Campilongo Connections

CJG

I know that a lot of people on the forum like to browse conversations and keep a certain anonymity and that is cool. However, I can’t help but wonder how many Jim fans are out there and where you guys and gals are from. I have now had the pleasure of having forum conversations with many of you and even meeting a few of you in person. So far, all of my “Campilongo Connections” have been really fantastic. We all clearly share not just an interest in Jim’s music but an overall passion for well crafted and expertly played songs in general. That being said, I would be very curious to see/hear a little more about my brothers & sisters on the forum. I don’t mind starting: I am 42 and have lived in NY City for the last 15 years. I am originally a native of Cleveland, Ohio (Let the jokes start rolling in!). I have been obsessed with guitars since I was in my early teens and started playing around age 16 after hearing Led Zeppelin IV (or Zoso, if you prefer:). I think it was Black Dog and Rock & Roll that made something inside of me flip. I have still not recovered from the experience. Anyway, I was turned on to Jim’s music less than two years ago and from there start getting into lessons by mail as well as new musical inspiration from Chet Atkins, to Roy Buchanan, to Jimmy Rivers, Jimmy Bryant, etc. The Lessons by Mail now only revitalized my love for the instrument but have sparked numerous creative endeavors that I had never before imagined. If anyone else wants to share some info, it would be cool to hear from you.
In the meantime, keep on jamming!
CJ

Andyroo

I'll play
I'm jeeest about to turn 40 in May.

I've been living in Portland, Oregon for the past 11 years, but I hail from the San Francisco Bay Area. Never saw Jim when I was there!

I started playing guitar when a real bad leg broke sidelined me from being able to sit at a piano for about 6 months. I was 18 at the time, and it was the first time I picked up a guitar. A buddy handed me an old beat up acoustic with a missing string and I started picking out tunes by ear on a lazy boy chair for probably 7 hours a day.

I'm an elementary school teacher, a father, a husband, and a band mate with an upright bass player. We've got an Americana-funk style duo. We're called...Gravy, cuz everything's better with it Here's a place to hear some of our stuff, iffn' yer interested...

http://www.reverbnation.com/gravyboatbaby

I used to take occasional lessons from a local fella, but we have sort of lost touch with jobs and families. And so I'm real pleased to be hanging out here, and these lessons have been really helped me get over a recent hump.

Cool idea CJ
Droo

AdamG

Great idea CJ...
I just turned 46 and live in Vancouver, BC. I've been a tele addict for too many years...ever since I got my first one for high school grad in 1984.
My main tele influences are Jim (duh), Jimmy Bryant and Roy Nichols. I love all types of music and guitarists: everyone from Django to David Hildago to Kelly Joe Phelps.
I play guitar, lap steel, console steel and dobro for a singer/songwriter/tele player named Cory Hawthorne. He's scary good so I just stay out of the way while he chickin' picks and shreds. His new album just came out so hey, download it for free or donation!
http://noisetrade.com/coryhawthorne
He's kinda like Dwight Yoakam meets Brad Paisley.
This forum is really cool. I find tele fans to be the nicest people.

Adam

VintageBoots

I like the idea CJ, and thanks for sharing, as well as you Andyroo and Adam. It's nice to meet fellow music lovers and tele players that are striving for improvement like myself. I'm a 35 year-old frustrated guitar player that started playing somewhere in my teens after begging for an acoustic for a couple years. Somewhere in my childhood or teenage years, I guess I developed a love for Telecasters, as that is what I gravitated towards when I finally bought my first nice guitar. They just felt more natural in my hands than any other guitars I had played. I liked the simplistic and stout nature of a good Tele, and they are still my favorite guitars.

Anyhow, I've been band-less for a good while, and my playing plateaued(sp?) years ago, and I really wish I was better than I am for how long I've been playing guitar. I heard about Jim maybe three or four years ago, and first saw him two years ago at the Living Room in NYC(with Nels Cline as his special guest that night, WOW!), and was beyond inspired to say the least...which brought me here to this forum, so I can learn more, and hopefully learn from Jim via lessons, and do some serious woodshedding to get me out of my several year slump, and return me to the joy of playing that I had when I first started. I just recently bought my first lesson from this site(Travis 101), and am trying to see my way past my frustration. : ) See you guys around, cheers!

Andyroo

Nice on the Travis 101 lesson VintageBoots, super cool lesson

I hear you on being a frustrated player....don't get down, too hard on yourself. I've figured out that it's all about the peaks and the valleys, no matter if you are playing by yourself, or gigging regularly. I've been a frustrated stay at home player, and just as frustrated as a regularly gigging player. These days, i'm finding so much more solace being at home, playing by me onesie, and building on new things.

Get the lessons, play them and enjoy them. Make more music. It's all good!

It's a funny thing, being a musician. For some reason we want to share the music as much as possible, but sometimes there is no one there to listen. And then what do we do? Do we stop making the music, stop growing? Naw. Just enjoy the sounds you make, and maybe someone will like it

droo

Andyroo

Hey AdamG, I really am loving the link you sent along! Thanks so much! Sounds like you hooked up with a good gig. Hang onto it brother! And enjoy!

Andyroo

And AdamG....just as a sidenote, I had the chance to open for Kelly Joe Phelps last year at a house party. We played our 1-hour set while folks were getting there and getting comfy. And then I sat on the floor of the living room about 2 feet from Kelly. Holy crap. Yep...that's all I can say about him.

