John McEuen Upcoming Events

Thursday, May 1
8:00 P.M.
JOHN McEUEN
with Matt Cartsonis and Nathan McEuen

The Coffee Gallery
Altadena, CA
2029 Lake Ave.
Altadena, CA
Reservations suggested: 626 398 7917
http://www.coffeegallery.com/

San Diego on May 10!
Acoustic Music Series
info at:
http://www.acousticmusicsandiego.com/May.html

Down the mountain

Hi all,
Bob and Helen are leaving our mountain home for a week. (oh no!) Going to pick up Ed and Bette near Palm Springs, LaQuinta to be exact, and going to Green Valley, AZ to see our old friend Dory, formally Tex and Dory who used to sing and Tex, a mean guitar. Ted passed to the otherside about 10 years ago, Dory in the mean time , is now married to Ted. Hank and Connie Fisher also are going with us. After AZ, we are then going to the OC to visit Bob's sister Pam and Henry, Sister LaVonne and Brother Don and families. On Thursday, going to meet all you So. California Paradoxers at the Huntington Beach Library park for a pot luck and some pickin' Next day, Sat. going to the Folk Festival in Claremont. I'll give you all an update when we get back. Not to worry, Tara is watching Daisy (hound dog) Kitties take care of themselfs.
expect to recieve comments!
Mission: Save the Blog!

ANOTHER PHOTO FROM THE PAST:

Here 'tis...

...said pic of Steve and me. I had visited him in NYC while he was in VISTA training, in late October 1966, just before I went into the service (I trust you'll remember all this, SN). We'd ride the EE into the Village and play hoots in those incredible coffeehouses. Seems to me we actually "landed" a third-billing at Gerde's Folk City, in front of someone else who played before Biff Rose. Those were some great times, for double-damn sure. To my knowledge, if any were even taken, no pictures of those heady days survived.

I think we figured out this picture was taken in 1968... He was living in NYC, doing his time with VISTA, and I was stationed in North Carolina, doing mine with the Marine Corps. I had driven up to the city one weekend, and we played 'til our fingers bled. I've always loved the expression on his face in this shot... totally engrossed in his music, almost painfully so... picking hand cocked just so... Classic Noonan. For my part, well... I look like a total dweeb... a single finger on the fingerboard, ridiculous military-legal mustache, and, yes, that's my tongue protruding a little. Regardless of appearances, rest assured I was absolutely in the groove with him... which we both felt was effortlessly repeated many times during the reunion.

Jose and John

Jose already had a hit record and we just couldn't afford him, but he loved to come to our Thursday night hoots because he grooved jamming with John McEuin. He's the only guitar player I ever knew that could keep up with John's Blue Grass speed.
Bob Sheffer

Rumor has it....

... that Steve Noonan is headed in this direction.

So in honor of our emcee joining us soon, I thought a new photo was in order.

I couldn't find a copy of that great photo of Steve and Tony Duque playing guitars, but did find this one of Steve and Jackson, maybe from their high school days?

Jose Feliciano

Thanks for all those great Paradox Thursday night Hoots, and after hours jam sessions. We'll treasure them always.

Rock on, Jose!

Be sure to take a visit to Jose's web site; http://www.josefeliciano.com/

Rest In Peace Old Friend

Disco Bob and Helen (with thanks to Pam Smith)

This site gets more and more fun.....

http://snipurl.com/23n1c [llnw_jibjab_com]

Fretkillr

Since this site is all about keeping great acoustic music in our hearts and our minds, I thought I would share a discovery I made on You tube. He posts under the name Fretkillr and he is indeed. If you search all his videos, you'll find some great arrangements of songs penned by our Paradox regulars. Check out Darcy Farrow II, Bojangles, Song For Adam, And just for fun Uncle Pen. Nobody seems to know who he is , but I suspect he may have ties to David Bromberg. 5 Stars and definitely worth a visit. Let me know what you think...
Peace... Gary
http://www.youtube.com/user/Fretkillr

Steve Irons His Kitty

We all remember the zany antics of Steve Martin, but who would have thought it would take the rest of the world so long to catch on to his unique brand of comedy?

In the early NGDB days, I used to set up Steve's props on stage. One night at the Golden Bear, I replaced his bouncing baby rabbit with a ball of Golden Bear's famous pizza dough. Steve was doing his magic tricks and reached into the magic box for his rabbit and pulled out this stringy mass of pizza dough. We all had a great laugh! Steve finished the show, and the Dirt Band went on stage. When it was time to play fiddle, Johnny rosin'd up the bow and launched into "Diggy Liggy Lo." No sound came out of the fiddle. Steve had retaliated by attaching scotch tape to the hairs on John's fiddle bow. Like Steve's album title said, "Comedy Is Not Pretty!"

Spirit In The Sky

Who is this mystery baby? If you get a chance spend some time at http://www.spiritinthesky.com/

Be sure to visit the game page. Thanks, Diane, this is gonna be fun.

Welcome Tony, Gary and Susan!

Glad you made it. Look forward to hearing from you.

Tony, we need one of those sunrises!

The Eggplant that Ate Chicago

Wish I still had my old Dr. West album so I could scan it here -- Norman and the other painted people on that cover were as I remember them at the Paradox -- really psychedelic.

This photo pales in comparison, alas.

What a great group that was! And remember the light show that had the three colored gels that just circled in front of the lights? Euphoria.

This is going to be fun! I anticipate that this blogspot will become the stuff of legend! ...a place where Paradoxical synergism emerges ongoing!

Kunkel & Harris

Kunkel & Harris

Hey Paradoxers…


Thank you again Diane for all that you do to keep the magic of our Paradox roots showing! ;-)

Great site! As many of you know, the new KUNKEL & HARRIS CD is out. We hope you all get a copy and tell your friends.

Rob and I are in the process of booking ourselves now to leverage the CD. Anyone know of any good venues? We are open to play on any good showcase stage. Your thoughts?

You can get in touch with us at http://www.kunkelandharris.com where you can sample and purchase the CD online.

Thanks for your support.

Can't wait for the next Paradox reunion/showcase/record/video! ;-)

All the best,

Bruce Kunkel

Blogging and Sharing Information....

Another great feature of this site is that we can share other sites with one another.

For example, have you seen John McEuen's website? I love the way the menu runs down the neck of what I assume must be a 5-string banjo?


You can keep track of his talented family there, too.

Take a look: http://www.johnmceuen.com/

Paradox Blogging

Some have asked for instructions on how to interact with this site.

Websites are static places where you can simply view information. Blogs are interactive -- where we can stay in touch with old friends, interact with one another, and rebuild our old community. So get involved and keep checking back as we find more former Paradoxers to join in here.

Since there were no blogs in the days of the Paradox, here's a quick overview of how to contribute and keep this site going for all of us:

Each post (which are now mostly photos) is followed by a "comment" section. If you click on that comment, you can read the comments others have left, and/or add a comment of your own.

For example, check out that early photo of the Dirt Band with Jackson in it and then read the comment from Merel of the old Sunshine Company. Or check out Helen's comment about Steve Gillette's house concert she attended (under Steve's photo).

If you've received an invitation to register at the site, you can also initiate a new thread -- use the new post at the top of the right side of the page. Let everyone know if you are playing somewhere this summer, if you have a new cd, or whatever. This is a public site, so it will (in theory) be shared with others interested in the Paradox or those wanting to know what former Paradoxers are up to these days.

And if you know the whereabouts of any other former Paradoxers, be sure to have them check in here. Another get together is in the works.