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============================================================= Agenda for the January 7 Guitar Society Meeting Greetings, guitar enthusiasts! Our next monthly meeting is this coming Tuesday, January 7, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. It will take place at the Paschal Winery in Talent. This promises to be a very full meeting musically and organizationally. We're going to vote on our bylaws (please take a minute to review them at http://id.mind.net/~thompson/bylaws.html), and we're going to elect a board! This will get us much closer to legitimate non-profit corporate status. If you invite a friend, they might want to show up after 7pm to avoid the society business discussion. As a reminder, Paschal is willing for us to bring non-alcoholic drinks and food, as long as we clean up after ourselves. They will provide wine and coffee. There's no problem with visitors under 18 attending. First, I'll review what's been done since the last meeting so that we don't have to take as much time: - We have received an employer ID number from the federal government, which combined with our non-profit status, will enable us to open up a free checking account. Thanks to Gerry Shute for his help. - Bruce Smith has volunteered to be our new registered agent, i.e., the contact to the state for non-profit status issues. - The steering committee has reviewed a set of bylaws drafted for the society by Bruce Smith. You can review them on our website: http://id.mind.net/~thompson/bylaws.html. Just two pages, and very straightforward. We will vote to approve and ratify these bylaws at the meeting, so please take a couple of minutes to review them. - At Bruce's recommendation, the steering committee decided it's time to elect a board. According to the bylaws, the board is made up of 3-7 members who will select a president, a secretary, and a treasurer. All of these positions carry a year-long term. It's likely that the members of the steering committee (Maurya Murphey, Jeff Rinkoff, Grant Ruiz, Gerry Shute, Joe Thompson) will put themselves up to be elected as board members. Other general members are welcome to nominate themselves or others. - The steering committee has the following recommendations for officers: Grant as president, Maurya as treasurer, and Joe as secretary. Here's the actual agenda for the meeting: - Vote on the bylaws. - If the bylaws are passed, nominate and elect board members. - Membership performances: who's playing when and where? - Guitar tasting update - Website update and call for contributions large and small. As usual, we will limit these discussions to 30 minutes. Performance: Every month, the JCGS meetings offer an opportunity to play for an attentive, appreciative and understanding audience. The following are potential categories in which members might considering making a musical offering. These are not in any particular order, and they may be performed by soloists, duets, trios, quartets, etc.: - Original Compositions/Arrangements - Interpretive Works - Works in Progress As always, you don't have to play if you show up, but the more the merrier. See you next Tuesday, and Happy New Year! =============================================================== Greetings, guitar afficionados! We had another great meeting on Tuesday with a good sized audience and a lot of music. We also took a large step in our organizational maturation by approving the bylaws and electing a board. Attendees: Steve Berman, Francie Buckley and Jim Dietz, Jeff Danzik, Matt Dorris, Daniel Ferris, Margaret Gelatt, Randy Mason, Maurya Murphey and her daughter, Jeff Rinkoff and his wife, Grant Ruiz, Steve Shaw and his daughter Sara, Gerry Shute, Bruce and Barbara Smith, Joe Thompson and Murel Wilson, Jaxon and Ronda Williams. There were a number of onlookers whose names I didn't get. Discussions: We reviewed the proposed bylaws (http://id.mind.net/~thompson/bylaws.html) drafted by Bruce Smith. There were some proposed amendments: - In article II, change "instruction" to "education" to make it more general. Also change "classical guitar" to "classical guitar in all of its forms" to include related instruments and music. - In article III, clarify that the directors are elected by a simple (51%) majority vote. There were also some questions: Q: How do we determine if there is a membership
quorum present for voting purposes? Q: What about making the terms of the board
members and officers two years to allow them to gain more experience? Q: What do board members do? We moved to approve the bylaws as amended, and they were approved by a unanimous vote of 16 to 0 (with one vote in absentia). The four present members of the steering committee volunteered to be board members, and then three other general members volunteered. We moved to elect the whole group as the board, and this was decided unanimously by a simple "yea or nay" vote. This brings the board to the limit of seven directors as stated in the bylaws. They are: Steve Berman The steering committee is officially dissolved, and the board will decide on officers in the near future. The next election of board members should take place at the January 2004 meeting. People then announced upcoming gigs: Dan Ferris plays every Friday at Le Grands in Grants Pass, from around 6pm to around 8:30 or 9pm. Joe Thompson will play at an art opening at Paschal this Saturday, January 11, from 6:30pm to 9pm. Steve Berman is part of a group of musicians that plays folk dance music, specializing in eastern European, I believe, at the Key of C in Ashland every Sunday morning from 9am to around 11am or noon. If anyone else is interested in announcing their upcoming gigs to the group, please let me know. After the meeting, Joe, Steve, and Grant talked to Renee Dobbes of Paschal about the guitar tasting. They will meet with her on Monday, 1/13, to discuss details. Paschal is planning a media blitz that will include a mention of the guitar tasting, which is tentatively scheduled for later in March. Performances: Bruce played two of Leo Brouwer's "Estudios Sencillos." Dan played arrangements by Laurindo Almeida of "Blue Moon" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Steve Shaw played a piece by Carcassi and then a duet with Joe of a serenade by Haydn. Jaxon and Joe played three Renaissance duets from Frederick Noad's book: "La Rossingol", "Drewries Accordes", and the "Flatt Pavan". Jaxon then played Etude #1 by Villa-Lobos. Matt played Fantasia #8 by Luys Milan. Grant played a modern flamenco soleares that he was taught by Pedro Cortes (http://www.canastero.com) and is currently transcribing. Jeff played a prelude from a Bach partita. He and Joe then played a lovely romance by the contemporary French composer Klenjans from his "Adult Lullabies." Steve gave a presentation on the archlute and then played a piece by Kapsberger (sp?) on his copy of a version built in the early 17th century. He mentioned the fact that Dave Rogers plays the archlute and has recorded a CD entitled "The Italian Archlute." The trio consisting of Joe, Steve and Grant then played the third movement (minuetto) of Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", "Sinfonia IV" (a three- part invention) by Bach, and then rocked da house with the well-known first movement (allegro) from "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik". The next meeting will be Tuesday, February 4th at Paschal from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Grant ====================================================== Agenda for the February 4th Guitar Society Meeting Greetings, guitar enthusiasts! Our next monthly meeting is this coming Tuesday, February 4, from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. It will take place at the Paschal Winery in Talent. Please note the new start time at 6pm. This will allow people to socialize before the meeting starts at 6:30. Renee Dobbes at Paschal has said this will work fine. If you invite a friend, they might want to show up after 7pm to avoid any society business discussions. As a reminder, Paschal is willing for us to bring non-alcoholic drinks and food, as long as we clean up after ourselves. They will provide wine and coffee. There's no problem with visitors under 18 attending. First, I'll review what's been done since the last meeting so that we don't have to take as much time: - The newly formed board unanimously elected Joe Thompson as secretary, Maurya Murphy as treasurer, and Grant as el presidente. - Joe, Steve, and I met with Renee to discuss
our proposal for the guitar tasting on March 29. Paschal will
provide wine and food, we will provide tickets to sell in advance
at Home At Last Music and chairs (thanks to - Bruce Smith has applied to be our new registered agent, i.e., the contact to the state for non-profit status issues. - Some people brought up the subject of
what to do during meetings if many people sign up to play. The
favored idea was to limit people to playing 2 pieces (solo and
ensemble combined) if needs be. It was also - Joe has done a considerable amount of work sprucing up the JCGS website. He has also called for people to contribute material, e.g., an article on a favorite classical guitar recording. - Margaret Gelatt sent out an invitation for open ensemble rehearsals. There will be sign-ups at the meeting. Here's the actual agenda for the meeting: - Membership performances: who's playing when and where? - Guitar tasting plan and first call for volunteers - Membership dues discussion, part I. As usual, we will limit these discussions to 30 minutes. Performance: Every month, the JCGS meetings offer an
opportunity to play for an attentive, appreciative and understanding
audience. The following are potential categories in which members
might considering making a musical - Original Compositions/Arrangements - Interpretive Works - Works in Progress As always, you don't have to play if you show up, but the more the merrier. See you Tuesday! ========================================================= Minutes for the February 4th JCGS general meeting Greetings, guitar afficionados! We had a very good meeting Tuesday. The attendees were: Bob Barclay and Annette Libner, Francie Buckley and Jim Dietz, Matt Dorris, Flex*, Margaret Gelatt, Bil Leonhart, Randy Mason, Mikel and Kyle Miller*, Maurya Murphey, Terry Petty, Dave Rogers, Grant Ruiz, and Ken Ward and his friend*. (* = first time attendees.) Sorry if I missed anybody. Discussions: We need a platform for the guitar tasting. Mikel is a carpenter and said he could probably help us out by building one. We will call for volunteers to help out with the actual event (3/29) at the next JCGS general meeting. There was another call for articles, e.g., CD reviews, for the JCGS website. Margaret has submitted a book review to our webmaster, Joe Thompson. Margaret followed up on her previous message about starting new rehearsals for a "beginning advanced" ensemble. There were no takers that night, but the invitation is still open. Please contact Margaret for details. Grant suggested that it might be useful to have a page on the website with the contact information of members who want to be reached. People seemed to like the idea. The page could be password protected. Perhaps Joe will have input on this after he returns from vacation. Matt announced that he has set up an all-digital
recording studio and invited anyone to contact him if they wish
to make an inexpensive CD. Who knows, maybe some day we'll have
a "Best of JCGS" CD to sell at Dave brought up a very interesting idea.
