August 2010: The big news of the month - I’ve officially joined the 21st Century and am now twittering:

@neildixonsmith

My twitter will be a sneak peek into the life of a Chicago musician, I update with the fascinating news of my practice habits, gig preparation, promotional efforts, etc. Everything related to this crazy part of my life…and I hope to make interesting and entertaining. Please do follow me!

While I’m at it, you can friend me on Facebook too - but my updates there tend be more strictly persona, but I do use FB to promote my appearances and whatnot. Anyways, my life is a semi-open book, so I’m just trying to run with it. As a 42 year-old, I’m just getting to the point where some of this seems more bizarre than it needs to be, but I enjoy it too!

Music-wise, this month features the return to action of Mas Trueno, which kicked off July 31 with a very fun show playing on the monument at Logan Square. We’ll be at Reggies on 8/20, then at the Subterranean on 9/11, and I hope this means more action for this great band is to come.

Los Guitarristas will be shaking off the cobwebs this month after a 2 month break - 2 big shows in September, including an appearance at the Chicago World Music Festival on 9/25, opening for Cimarron from Colombia - get ready to buy tickets!

New music: the great Mexican bolero “Perfidia” is working its way into rotation, and I’m still considering a major work to work on for the Fall - this Summer has been so busy with a move, new day job and a steady flow of gigs that I haven’t had too much time for new repertoire, but I hope to get back on that in an ambitious way in the next month.

Enjoy the back half of your Summer! See you in the twitterverse…

July 2010 - Writing after a fabulous Fourth of July weekend in Chicago - there is truly nothing like it.

June was another super busy month - made even more crazy by a move to a new apartment - including a couple really great private parties. When people take my card at a Farmer’s Market, or other public event, I always stress how much I love private dinner parties and it’s so excellent to actually be given the opportunity to come into someone’s home to entertain. My mission will continue to bring live music back to spaces where it has been supplanted by stereos!

The big fun show of the month will be on July 31, as my super fun electric band, Mas Trueno, will take the stage in/on Logan Square for the Summer Sessions in the Square series - the whole bill is great, please do make a plan to come out and party with us!

http://summersessionsonthesquare.org/

New music development: focusing on working with Alfonso developing more duets, including some Brazilian classics. Perhaps I’ll join him some evening at Perez Restaurant in Pilsen soon (he plays there every weekend).

Enjoy the sunshine!

June 2010 Happy Summer!

Another busy month ahead, a mix of Farmer’s Markets, Weddings, Gallery Openings and Clandestino!

AND…the pure chaos of a move…I hope to keep the hands healthy through all the packing.

If you missed Los Guitarristas’ performance/interview on WBEZ, here’s a link:

http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=42142

New repertoire on hold as I keep with events!

Enjoy your sweet summertime Chicago!

May 2010: This month’s theme: busy! 15 gigs of some sort plus the group ensemble - that plus my new part time job, and I’m not really quite sure how I’ll be able sleep - but these are good problems!

The highlight for everyone will be Los Gutarristas performing live on WBEZ on Friday May 21, on the Eight-Forty-Eight program at 9:30am - tune in! And if you can’t, it will be archived on their site forever, so I’ll be sure to give a link once it is up.

The month also begins my 6th season performing the Green City Market in Lincoln Park - I’ll be doing more dates than ever for that this year - tons of Wednesdays, I can hope you can make shopping there a habit, whether you’re there for me or not. It’s the best farmer’s market in the city, featuring only the best locally-grown organic produce.

You’ll notice nothing on the slate for Mas Trueno, we’re starting a new recording project this month, hopefully recording 3 new tunes - stay tuned for that!

With all the busy-ness, I have a new repertoire development on hiatus for a bit on the solo guitar end, but Los G’s continues to pour it on - if you come see us at the Heartland Cafe on 5/21, you’ll be treated to brand new full arrangement of Paisaje de Argentina #2 - our deepest track yet.

Enjoy your Chicago Spring!

April 2010: Spring Greetings! Two big and exciting pieces of news:

1. I’ve finally started making video demos (with my new Kodak Zi8 camera). They’ll be embedded soon on the Photo/Video Page here , but I have a YouTube channel set up…more will be added over the first half of April:
http://www.youtube.com/user/neildixonsmith

2. I’m starting a very cool new group class! Starting Tuesday April 13, and then each Tuesday from 7-8:30pm at the Stan Mansion in Logan Square (2408 N. Kedzie). I’m calling it the “Unemployed Guitarist’s Group Therapy (& Instruction)". It will be a very unique approach to a group guitar class, and just $5 a session it’s a bargain - open to all levels.

If you are visiting this site because you saw an ad for it, please drop me a line with any questions: neildixonsmith@yahoo.com

Basically we’ll be creating an “in-the-moment/ad hoc” guitar ensemble, with musical tasks ready to go for anyone’s level - from strumming rhythms, to simple bass-lines, to playing melodies to space to improvise. Whether you just need reps figuring out new ways to play chords, or you want an opportunity to jam a bit, I hope all accommodate many multiple agendas - and it should be quite a sound!

It will also be structured more like a yoga class than a guitar instructional class - you just drop in week to week as you can, and it will have its own momentum and evolution.

Enjoy your April!