A Gibson for $299!

It's only a Melody Maker, but it is still hard to believe that Gibson would sell any product for this little.  Stripped down to one humbucker and only a volume it is a no frills guitar, but if you like simplicity this would be great!  You can't even buy a decent Epiphone for $300. Check out the Gibson Melody Maker at Musician's Friend.

It's Been a While

I haven't put anything up here in a very, very long time (I could go on with the "very's").  Anyway, I wanted to highlight a bandcamp discovery that I have been enjoying lately.

It is Aaron Strumpel and Karla Adolphe's group called The Emporiums and their album "The Singing Well."  Their down home simple songs of love are filled with beautiful aching harmonies, and simple arrangements from guitars, piano, violin, and banjo.  They also have an incredible depth to their lyrics as well.  My students enjoy it, too.  I have been playing this album quietly in my classroom while teaching for the past several weeks.  Two days ago one of my students came and asked what I had been playing because she wanted to download one of the songs ("Pushing the Beams" we later discovered) for a movie she is going to make.  It is a great compliment when a junior high aged child likes something that isn't mainstream pop.  I suppose it also says something about her taste in music.

You can hear The Emporiums by clicking on the following link: The Emporiums.  Here is a video of them live, too.  Not the best quality, but it gives you an idea.

Enjoy!

Bandcamp Site

I now have a page with Bandcamp.  I will slowly put my songs on their as they are finished.  To start they will all be instrumentals as I still am struggling with how to get crisp vocals.  This is my recording "Holy Grail."  Take a look.  The address is http://jonathanwangsgard.bandcamp.com/.  Have a great day!

Drought

Well, for while there was a lot of flow here.  Now the drought has arrived.  I started teaching again a few weeks back.  There has barely been time to even pick up a guitar, a paint brush or power tool, let alone write about them.  I am sure I will get back to doing something interesting enough to post again but for now this may be a very dull blog.

Plumeria #2

This is my second Plumeria painting.

Hawaiian Cowgirl: Acrylic Painting

We went to Maui last year with my wife's sister and her husband (not to mention a few other wonderful people).  This is a painting of my sister-in-law in her incredibly funky pink/orange cowboy hat.  It looks a lot like my sister-in-law which is nice.  Pretty girl that she is.  This is also the first time I have been satisfied with my depiction of waves.  I'll bet you can guess who is getting this painting.

Last year my wife and I were able to go to Maui.  She took pictures of nearly every flower we saw.  It has given me a great amount of material to paint.  This painting of plumeria is one of my favorites.  I took video of each step of the painting so that you can see the process.  I hope you enjoy it!