Every Spring there is a Northwest Guitar Festival. Last year
it was in Moscow, Idaho. It is coordinated through academic institutions,
and Dave believes Ashland could host this People announced upcoming gigs: Jaxon Williams will play this Friday (as part of the first Friday art walk) at the Art and Soul gallery in Ashland. Grant will accompany flamenco dancers as part of a larger dance program the evening of February 15 at the Grants Pass Performing Arts Center. Go to http://www.jazzdancing.com/events.html for more info. Bil announced that Mimi Fox, a fiery virtuoso
jazz guitarist, will be here April 12. She will perform at the
Siskiyou Barn and will also put on a master class. She is well
worth seeing. Not only is she a wonderful Dave will perform a concert on February 23rd at 3pm at the First Congregational Church in Ashland. Tickets will be sold at the door. Please see the press release appended below. See the JCGS calendar of events at http://www.jazzdancing.com/events.html for other performances in the area. Performances: - The trio of Francie, Terry, and Randy played the chorale to St. Matthew's Passion and then a bouree by Hadyn. - Ken played two litling, original compositions in open C major and C minor tunings on his steel string guitar. - Matt played a short right hand study called "Didactic Doodle" by Andrew York. - The trio of Matt, Maurya, and Dave played a Hadyn sonata, which originally included a baryton, a cello-like instrument with sympathetic strings. - Grant played an original composition called "Soaring" by Paul Holland, his manager at Adobe Systems. (Paul has graciously agreed to let us post the work on our website. By the way, he said our site is "very classy looking.") Grant then played the flamenco guajiras with which he will accompany the dancers on February 15. - Dave played two spirituals from his upcoming CD. The first was "When I Get to the Middle of the Air", and the second was a composite of themes, including a Turkish melody, a song called "Better Be Ready", and "On the Banks of the Stormy Jordan I Stand." - Bil played a slave song with a title like "I Wish I Knew What It Was Like To Be Free" and then the Hoagy Carmichael song "In the Middle of May." The next meeting will be Tuesday, March 4th at Paschal from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Grant ======================================================= Agenda for the March 4th Guitar Society meeting Greetings, guitar enthusiasts! As the newly elected secretary of the JCGS,
I, Joe Thompson, will be assuming the role of sending the agendas
and minutes for our monthly meetings. I only hope that I can
do it with half the grace and wit of "el OUR NEXT MONTHLY MEETING is this coming Tuesday, March 4, from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. It will take place at the Paschal Winery in Talent. Please note the new start time at 6pm. This will allow people to socialize before the meeting starts at 6:30. Renee Dobbes at Paschal has said this will work fine. You are encouraged to invite a friend. If you do so, they might want to show up after 7pm to avoid any society business discussions. I will post a sign-up sheet on a music stand for guitarists who would like to be included in the performance portion of the meeting. Please sign up as you enter. If you go to the JCGS website, you will find a link to a printable map to Paschal Winery: http://id.mind.net/~thompson/meetings.html As a reminder, Paschal is willing for us to bring non-alcoholic drinks and food, as long as we clean up after ourselves. They will provide wine and coffee. There's no problem with visitors under 18 attending. JCGS WEBSITE UPDATE: For a trip into Ashland's more distant
musical past, visit this link: http://id.mind.net/~thompson/sample.html
This is a photo of Ashland musicians circa 1913. There are 13
violinists, 3 mandolinists and, 4 REVIEW OF JCGS BUSINESS ACTIVITY since the last meeting: - The JCGS Board of Directors has recieved a contact via e-mail (by way of our website) from a Eugene classical guitarist named Craig Einhorn. Craig has expressed a desire to play a concert for us. After extensive e-mail discussions, the Board has decided to make him an offer of a house concert. Our president, Grant Ruiz, has kindly offered his house as a venue. - The on-again-off-again Guitar Tasting which has been planned for March 29 AT Paschal Winery, looks as if it is off again. Paschal Winery is having difficulties with the Jackson County beauracracy in regards to events which are not directly related to wine sales and promotion. -The Board recieved the following information on the Annual Report to the State of Oregon from JCGS member and legal eagle, Bruce Smith. This is a necessary part of maintaining our non-profit status: >I have completed the Annual Report
(sounds like a lot of work, but it's only >With JCGS expenses spiralling out of
control maybe it's time to institute HERE'S THE ACTUAL AGENDA for the meeting: - Membership performances: who's playing when and where? - Membership dues discussion, part II. - Craig Einhorn Concert Status - Guitar Tasting status As usual, we will limit these discussions to 30 minutes. PERFORMANCE: Every month, the JCGS meetings offer an
opportunity to play for an attentive, appreciative and understanding
audience. The following are potential categories in which members
might considering making a musical - Original Compositions/Arrangements - Interpretive Works - Works in Progress As always, you don't have to play if you show up, but the more the merrier. See you Tuesday! ======================================================= Minutes for the March 4th JCGS meeting Greetings, guitar aficionados! We had a good meeting Tuesday. The attendees were: Steve Berman, Tyler Duval, Maurya Murphey, Grant Ruiz, Conrad Roegens (sp?), Dave Rogers, Gerry Shute, Conrad Simas with his brother James and his parents Mike and Beverly, Joe Thompson, Liz Visecky and Hirsch King. The March meeting got under way with a performance of the popular Elizabethan lute duet, "Dreweries Accordes" by Anonymous, played on guitars by Dave Rogers and his 14 year old student, Conrad Simas, from Yreka, California. This was followed by Conrad's solo performance of Lagrima by Francisco Tarrega. Dave Rogers blew in like the wind, played for us and then was off to a rehearsal. Conrad and his family also had to leave after playing. When the dust settled, we were nine avid attendees. This was quite a contrast to the meetings we have had over the last few months. At one recent meeting we had over 40 in attendance. This meeting had two new attendees: Tyler Duval and Coenraad Roegen (sp?). Coenraad became our first ever official dues paying member. UPCOMING PERFORMANCES: -The Bagel Shop Band plays folk music from Greece, Albania, Russia and other countries every Sunday from 9-12am at the Key of C coffeehouse in Ashland. -Mimi Fox, a fiery virtuoso jazz guitarist, will be here April 12. She will perform at the Siskiyou Barn and will also put on a master class. She is well worth seeing. Not only is she a wonderful guitarist, she's also very funny and engaging with audiences. -Craig Einhorn, Eugene classical guitarist, will play a house concert for the JCGS at the home of Grant Ruiz at an as yet to be determined date in September. Stay tuned for further details. For further information on these and other local and regional performances, visit the JCGS web site: http://id.mind.net/~thompson/clndr-mr.html DISCUSSIONS: -Maurya Murphey and Bob Barclay were the only JCGS members to take advantage of the John Stowell workshop last month. Maurya gave us a brief synopsis of the workshop proceedings which included a discussion of some basic music theory for guitar, information on chord substitutions, and the use of melodic minor scales in improvisation. She said that John played a few tunes and demonstrated how the familiar tune, "Over the Rainbow" can be transformed through the use of chord substitutions. She was especially impressed by his enthusiasm for his music and his eagerness to share his extensive knowledge. A special thanks is due to Bil Leonhart for sponsoring John at his home in Ashland. -The JCGS Board of Directors, after extensive e-mail discussions, has decided to sponsor Eugene classical guitarist, Craig Einhorn in a house concert at the home of Grant Ruiz. It will take place at a time yet to be determined in September. We project enough room for about 20 people and the admission charge will be $15. Craig has offered to have two of our members join him in a performance of a guitar trio written by Eugene composer, Mason Williams (of "Classical Gas" fame). Do we have any volunteers? Check out his web site at: http://www.efn.org/~einhorn -The Guitar Tasting, which was