Jamming with Kaufman

[giverin]

In a small town in NW England about 70 people gather every thursday and have a pint (not me in only 15), a jam and a right good time. The organiser has in the pasthad a few American starsoverto peform in a few concertsfor us. This time it was the turn of Kaufman to entertain. As well as performin Sweet Georgia Brown on stage with him, me and him had a brill jam before the proceedings. We only did fiddle tunes but he cant half move those fingers. If anybody has met/seen him A)he is an amazing guitarist with a good sense of humour and B) he is extremely nice man. If any body has met him, you willmost certainly agree.

[250sc]

Yup, good picker, good teacher and good guy. Whenever he is in Michigan I try to get involved.

[mancmando]

Heyup Giverin,

is that jam the one that Stuart Williams organises in Helsby??

[Tom C]

I guess you are talking about $teve Kaufman? If there's a buck to be made, he does it.

[giverin]

Manc mando - it certainly is. Where hav you heard of that? Stu and Kaufman on stage was really something to see

[elenbrandt]

Come on Tom -- tell us what you really think about Kaufman..... hehehehehe

[Flowerpot]

Hey, give the guy a break. Picking/instruction is his livelihood, not a hobby.

[AlanN]

Right with what Flowerpot said. Give the guy a break, as T. Rice once said "This ain't no f@%!?in' hobby!"

[Tom C]

Oh come on, it was one small comment. He is a heck of a picker. I like his arrangements/solos for tunes. He is also a shrewed businessman. If you ever attended his Kamp, he would try to sell you the pen from his pocket.

[J. Mark Lane]

I have benefited greatly from Steve's instructional materials, which I think are some of the best there are. I was happy to pay for them, too. Even if he did nothing else, he has contributed to the survival and growth of American traditional and folk music by that body of work. I know that he also gives discounts to the Co-Mando group in connection with its annual scholarship fund, which has sent students to the Kamp each of the last several years.

Kudos!

Mark

[mancmando]

Heyup giverin,

I live in Manchester (hence mancmando), and am friends with Johnny who is in Stu's band, and know stu a little bit, and sometimes go to the evenings in Helsby when a band is playing.

It's a small world......

[levin4now]

Hey I almost bought that pen! But I would have had to buy a "kamp kazoo" to get the sale price....

[Clyde Clevenger]

I ran into a guy at a festival in California a few years back who had nothing good to say about Steve, that the only thing Steve cared about was money. I had told him that I went to Steve's camp (twice), owned most of his instructional material, and pretty much give Steve most of the credit for making me a fair to middlin' flatpicker and mandolin player. Since I didn't start either until I was 47, I had a lot of catching up to do, a job and a family, not much time to practice and no ear to pick things up from recordings. This fella, a pretty well known flatpicker, seemed a little bitter. A couple years later I found out why, Steve had beaten him at Winfield, twice. Onliest thing I can figure is the judges must taken business sence into account, or maybe Ol' Steve can pick a little.