I can only “take the temperature” of the convention from my little Picker's Club Room – but, from there it was one of the best ever. Fun club jams, new talent, new attendees, and Tommy. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many new attendees right from Wednesday morning on. The lobby, which had been rather sparse with people for a number of past years on Wednesdays, was bustling with people clamoring to check in. A lovely sight.
There's always something new that differentiates each convention in the Room: One year it was the new duo of Loren & Mark. Another year is was the Young Thumbs first concert in the Room. Tim & Myles when Myles was like 15. Adam Rafferty came popping through, years ago. This year it was Tommy sitting on stage introducing us to a slew of talented European “twenty somethings,” including Shane Hennessey – Ireland, Brian (Dutch) van der Sanden, and Nichola Stajic. (Sounds like a roster for the World Cup!! (lol)
My personal favorite was when we had Smokin' Joe and young Frano on our little stage for a half hour and I had gone into the outter room to “buy them another half hour” - somehow forgetting to mention it to them. So, when I was proudly prancing back into the Room to “give them the extra time,” they were diligently paying strict attention to their allotted time frame – and, were UNPLUGGING! Sooo, now I'm stuck with a half hour slot right in the middle of the afternoon.
About that same time this other “twenty something” Italian man had come in asking, (paraphrased with humor) “Palamar, I ah understand ah I can maybe get to play ah in a your Room?” I had NO IDEA who he was or HOW WELL he could play, but I barked, “What are you doing, right now?” He quickly smiled at me and said, “No, I'm ah not fooling.” I came right back, “No, I mean do you have your guitar with you?” What happened immediately after that was pure magic.
He came in, sat on the edge of the little stage, plugged into my Bose and proceeded to simply AMAZE everybody that was lucky enough to have stayed and listened. Stage presence, humor, glib talk and TALENT from Alberto Lombardi... (Al”bear”tow LomBARdi... how'd I do?)
Turns out that he's a professional rock lead guitar player that has recently fallen in love with our finger style guitar music... I don't have a video of him playing in the Room, but here's his YT page:
https://www.youtube.com/user/newbelairstudioOh, it was a good year!!!!
Palmer