scheduled for March 29th, has been postponed due to difficulties which are out of our control. Our gracious hosts, Paschal Winery, has been informed by Jackson County officials that Paschal's cannot host events for which there is a charge unless the event is specifically for the promotion of their wines. We are in a holding pattern until we see what shakes out. Let's keep our fingers crossed; this is such a perfect small concert venue. -A no fees, business, checking account has been established for the JCGS by our treasurer, Maurya Murphey. This account will generate interest over time. An opening deposit of $100 was required to open the account. Grant was holding $51 dollars in JCGS funds which were generated through the Kline/Rogers concert and the Bogdanovic workshop. To this he add $49 of his own funds as a loan to the JCGS in order to establish the new account. He will be paid back through funds from dues paying members. -Grant (not surprisingly) made another pitch for membership dues. To become a full fledged member of the JCGS will cost a whopping $10 annually, $5 if you are a student of any educational institution (excluding driver's school and the like). I'm not sure of the final head count, but a number of folks stepped up to the plate, money in hand, and became proud, new, dues paying members of our society. The moneys were collected by our treasurer, Maurya Murphey and will be placed into a recently opened checking account in the name of JCGS, a registered non-profit organization. Any money from dues or other contributions paid to the JCGS is fully tax deductible. Dues paid this year are retro-active to the beginning of the year and are due for renewal at the beginning of next year. Reasons to be a dues paying member include: 1.) tax deductable, 2.) ability to vote on JCGS matters requiring the full attention of the membership, 3.) it feels good to support an organization dedicated to the instrument we love, 4.) first shot at tickets to JCGS sponsored events such as the Craig Einhorn house concert in September, and the JCGS Guitar Tasting sometime in who knows when. PERFORMANCES: -Grant played a flamenco piece (which I missed, being otherwise absorbed) and then played his arrangement of dizzy Gelespie's "A Night in Tunisia". -Steve Berman played Prelude Number 3, by Heitor villa Lobos. (In his introduction to the complete guitar works of Villa Lobos, Frederick Node says, "The names given to these preludes have not appeared in printed editions, so were perhaps not intended for general publication. However, players in search of extra insight into the preludes will undoubtedly appreciate knowing the descriptive titles." No. 3 is "Homage to Bach".) -Joe Thompson, inspired by Steves performance of Prelude No. 3, played Choros Typico by Hietor Villa Lobos. -Steve Berman joined Joe Thompson for 5 duets by Bela Bartok. These were from Bartok's two volume collection of "44 Violin Duets". -Grant Ruiz joined Joe Thompson for Grant's beautiful arrangement of "Cavatina", perhaps better known as "Theme from the movie Deer Hunter" by Stanley Meyers. -The "Nameless Guitar Trio", consisting of Steve Berman, Grant Ruiz, and Joe Thompson played Joe's arrangement of "Milonga" by Astor Piazzolla (ha!). -And finally, in honor of the upcoming St. Patrick's Day celebrations, the same trio played Joe's newly hatched arrangement of "Londondary Aire" aka "Oh Danny Boy" aka "London Derriere". The next meeting will be Tuesday, April
1st at Paschal from 6:00 p.m. to Joe Agenda for the April 1st Guitar Society meeting Greetings, guitar enthusiasts! DO NOT BE FOOLED! Our Tuesday, April 1st meeting will be one to remember. We have a stellar line up and people will be talking about it for months to come, so don't miss this opportunity to participate. One of the easiest things for you to do to help make the JCGS a success is to show up at the monthly meetings. Oh and, be sure to bring a friend. April 2, 2002 was the date of our first meeting at Paschal Winery. This meeting will be our 1st anniversary there. The old days of scrambling for a place to meet and dealing with cold dank basements are just a dim memory. Let's be sure to remind Renee and the management at Paschal how much we appreciate their kindness and support. The intimate Old Siskiyou Barn will present a concert as part of their "The Art of Jazz Series" on Saturday, April 12th at 8pm. The featured performer is the great jazz guitarist, Mimi Fox. There are only a few tickets left, so if you want to attend, you have to move quickly. See the end of this e-mail for more information. OUR NEXT MONTHLY MEETING is this coming Tuesday, April 1st, from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. It will take place at the Paschal Winery in Talent. Please note the start time at 6pm. This will allow people a half-hour to socialize before the meeting starts at 6:30. We have a fairly big line up of people to play, so try to get there and settle in before 6:30 so we can start on time. We will deal with business starting at 6:30 and get right to the music at 7:00pm. You are encouraged to invite a friend. If you do so, they might want to show up after 7pm to avoid any society business discussions. JCGS WEBSITE UPDATE: -There is a new article on the JCGS web site which discusses splitting fingernails. This article was contributed by JCGS member, Francie Buckley and is from the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley. It has lots of good up to date information about maintaining the health of your fingernails. Check it out at: http://id.mind.net/~thompson/guests.html -The historical photo of Ashland musicians (circa 1913) had to be pulled from the JCGS web site because the Southern Oregon Historical Society charges a fee for the use of "their" historical photos and the JCGS, as it turns out, can't afford their fee. Sorry 'bout that! - The JCGS website is beginning to generate e-mail responses due to our presence on the internet. We recieved a note from someone close to the "Duo46", a professional violin and guitar duo. See the JCGS links page for a link to their very interesting website. Additionally, a guitar duo team from Minnesota is working on an arrangement of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" by Bach by, yours truly, which they purchased from Mel Bay Publications. They contacted the JCGS website (Member's Recordings Page), seeking a recording of same. Once we get ourselves established on the www, I think we can expect much more of this type of response from the world at large. REVIEW OF JCGS BUSINESS ACTIVITY since the last meeting: - The on-again-off-again Guitar Tasting which had been planned for March 29 (which is today) at Paschal Winery, and which looked as if it was off again, is now on again. A soon to be scheduled meeting with Paschal management will nail down the final details such as promotion and date. Stay tuned for further details. This might be the one! - Grant Ruiz and Joe Thompson met with Ashland jazz guitarist and music promoter, Ed Dunsavage, to discuss the possibility of producing a guitar festival in Ashland which would bring in prominent players from both the jazz and classical genres. - Cybernet (the internet provider which was going to host our non-profit web site for free) was bought out by another company which will no longer honor Cybernet's non- profit provision. Through the research of our fearless leader, el Presidente, Grant Ruiz, we have discovered that the Medford host, InternetCDS, will host our site for free. The JCGS Board has decided to move forward with placing our website with InternetCDS. We will also get our domain name (JCGS.org) through this company. The domain name for the website will be our first major expense at $29 per year. We will be required to pay for the first 2 years, so our outlay will be $58. The Board has approved this expense. HERE'S THE ACTUAL AGENDA for the meeting: - Membership performances: who's playing
when and where? PERFORMANCE: Every month, the JCGS meetings offer an opportunity for folks to play for an attentive, appreciative and understanding audience. The following are potential categories in which members might considering making a musical offering. These are not in any particular order, and they may be performed by soloists, duets, trios, quartets, etc.: - Original Compositions/Arrangements People
seem to like this segment a lot. - Interpretive Works Folks interested in performance experience are encouraged to prepare one or more works by other composers. - Works in Progress Show us what you've
got so far! You might even want to show how the piece is coming
along in future meetings. See you Tuesday! Joe
PRESS RELEASE: THE OLD SISKIYOU BARN PRESENTS Minutes for the April 1st JCGS General Meeting Greetings, guitar aficionados! WOW! Our April Fool's Day Guitar Society
