The Artichoke in Wichita

There's something special about getting up on a four foot high stage in front of a thousand people and just putting on a great show - it just gives me a real rush.

Well, The Artichoke, where I played Friday night, is not that place - the performer stands on the floor under the Guinness sign and there were maybe twenty people in the room... but that didn't matter. I still got that same rush. It's really great when an audience gets into the music like that. A great audience makes the show and that's what I got when I played there Friday night.

As usual, there was a cigar box guitar give away during the show. A lovely young lady, Katherine, won the guitar. And although she seemed kind of shy, she joined me on stage and played a little improvised tune on her new instrument.

It often seems that fate picks just the right person to win the giveaway guitar, and this night was no exception.

The night was also the debut performance of the "We Will Not Be Silent" cigar box guitar. Actually, it may have been the first time that guitar was ever plugged into a sound system. The guitar performed great - I think it may be a new regular gigging guitar. Cigar box guitar luthier Wichita Sam was in the audience and commented after the show that the new guitar sounded like a 335 - I agree and I couldn't ask for a better sound.

So it was a great night at the Artichoke and I hope to be back again sometime.