I've been listening to some new music as I plan for the summer and also experimenting with some guitar gadgets that can make my sound more interesting.
The new music is mountain songs I'm learning for my gigs in La Veta, Cuchara, New Mexico, and beyond. I get to play for a diverse mix of folks every year, and I always like to give them a flavor of Colorado and the mountains as much as I can. I taught backpacking many years ago at Philmont Scout Ranch and spent a lot of time in the mountains, so they became very dear to me - as you might guess. I don't get up in them as much as I used to, and sometimes I yearn for them. Singing songs about the mountains can get me into them in my mind and heart, and so I like to learn new songs occasionally about the mountains. And who knows, maybe I'll get farther up into them this year.
The guitar gadgets are partial capos that you may have seen me perform with. My song "Ad #3" uses a partial capo, and if you've heard me play "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" you've heard what two partial capos making an open "C" tuning sounds like. What is a partial capo? It's a device that places a bar across some of the strings that changes the tuning of the guitar without having to retune the strings. A regular capo goes across all 6 strings, but a partial one only covers a few strings like your fingers would. A combination of these in different places can make the effect of having fingers placed on the strings in different places to form a chord. It takes a lot of brainwork to calculate how the changes effect what tones are played on each of the strings, but the sound is a different open-ringing tone that really makes for interesting and beautiful accompaniment. And that's the point - it makes the sound more interesting and very pretty or striking. I'm not sure how quickly I'll incorporate these new partial capos into my sound, but I'm enjoying the journey!
And I have news about Magpies. I had only scheduled through April at Magpies like we usually do, but I thought it might be nice to do one more into May before we break until fall since it's the only real chance I get to play for my Pueblo friends. So we'll do the first Friday in May as well - the 3rd - if you'll all come out and make it a fun night.
So where am I this week?
Friday night I'll be at Magpies 7-10 for what I hope will be a fun night of good friends, good food, and good music. Maybe I'll get a wild hair and do some theme hours of different bands and writers. How would you feel about a Beatles hour or a Dan Fogelberg hour? It could be fun!
Sunday I'm at Shadow Hills for brunch 10-1. We had a slower week last week after a packed week the week before. I have such an interesting crowd that I really enjoy. Come be a part of it if you can!
That's it for this week. Hope to see you sometime.
Tom
Details this week:
Who: Tom Munch
What: playing & singing
Where: Magpies, 229 S. Union, Pueblo. 719-542-5522
When: Friday, April 19, 7-10 pm
Who: Tom Munch
What: playing and singing for brunch
Where: Shadow Hills Golf Course, 1232 County Rd 143, Canon City. 719-275-0603
When: Sunday, April 21, 10 am-1 pm
Directions to Shadow Hills:
(There's construction on the regular route, so you need to turn a couple blocks ahead of Elm on Cyanide and follow the Detour signs to get to Elm.) Go south on 9th Street from the main light in Cañon City to the bend in the road and turn right on Elm by the cemetery. Then it's just one block on Elm before it veers/turns left and becomes Oak Creek Grade. Twist through a few turns and come over a hill and you'll see the restaurant and club house on your left across the golf course. Then turn left into the drive at the Shadow Hills and The View sign and up to the main stucco two-story building. The restaurant is up the stairs to your right or take the elevator straight ahead.
No comments:
Post a Comment