LENS-ARTISTS CHALLENGE #175 – Follow Your Bliss

Lindy leads. “…to follow your bliss is to pursue that which provides you happiness and joy.”

I love guitar music. All kinds. Acoustic, electric, folk, rock, BLUES, bluegrass, classical, UNameIt.

A could’a been, should’a been, wanna-be, never-was, player myself, the following photo (May 2012) best typifies my own playing, as in NOT PLAYING. My guitar sits idle 99.99% of the time. C’est la vie.

Picasso said it for me in The Old Guitarist, which I photoed at The Art Institute of Chicago in April, 2008:

I like this somewhat blurry photo (occasionally a desirable effect?), with Picasso-esque shadows, taken of young Ireland-Irish folk players (Apr. 2017):

John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival fame was a blur at Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City Mo., during halftime at the football game Nov. 23, 2006:

You get the idea.

I thought the following was a decent photo of acoustic instruments (yes, not guitars). What’s not to like about a Gibson banjo and a Rattlesnake mandolin:

They belong to the local Denver sometime, once upon a time, band Home Brood, now somewhat ‘dis-banded’. May 2017 at the Ken Caryl Manor House:

Finally, I love blues music.

‘I_GotDemLowDownDirtyHeartBreakinBluesBaby, I_GottemBad.’

Robert Cray at Hudson Gardens:

Buddy Guy at Denver Botanic Gardens: (What is it about gardens?!)

Other acousticians of note I’ve seen lately:

Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper: the most dang fastest fiddlin’, guitar pickin’, banjo pickin’, mandolin pickin’, bass playin’ band I may have ever seen. At speed Mach 3, they don’t miss a note.

Hot Club of Cowtown, with Elana James on fiddle and an amazing slap bass player, playing gypsy jazz a’la Reinhardt and Western swing a’la Bob Wills.

Speaking of fast, there is always Ana Vidovic on classical guitar, and for unique, check out Luca Stricagnoli, to name but a very few.

Stay well, stay safe, follow your bliss.