Post by Supertramp78 on Mar 13, 2007 18:12:02 GMT -5
Another blast from the past....
Hooked on sonics: Acoustic guitarists meet online, gather in person
By Bill Hammond
Star Tribune Staff Writer
They popped in for the weekend from Louisiana, Texas, Illinois and Minnesota, a garrulous group of guys who considered each other good buddies but, in most cases, had never met. What would bring together 15 amateur guitar players, mostly middle-aged men, amid the humble shag-carpeted surroundings of a basement rec room?
Free bratwurst and beer, for one thing. For another: Beautiful acoustic guitars to be passed around - trusty old Gibsons, Martins and Guilds; more exotic models from Goodall, Ryan and Collings, boutique masterpieces from makers such as Cloutier and Kinscherff.
But the top draw was a shared love of acoustic music, plus a strong bond of friendship built over months and years in an online chatroom for guitar freaks.
It began years ago when Acoustic Guitar magazine launched an Internet site. On it, the California-based staff answered technical questions and invited readers to share their opinions and knowledge on any number of guitarish subjects. They do so to this day, at www.acousticguitar.com.
But every once in a while, amid heady discussions of the relative merits of sitka and Adirondack spruce for guitar tops, someone would start a ``thread'' (a message inviting replies from others) on a topic that had nothing to do with guitars, or even music. Politics, for instance.
This became distracting for many, so in 2001 the magazine created a forum for off-topic discussions. They called it ``Talk, Talk, Talk.''
TTT regulars of all ages and from all over the world would tell jokes, discuss their jobs, families, health concerns, issues of the day, their highs, their lows. They got to know one another. Before long, they began noticing that other correspondents lived in their part of the country. Gatherings were proposed and arranged -modest affairs at someone's house where food was put out, armless chairs were arranged in a circle and each person would do a tune in rotation, with or without accompaniment from the others.
Full accounts of these song-circle ``jams'' would be posted afterward on TTT, often with digital photos and, sometimes, downloadable recordings. Soon, jams began popping up in the Pacific Northwest, Missouri, New York City and throughout the South.
TTT lasted until early this year when the magazine dissolved it.
Those who had seen too many threads descend into heated arguments and downright nastiness breathed a sigh of relief. But fans of the lively, topical forum mourned its impending demise.
Online names rival the best
Enter a computer whiz named Paul Kucharski of Waukesha, Wis., who volunteered to design and set up a new TTT as an independent board. Donations were quickly received from former TTT regulars to launch the new site and keep it ad-free; it went online in February of this year. It has a cumbersome address, pub186.ezboard.com/bacous...ktalktalk, but once you get there you find a friendly, fast-paced place.
It's populated by folks with online names that rival the best from CB radio's heyday: MajorMinor, Village Idiot, Godotwaits, Stormntwang, Okiepicker, MartinFever, HarmonEyes, TenThumbsnDeaf. They live throughout the United States, in Canada, the Far East, Near East and Europe, and range in age from teens to the 60s and beyond.
Several times a year, many gather to sing, play their beloved wooden instruments and attach faces to all those online names and personalities.
Bill (Chilibill) Gault of Tupelo, Miss., hosted his first such gathering this past weekend. He marvels at how idle online chitchat could evolve to a continuing series of informal gatherings nationwide. ``It gives our online community a mobile, almost nomadic character,'' he said. ``All this for the simple pleasure of joining
friends who share their enthusiasm for acoustic guitar.''
Part of the appeal, Gault added, is that there seem to be no restrictions for participants in terms of skill levels or musical styles. ``Everyone is encouraged to play,'' he said. ``After 38 years of playing guitar infrequently and being influenced by blues, gospel, folk, country, jazz and a variety other genres, I have to say that I haven't encountered a group quite like this one anywhere.''
In the past two years I've attended TTT-affiliated gatherings in New York, Georgia, Wisconsin and Texas. I've also hosted five of them, the most recent being June 6-7. They have been enormous fun, and the music heard (and in some cases recorded) has been wonderful, especially considering that almost all of us are amateur musicians with day jobs.
A disease called `GAS'
Of course, amateur status doesn't stop us from lusting after and occasionally buying some of the finer guitars available. It's a disease we know as Guitar Acquisition Syndrome (GAS).
Among the TTT crowd, GAS typically starts after someone has owned a common brand like Gibson or Martin or Taylor for a while, then learns about more exotic instruments: Santa Cruz, Collings, Goodall, Ryan, Kinscherff. Some builders produce fewer than 20 guitars a year. Prices can easily top $5,000.
