The Fourth Annual AFG Convention is a Big Success

By Freddie House

	Doyle Dykes and RC Allen

The fourth year of the Association Of Fingerstyle Guitarists got off to a great start with their annual AFG convention on January 29, 2000. It was decided to have the convention on a Saturday and Sunday this year, hoping that no one would have to miss a day of work to enjoy the great guitar music that we have come to expect at these AFG Conventions. It was held at the Brookhurst Plaza Inn in Anaheim, where our pickin' parties are currently held quarterly.

Doyle Dykes open the convention as our first fingerstyle guitarist playing his composition "Jazz In The Box" on his black custom Taylor guitar. Doyle told some stories of his travels and after a few numbers he took member Jody Reynolds guitar, a 1952 Epiphone Emperor Regent, to play "Jawbone", a number that he wrote several years ago and will be a cut on his next CD. Then he took a Dick Allen guitar and played "Misty Nights In Tokyo", a piece he wrote while on tour in Japan. Doyle played with his usual flair and fire which always keeps us mystified as to how he can get so much sound from only one guitar. It is always a delight to hear Doyle play.

Grandfather of the guitar, Bob Saxton, from Tennessee (sean - phpt of Bob Saxton alone) was our next guitarist, and as usual he helped make our affair a great success. Of the many numbers he did, one of my favorites was "Cherokee Maiden". Gary Lambert playing rhythm guitar, and Bob Allen on snare drum assisted Bob on such numbers as "Cecelia" and "Stardust" to finish the morning's entertainment for us.

	Gary Lambert, Bob Saxton, Bob Allen

After lunch, Bob Wallace, a first timer who was visiting a friend here heard about the convention, and being a guitar picker came by to hear some music and played a couple of numbers for us, but had to hurry to catch his plane to go home to Utah. Playing his new Super Chet guitar, Pastor Darrell Owens was making it look so easy and sounding so good played for us and Gary Lambert assisted him on rhythm doing such tunes as "Cascades" and "I Am A Pilgrim". Gary Lambert took the stage next with his friend Bob Allen playing snare drum, and doing some great guitar work on such numbers as "Mr. Bojangles", and "Waiting for the Times To Get Better".

George Sabolick followed doing a couple of Lawrence Juber pieces and that crowd pleaser "Goin' Fishin" followed by a couple of new pieces that he has recently written. Richard Alcoy came next to play some jazz pieces and then Terry Bailey, another first timer with a beautiful voice joined Richard for a fine rendition of "Summertime". Michael O'Dorn, Scott Tonnelson and bass player Ron Rougier came up to entertain with great picking on such numbers as "Black Diamond Blues", and a tribute to Marcel Dadi. Richard Alcoy was next doing some nice renditions of some jazz pieces before doing a few Chet numbers. Chris Landry sang a couple of songs and played several numbers using a number of effects and equipment that he had brought, a couple of tunes that I particular enjoyed were "No Mans Land" and "Blue Ocean Echo". Jim English and Mike Nelson came on stage next and did several numbers each one being "Alley Cat". Pastor Darrell Owens next doing a great job on the beautiful song "Vincent" as well as "Kentucky" and "Waiting for Suzie B". Bob Saxton and Richard Alcoy finished the first day of our convention doing more great pickin' on such numbers as "Little Rock Getaway" and "Dance of the Goldenrod".

Sunday morning found us back playing in a big round for a while before getting the convention officially started. Several of the same players came to play for us again with Al Shelton singing a couple of cowboy songs for us and then later Tammy and Bob Felton entertained us with some nice vocals, doing a couple of tunes that they had written, one being "Low Country". Another new player for this convention, Igor, did some nice jazz pieces. A couple that I particular liked were "Autumn Leaves" and "Yesterday".

	Bob Saxton

Richard Glick, a first timer to the AFG played "Charade" and "Georgia" as well as sing a couple of humorous tunes for us. We were glad to see Richard and hopes he comes back again to play for us. Several of the same players that played on Saturday were back to play again on Sunday. We were as anxious to hear them all play again, and enjoyed every minute of it.

We had the drawing to give away the baby Taylor Guitar that was a donation from The Taylor Guitar Co., Kirk Sands Guitar Shop, and The Association Of Fingerstyle Guitarist, and the winner was Mike Marr of Huntington Beach, California. Mike came as a visitor to our convention last year, joined the club after hearing Pastor Darrell Owens play down at The Guitar Shop, came to the AFG Convention this year and now is the owner of a new Baby Taylor Guitar. Congratulations Mike.

The AFG is in great appreciation of those that donated items for giveaways and drawings, especially Taylor Guitars, and Kirk Sands for their generous gifts. As appreciation to Bob Saxton for coming to our Convention and playing for us, Eb Jensen presented him with a very nice wooden music stand that he had made. It was a very good weekend!