Meeting was an extraordinary example of the kind of positive
energy that can be generated when people in the surrounding communities
come together in honor of our beloved classical guitar. With
46 enthusiasts in attendance, this was the largest gathering
we have had to date. New attendees included: Nathan Crow, Damien Mann, Mike (the guitar builder), Ian Banks and his friend Liz, Ed Dunsavage, Tyler Duval and friend. Veteran attendees included: Terry Petty, Francie Buckley and and her husband Jim Dietz, Margaret Gelatt, Steve Berman, Grant Ruiz, Randy Mason, Bob Barclay, Nathan Hoyt and his parents Mike and Kim, Liz Visecky and her husband Hersch King, Maurya Murphey, Matt Dorris, Coenraad Roegens and his friend Cantrell, Skye Parfitt and his mother Marcy and her friend Anthony, Bil Leonhart, Ed Dunsavage, Dan Ferris and his wife Laura, Joe Thompson and his wife Marcy Greene and mother Murel Wilson, Alice and Jack Hardesty, Tyler Duval and friend, Dave Rogers, Gerry Shute, Jaxon Williams with mother Ronda and sister Rebecca, and a couple whose names I didn't get. UPCOMING PERFORMANCES: -Steve Berman will join Chiu Mei Shih and Robert Ross in a concert of Chinese folk songs with pipa (lute), xiao (flute), guitar, voice and percussion. The performance will take place Sunday afternoon, April 27th, at 3:00pm at the First Congregational Church, corner of Siskiyou and Morton Streets in Ashland and again at the Headwaters. Building in Ashland on May 3. Admission is $10 adults, $5 students. -Steve Berman and Olaf Soderbach (Olaf and Esteban) play Saturday mornings 10:00 to 1:00 at the A Street Emporium's premiere breakfast spot Off The Grid. There's a stage and sound equipment, but it's informal and low key. The espresso drinks are excellent. They play a variety of folk genres and instruments from Eastern Europe, North Africa, India, North and South America. Violin, guitar, accordion, oud, tambura, gadulka, hurdy-gurdy and tablas are some of the instruments they use. -Mimi Fox, one of the jazz guitar greats, will play a solo concert at the Old Siskiyou Barn on Saturday, April 12, at 8pm. Tickets are $18 and there are still a few left. She will also put on a guitar workshop on Sunday, April 13 from noon-2:00 pm. Early in her career, she was a student of the classical guitar, so she will have relevant information. For more info on Mimi, please visit her web page at: http://www.mimifoxjazzguitar.com For reservations or information, please call (488-3869) or email Ed Dunsavage at: jazzbookings@aol.com soon to secure you seating. -The Bagel Shop Band plays folk music from Greece, Albania, Russia and other countries every Sunday from 9-12am at the Key of C coffeehouse in Ashland. -Craig Einhorn, Eugene classical guitarist,
will play a house concert for the JCGS at the home of Grant Ruiz.
The date has been established as the evening of September 12th.
Stay tuned for further details. DISCUSSIONS: -Membership Dues: If you haven't yet joined the JCGS by paying your membership dues, you might want to give some thought to doing so. We do have a checking account now, so if you wish to pay your dues, you may send a check to our treasurer, Maurya Murphey, at the following address: Maurya Murphey Please make your checks out to "JCGS." Of course, you may also wait until the May meeting to pay, if you can stand the strain of waiting. --------------------------- HOW MUCH ARE MEMBERSHIP DUES? WHAT DOES THE MONEY GO TOWARD? Known costs currently include: Future costs may include: WHAT DO MY DUES GET ME? Now: Possibly in the future: WHEN ARE DUES RENEWED? Each year at the beginning of the year. Dues collected during the next drive are retroactive to the beginning of 2003. MEETING DISCUSSIONS: -CRAIG EINHORN HOUSE CONCERT: a date has been set for Friday, September 12th. It is too far out to start selling tickets but get it on your calendar. Craig would like to perform a trio, Flamenco Lingo, by his guitar buddy, Mason Williams. He has asked if two of our members would like to join him. Do we have any volunteers? -GUITAR TASTING: If you are still not sure what the "Guitar Tasting" is, check out the Events Page of the JCGS website. We have yet to establish a new date, so stay tuned. -WEBSITE UPDATE: The JCGS web site is temporarily hosted by Infostructure as webmaster, Joe Thompson's personal website. Our plans to move the site to Cybernet fell through when the business was bought out and changed their policy on hosting non-profits for free. We have subsequently learned that Internet CDS will provide free hosting to us. We will soon move in that direction. This will involve the purchase of our own domain name which will result in a new web site address (URL). Check out the new "Guitar Poetry and Art" page in the Members' section of the website. http://id.mind.net/~thompson/poetry.html This is the brain child of Steve Berman and Joe Thompson. Steve will assume the responsibility for compiling poetry related to the guitar. There are two beautiful works by Garcia Lorca up there right now. Also there is a new article in the Guests' page of the Members' section on the care and feeding of the fingernails. -GUITAR FESTIVAL: Earlier, the JCGS Board of Directors had toyed with the possibility of hosting the annual Northwest Guitar Festival, an established organization which moves from city to city around the Pacific Northwest each year. Alternatively, there have been some recent discussions exploring the possibility of building our own home grown guitar festival. This festival would celebrate both the classical and jazz traditions. We will be having further discussions with jazz guitarist and concert promoter, Ed Dunsavage. -JCGS MUSIC LIBRARY: Francie Buckley brought up the idea of assembling a lending library for members of the JCGS. Joe Thompson pointedly asked whose music we would lend and suggested that it would require someone to spearhead the effort. Anyone interested? "Bigfoot" Dave from Eugene has already offered to send up copies of his arrangements and transcriptions, so this might be the first contributions to our library. Also, Dave Rogers, the guitar instructor at SOU has offered to loan ensemble music from the music departments guitar music collection. Maybe it's a begining. PERFORMANCES: At our extroardinary April fool's meeting, there were 14 separate acts playing a total of 19 separate works. The performers ages ranged from 6 year old Nathan Hoyt to 60 year old professional guitarist Bil Leonhart. We had solos, duos, and trios. We had performers who have prepared for months and we had jazz veterans, Bil Leonhart and Ed Dunsavage improvise a stunning duet on the spot. And we had a World Priemiere of a composition for three guitars by Liz Vesecky. Here is how it went: The final piece of the evening, played by Steve, Grant and Joe, was a world premiere of "Music Box Canon" composed by JCGS member and guitarist, Liz Vesecky. We may not be able to generate this kind of intensity every month, or, who knows, maybe we can. I do know that it was YOU who made this wonderful meeting possible. Remember, the most effective way to make the JCGS a success is to show up at the monthly meetings. And bring a friend! See you next time, Joe Thompson ps Events of Interest: Manuel Barrueco Masterclass in Maryland,
June 18-22, 2003 Christopher Parkening Masterclass in Montana,
July 22-26, 2003 http://www.montana.edu/music/parkening ====================================== Agenda for May 6th JCGS general meeting Greetings, guitar enthusiasts! Our next meeting is this coming Tuesday, May 6th. If current weather trends hold, it will be a perfect evening for sitting in a warm cozy Paschal Tasting Room and listening to more great classical guitar music. We have another special evening lined up. Most significantly, we will be visited by a student of the classical guitar (aren't we all!) who is also a reporter for the Medford Mail Tribune. Damien Mann will be on hand, taking notes and interviewing a few folks, to write up a story on the Jefferson Classical Guitar Society to be published in the following Sunday paper. He will be bringing a Tribune photographer along so be sure to wash behind your ears! Oh yea, and remember to bring a friend. Then there is the JCGS Guitar Tasting featuring
the hand crafted concert guitars of Pistol River, Oregon luthier,
Les Stansell. As most of you know, the date has been set for
Saturday evening, May 17th, from 7-9pm. The admission fee is
$25 for advance tickets and $30 at the door. There will be seating
for only 65 people and we don't project having any tickets left
to sell at the door. You can get advanced tickets at "Home
at Last Music" in downtown Ashland or at Paschal Winery.