AdamG

Thanks Andyroo! Glad you're enjoying the record.
That's great that you played with KJP, I'm jealous. Seeing someone in such an intimate environment must have been crazy. btw have you checked out his latest videos? He's up here in Vancouver recording his new album for Black Hen Records and has been posting live from the studio. Whoa.
http://www.youtube.com/user/blackhen09

weelie

I am 38, from Helsinki, Finland. Fan since 2003, like I explained in the "first time" thread. Father of one 2yr girl. Big fan of JJ Cale, as a kid my favourite was the Blues Brothers (firstly the music, only later saw the movie). I play ukulele and guitar (telecaster among others), badly, started playing at around when I was 22-25. Played a couple of non-paying gigs. Only really tried playing country telecaster guitar in the past two years, always been scared of it!

AdamG, I actually heard the beginning of the Hawthorne's Goodbye to Biloxi as "She tried to take back all the carbs she ate". I mean no disrespect, the album is Great!

AdamG

Ha! I almost spat my coffee on my monitor! That is a great lyric Weelie! Thanks to you, I'm going to think of that every time we play that tune...
And thanks for listening!

jepa

I'm 43. I live in Chicago. Was seduced by a Telecaster about 3 or 4 years - breaking my vow that I'd never play 'one of those'. How wrong I was all those years. My other vow was broken not long after (hey once you start it's easy to break the commandments - yours or anyone elses) -when I play a National Resophonic. Both style guitars I always thought were for 'old guys - or country dudes'......wish I had sinned years ago as these instruments changed my life when I was approaching my 40's at the time.

kgharper

The Campilongo Connection began back in the mid 1990's. First I read about this man "Campilongo"and his guitar playing in a guitar magazine. Then I witnessed and heard him play his guitar at the "Paradise Lounge" .....it was upstairs. The "Connection" intensified. Other connectees of "Campilongo" became connected to me or I became connected to them or with them. It was like I had lost control of my life, I became obsessed. The guitar, the music, the man playing the music.......it was all going too fast. Telecaster guitars suddenly became more attractive than ever before. The connection gave me a feeling that maybe I really was somebody, or at least could be. Life for me has never been easy, but being connected somehow made things a bit less difficult. This connection has bolstered my self-confidence from time to time and given me the courage to seek employment, to venture where I would never have gone had I not been connected. I was able to overcome some of my shame about my inadequate guitar playing and I attempted to play some of the songs I learned from "Campilongo" to people I hoped would not laugh at me. Even with this connection to "Jim" and the connections I have made through him, I still struggle and failure still snickers in my ears like a bad trumpet player imitating a horse laugh. Thanks to all of the connectee's here on the forum and wherever else you may be for allowing me to feel as if I am a part of.

nealt

Hi Jim, It was great meeting you after all these years at the Falcon show. The show was fantastic! I went to the Falcon early and had dinner and judging from the amount of hard wood in the room-ceiling and floor- I new the sound was going to be great. The owner told me when he bought the place it had a drop ceiling. When he removed it he found a beautiful wood ceiling under it. That combined with the oak floor created a great sound.

The show had such a high level of energy. “Backburner” and “Helen Keller…” juxtaposed with “Blues for Roy” and “I Bought Some Swamp Land In Florida” gave each song more focus and intensity. As the show progressed all of us in the audience seemed to be in sync with every one in the band. I noticed as the bass player gradually showed his brilliance and skill the audience became drawn to him and looked forward to his solos with more anticipation applauding louder after each solo. He is very special. The drummer was fantastic also and the audience responded to his great playing as well.
We were ready and on our feet for the last song and you made an excellent choice. I think we were all transcended by your version of Jimmy Hendrix’s “ Third Stone From The Sun”.

There were two songs I did not recognize. They were slow and reflective with your signature lines. What were they and do you have a new CD planned?
Mary sends her best and thanks again for the high point of a great weekend.

Neal

Baiff

I am 38 from the Southside of Chicago. I had the chance a few years ago to see Jim and richard Julian at the Ellnora fest in Urbana (3 hours away). It was a great show and afterwards while my wife was talking to Richard I had the chance to talk to Jim about his latest CS guitar among other things. He was very kind and even signed my Heaven Is Creepy cd (one of my favorites). I appreciated the time they both took with us and it was a pleasure meeting them. My wife was impressed after having a few run ins with famous people that were not so cordial. Not having the opportunity to go to NY or SF to see Jim, we knew we had to go. My wife has urged me to take more lessons from this site after I learned Over The Rainbow since it is from her favorite movie.

CaptainBb

I'm 53 and from the other side of the pond. I'm a sax player primarily but started picking a Tele about 7 years ago. I stumbled upon Jim's music somewhere along the way in my quest for knowledge of the Tele's rich legacy.

mckiepstein

I'm the kid in the corner. 30, living in tucson. (What can I say, I like cheap real estate!) I've been dipping in and out of the site for a year or so. I've bought several lessons and was actually getting somewhere on the guitar before I broke my arm this summer. Now i'm learning piano, waiting for the old elbow to stop hurtin, crying in my cups, etc.
Fun Fact: my one big chance to see Jim play live was on a certain Monday, I guess exactly a year ago.... His canceled show would have coincided exactly to the hour with the landfall of the Hurricane Whats-her-face. No Jim for me. No matter, it's still one of my favorite NY memories... the couple days after the storm were really fun and a little magic, everyone suffering together. I remember sitting in the dark in the village, in my best friend's place from grade school, listening to Only Living Boy in New York on a battery radio, while a lamb roast was cooking and the flares burned out in the street.

Donald077

I'm 35 and live in Belgium. I first saw Jim in the Fender add for the prri's.
From time to time you need people who point you in the right direction,
and for me that was Jim. At the time I was stuck completely on the guitar journey.
I was into multi effects, big Marshalls and things like that. After the Fender add
I just kept on searching and rediscovered my old love for instrumental music.
The effects and the big Marshalls are gone, i'm into cleans now