enjoyable evening. I sure hope that we'll do it again sometime soon!

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Last edited by Jim Tozier; 06-27-2008 at 10:57 PM.
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