Guitar Society of Las Vegas President's Message

Guitar Society of Las Vegas
President's Message
Summer 2008

Greetings and Happy scorching summer to all! This is my second message as GSLV President, which is traditionally a bi-annual ordeal (in which case I am late). However, I have a good reason. Forgive me while I shamelessly use this letter to make an announcement of personal accomplishment, but I recently finished and successfully defended my dissertation! Now I am Dr. Koury… so that’s my excuse.

Anyway, on to Society matters. In the first half (plus change) of 2008 we have accomplished some important tasks. One of the first issues I wanted to tackle was to get a regular newsletter going again. I am pleased to say that I have been mostly successful (the letter isn’t exactly periodic yet). This time it is an electronic newsletter, as opposed to a physical mailer. A physical newsletter is expensive and time consuming. An electronic letter is practically done as soon as it is typed out, and it is free to anyone who signs up for it. It still has a ways to go, as I would like to get one or more dedicated members to undertake a monthly-or-so newsletter. But it is very nice to now have a quick way to talk to the guitar aficionados of the Las Vegas valley. Mostly to thank is our tireless webmaster, Gail (www.lonemtnwebdesign.com).

Other projects I wanted to see to fruition, in the same electronic spirit, is overhauling the website with such things as: an online public forum where people can ask questions and discuss guitar-related stuff, online registration and renewal abilities, and an exhaustive calendar of events. Now that I am done with school, I can put more effort into these, all while I perform the undemanding task of finding a job… One of the other board members, Nate Fischer, has been seeding me with priceless ideas about how to promote the society. Not a surprise, coming from the president of the International Guitar Institute (www.internationalguitarinstitute.com) and winner of a Fulbright scholarship.

I mentioned in my first letter that we would like to have more coffee shop gigs. Currently we have gigs the first three Saturdays of every month. It requires a lot of effort of events directors Manny Gomez and Mike Kellat, both that have dutifully performed their roles. Having multiple events directors has proven essential to holding weekly performances. We play the first and third Saturday of the month at Tre Bella Café, on Rainbow and Russell. The second Saturday of the month we are at Border’s in Summerlin. Every performance is always well received. They are also well-attended, due in large part to the diligent and tireless self-promotions of GSLV member, Katrina Leshan. Her personal newsletter always mentions something to the effect of “The Guitar Society of Las Vegas presents…” Cross promoting are always welcomed!

We have also had some successful events, and we have a couple very exciting ones in the near future. In May, we provided four hours of music at the Winchester Center Garden, for the Friends of Winchester’s “Farmer’s Market”. The event was very successful for the Friends, and we got huge props from attendees. Pictures from the event are here - members.cox.net/classicalaxe/frmrsmrkt/frmrsmrkt.html

Coming up on September 26th the GSLV, along with the Las Vegas Jazz Society, will be hosting the guitar trio – New West Guitar (www.newwestguitar.com). The three – Perry Smith, John Storie and Brady Cohan – are all of the USC Thornton School of Music’s Protégé Program, where they were formally trained in studio and jazz guitar. They specialize in alternative jazz, influenced by their west coast roots. The GSLV hosted them a year ago, when they were known as the “New West Guitar Quartet”, and they gave a phenomenal performance. Also while in Las Vegas they put on a clinic for guitar majors at the Las Vegas Academy for Arts. They are incredible musicians and great guys to hang out with. On their last night in town they performed unofficially and unplugged at a local residence. What a treat it was! After that I accompanied them to the popular local nightclub, Pure. They will be performing at the Winchester Cultural Center Theatre at 7:00 pm

On Friday, October 17th and again along with the LV Jazz Society, we will be hosting Mary Ellen Spann and her quartet. This is her second time appearing for us. Last year Mary Ellen, accompanied by our own Bill Swick and his LVA quartet, sang at a Friends of Winchester event, and her beautiful voice delighted all who attended. The concert is at 7:00 pm at the Winchester Cultural Center Theater. We can’t wait to hear from her again!

-DK