The Dixie Chicks.
Photograph by Paul Natkin.

Excerpted from Acoustic Guitar Magazine, December 1999, No. 84.

NEWS | EVENTS | NEW RELEASES | CONTESTS | IN MEMORY | CYBER NOTES | SEND NEWS

News RETURN TO TOP	The Dixie Chicks’ acoustic-laden Fly buzzed to the top of the Billboard 200 chart, gaining the number one album slot for the week of September 18. This marked the first time a country artist has ever landed the coveted top spot. The Chicks also placed first on the country sales charts. The acoustic guitar that John Lennon was playing with the Quarrymen the day he met Paul McCartney was auctioned on September 14. Lennon bought the black-and-red Gallotone Champion by mail for about $28. The new owner paid over $250,000 to strum "Can’t Buy Me Love" on the same ax.
Events RETURN TO TOP	For more than 100 years, the Field Museum in Chicago has been accumulating musical instruments from around the world. Sounds from the Vaults will take visitors on a multimedia journey through the museum’s collection of musical artifacts. The exhibit runs through March 5, 2000. Learn more at www.fmnh.org or call (312) 922-9410.
Contests RETURN TO TOP	The ASCAP Foundation and Lilith Fair have created a national songwriting contest designed exclusively for unsigned women songwriters. The annual competition will offer several cash prizes, with the grand-prize winner taking home $25,000. Entry forms must be submitted with an original song on cassette or CD by November 15. Winners will be announced in the spring. Applications for the first round are available at participating Guitar Center stores and from www.lilithfair.com. Recorded and released your own CD? Enter it in Acoustic Guitar’s Homegrown CD Awards. Each winner will be featured in the magazine and receive a $1,000 certificate for Sweetwater Sound’s music-technology catalog. Get the details at www.acousticguitar.com.
New Releases RETURN TO TOP	Taylor Guitars has a new informational video illuminating some of Bob Taylor’s design innovations. New Neck Designs is free for the asking at www.taylorguitars.com or via snail mail at Taylor Guitars, 1980 Gillespie Way, El Cajon, CA 92020-1096. Rykodisc’s latest recordings include a three-CD sampler called The Best of Flamenco, featuring Carlos Montoya, Escudero, Ramos, and Bernarbe De Moron. Giants of Folk highlights the musical contributions of Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, and Odetta. Peggy Seeger’s songwriting is represented by a retrospective called Period Pieces: Songs from the Women’s Movement for Men and Women. Sony Music Nashville and Legacy Recording’s American Milestones Series have reissued some timeless country gems. The inaugural offerings include the essential Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison as well as Willie Nelson’s Stardust, Marty Robbins’ Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, Tammy Wynette’s Stand By Your Man, and Merle Haggard’s Big City. Learn more at www.sonynashville.com.
In Memory RETURN TO TOP	Classical guitar innovator Alexandre Lagoya died on August 24 in Paris. One of the great 20th-century guitarists and teachers, Lagoya built his reputation in duets with his wife, Ida Presti, and later with flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal. His musical collaboration with Presti fostered new repertoire for the guitar, and their inventive methods contributed several lasting additions to the canon of classical guitar technique.
Cyber Notes RETURN TO TOP	Fingerstyle jazz guitar wizard Tuck Andress shares his personal tricks of the trade, reveals the mysteries of the fingerboard, and unmasks the marvels of the mind at www.tuckandpatti.com. Harmony Central is an online clearing house for all kinds of information about instruments and gear, music, and players, featuring loads of links, chat rooms, reviews, and classified music ads. Check it out at www.harmony-central.com. You can catch live, online performances from the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage every evening at 6 p.m. EST or download highlights from the series for listening at your leisure. Archived concerts include performances by Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, Del Rey, Stephen Fearing, Tony Hauser, and many others. Get the details at www.kennedy-center.org. The All Music Guide’s online Allmusiczine is chock-full of in-depth interviews, reviews, and news. Read it at www.allmusic.com.

 

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