I met Tom Griesgraber through surfing Jerry Marotta’s page – he and Tom collaborate on music quite frequently and have formed a duo Marotta Griesgraber . Tom plays something called Chapman STick (seen in the photo to the left). A stick is like a guitar neck only wider, and has up to 12 strings and you use it two handed.. one hand plays the bass line, the other plays melody. You can plunk it like a guitar, tap it like a piano or twang it like a harp.. its one of the most versatile and coolest instruments I’ve ever listened to, and Tom is a phenominal player.
So I met Tom through Myspace, and heard Tom was coming to Vancouver with a fellow named Bert Lams, a classically trained guitarist. Bert is 1/3 of the California Guitar Trio. Tom and Bert were coming up to play a concert in someone’s home. I was terribly intrigued, and Tom and I had already discussed the doll project somewhat, so of course I arranged to take a doll to the concert. I contacted Bert and asked if he’d be interested in participating as well, and he said yes, so we were set.
The night of the concert was pretty unique. The show, as I said, was in someone’s home downtown Vancouver, and there were about 50 people in the audience which was mostly in the living room of this stunning old Victorian home, but spilled out to the staircase and into the hallway and kitchen as well. The two ladies that lived in the house had fresh baking for us, and coffee, tea, and juice, and Tom and Bert were set up in the bay window. Bert was amazing on the guitar, and he and Tom played as if they were of one mind – it was amazing. After the show, they wandered the room speaking to the guests and answering all sorts of questions, etc.. many of the listeners were old friends and musicians themselves. Both Tom and Bert posed for doll photos and I had a great time that evening.
After shooting photos with Tom and Bert, we had enough photos for our second charity auction, and sent the proceeds this time to World Vision. The brainstorming began yet again – who would we try for next?