Alternatively, JCGS Guitar Tasting tickets will be available
at the meeting on Tuesday evening, so bring your cash or your
checkbooks. Admission will include: 1.) the JCGS Guitar Tasting
featuring Les Stansell and his guitars, 2.) A guitar concert
featuring Joseph Thompson, el Presidente Grant Ruiz, Steve Berman,
and Jaxon Williams, 3.) a glass of Paschal's fine wine, 4.) an
inticing selection of appetizers, 5.) a newly installed art exhibit
at Paschal, and 6.) a 15% discount on any bottled Paschal wines
which are purchased and taken home that evening. Such a deal! There will be two guitar builders at our May 6th meeting. Les Stansell, who will be the featured luthier at the JCGS Guitar Tasting, is going to be in town for our meeting. He will have a number of his beautiful handcrafted concert instruments on hand for your listening and viewing pleasure. Additionally, we had a first time visitor last month, Mike Brown, who showed up with his nearly completed, first classical guitar construction project. He will be back with the finished product. He recently put a finish coat on the instrument and says it should be dry to the touch by Tuesday. He reports that he is itching to get started on his next project. I think we have a budding luthier in our midst. OUR NEXT MONTHLY MEETING is this coming
Tuesday, May 6th, from 6:00 Please note the start time at 6pm. This will allow people a half-hour to socialize before the meeting starts at 6:30. We have a fairly big line up of people to play, so try to get there and settle in before 6:30 so we can start on time. We will deal with business starting at 6:30 and get right to the music at 7:00pm. An easy way to contribute to the success of the JCGS is to show up at the monthly meetings. You are encouraged to invite a friend. If you do so, they might want to show up at 7pm to avoid the society business discussions. JCGS WEBSITE UPDATE: We finally got our web site moved over to our new host, InternetCDS, in Medford. They are kindly hosting our site for no charge by virtue of our non-profit status. There was a $58 start-up fee which included a two year payment on our domain name. Now when people ask what the address to the JCGS web site is, you no longer have to say, "I can't remember." You can lift your head up and proudly say, "It is www.JeffersonGuitar.org". Just remember it is .org and not .com. REVIEW OF JCGS BUSINESS ACTIVITY since the last meeting: - A little scrambling to get the website switched over. - Much scrambling to get the JCGS Guitar Tasting out of the starting blocks.
HERE'S THE ACTUAL AGENDA for the meeting: - Membership performances: who's playing when and where? - Guitar Tasting status - Guitar Tasting Volunteers - Membership dues discussion, part XXVII. _ Craig Einhorn House Concert status - JCGS website/host and new domain name
As usual, we will limit these discussions to 30 minutes.
PERFORMANCE: Every month, the JCGS meetings offer an
opportunity for folks to play for an - Original Compositions/Arrangements - Interpretive Works - Works in Progress As always, you don't have to play if you show up, but the more the merrier. See you Tuesday! Back to Top Minutes for the May 6th JCGS general meeting Greetings, guitar aficionados! With these longer spring days and the lingering rays of the late afternoon sun bathing the surrounding hills and mountains, we are again being treated to the extroardinary views around Paschal. Many many thanks to everyone who came out for our merry merry month of May meeting Tuesday evening in support of JCGS and thanks to everyone who performed. We had another extroardinary meeting. JCGS would like to extend a special thanks to Damien Mann. Damien is a student of the classical guitar and a reporter for the Medford Mail Tribune. You may have noticed Damien roving the floors of Paschal, note pad in hand, seeking out potential interviewees. Damien and Tribune photographer Bob Pennell are putting together a feature article on the JCGS. It will appear in this Sunday's edition of the Tribune, so check it out. Another special thanks to Shoshana Rose who treated us to a powerful interpretation of a flamenco Allegrias to the stellar accompaniment of el Presidente, Grant Ruiz. A final thanks to Les Stansell, JCGS member and builder of fine classical guitars. Les and his wife Mary made the three and a half hour drive over the mountains from Pistol River on the south coast of Oregon to be at our meeting. He will be returning to the Rogue Valley on May 17th for our first JCGS Guitar Tasting where his instruments will be featured. Once the Tribune article hits the stands, we expect the Guitar Tasting tickets to sell out quickly. If you plan to attend, we recommend you get your tickets now as seating is limited. For more info, visit: www.JeffersonGuitar.org/events.html Attendees included: Nathan Crow, Haila Williams, Damien Mann, Bob Pennell, MikeBrown, Ian Banks and his parents Steven and Cheryl, Tyler Duval, Margaret Gelatt, Steve Berman, Grant Ruiz, Nathan Hoyt and his parents Mike and Kim, Liz Visecky and her husband Hirsch King, Maurya Murphey and her son Habib, Matt Dorris, Coenraad Roegens and his friends Cantril Nielson and Amanda Darlak, Skye Parfitt and Anthony, Bil Leonhart, Joe Thompson and his mother Murel Wilson, Jaxon Williams with his mother Ronda, Jerrod Simons, Les and Mary Stansell, and Cu-Hullan McGivern. My apologies if I missed anyone.
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES: -The SOU Music Department Guitar Ensemble will perform on Monday, May 19th at 8:00pm, at the SOU Music Building Recital Hall. The program is free. The concert will include solos, duos, trios and a guitar quartet. -Joe Thompson will play solo guitar music for wine tasting at Paschal Winery on the Saturday afternoons of May 24th and 27th from 1-4pm. No charge. -Steve Berman and Olaf Soderbach (Olaf and Esteban) play Saturday mornings 10:00 to 1:00 at the A Street Emporium's premiere breakfast spot Off The Grid. There's a stage and sound equipment, but it's informal and low key. The espresso drinks are excellent. They play a variety of folk genres and instruments from Eastern Europe, North Africa, India, North and South America. Violin, guitar, accordion, oud, tambura, gadulka, hurdy-gurdy and tablas are some of the instruments they use. -The Bagel Shop Band plays folk music from Greece, Albania, Russia and other countries every Sunday from 9-12am at the Key of C coffeehouse in Ashland. -Paschal is hosting a "locals night" on Friday, May 16th, from 6 to 9pm, with 15% off of bottles of wine, 50% off of glasses of wine, and appetizers. Also, the new art exhibit opening has been delayed until Saturday, June 7. Stay tuned for further info. For further information on these and other local and regional performances, visit the JCGS web site: www.JeffersonGuitar.org/clndr-may.html DISCUSSIONS: -Membership Dues: If you haven't yet joined the JCGS by paying your membership dues, you might want to give some thought to doing so. We do have a checking account now, so if you wish to pay your dues, you may send a check to our treasurer, Maurya Murphey, at the following address: Maurya Murphey Please make your checks out to "JCGS."
