Links

• EricSteckel.com
  Eric is Craig's former guitar student who has really made a name for himself worldwide. CTB and Eric are teaming up together in '08 for several tours in Europe as well as performances in Jacksonville, Fla., Chatanooga, Tn., New Hope, PA and the Sellersville Theatre in Sellersville, PA. Keep watching our Schedule page for more details.
• ScottBradoka.com
  Scott Bradoka is not only a fine guitarist/composer--and an all around nice guy-- but a great friend of CT's. Scott has appeared worldwide including an '06 European tour as the opening act for Jeff Beck. Check out his original instrumentals on his site. Scott and CT plan on doing some writing/recording together in '08.
• SimonesWorld.com
  Simone, the daughter of renowned song stylist Nina Simone, is absolutely one of the finest female vocalists out there today. She has had the lead in Broadway shows, including "Aida" and others and has performed worldwide. CT had the opportunity to record with Simone on her first solo album which will be released in Feb., '08. You can hear selections on Simone's website. CT will also be doing some work with Simone in '08.

Rest In Peace Buddy Miles and Jeff Healy

Mon, March 3, 2008

Rough week for our music world as we lost two great performers; on Tuesday drummer/vocalist Buddy Miles died at 60 years of age from congestive heart failure. While he was best know as the drummer in the Band of Gypsys with Jimi Hendrix and Billy Cox, his first big break was actually in the Electric Flag with guitarist Mike Bloomfield. They had a great first album but the second didn't sell and by the time they played at Monterrey Pop they were on the verge of splitting up. Buddy ended up recording and touring with many great players over the years and also released several albums with his own band, the Buddy Miles Express. He was also one of the voices in the California Raisins commercials.

And just this evening, Jeff Healy died at 41 years of age. He had been fighting cancer ever since birth and it had already claimed his eyesight by the age of 1. He developed a really unique style of playing the guitar sitting down with both hands over the fingerboard--more like a piano approach than a guitar approach. Many of you will remember Jeff Healy as the guitarist in the band in the movie Roadhouse with Patrick Swayze. He was really quite an interesting player.
We used to perform several Jeff Heally tunes. He was just about to realease his first rock/blues album in eight years.

Very sad. Count each day as a blessing because one just never knows ...