Music Stores Offering Workshops
Music Folk is an excellent all-acoustic instrument shop whose main showroom can seat about 35 music devotees. The shop provides a warm ambience and frequently hosts workshops on weeknights, or on a Saturday afternoon by artists who are performing the same evening at Focal Point. Andy Ploof is the guy to contact there:
Music Folk
8015 Big Bend Rd.
St. Louis MO 63119
musicfolk@primary.net
Tel: 314-961-2838
Andy himself is a respectable mandolinist who has often trekked to the Winfield (Walnut Valley) competition. He is deeply appreciative of acoustic music and musicians, and keeps an excellent stock of instruments in his shop including banjos, mandolins, guitars, hammered and mountain dulcimers, etc. The Focal Point/Music Folk combination is well known for acoustic music in the St. Louis area.
Another outstanding acoustic and electric venue is Fazio's Frets and Friends in Manchester MO; Contact:
Brian Vaccaro
Director, Music Education
Fazio's Frets & Friends
14239 Manchester Rd.
Manchester, MO 63011
636-227-3573
http://www.faziosmusic.com
brianv@faziosmusic.com
Fazio's is doing good things for all facets of the guitar community, staging jazz, fingerstyle, flatpicking, and classical workshops and performances both in its showroom and in concert venues around the city. Fazio's seats about 60 people in its showroom but has funded performances at the Sheldon Concert Hall and The St. Louis Ethical Society (see below).
McMurray Music, 10201 Page Ave, Saint Louis, MO, 63132, 314-428-8600- supports acoustic workshops, and deals heavily in electric as well as acoustic instruments. I understand that McMurray has a small recital/recording auditorium in the basement.
I attended Pat Kirtley's Taylor Guitars Workshop at The Guitar Center at 9177 Watson Road; St. Louis, MO 63126; (314) 918-7660. Pat drew an enthusiastic group to very limited seating at this shop.
Across the Mississippi River in Collinsville, Illinois - there's Swing City Music Co. (618) 345-6700, 1312 Vandalia St., Collinsville, IL 62234. I once saw L.A. studio ace Tommy Tedesco there; besides him, I was the only person in the room who could read music. Mel Bay author Richard Gilewitz has also appeared there.
Major Performance Venues
When Doc Watson, Paco de Lucia, or Mark O'Connor visit St. Louis they perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The Sheldon once hosted the annual Great Midwest Guitar Show (cancelled in 2004 due to a scheduling conflict and severely downsized in 2005). With thirty top luthiers displaying their wares,the guitar show festivities would begin on a Friday night and continue through Sunday afternoon.
The Sheldon is a terrific hall for acoustic musicians as it has an all-wood stage with a concave wood panel wall in back of the performers. Seating capacity is about 700 including a small balcony. O'Connor chose the Sheldon as the site of his first live recording for Sony and it was also used for the Mel Bay tribute concert by the GFA in October 1996. Tommy Emmanuel, Stephen Bennett, the Rob Nolan Trio, and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet have all been featured at the Sheldon; Mel Bay Publications filmed Tommy and the LAGQ there for their live concert DVDs. Vocalists also love this hall.
The Sheldon is a classy old music hall with uniformed ushers and a historic Green Room where Albert Einstein once spoke. I love hearing performances there but ticket prices are on the rise. A relatively new annex adjoins the concert hall providing space for an art gallery, the Great Midwest Guitar Show, a reception/record sales area, and a bar with table seating. Above the concert hall itself, there is an old ballroom with a small stage. Here's the contact data:
Dale Benz
Operations Manager
The Sheldon Concert Hall
3648 Washington Blvd.
St. Louis MO 63108
The Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis
http://www.touhill.org/home.php
This is the newest performance center in St. Louis- elegant and practical with stages/halls in two sizes and adjoining classrooms. The Touhill Performing Arts Center would be great for a major music conference. The Center is in the same "theater district" as Powell Symphony Hall, The Fox Theater, and The Sheldon Concert Hall.
