Per the memo below in October, 2019 I worked another faith based concert, King & Country from Austrailia, now home in Nashville, TN. They provide an excellent music concert, but, more importantly, they spend time explaining the important mission of engaging the audiance to participate in support of those in under priviliged parts of the world through faith based programs.

Several years ago in response to a Toby Mac concert I worked as a production runner in Reno, Ellen and I joined the sponsorship of this young man in Kenya, Africa. He hand writes to Ellen about his activities via a communication program with Food For The Hungry . . . "when I grow up I would like to be a doctor to help our family and community". Ellen and I see this as "a help up", not and handout.

Lenny Breau Remembered

By Jim Ferguson
(Guitar Player Magazine November 1984)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFdETRF87o0

Lenny Breau was the most innovative guitarist since Wes Montgomery," is how jazz artist Phil Upchurch describes the legendary fingerstylist. Lenny's friend and mentor Chet Atkins profiled him as "the greatest guitar player in the world today." And tributes by Joe Pass, Tal Farlow, and Johnny Smith have been equally strong. Regardless of style, few musicians have been universally held in such high esteem by their peers.

Best known for his stunning, crystalline octave harmonic arpeggios, Lenny Breau possessed one of the most comprehensive musical vocabularies in the history of the instrument. Although he will no doubt be most remembered for his talents as a solo artist, he was an expert ensemble player who felt equally comfortable with bebop, fusion, rock, and funk. In a solo improvisational context, he could transform a familiar jazz standard into an extended tonal painting, complete with changes in meter and mood, rich harmonies, and introspective sections offset by formidable technical displays. A student of jazz, classical, and country styles, as well as more exotic forms such as flamenco and East Indian music, he had a vast array of sounds and textures at his disposal.

One of the cornerstones of the Breau style was his uncanny ability to play chords with his right-hand thumb and first two fingers, while superimposing single-note lines with the third finger and pinky. Early. explorations of Chet Atkins' right-hand approach led him to master the coordination of two distinct parts and develop the skill to emphasize a voice at will. He occasionally added a bass line to this concept, resulting in a mind-boggling three-voice tapestry that made an indelible impression on all who heard it.

The son of country music performers Hal "Lone Pine" Breau and Betty Cody, Lenny was born in Auburn, Maine, on August 5, 1941. According to his uncle Gene, he was "clapping hands in time onstage to his parents' band as early as three." By the time he was eight, the inevitable influence of country music had taken hold, and Lenny began playing guitar. Four years later, the lad was performing with his folks on country circuits, occasionally billed as "Lone Pine, Jr. "In an unpublished interview from 1981, he recalled: "My folks were country music performers. They made records and even did a few tours with the Grand Ole Opry.

I have been digging into some historic projects this year, 2019. I sent my 1963 classic Ludwig Pink Champaign bass drum back East for rebuilding. I contacted the Ludwig Drum Company directly, and they recommended the Jack Lawton Drum Company http://www.lawtondrum.com/.

I could tell talking with this guy he was a craftsman. I have to laugh, in 1963 I bought the kit in Lewiston, Maine, at Carrol Poulin's Music Store for $380.00. The rebuild for the bass drum was $600.00 All worth it! It is now a collector kit!