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| Modern Guitars Magazine - News Archive Updated : CD Review: "Heavy Days" by Mambo Sons Heavy Days, the newest CD from Mambo Sons, is a two-disc collection of songs steeped in the classic blues-rock tradition, but with the Sons’ own flair. They wield a veritable Mambo stew of influences, including early '70s Stones, Mott the Hoople, Free, Cream and countless others. Heavy Days features the kind of music that used to get a lot of airplay and harkens back to the days of the classic double-LP a la Exile on Main Street. The bottom line: This is a collection of great songs that deserves to be heard. Mambo Sons are Tom Guerra on guitars and vocals, Scott Lawson on bass and vocals, and Joe “The Cat” Lemieux on drums and vocals, with very special guest Matt Zeiner providing Hammond, piano, clavinet, and Wurlitzer on several tracks. More » John Wunsch and the Interlochen Guitar Festival and Workshop The name Interlochen has long been synonymous with excellence in the arts and arts education, and the annual Interlochen Guitar Festival and Workshop is no exception. The Workshop is held every summer in August, this year from the 20th to the 22nd, on the storied campus of the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Widely known for having one of the world's top high school fine arts programs for younger artists, recently Interlochen has begun offering classes and workshops geared towards adult students through its new College of Creative Arts. When this initiative was presented by current president Jeffrey Kimpton, Academy guitar instructor John Wunsch jumped at the chance to start a weekend-long guitar festival and workshop that would be geared towards the adult student population, as well as to a variety of musical styles. Participants at the Festival and Workshop have the chance to experience the exceptional tradition of excellence that has gained Interlochen its world wide recognition, something that had previously been reserved for high school, and younger, students. More » Steve Vai on Composition and "Where The Wild Things Are" September 29, 2009, brings the release of Where The Wild Things Are, live concert material recorded before a sold-out audience at the State Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2007 during Steve Vai's Sound Theories World Tour. The performance footage will be released on DVD and Blu-ray with a music-only CD also available. The 2007 Sound Theories World Tour featured a band Vai called String Theories, comprised of Steve Vai with Bryan Beller (bass), Alex DePue (violin, keyboards), Ann Marie Calhoun (violin, keyboards), Jeremy Colson (drums and percussion), Dave Weiner (guitar and sitar), and Zack Wiesinger (a brief appearance during the show on lap steel and the tour's solo opening act with Zack on electric guitar). Though the tour launched in conjunction with the release of the double-CD Sound Theories I & II, it was a standalone animal featuring a set list of both well known and not so often performed pieces from the Vai catalog, which might account for the upcoming DVD's name, Where The Wild Things Are, that drops the Sound Theories main title connection. On August 7, 2009, I spoke to Steve Vai, technically about the upcoming release of Where The Wild Things Are, but having been an avid listener to Sound Theories I & II and viewer of Visual Sound Theories for the last two years, my main interest was how these three works serve as an argument for the Vai-ability of his catalog as composition. More » Dr. Brad DeRoche Talks about the Interlochen Arts Camp Dr. Brad DeRoche is one of the hardest working guitarists you will ever meet. He is regarded as a world-class classical guitarist who maintains a busy performance schedule of concerts and clinics every year. DeRoche is also one of the most sought after classical guitar educators in the Midwest and he holds teaching positions at Delta College, Central Michigan University and the Interlochen Arts Camp. On top of all of these commitments, DeRoche is the co-owner of the highly successful company, Strings by Mail. Currently teaching in his second season at the Interlochen Arts Camp, DeRoche took time from working with his students to talk to us about the Interlochen experience and the many projects in which he is currently involved. More » Saiichi Sugiyama Talks about the Gibson SG in "The SG Sound" Four instruments sit at the head table in the pantheon of solidbody electric guitars that defined and continue to define the sound of rock 'n' roll and related genres: the Fender Stratocaster; the Fender Telecaster; the Gibson Les Paul; and the Gibson SG. Saiichi Sugiyama, in his Modern Guitars column, Vintage, chronicles his relationship with the Gibson SG: "The SG Sound." Says Sugiyama: "Someone told me that Carlos Santana played "Samba Pa Ti" on his early '60s SG Special. The harmonics on my SG sounded, to my ears, not dissimilar despite the obvious P-90 colouring of that tone. Eric Clapton said, when we were doing the research for the Christie's 2004 catalogue, that the March 1968 "Crossroads" on Wheels of Fire was played on his cherry-red 335 - but, to be honest, I am not convinced. To my ears, it sounds like a mahogany guitar – his Firebird or more likely the painted SG known as The Fool." Increased Web Site Traffic |