Blog:

Hi Folks,

Welcome to the new VDK blog.  I will try and be on here every week to see what's happening in Chicago and the music biz and keep you atuned to VDK so please stay tuned and keep coming back.

I certainly would love to entertain any ideas for bloggin that you want. Keep it clean folks!

Where do you start in the middle of the hot summer? Well for me as a guitar player, it starts with the Cross Roads Music Tour that happened last weekend at Toyota Park.  That day was really incredible but there was a show the previous evening at Martyr's in Chicago that featured Vince Gill and Albert Lee, two of the best on the planet today.  I was unable to attend any of the shows due to performing for other artists but to be able to see Vince Gill and Albert Lee on such a small stage and in an intimate setting truly had to be great.  It reminded me of the time when I was at Berklee that the late great Danny Gatton came and gave a guitar clinic.  Danny Gatton was truly one of the best to ever pick up a guitar.  There were only about 50 students in the audience and I happened to be up close and he was just incredible. When he asked what he should do, all we responded with was: "just play" . There is a right hand picking technique called Chikin Pickin and he was the master of it.  You can also see that technique in Albert's playing as well as Vince and guys like Brett Mason and Johnny Hilland.  If you don't know who those folks are, You Tube it baby and enjoy the ride.

Thats it for today but we'll be here for a long time and stay tuned for some guest blogging as well...  I will have to see who I can wrangle to put a few words down here.  Til then, keep on picking and grinning and see you on August 6th at the Montrose Room in Rosemont!!!