Fergie's In The House

If you're a fan of Michael Lipton's guitar playing style, then this post is for you...
Steve Ferguson formerly of NRBQ, and also The Midwest Creole Ensemble fame is back here with us in Charleston, and it seems this time he may make a go of staying with us in this area.
Anyway, Steve came to the Empty Glass last night to play with us, and although there were a scant amount of people there, he still managed to dazzle me.
It's an interesting process watching teacher and student ( as in Steve and Michael Lipton) as one tears the very heart out of a solo, and the other goes about deciphering how that heart was torn out.
Michael I must say, is good student in that he picks up where Steve leaves off. It really makes for some exciting music, because it's almost like when 2 people finish each others' sentences. Now that may sound a bit strange, but in music I think that it's a good thing.
Music is so visceral and cerebral at once, that it's pretty easy to catch the nuances and subtleties in a mediocre player, but in a person of Steve's caliber it's much harder to detect mainly because, alot of their style and technique come from years and years of laboring over their instrument, so one has to really put some time in with person like that.
In my opinion Michael is one of the best "on the spot" arrangers that I've ever played with, couple that with that Ferguson technique and you can get some beautiful music, so imagine what it's like having Fergie in the house !!!
Of late at the Empty Glass it seems that no one has been coming out to hear much live music; so the place has been fairly empty (no pun intended). On Wednesdays anymore it feels like a ghost town, but we still try to plug away.
It's easy to get discouraged when you feel as though you're trying your hardest and there is no one there to hear you, but we just look at it as another chance to rehearse.
To find our voice is the most important thing, and it's great for us to be around people like Steve Ferguson, because his playing raises the bar for us as musicians.
I truly hope that anyone; no, everyone who reads my blog will make an effort to come and hear one of the greats. In a musical world filled with so many who are no more than flash in the pans it is very refreshing to see and hear a person like this because it can be an inspiration for those of us standing in the shadows of music.