TTT regular Cheney (SuperTramp78 ) Coker of Dallas, Texas, described what happens when the online forum, gatherings and GAS come together:
``Put a group of guitar addicts in a room full of great guitars and people don't talk about politics or religion, unless you count rosewood and spruce as a religion. . . . You may not know what they do for a living, if they are married or have kids. But what you will know is the type of guitars they own, the type they want next, the music they play and their general playing ability.''
Coker, who attended the June jam in Roseville, witnessed more GAS in action when about a dozen jam participants made pilgramages to the Podium guitar store and luthier Charles Hoffman's shop, both in Minneapolis. One jammer, Steve Orr of Lake Charles, La., even went home with a brand new Goodall, made of Hawaiian koa.
Acoustic guitarists, Coker said, ``are always on the lookout for their next guitar, like drug addicts, except what gets them going is tone, dynamics, clarity, volume, overtones, the vagaries of sound.''
The TTT forum feeds the addiction, and that can make home life stressful if spouses of acoustic guitarists don't understand the need for yet another guitar. But the online home can be enjoyed without giving in to GAS.
David (Docsthebest) Montague of Barling, Ark., put it this way: ``I found TTT just a couple or three weeks ago, during a period when one of life's little bumps in the road was keeping me from working, and I had a lot of time to kill, so something very good actually did come from it.
``It's really hard . . . to describe the appeal of the place. It seems to go so much deeper than just the love of the acoustic guitar. It's like the love of the love of it, or something. It's like there's this huge magnet in this place, and if you allow yourself to get close enough to feel the tug, well, it's too late then, man, you're hooked.''
Katherine (Sekhmet) Mann of Owen Sound, Ontario, marvels at the depth of the TTT community, and visits it daily: ``Despite our differences in age, and geography, our political views and even our various abilities with our beloved instruments - we are a cohesive and sensible group.
``The real emotional contact between strangers that can occur because of the Internet is still a wonder to me. This phenomenon is completely revolutionary. It is as powerful as the invention of movable type, and the printing press. . . . We can have an international hug anytime we care to.''
Bill Hammond is at
bhammond@startribune.com
Hooked on sonics: Acoustic guitarists meet online, gather in person
By Bill Hammond
Star Tribune Staff Writer
They popped in for the weekend from Louisiana, Texas, Illinois and Minnesota, a garrulous group of guys who considered each other good buddies but, in most cases, had never met. What would bring together 15 amateur guitar players, mostly middle-aged men, amid the humble shag-carpeted surroundings of a basement rec room?
Free bratwurst and beer, for one thing. For another: Beautiful acoustic guitars to be passed around - trusty old Gibsons, Martins and Guilds; more exotic models from Goodall, Ryan and Collings, boutique masterpieces from makers such as Cloutier and Kinscherff.
But the top draw was a shared love of acoustic music, plus a strong bond of friendship built over months and years in an online chatroom for guitar freaks.
It began years ago when Acoustic Guitar magazine launched an Internet site. On it, the California-based staff answered technical questions and invited readers to share their opinions and knowledge on any number of guitarish subjects. They do so to this day, at www.acousticguitar.com.
But every once in a while, amid heady discussions of the relative merits of sitka and Adirondack spruce for guitar tops, someone would start a ``thread'' (a message inviting replies from others) on a topic that had nothing to do with guitars, or even music. Politics, for instance.
This became distracting for many, so in 2001 the magazine created a forum for off-topic discussions. They called it ``Talk, Talk, Talk.''
TTT regulars of all ages and from all over the world would tell jokes, discuss their jobs, families, health concerns, issues of the day, their highs, their lows. They got to know one another. Before long, they began noticing that other correspondents lived in their part of the country. Gatherings were proposed and arranged -modest affairs at someone's house where food was put out, armless chairs were arranged in a circle and each person would do a tune in rotation, with or without accompaniment from the others.
Full accounts of these song-circle ``jams'' would be posted afterward on TTT, often with digital photos and, sometimes, downloadable recordings. Soon, jams began popping up in the Pacific Northwest, Missouri, New York City and throughout the South.
TTT lasted until early this year when the magazine dissolved it.
Those who had seen too many threads descend into heated arguments and downright nastiness breathed a sigh of relief. But fans of the lively, topical forum mourned its impending demise.