Of course, you may also wait
-WEBSITE UPDATE: the JCGS web site has finally moved to our permanent home at InternetCDS who is hosting us free of charge due to our non-profit status. Our new domain name is www.JeffersonGuitar.org. Be sure to bookmark the new address. -GUITAR TASTING VOLUNTEERS: Thanks for the great response to the call for help with the up coming Guitar Tasting. We have all of our bases covered with the exception of the fabric skirting for the stage. We are in need of something in dark red or black, 18 inches wide by 18 1/2 feet long. The 18 1/2 feet wouldn't have to be one continuous length. -Grant, Steve, and Joe have FINALLY named their trio. They are now "Dark Rose Guitar Trio". -JCGS was recently contacted by concert artist, Michael Partington of Seattle. He would like to play a concert for us but we are not yet in a position to guarantee an artist a performance fee. He suggested that perhaps next season, he could make a stop in Ashland on his way to San Francisco. Jerrod Simons mentioned that he had heard Mr. Partington perform at the Portland Guitar Festival and said he was superb. He also said that his masterclass was excellent. Mr. Simons recommends him highly. PERFORMANCES: We had another stellar line-up of performers. They included: -Skye Parfitt (10 years old) played "Bingo"
as a solo and then played "Shenandoah" with his teacher,
Joe. That's all for now. See you next time. Remember, it was YOU who made this wonderful meeting possible. The most effective way to the continued success of the JCGS is to show up at the monthly meetings. And bring a friend! Stay tuned, Joe Thompson Agenda for the June 3rd JCGS general meeting Greetings, guitar enthusiasts! Our next meeting is this coming Tuesday, June 3rd. May was an eventful month for the Jefferson Classical Guitar Society. We had a feature article written about us in the May 11th (Sunday) edition of the Medford Mail Tribune. "Pulling Strings" was written by Tribune reporter and JCGS member, Damian Mann. If you didn't see it you can check it out at: http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2003/0511/life/stories/01life.htm Then there was the long awaited "Guitar Tasting". By all accounts the event was a great success. So many thanks are due to so many folks who stepped forward to help make this first "JCGS Guitar Tasting" a success. I would like to personally thank: Ian Banks who built our portable stage. This is a very sturdy unit and should serve us well over the coming years. Thanks also to Tyler Duval who helped Ian transport and set up the stage at Paschal and to Ian's father who supplied the materials for the stage. A big thanks to Bruce Smith and Randy Mason who transported chairs to and from Paschal's and who set up and broke down the seating for the Guitar Tasting. Thanks to Bryan Haynes for writing up our press release, to Ronda Williams for greeting folks at the door, to Cathy Tronquet for sewing up a marvelous skirting for our stage, to Bil Leonhart for hanging flyers around the valley, to Renee and Paschal for obvious reasons, to Aga and Daphne for being wonderful hosts at Paschal, to Brian and Louis for helping with the Paschal set up, to Les and Mary Stansell for coming all the way over from Pistol River, and to Grant, Steve and Jaxon for playing so beautifully. And last but not least, to el presidente Grant Ruiz for being there for just about everything that needed someone to be there. It will be interesting to see if the Tribune article and the JCGS Guitar Tasting draw in any new folks to our meetings. I hope you can come, and remember, bring a friend. OUR NEXT MONTHLY MEETING is this coming
Tuesday, June 3rd, from 6:00 Please note the start time at 6pm. This will allow people a half-hour to socialize before the meeting proper starts at 6:30. Try to get there and settle in before 6:30 so we can start on time. We will deal with business starting at 6:30 and get right to the music at 7:00pm. An easy way to contribute to the success of the JCGS is to show up at the monthly meetings. You are encouraged to invite a friend. If you do so, they might want to show up at 7pm to avoid the society business discussions. JCGS WEB SITE UPDATE: Now that the JCGS guitar Tasting is behind us, the new Upcoming Event is the Craig Einhorn concert in September. If you haven't been to Einhorn's web site, you can get the info at: www.JeffersonGuitar.org/events.html REVIEW OF JCGS BUSINESS ACTIVITY since the last meeting: - A debriefing on the JCGS Guitar Tasting.
HERE'S THE ACTUAL AGENDA for the meeting: - Membership performances: who's playing when and where? - Guitar Tasting debriefing - Thanks to Guitar Tasting Volunteers - Membership dues discussion, part XXVII. _ Craig Einhorn House Concert status - Brad Richter concert proposal As usual, we will limit these discussions to 30 minutes. PERFORMANCE: Every month, the JCGS meetings offer an
opportunity for folks to play for an - Original Compositions/Arrangements - Interpretive Works - Works in Progress As always, you don't have to play if you show up, but the more the merrier. See you Tuesday! Joe Back to Top Minutes for the June 3rd JCGS general meeting Greetings, guitar aficionados! The doors to the deck at Paschal were wide open on Tuesday, June 3rd and so we decided to have the business part of our meeting in the open air. Once the business portion was concluded, we moved indoors for the performance portion to take advantage the acoustics. I've been making an effort to get the names of all of the attendees, but at this meeting, about 15 people wandered in around 7pm or shortly after and I wasn't able to get all of their names. I do know there were a lot of new faces. I think many of the new folks were people who were curious about us due to all of the recent publicity we have gotten. I put our total attendance at a record setting 48. Attendees included: Aaron Benjamin, Ted Walther, Jeff and Annie, David Brown and his mother, Susan, Gerry Shute, Margaret Gelatt, Ed Dunsavage, Steve Berman, Liz Vesecky and Hersh King, Maurya Murphey, Randy Mason, Matt Dorris, Damian Mann, Tyler Duval, Grant Ruiz, Joe Thompson, Francie Buckley and Jim Dietz, Bruce and Barbara Smith, Brabara Webb, Jim Barry, Bil Leonhart, Ian Banks and his finace, Jeff Rinkoff, Terry Petty and his wife, Tom Reddick, Phleques and numerous others. I thought it would be interesting to go over the records for all of our meetings back to October, 2001 and compare attendance numbers. Here are the numbers for all of our meetings with the exception of two early gatherings where attendance wasn't recorded. The asterisks indicate new attendance records: Oct(01) 11* UPCOMING PERFORMANCES: -Ed Dunsavage (jazz guitar) and John Dempsey (sax) will play jazz at Jazbo's in Ashland, Thursdays from 7-9:30 pm. -Steve Berman will lead an evening sing-along around a campfire on June 28th.This event is geared to families. Location is at North Mountain Park in Ashland. -Joe Thompson will play solo guitar music for wine tasting at Paschal Winery on Saturday afternoon, June 7th, from 1-4pm. No charge. -The Bagel Shop Band plays folk music from Greece, Albania, Russia and other countries every Sunday from 9-12am at the Key of C coffeehouse in Ashland. -The Rogue Valley Jazz Exchange meets at Paschal on the first Wednesday of every month at 7pm. -Paschal is hosting a "locals night" on Friday, May 16th, from 6 to 9pm, with 15% off of bottles of wine, 50% off of glasses of wine, and appetizers. Also, the new art exhibit will open on Saturday, June 7. For further information on these and other local and regional performances, visit the JCGS web site: www.JeffersonGuitar.org/clndr-jun.html DISCUSSIONS: -El Presidente, Grant Ruiz debriefed everyone on the recent JCGS Guitar Tasting. It was generally agreed that the the Guitar Tasting was an unmitigated success. It was pointed out that, in our current culture of mass media and mass production, it was refreshing to experience local handcrafted guitars, built from local woods and performed upon by local guitarists. As an added touch, we performed at a local winery and enjoyed their local wines using locally grown grapes. Maybe, someday, we could pull off a guitar tasting performing all locally composed guitar music. A final thank you went out to all who stepped forward to help make this event a success. We sold 48 tickets at $25, generating $1200. Proceeds, after expences, were divided between Paschal winery, the performers, luthier, Les Stansell, and JCGS. JCGS made $115 from the event. -Getting one final smack in on the proverbial "dead horse", Grant mentioned that the opportunity is still available to those who would like to join the JCGS to the tune of $10 per year. -Website: The counter at the bottom of the home page continues to accelerate and we have yet to register with any search engines. -Upcoming concerts: We have been contacted by 3 guitarists by way of our website. Craig Einhorn (http://www.efn.org/~einhorn/ )will be performing for us in September. Michael Partington might be able to fit us into his schedule next season. And we are currently considering the possibility of bring in Brad Richter (www.bradrichter.com), a guitarist from Tucson, AZ.
