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dennismcmillan -> Who am I? That's a tough one. . . . (Jul. 23 2013 20:54:47)
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But when it's whittled down to just "flamencology," it goes something like this: I got turned on to flamenco at the age of 17, when a guy came back to Wichita, KS, who'd gone to San Francisco State and while there had taken some lessons from Mariano de Cordoba. I moved to the Bay Area to observe the hippies at age 18 (the day after graduating high school in May 1968), saw/heard David Jones and Danny Staffler play at The Spaghetti Factory on Grant Ave. in North Beach, and my guitar-fate was sealed. Took lessons from David "Serva" Jones for a while; went to Spain in 1969, 1970, and 1972 (met Lenny Breau at the Sabicas concert in Madrid in 1972, then spent the evening having my mind blown by him playing jazz stuff in my pension after the concert--found out in 1986 that he'd been murdered in 1984, so I would never have the chance to meet him again, which--to put it "facetiously"--still pisses me off in extremis to this very day); took lessons from Miguel Martinez, Alberto Velez, and, maybe most importantly, from a historical point of view, Raphael del Aguila in Jerez, who was 84 at the time (I'm pretty sure I met Gerardo Nunez there in Raphael's little casa, when he was about 10 years' old, and already had a blistering picado technique!). Met Tom Blackshear in 1982 when I moved to San Antonio, bought a guitar from him then (1983), and another one in 1997, which he put a new top on in 2005. I own (and almost always play) that 1997 Blackshear and a 1965 Manuel Reyes that belonged to Dan Zeff for many years, as well as a 1963 Ramirez that was made by Felix Manzanero the last year he was in the Ramirez shop. The stupidest guitar thing I ever did? I did NOT buy a 1954 Barbero for $450. in 1969 from Felix Manzanero. I'm 19; I've never heard of Barbero, so I bought a 1934 Santos instead. Flamenco is the only music that ever grabbed me enough to "make" me play it, but I never wanted to be a professional guitarist . . . then, it would become a "job" and no longer a joy/fun. So, I've been playing 44 years, now, and still do. There is nothing out there with the rhythmic, syncopated drive of flamenco, combined-with/springing-from the physical act/technique of playing that wavering, modulating music that satisfies the soul (which I don't believe we have, by the way) like flamenco.
Dennis McMillan, ex-publisher, currently an aspiring mendicant stuck temporarily in Wichita, Kansas
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