The Roberts Orpheum Theater, which used to be known as the American Theater, is the most recent addition to this list. The new owners have completely renovated the facility and it promises to fill a unique niche in the St. Louis community. Tommy Emmanuel was one of the first Mel Bay artists to perform there.
The Roberts Orpheum Theater
416 North 9th Street
St. Louis, MO 63101
314.588.0388 phone
314.588.9828 fax
http://www.robertsorpheum.com/
The St. Louis Classical Guitar Society offers its concerts at the Ethical Society Auditorium in the suburb of Clayton, MO. The auditorium presents an excellent space for acoustic guitarists; even country acts have played there. The narrow, elevated stage has a wood backing and the wood ceiling/roof resembles a trumpet bell. The whole building is really quite elegant, with seating for perhaps 350. Bill Ash, the president of the St. Louis Classical Guitar Society, has brought numerous A-list classical and flamenco artists to the city, single-handedly putting St. Louis on the classic guitar map.
St. Louis Classical Guitar Society
Bill Ash
P.O. Box 11425
St. Louis, MO 63105
Tel: (314) 567-5566
St. Louis also has a well-established flamenco organization:
The St. Louis Cultural Flamenco Society
Marisel Salascruz
Artistic Director
P.O. Box 21818
St. Louis, MO 63109
(314) 781-1537
Email: marisel@stlflamenco.org
In 2005, classical and fingerstyle guitarist John Wise formed the League of Fingerstyle Players with performances at the St. Louis Center of Creative Arts (COCA) and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (SIUE). John graciously presents yet another forum for the guitar in St. Louis.
John Wise
League of Fingerstyle Players
Tel: (314) 838-5050
Email: jtrawise@aol.com
Website: www.lofp.com
St. Louis Club Scene
Mississippi Nights is a popular club on Laclede's Landing on the Mississippi waterfront in downtown St. Louis. I saw David Grisman there a few years ago with his excellent band. While amplified I was impressed that David insisted on the sound of acoustic instruments traveling through air to microphones, rather than plugging-in instruments with pickups attached. An acoustic performance would likely be the exception rather than the norm at Mississippi Nights.
The fairly new Pageant Concert Nightclub http://www.thepageant.com/ is primarily a rock & roll nightclub. It consists of three levels with a dance floor on the ground floor - but a few top acoustic and jazz/rock fusion bands (Larry Carlton with Fourplay) have played there. The Pageant is owned by the same individual who years ago established a blues club called Blueberry Hill (6504 Delmar, St. Louis MO 63130 - Tel: 314 727-0880) http://www.blueberryhill.com/ a blues/rock/bluegrass club that has hosted many diverse acts including Chuck Berry, B.B. King, and the Del McCourt Band. Scores of pop/rock/folk stars have made it a point to stop by to check out the action at Blueberry Hill's Duck Room (so named for Chuck Berry's "duck walk" or because the ceiling is low).
BBs' Jazz, Blues and Soups
http://www.bbsjazzbluessoups.com/
700 South Broadway
St. Louis, MO 63102
Tel (314) 524-1988
I've only been to this club once, but the place has a great vibe. Corey Christiansen, Mel Bay's senior music editor and jazz guitar clinician, has played there frequently, but informs me that the club now features more blues than jazz.
The Broadway Oyster Bar
http://www.broadwayoysterbar.com/
736 South Broadway
St. Louis, MO 63102
Tel: 314 621-8811
I have never been to this club but lots of fine musicians have played there. It's rated as one of the 10 Best Blues Clubs in the US.
Jazz at the Bistro
http://www.jazzatthebistro.com/
3536 Washington
St. Louis, MO 63103
(314) 531-1012
A stylish club featuring mainstream and avant-garde jazz with a full menu served. Bucky and John Pizzarelli, Arturo Sandoval, and many stellar talents have performed here. Corey Christiansen, our senior music editor, staged a release party for his first Mel Bay Records CD Awakening here in October 2004.
Cookie's Jazz & More
20 Allen St.
Webster Groves, MO (near the RR tracks)
(314) 962-JAZZ
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