{"id":6354,"date":"2015-11-21T04:42:40","date_gmt":"2015-11-21T04:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarcorner.com\/?p=6354"},"modified":"2016-10-24T00:19:49","modified_gmt":"2016-10-24T00:19:49","slug":"seventhings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarcorner.com\/seventhings\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven things you didn’t know about Simon"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have gotten to know a lot of you over the years via email and I have even had the good fortune to meet some of you in person. To give you a little more insight into who I am (there is more than the classical guitar) here are seven things you didn\u2019t know about me.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

#1 I\u2019m in a band and I play Mandolin, harmonica and steel string guitar.<\/span><\/h3>\n

I love the classical guitar, but I would say I love music in general. When I listen for pleasure the music is all over the map. A few years ago I was performing in a Festival in Australia where I saw the Punch Brothers perform. This is an amazing group that has bluegrass roots and at the helm is a bonafide genius by the name of Chris Thile. He is a mandolin player that inspired me to take up the instrument and pretty soon after I recruited some friends in New York to form a band. <\/span><\/p>\n

I usually write the music and Caroline (the singer) writes the lyrics. Here is a sample<\/span><\/p>\n\n

The band is called “Cathedral Parkway” (the street where I used to live) and the album on iTunes is “Howl at the Moon<\/a>“<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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#2 I am a professional photographer<\/span><\/h3>\n

One time, several years back, I performed in Oslo at a human rights conference. I didn\u2019t know anyone so I ended hanging out with the photographers. I was quickly bitten by the photography bug and began teaching myself by learning online (which incidentally is how I became aware of the effectiveness of online teaching). I have shot at New York Fashion Week, been published in books, Weddings, festivals and had many portrait sessions including the Juilliard String Quartet. I think my favorite moment for photography was walking down Broadway in New York and seeing one of my photos used at Lincoln Center.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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#3 My first instrument was brass<\/span><\/h3>\n

My first instrument was the cornet, and I was cute as a button when I played it. I have no idea if I was actually playing the right notes back then. By the way, that grumpy guy on the right is my brother. He ended up being a musician too…<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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#4\u00a0I Danced in the olympics<\/span><\/h3>\n

I will spare you the lead up to this one, but when I was a high school student in Australia I was part of a group selected to dance in the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Sydney. I am pretty sure it will be the biggest audience I will ever perform for and the only<\/i> audience I will ever dance for :)<\/p>\n

I do have a photo of this, but for the life of me I can’t find it! I guess you will just have to trust me.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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#5 Hablo Espa\u00f1ol<\/span><\/h3>\n

When I was at Yale I had a bad habit of taking on too many classes. One of these was Spanish and every morning at 8am I would spend two hours learning Spanish with a group of undergrads who where ten years younger than me and ten times as smart!<\/span><\/p>\n

The Spanish language is a beautiful one with great poetry, films and music. It also helped me greatly when I traveled to South America to teach and perform. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here is an interview on Buenos Aires radio.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>