The Making of Richard Gilewitz, Live at Charlotte's Web
by Richard Gilewitz and Lani Richardson

When a request came to me from my friend Stephen Rekas for another contribution to his "Tales from the Road" segment of Mel Bay Publications' Guitar Sessions, I was honored as usual, particularly since this is a great way for me to start off 2008! Another reason to celebrate is that this issue follows the December release of a new 66-minute performance DVD, Richard Gilewitz, Live at Charlotte's Web filmed and recorded at the Mendelssohn Club in Rockford, Illinois in 2005.

Charlotte's Web, a premier folk music venue that boasts of an impressive list of performers who have graced their stage for the past 35 years, is the brainchild of local community music lovers. Working hand in hand with Karen Howard, who books the venue, is Lani Richardson of Snapshotmusic who has been at the helm of archiving the video and audio tapings of these concerts, many recorded as far back as 1977.

Snapshotmusic is a digital archive museum of live performance recordings spanning the musical spectrum of folk, pop, classical, rock, jazz, world music, storytelling, dance and theater. Their mission is to ensure the integrity of our cultural legacy by recording and preserving a diversity of performing arts and, with over 15,000 of live performance recordings, they are on their way to achieving this goal.

I can't tell you how delighted I was to discover that one of my early guitar heroes and inspirations, Peter Lang, is available through Snapshotmusic from three different concerts, including one during the 1970's when I was just developing my chops. Other artists include Gamble Rogers, Doc Watson, and Tom Paxton with a growing list of more than 500 performers to date.

For this issue I would like to pass the baton to Lani, who was kind enough over the busy holidays to drop everything to provide her thoughts and history not only with Snapshotmusic, but her experiences working with me on this DVD as we edited via email and over the phone for months. I can't imagine how many times she and her crew must have rolled their eyes at my constant requests for microscopic details.

I even imagined that they must have scowled at least once and muttered, "Gee, I guess he'll want us to 'tune' his guitar for him next!" All that being said, they were a pleasure to work with and didn't let it out the door until we all felt it was right. Hope you enjoy the DVD if it winds up on your doorstep and I strongly encourage you to peruse the library of hidden wonders at Snapshotmusic.

I must say I was quite taken during my last "snowdrift" performance in Rockford when, while talking to some concert attendees with my back turned, Lani loaded my guitars into my car and even cleaned all the snow-covered windows. If she had had a de-icing machine I wouldn't be surprised if she'd had that cranked up as well. She and her wonderful family are a class act all the way. I will be returning for another performance at Charlotte's Web in Rockford in November 2008.

Richard Gilewitz
www.richardgilewitz.com
myspace.com/richardgilewitz

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Below is Lani Richardson's response to my request for her impressions of the making of Live at Charlotte's Web:

Good afternoon Richard!

As far as working with you...what can I say? It was a true delight. The phone calls from you while you were driving down the highway never once failed to amuse me. Your email instructions were meticulous and obviously very well thought through. You basically gave us a play-by-play run down with humor included, icing on the proverbial cake. We were still mere sophomores in the school of editing when working on the "Gilla Project". Thanks to the patience, perseverance and certainty of vision that you brought to the project, we now know not only how to edit professionally but also what questions to ask the clients in order to create a product which meets their expectations.

Peace through music,
Lani Richardson
President, Snapshotmusic Inc.
www.snapshotmusic.com
www.liveconcertrecordings.net

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