Musical Table-Talk for May 27, 2008

I. Friend Ian (a Dzyd? I don't know) has started posting his acoustic blues stylings on YouTube, under the nom de ax "Barefinger Bill"—a real treat:



II. It was a conversation with Ian at a party (early '07?) that eventually led me to start experimenting with GarageBand and creating the Psychic Envelopes; my guitar-playing is pat-ball to Ian's great game (as VN said of his English vs. Joyce's), but it's been a lot of fun for me to finally get these songs recorded. (Most of the PE originals date from the mid/late ’90s!)

Mysteriously, and a little distressingly, the second Psychic Envelopes Muxtape appears to have deleted itself...has this happened to any muxtapers before? (The first one is still up.)

III. Ian curates (cocurates?) an occasional musical program called the Good Coffeehouse at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, and this Friday's show features two interesting-sounding performers:

Tokio Uchida is Japan's best-known acoustic blues guitarist. He has released five solo blues and fingerstyle CDs, and last summer he and Stefan Grossman released their first duet CD, Bermuda Triangle Exit. Bob Brozman says of Uchida:"His playing is soulful and, most importantly, very original and adventurous." Stefan Grossman has had perhaps a greater influence than anyone over the past four decades in popularizing country blues guitar playing. A onetime student of legendary bluesmen such as Reverend Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James and Son House, Grossman has been a performer, producer, teacher and record label founder. He is a master of most blues and ragtime guitar styles and runs Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop, which has educated thousands of budding guitar players over the years through video and DVD lessons.