In anticipation of the upcoming Julien’s auction of significant gear and personal items of the late legendary Les Paul, we got with Dave Belzer and Drew Berlin to get the inside scoop on what to expect and if the bids are expected to be astronomical or within reach of those of us with thinner wallets.
Someone has to represent the new guard of young blues guitarists, and since 1995, Kenny Wayne Shepherd has been carrying the flag with a reckless abandon. All five of his studio albums have topped the Billboard Blues chart, the most recent being 2011’s How I Go, which was the first to feature Kenny himself on vocals along with his usual vocalist Noah Hunt.
Here’s a fond look back with Terry Lickona, producer of “Austin City Limits,” in an interview right after the first ACL Festival came to a close
Saturday, September 28, 2002 and Sunday, September 29, 2002 marked a historic milestone event and a dream come true for PBS’s televised live music showcase, “Austin City Limits,” with the inception and staging of the inaugural Austin City Limits Music Festival. The first ACL Music Festival was a major success and watershed music event. Since the Festival’s first kickoff year in 2002, it has progressed from its beginnings into a landmark annual event. It is recognized and acclaimed by music artists, music fans, and music industry mavens as one of the most anticipated, significant, and influential yearly music festivals.
With 20 years of experience under his belt, Bill Gaal has been a musician, touring the world, packing houses and pleasing a legion of fans in the early ’00s metal band Nothingface. Not only did he play bass, but he sat behind the boards, serving as a producer, engineer and mixer, having co-written and co-produced all of Nothingface’s five releases.
In May of 2000, I was deeply honored to interview in great detail and depth the venerable and esteemed producer, Terry Lickona of the prestigious, internationally televised, PBS, live music showcase “Austin City Limits”. ACL was celebrating its 25th Anniversary at the time, so we discussed the show’s fascinating and insightful musical history, which includes hosting and showcasing some of music’s most legendary guitar players and music artists. The show does that even more so to this day, highlighting and branching out to a wide international and far-reaching array of music artists and music styles.
What we perceive as a good show is the product of many people working onstage and many working offstage as well. Lousy tone or a messy stage can ruin an otherwise good performance. John Sinks may not be a well-known name, as he spends most of his time working out of sight, but he has helped the likes of Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Dweezil Zappa and The California Guitar Trio bring their craft to the audience. He has a long experience “in the field” (“in the trenches”…) as Stage Manager, Road Manager, Live Recording Engineer, Guitar Tech, Studio Engineer, Technical And Strategic Liaison: all of this means solving problems and making the show run smoothly.
Paul Reed Smith hardly needs an introduction. He is the man behind one of the most successful guitar companies of all time, with an artist roster that already includes the likes of Carlos Santana, Orianthi, Howard Reese and Tim Mahoney, and that seems to be growing by the week. Millions of players around the world have come to know and love PRS guitars, and over the decades the company has developed an army of devoted dealers, distributors, fans and players.
You’re on stage or in the studio and you throttle your whammy bar, only to get back into your groove with a guitar that’s so far out of tune you wanna crawl from the wreckage. Or you’re in the audience and you’re getting fed up while the guitarists are fumbling around tuning up their guitars. It looks like a California firm, Evertune, has come up with a win-win solution to the age old vexing problem of guitars getting pummeled out of tune at the most critical times.
Guitar International recently sat down with Guitar Masterclass owner Kristofer Dahl to talk about his site, the lessons they offer and where he takes things from here.