PERFORMANCES: Performances were as follows: -The guitar trio of Francie Buckley, Randy Mason, and Terry Petty played Aria and Chorales No. 1, 2, and 3 by Francis Kleynjans. (How 'bout "Terry Petty and the Heart Breakers?") -New member David Brown played "Lesson for Two Lutes" by anonymous with his teacher, Steve Berman. -Margaret Gellat played Minuet in G, by J. S. Bach with her teacher, Tom Reddick. -Margaret Gellat performed a sweet rendition of Fernando Carulli's, "Country Dance". -Local professional guitarist, Tom Reddick played an improvisation, an original arrangement of "Greensleeves", and "Yellow Dog Blues". -Ian Banks and Tyler Duval joined forces on a Fantasia by G. P. Telemann, arranged by their teacher, Joe Thompson. -Matt Dorris played two movements by Alan Mearns, from "Six Characters", inspired by The Lord of the Rings; "Merkwood Forest", and "Gandalf Escapes on the Great Eagle". -Maurya Murphey played "Guardame las Vacas" by Narvaez. -Jeff Rinkoff played the "Double" of the Sarabande from Partita No. 1 and the first page of the Fugue from Prelude, Fugue and Allegro, by J. S. Bach. -Grant Ruiz played "Solea por Bulerias" which he put together from his lessons with Roberto Casteleon. -Bil Leonhart and Ed Dunsavage, both professional jazz guitarists, joined forces to take us on a wonderful extemporaneous musical journey based on the jazz standard, "Stella by Starlight". -The Dark Rose Guitar Trio closed out the evening with Antonio Vivaldi's "Andante molto" from Trio in A minor and Enrique Granados', "Spanish Dance No. 6", arranged by Joe Thompson. That's all for now. See you next time. Remember, it's YOU who makes these wonderful meetings possible. The most effective way to build on the success of the JCGS is to show up at the monthly meetings. And bring a friend! Please, stay tuned, Joe Thompson Agenda for the July 1st JCGS general meeting Greetings, guitarenthusiasts! Our next meeting is this coming Tuesday, July 1st (Yes, that's tomorrow!). El presidente, Grant Ruiz will be absent from his duties as master of ceremonies and Steve Berman has offered to fill Grant's pridigious shoes. (No, I am not saying that Grant has big feet.) Please note the start time at 6pm. This will allow people a half-hour to socialize before the meeting proper starts at 6:30. Try to get there and settle in before 6:30 so we can start on time. We will deal with business starting at 6:30 and get right to the music at 7:00pm. An easy way to contribute to the success of the JCGS is to show up at the monthly meetings. You are encouraged to invite a friend. If you do so, they might want to show up at 7pm to avoid the society business discussions.
Directions to Paschal Winery: >From I-5, take the Talent Exit (exit 21). - If coming from the north (Medford), turn
left at the stop sign onto West If you go to the JCGS web site, you will find a link at the bottom of the page to a printable map to Paschal Winery: www.JeffersonGuitar.org/meetings.html As a reminder, Paschal is willing for us
to bring non-alcoholic drinks
JCGS WEB SITE UPDATE: Two new articles have been contributed to the JCGS web site by members of JCGS. El Presidente, Grant Ruiz has offered up an account of his experiences accompanying the great flamenco dancer La Conja on his flamenco guitar. The two can be seen in the Oregon Shakespeare world premiere production of "Lorca in a Green Dress" which opens July 12th in the New Theatre. Bruce Smith has written a piece inspired by his recent trip to Naples, Italy with his wife, Barbara. They have made numerous trips to Naples and always stay at the home of their friends Carlo and Marta. Carlo, as it turns out, is a classical guitarist. Bruce writes of a concert they attended in Napoli. Thank you Grant and Bruce. If any one gets inspired to write a music or guitar related piece for the web site, I would be delighted to post it. Check out the new articles at: www.JeffersonGuitar.org/mbrartcl.html REVIEW OF JCGS BUSINESS ACTIVITY since the last meeting: Pretty much nothing has happened! HERE'S THE ACTUAL AGENDA for the meeting: - Membership performances: who's playing when and where? - Whatever? As usual, we will limit these discussions to 30 minutes.
PERFORMANCE: Every month, the JCGS meetings offer an
opportunity for folks to play for an - Original Compositions/Arrangements - Interpretive Works - Works in Progress As always, you don't have to play if you show up, but the more the merrier. See you Tuesday! Joe Back to Top Minutes for the July 1st JCGS general meeting Greetings, guitar aficionados! Our July 1st meeting was quite wonderful...unique. I think its uniqueness hinged on the fact that there was exactly enough music. I didn't see anyone get up and leave before the music was over. The temperature was perfect, the doors were flung wide open, and a gentle evening breeze blew through the room. Golden light from the long rays of the late afternoon sun lit the surrounding hills and seemed to infuse the very air we breathed. Perfection! In the absence of our illustrious leader, el presidente, Grant Ruiz, Steve Berman stepped forward to be the master of our ceremonies. He did an outstanding job! He's a natural...but we knew that. By 6:30, there were only about 15 people in attendance and it looked like we wouldn't need any more chairs than were already in the room. We got the meeting underway by 6:45 only to realize that we needed to bring in a few more chairs from the deck. Eventually we needed all the chairs from the deck. Then we had to supplement those with the plastic chairs. We ended up with another full house. Attendees included: Margaret Gelatt, Liz Vesecky and Hersch King, Murel Wilson, Joe Thompson, Steve Berman, Bil Leonhart, Mike Brown, Richard Blankenship, Jerrod Simons, Tom Rose, Bruce and Barbara Smith and their friends Matt and Cindy Walker, Tyler Duval, Randy Mason, Ian Banks and his fiance Liz, Dan Irwin, Nathan Crow, Haila, Dr. William Epstein and his wife, Francie Buckley and Jim Dietz, Matt Dorris, Cheryl and Steven Banks, Jaxon williams and his mom, Ronda, David Brown and his Mom, Susan, Roy Paschal and his wife and grand daughter, Phleques. There were a number of other new faces who wandered in late and I didn't get their names. I put the total attendance for July at 43. UPCOMING PERFORMANCES: -Steve Berman will play folk guitar and flute on Thursday night from 5:30 to 6:30 at the Schneider Music on the SOU campus. -Jaxon Williams plays "First Fridays" at Art and Soul Gallery in downtown Ashland. This month only, First Friday is on a Thursdy due to the July 4th celebrations. -The Bagel Shop Band plays folk music from Greece, Albania, Russia and other countries every Sunday from 9-12am at the Key of C coffeehouse in Ashland. -The Rogue Valley Jazz Exchange meets at Paschal on the first Wednesday of every month at 7pm. -Paschal is hosting a "locals night" on Friday, May 16th, from 6 to 9pm, with 15% off of bottles of wine, 50% off of glasses of wine, and appetizers. Also, the new art exhibit will open on Saturday, June 7. For further information on these and other local and regional performances, visit the JCGS web site: www.JeffersonGuitar.org/clndr-jul.html DISCUSSIONS: -As I indicated in the minutes, there was nothing to talk about. But, Steve found stuff to talk about, none the less. He noted that luthier, Les Stansell had graciously contributed his honorarium of $62 from the JCGS Guitar Tasting back to the guitar society. -Bruce Smith pointed out that the phenomenal Assad Brothers, guitarists from Brazil, along with violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg will join the Britt Festival Orchestra in a performance of Sergio Assad's "Concerto Originis". The concert is on Friday, August 1st at 8pm. Jerrod Simons briefed us on a recent Ashland performance by a family trio. The father, Daniel Thomason on viola d'amore, the mother, Anita Thomason, and the son, Peter Thomason on guitar, played a variety of 18th and 19th century works arranged by the Brazilian jazz/classical guitarist, Laurindo Almeida. Jerrod spoke with Peter and learned learned that the young guitarist's grandmother lives in Grants Pass. Jerrod left an open invitation for him to join us at a meeting when he is back in town visiting. PERFORMANCES: -Margaret Gelatt played a delightful Waltz
by Ferdinand Carulli That's all for now. See you next time. Remember, it's YOU who makes these wonderful meetings possible. The most effective way to build on the success of the JCGS is to show up at the monthly meetings. And bring a friend! Please, stay tuned, Joe Thompson
Agenda for the August 5th JCGS meeting Greetings, guitar enthusiasts! The agenda is going out a bit early this
month so that I can get the following announcement out. This
is from the Britt Festival website: Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and The
Assads Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Brazilian guitarists Sérgio and Odair Assad will be featured performers with the Britt Orchestra on opening night. The world's leading guitar duo has joined forces with one of the world's preeminent violinists to form an original and dynamic trio. Salerno-Sonnenberg and the Assads collaborated last year to record a CD of original music based on gypsy folk tunes from Eastern Europe. This unique trio will perform a brand new composition, Concerto Originis, composed by Sérgio Assad. The Britt collaboration will showcase the artists' exceptional virtuosity and dynamic personalities. Maestro Bay and The Britt Orchestra will present three works never performed at the festival before. Nineteenth century French composer Georges Bizet's Symphony in C was composed when he was just 17 and offers us a glimpse of a young genius at work (the Symphony lay forgotten until it was discovered in the 1930s. Since then it has become a concert favorite). Bizet's L'Arlesienne Suites were composed near the end of his all too brief life (he died at 36) and show the composer's dramatic talent in full bloom. Tickets: $35.00, $32.00 Reserved; $23.00 Lawn; $9.00 Children (0-12); Also join us for the Opening Night Champagne
Picnic catered by Jacksonville Inn: $22 (concert ticket not included) I hope to see you there!
