Well, I finally got my pictures posted from this. It's been a crazy stretch - since I got back, this has been my schedule: soccer, soccer, off night, dentist/comedy show, football, soccer/band competition photography, soccer reffing (3 games), soccer, soccer, tonight.
Another whale of a weekend - great music, great atmosphere, much lust for equipment. Some changes to the format, possibly the biggest being the elimination of the factory tour - instead, they had people posted at each station and you could wander at will. I told the woman in the body/neck area that it meant I wouldn't get yelled at to hurry up through there, but it was a little less like forbidden fruit.
For Signature Club members, instead of an exclusive concert this year, we got our choice of master classes. I took Davy Knowles, Dave Weiner and David Grissom. Passed on Ricky Skaggs and Howard Leese, only to find out later that Leese was teaching Heart and Bad Company stuff. Damn!
Of the performers, Grissom was awesome as usual - an underappreciated player. The women there were good - Orianthi, Kristen Capolino and Donna Grantis. Of the three, to my ears, Donna had it most together. Orianthi played like she had something to prove - don't be fooled by her CD, she's got the goods on guitar.
But the standout of the weekend, for me, was Davy Knowles - he hit it out of the park. Usually you get a player playing one solo during this weekend that transcends and takes your breath away. Knowles did it several times - on "Imagine" with Paul Reed Smith's band (so good I was texting my wife about it before the song was done), and notably on "'Cause We've Ended As Lovers", in which he followed PRS, then PRS was to follow him, but it was clear PRS didn't want to do it. Simply breathtaking.
So, enjoy!
http://www.tignanelli.com/ExperiencePRS.htmAlan