Online names rival the best
Enter a computer whiz named Paul Kucharski of Waukesha, Wis., who volunteered to design and set up a new TTT as an independent board. Donations were quickly received from former TTT regulars to launch the new site and keep it ad-free; it went online in February of this year. It has a cumbersome address, pub186.ezboard.com/bacous...ktalktalk, but once you get there you find a friendly, fast-paced place.
It's populated by folks with online names that rival the best from CB radio's heyday: MajorMinor, Village Idiot, Godotwaits, Stormntwang, Okiepicker, MartinFever, HarmonEyes, TenThumbsnDeaf. They live throughout the United States, in Canada, the Far East, Near East and Europe, and range in age from teens to the 60s and beyond.
Several times a year, many gather to sing, play their beloved wooden instruments and attach faces to all those online names and personalities.
Bill (Chilibill) Gault of Tupelo, Miss., hosted his first such gathering this past weekend. He marvels at how idle online chitchat could evolve to a continuing series of informal gatherings nationwide. ``It gives our online community a mobile, almost nomadic character,'' he said. ``All this for the simple pleasure of joining
friends who share their enthusiasm for acoustic guitar.''
Part of the appeal, Gault added, is that there seem to be no restrictions for participants in terms of skill levels or musical styles. ``Everyone is encouraged to play,'' he said. ``After 38 years of playing guitar infrequently and being influenced by blues, gospel, folk, country, jazz and a variety other genres, I have to say that I haven't encountered a group quite like this one anywhere.''
In the past two years I've attended TTT-affiliated gatherings in New York, Georgia, Wisconsin and Texas. I've also hosted five of them, the most recent being June 6-7. They have been enormous fun, and the music heard (and in some cases recorded) has been wonderful, especially considering that almost all of us are amateur musicians with day jobs.
A disease called `GAS'
Of course, amateur status doesn't stop us from lusting after and occasionally buying some of the finer guitars available. It's a disease we know as Guitar Acquisition Syndrome (GAS).
Among the TTT crowd, GAS typically starts after someone has owned a common brand like Gibson or Martin or Taylor for a while, then learns about more exotic instruments: Santa Cruz, Collings, Goodall, Ryan, Kinscherff. Some builders produce fewer than 20 guitars a year. Prices can easily top $5,000.
TTT regular Cheney (SuperTramp78 ) Coker of Dallas, Texas, described what happens when the online forum, gatherings and GAS come together:
``Put a group of guitar addicts in a room full of great guitars and people don't talk about politics or religion, unless you count rosewood and spruce as a religion. . . . You may not know what they do for a living, if they are married or have kids. But what you will know is the type of guitars they own, the type they want next, the music they play and their general playing ability.''
Coker, who attended the June jam in Roseville, witnessed more GAS in action when about a dozen jam participants made pilgramages to the Podium guitar store and luthier Charles Hoffman's shop, both in Minneapolis. One jammer, Steve Orr of Lake Charles, La., even went home with a brand new Goodall, made of Hawaiian koa.
Acoustic guitarists, Coker said, ``are always on the lookout for their next guitar, like drug addicts, except what gets them going is tone, dynamics, clarity, volume, overtones, the vagaries of sound.''
The TTT forum feeds the addiction, and that can make home life stressful if spouses of acoustic guitarists don't understand the need for yet another guitar. But the online home can be enjoyed without giving in to GAS.
David (Docsthebest) Montague of Barling, Ark., put it this way: ``I found TTT just a couple or three weeks ago, during a period when one of life's little bumps in the road was keeping me from working, and I had a lot of time to kill, so something very good actually did come from it.
``It's really hard . . . to describe the appeal of the place. It seems to go so much deeper than just the love of the acoustic guitar. It's like the love of the love of it, or something. It's like there's this huge magnet in this place, and if you allow yourself to get close enough to feel the tug, well, it's too late then, man, you're hooked.''
Katherine (Sekhmet) Mann of Owen Sound, Ontario, marvels at the depth of the TTT community, and visits it daily: ``Despite our differences in age, and geography, our political views and even our various abilities with our beloved instruments - we are a cohesive and sensible group.
``The real emotional contact between strangers that can occur because of the Internet is still a wonder to me. This phenomenon is completely revolutionary. It is as powerful as the invention of movable type, and the printing press. . . . We can have an international hug anytime we care to.''
Bill Hammond is at
bhammond@startribune.com