Our next meeting is Tuesday, August 5th at Paschal Winery in Talent. Please note the start time at 6pm. This will allow people a half-hour to socialize before the meeting proper starts at 6:30. Try to get there and settle in before 6:30 so we can start on time. We will deal with business starting at 6:30 and get right to the music at 7:00pm. For directions to Paschal, go to: http://www.JeffersonGuitar.org/meetings.html For more information, call 552-9515. And remember, an easy way to contribute to the success of the JCGS is to show up at the monthly meetings. You are encouraged to invite a friend. If you do so, they might want to show up at 7pm to avoid the society business discussions. JCGS WEB SITE UPDATE: Grant has inlisted his friend, Drew Lamb to help us in finalizing a few important details on our web site. Websites which want to announce their existence to the internet world need "meta-tags". Meta-tags are simply words that search engines look for in a website to help in the search process. But they have to follow a specific protocol. Also, we need to get registered with the various search engines and Drew will help with that. Finally, we need to contact other websites and request reciprocal links.
REVIEW OF JCGS BUSINESS ACTIVITY since the last meeting: -JCGS member, Bruce Smith, Attorney at Law, has been doing some very important, behind the scenes work for us involving the establishment and maintenance of our status as a tax-exempt organization. Most recently, he completed and submitted "Registration for Corporation" forms to the Oregon Department of Justice and an "Application for Recognition of Exemption" to the Internal Revenue Service. Thank you, Bruce! We are eternally grateful. -We are still doing some shuffling to finalize the venue for the Craig Einhorn concert in September and a potential January concert by Tucson guitarist, Brad Richter. Currently, the Einhorn venue is the home of Grant Ruiz.
HERE'S THE ACTUAL AGENDA for the meeting: - Membership performances: who's playing when and where? - Einhorn and Richter concert updates. - Announcements?
UPCOMMING EVENTS: -Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and the Assads at the Britt Festival, Friday, August 1st. -Italian flute virtuoso Vieri Bottazzini and classical guitarist David Rogers will be performing a flute and guitar concert at the First Congregational Church-UCC, 717 Siskyou Blvd, Ashland on Sunday, August 17, 2003 at 3:00pm. There will be chinese food refreshments offered at the intermission. Admission is $10.00 for general admission and $5.00 for students and children. Tickets are available at the door. For more info, go to: http://www.JeffersonGuitar.org/events.html For reservations and additional information call David Rogers at 482-7948. -Healdsburg Guitar Festival: Healdsburg is in the heart of California's world famous wine country. Luthier's Mercantile, International produces this guitar festival every other year. This years activities are August 14-17. There will be players and builders offering seminars. For more detailed info check out this site: www.lmi.lmii.com JCGS member and luthier, Mike Brown will have more info at our August meeting. - Finally the website recieved the following
from cyber-space: www.classicalguitarcruise.com We're in the final phase of announcing this event to all classical guitarists, society's, university and conservatory's as we invite everyone to join us in this never before attempted classical guitar festival on a ship. Spread the news to your constituency and feel free to request the press release in word and the .jpeg flyer to email and share with your family, friends, and everyone in your email address book. We look forward to sharing in this experience with you. Warmest Regards, ============================================================================= PERFORMANCE: Every month, the JCGS meetings offer an
opportunity for folks to play for an - Original Compositions/Arrangements - Interpretive Works - Works in Progress As always, you don't have to play if you show up, but the more the merrier. See you Tuesday! Joe Back to Top Minutes for the August 5th JCGS general meeting Greetings, guitar aficionados! And yet another extroardinary meeting. I think what is most special about how these JCGS meetings have evolved is the way in which each gathering is different...unique. I thought the August 5th meeting demonstrated the range of musical expression which is possible within our membership. I especially enjoyed the original compositions and arrangements which were offered, including the world premiere of "Slow Spring Blues" for solo guitar by our very own Liz Vesecky. Speaking of membership, we recently got a note in the mail from the senior Vice President and General Council for a large corporation in Oakland, California. His message was: "I was delighted to learn of the Society and would like to become a member. Enclosed is my check for $10.00." In the words of el presidente, Grant Ruiz, "How extraordinary that he was just happy to hear about us and wanted to be a member. Very cool." Grant went on to say, " We have had a couple of generous gifts that will include company matching funds, and we're very thankful to those folks, who wish to remain anonymous. I'd like to continue encouraging people to become members if they already haven't. At least it will help at tax time!" Thanks to everyone who attended the meeting and who continue to contribute to the success of our organization by their presence.
Attendees included: Margaret Gelatt, Liz Vesecky and Hersch King, Murel Wilson, Joe Thompson, Steve Berman, Grant Ruiz, Bil Leonhart, Mike Brown, Richard Blankenship, Jerrod Simons, Bruce and Barbara Smith, Tyler Duval, Randy Mason, Ian Banks, Dan Erwin, Haila Wiliams, Francie Buckley, Jim Dietz, Rudy Dietz, Cheryl and Steven Banks, Jaxon Williams and his mom, Ronda, Maurya Murphey, Bob Barclay and his wife, Jeff Danzig and his wife, Mike Brown, Coenraad Roegens, Ed Dunsavage, Damian Mann, Alice Hardesty, and a host of new faces, including, Karen McKlintock, Joelle Mathis, Virginia Lemon, Janet Wilson, Stacy Shaffer, Joan Carroll, and Austin Braeyfield, for a total of 43 attendees, exactly the same count as last month. I hope I didn't leave anyone out. WEBSITE UPDATE: -There is a new article on the Members' Articles Page. It is a review of the Britt Festival performance by the Assad Brothers and Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg with the Britt Festival Orchestra, written by our own, Grant Ruiz. Check it out at: http://JeffersonGuitar.org/mbrartcl.html -There is a new entry on the Guests Page as well. David Rogers, classical guitarist from Eugene, has made an offering of a number of his arrangements. They can be accessed by way of a link to the "Finale Showcase" website. Go to: http://JeffersonGuitar.org/guests.html -On a related note, I'm excited about the possibility of using Adobe PDF as a means of offering free downloads of guitar music on the JCGS website. I will |
