On Tuesday, November 25, 2014 11:12 PM, JEFF GREEN <jeffgreenguitarman@gmail.com> wrote:
The 2014 Edition of The Ventures Fan Fest was another winner in a series of solid successes! Lots of musical participation! Lots of "new" tunes! Lots of familiar faces! (And some new faces also!)
Would you believe that included this year were the obscurities "Cookie and Cokes" and "The Twomp"? Well...they really were!
Byron Tietjen was in on the "Cookies and Coke" caper. He performed on stage with his new Sunburst Wilson Bros. guitar, serial #6. Beautiful! And now, in addition to his fine playing, Byron has added vocals to his skills set!
By invitation, I was asked to "sing" "The Twomp" in a duet with my brother Grant. I really believe this performance was better than OK,
please consider that none of the group of us had rehearsed it together and that includes Grant and myself!
That is one Ventures tune I never, ever expected to perform, I'm very happy that I was included!
Lead guitar was ably handled by Ken Arnold, on drums was a "newbie", Forrest Kulwin (terrific player), Joe Klink was on rhythm guitar and Walt Stagner was on bass.
Speaking of Walt Stagner... it was super to have him return to the Event and he didn't come alone, he brought with him his newest group, Bongo Straits. The line-up includes new members Forrest Kulwin on drums & Roger Underwood on guitar-a fine player. And gee, he had a nice guitar, a Gold '65 Classic Jazzmaster, looks exactly like mine! The Gold Dust Twins!
Walt is back on guitar, playing superbly- reliable Joe Klink is still with the group on rhythm guitar, while another newbee- Bob Adalpe admirable
handles all bass duties. This band sounds great! In addition to his guitar/bass picking, Walt took on the added responsibility of recording the event.
In the samples that are now available on YouTube, from what I've seen/heard, these are the best recordings from the 6 series of Tom Baltaeff's Ventures Fan Fests.
Vic Hines did a fine presentation on electric acoustic guitar. Among the tunes he played was "Stranger In Midosuji"
Our Ventures Fan Fest Coordinator, Tom Baltaeff played drums on this selection and he turned in a solid job.
Old Friend John Magee from Indy was on hand and he played bass on several tunes. It's great to see Big John there playing away in his usual fine fashion.
Bob Dowd and his wife Charlotte were welcomed back this year after missing the 2013 Event. Bob was backed up by 3 of us 4 Pickniks, he had John Ramski - drums, Grant Green - bass and me on rhythm guitar. What fun! We played a dozen tunes that ranged through the Ventures early albums. Bob started with "Morgen", "Home", "Ups And Downs", "The Shuck", "Wheels", "Ginchy", "Red Top", "White Silver Sands", a few others and finished with "My Bonnie Lies".
These are some of my personal favorites! Colonel Bob played them very well too!
Kanad Ghose and his son Saugata were back again this year and presented another ably performed, enjoyable set. I was invited to accompany them also. Thanks! I was scheduled to play on 54 tunes -- a lot of work, enjoyable work in learning many tunes in preparation. I think I actually played on 50 or 51 of those scheduled. I was happy to still be standing at the end of the Event! The excitement kept me going! It was fun, it's nice to be wanted(musically that is and not by the sheriff!)
Carl Hubler was in attendance and he played rhythm guitar on several numbers. Nice to see him there!
I now present these special mentions:
Steve Chestnut, the all around utility man. He was everywhere! There he was playing rhythm guitar, then lead guitar, then bass guitar, then drums and get this, a triangle! He did all these jobs wonderfully well. We wonder when he found time to take those triangle lessons?
Another special mention goes to Gary Wertz. He came back again this year with some more of his superb guitar collection. Included was his new Sunburst Wilson Bros. guitar with Gold Trim! - Serial #2. Beautiful!I'm sorry I missed his offer for me to play it , but unfortunately for me, at that time I was no longer scheduled. Gary kindly transported Julie and I around town on Friday night before the Event, so we got in some good conversation time with Gary.
All the way from Brazil came Howard (The Computer Doctor) and his lovely wife Lucia. A wonderful couple that Julie and I had the pleasure to spend some time with after the event ended. We very much enjoyed their company and we hope to stay in touch.
Our Official Announcer Dave Zelinsky provided 'the fest' with another outstanding performance of his commentary.
Dave also had the added distinction of being the only performer of this year's Event to play "Walk: Don't Run!". Way to go Dave!
We, The Pickniks were privileged to open the show this year and we enjoyed every minute of the entire day.
John, Grant, Bob and myself were kept very busy by appearing in different lineups. It was a joy to sit in with our Ventures Friends!
A very special addition was the presentation of a Ventures instrumentally styled Beach Boys set. This developed from an idea that was put forward by Noel Squitieri at the end of Ventures Fan Fest 2013. The set was well done by Noel and all the fellows. A surprise was the accompaniment on organ by John Drysdale- he did a splendid job joining the set with his keyboard work and also appeared at other times during the 'all day event' on guitar. This special presentation went so well that interest is being expressed to possibly record these arrangements at a date sometime in the future.
OK, that's a wrap...I apologize to anybody that I failed to mention.
Thanks Tom, Bernie, Jim, Dave, Dennis, Rodger and everybody for putting together this outstanding Event!
Looking forward to seeing everybody again in 2015!
Jeff Green - on behalf of The Pickniks
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