For me, the whole purpose of an electric guitar is grandstanding, but Bo and Lefty don't agree with this at all. Both have excellent guitar skills but they only use what is specifically necessary for any given piece. My approach is to turn all the knobs to ten (NOT eleven) and activate all the devices. Bo and Lefty play with rather more subtlety than that.
Untolerable Bohemian has been getting more and more electric, more and more into his grooves, and his got completely kick-ass in his set during the last month or so. In a growing part of his set, Bo starts improvising and it's very thoughtful, deliberate play. He is not one to shred but what Bo is doing is harder. For shredding, you learn where all the notes are on the fingerboard and, well, play them, usually in music scale order. It sounds impressive but as to musical genius, well, not really. Conversely, Bo is inventing his lead while he plays and he was singularly inventive last night.
There are times when I get a bit of a Hendrix feel from him as it had that flavor of experimentation. He knows better than to cover "Little Wing" and, ideally, every guitarist would leave it alone as I have yet to hear a version that did not insult Hendrix. What you can do instead is play in that style. You know the key, just go there and make up something. That's what Bo does.
I'm happy to report people are starting to get it with Bo as more people are coming to his show and I was watching their reaction to his grooves last night ... very, very good. In my view, Bo has vastly more talent in his groove making than he does for cover songs although what we haven't heard too much is if he brings his vocals into the grooves. It's really excellent to see his growth and even more so to see that people are diggin' it.
lefty Unplugged is another Master of Understatement as he has excellent skills. He's not one to grandstand but every so often he will do a little lead run that is most impressive. I don't know if this is to say, well, sure I can do it ... I just don't. I don't believe he does it that way, th. lefty must spend a huge amount of time crafting his songs as he doesn't just throw in a few chord changes and call it a verse, he polishes and refines every aspect of the song. If there's a lead run in it then it's because lefty decided it had to be that way.
I'm pleased to report that "Love Gone Runnin' Home" is now at or near being a keeper. Judging by the audience reaction last night, it will definitely be a keeper. It's lefty's newest song and he debuted it last week to a similar positive reaction. Describing a song doesn't work out so well in text but it's kind of a blues groove and it's a great addition. Something that may describe it better is showing you a few lines:
My dog done left me
for the poodle down the street
His lyrics have tremendous color as sometimes they go to whimsy as you see and sometimes the words are as black as Pat Robertson's heart. Take one element at a time and maybe you think the song will just end up another country song about pick-up trucks and lost girlfriends but what he does is much more clever than that as each element may be highly banal or mundane but collectively they paint a portrait. The overall portrait to me is fascinating as everything about his show says England to me but he doesn't say a word about that. I mean this in the most complimentary way as I have very high regard for his poetry but I can't quite grab why it says England to me. For me it's as English as hedgerows, Stonehenge and meat pies although he never mentions any of them.
Last night Cat's Art MusikCircus featured some unique and wonderful performers, neither of whom grandstand at all ... but neither of them need to grandstand either.
Untolerable Bohemian has been getting more and more electric, more and more into his grooves, and his got completely kick-ass in his set during the last month or so. In a growing part of his set, Bo starts improvising and it's very thoughtful, deliberate play. He is not one to shred but what Bo is doing is harder. For shredding, you learn where all the notes are on the fingerboard and, well, play them, usually in music scale order. It sounds impressive but as to musical genius, well, not really. Conversely, Bo is inventing his lead while he plays and he was singularly inventive last night.
There are times when I get a bit of a Hendrix feel from him as it had that flavor of experimentation. He knows better than to cover "Little Wing" and, ideally, every guitarist would leave it alone as I have yet to hear a version that did not insult Hendrix. What you can do instead is play in that style. You know the key, just go there and make up something. That's what Bo does.
I'm happy to report people are starting to get it with Bo as more people are coming to his show and I was watching their reaction to his grooves last night ... very, very good. In my view, Bo has vastly more talent in his groove making than he does for cover songs although what we haven't heard too much is if he brings his vocals into the grooves. It's really excellent to see his growth and even more so to see that people are diggin' it.
lefty Unplugged is another Master of Understatement as he has excellent skills. He's not one to grandstand but every so often he will do a little lead run that is most impressive. I don't know if this is to say, well, sure I can do it ... I just don't. I don't believe he does it that way, th. lefty must spend a huge amount of time crafting his songs as he doesn't just throw in a few chord changes and call it a verse, he polishes and refines every aspect of the song. If there's a lead run in it then it's because lefty decided it had to be that way.
I'm pleased to report that "Love Gone Runnin' Home" is now at or near being a keeper. Judging by the audience reaction last night, it will definitely be a keeper. It's lefty's newest song and he debuted it last week to a similar positive reaction. Describing a song doesn't work out so well in text but it's kind of a blues groove and it's a great addition. Something that may describe it better is showing you a few lines:
My dog done left me
for the poodle down the street
His lyrics have tremendous color as sometimes they go to whimsy as you see and sometimes the words are as black as Pat Robertson's heart. Take one element at a time and maybe you think the song will just end up another country song about pick-up trucks and lost girlfriends but what he does is much more clever than that as each element may be highly banal or mundane but collectively they paint a portrait. The overall portrait to me is fascinating as everything about his show says England to me but he doesn't say a word about that. I mean this in the most complimentary way as I have very high regard for his poetry but I can't quite grab why it says England to me. For me it's as English as hedgerows, Stonehenge and meat pies although he never mentions any of them.
Last night Cat's Art MusikCircus featured some unique and wonderful performers, neither of whom grandstand at all ... but neither of them need to grandstand either.
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