Songs Inside The Box
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Male
100 years old
the cigar box guitar documentary,
United States
Last Login:7/20/2008
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Songs Inside The Box's Film Bio
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| Website | songsinsidethebox.com | | Festivals | 
The 2008 Blues Festival Guide has a nice article on the Cigar Box Guitar Revolution. The magazine is available free at many blues events, or you can order it from their website at BluesFestivalGuide.com.
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Songs Inside The Box's Details
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| Status: | Single | | Body type: | 0' 0" | | Zodiac Sign: | Capricorn |
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| Films: 1 |
Total Plays: 529 |
Plays Today: 1 |
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Run Time:
142
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Plays:
529
Comments:
2
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Songs Inside The Box's Latest Blog Entry
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Cigar Box Guitar Documentary to Premiere in Huntsville
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Songs Inside The Box's Blurbs |
About me:
"Songs Inside the Box" takes viewers to the world's largest concert of cigar box guitar music. It took place in Huntsville, Alabama and provides a unique glimpse into a popular hobby and growing movement of self expression participants call the cigar box guitar revolution.
Since the 1800s, craftsmen have been lovingly forming trash into treasure by making musical instruments from disposable cigar boxes. They worked primarily in isolation until recent years. The Internet changed that.
Search the net for information on cigar box guitars and you'll soon discover Shane Speal's Cigar Box Guitar Forum. It started as a way for the York, Pennsylvania marketing professional to keep up with a few friends who shared his enthusiasm for cigar box guitars, but it grew quickly. Now the forum includes over 2,500 members who trade tips on building and playing instruments every day. This communication led to a special event to give them an opportunity to get together, the Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza in Huntsville, Alabama.
"It's like a family reunion combined with a music festival," says Max Shores, producer/director of the documentary shot at the third annual Extravaganza in June 2007. "These people know each other through the cigar box guitar forum but they don't get to see each other face-to-face often."
For Bill Jagitsch, a computer technician from Arkansas, the Extravaganza was like meeting best friends for the first time. "I've been a member of the forum for two and a half years and I've communicated with these folks daily, but I've never met any of them until today. It was definitely worth the six hour drive."
Jagitsch took the stage in the persona of Bluesboy Jag and entertained the audience with delta blues. He was just one of 12 acts performing at the Extravaganza which featured a wide variety of musical styles played on cigar box guitars and other homemade instruments.
Several years ago Pennsylvania biochemist David Williams made a cigar box guitar and got hooked on the hobby. Discussion in the forum led him to historic one-string instruments which he recreated with scientific accuracy. The normally reserved Williams took the stage as the outgoing One String Willie and showed that a primitive instrument with only one string can make beautiful music.
"These guys gave me a reason to live," said Gerry Thompson from New Jersey. "I had a liver transplant 16 years ago and for the past four years my body has been rejecting it. I had a new transplant just a month ago and I wouldn't miss this event for anything." Thompson and his group, the Color of Skies, performed ballads from the stage and mingled with friends both old and new throughout the day long event.
"There were so many different approaches, styles, and interpretations of the cigar box guitar," said Robert Hamilton of Massachusetts. "It was well worth the 1500 mile trek to get here." "All the performers were awe-inspiring, and I mean everybody!" Hamilton continued.
When the other two members of Hamilton's group, the Low Country Messiahs failed to make it to the event because their car broke down, Hamilton was joined onstage by Shane Speal, the self-proclaimed "King of the Cigar Box Guitar." The two had never played together before, but they played in perfect harmony at this event.
Speal is the glue that holds this widely diverse community together and he brought along his personal collection of historic cigar box guitars dating to the 1800s. When he took the stage, he played music ranging from punk rock to a Hindustani raga on his battered Macanudo box.
"These folks pride themselves on being able to play circles around a lot of musicians who use store bought instruments, but they use instruments they made themselves," said Shores. "It's something you just have to see and hear to believe," he continued. "Some of the performances are demented while others are profound, and the camaraderie experienced at this event is truly heart warming."
In addition to performances from the Extravaganza, the documentary will include a visit with cigar box guitar builder and player Tomi-O Hartwell of Hinton, West Virginia. It will also include historical perspective and instrument building tips from Bill Jehle of Decatur, Alabama.
Production for the cigar box guitar documentary began at the 3rd annual Extravaganza and is still ongoing. The documentary is scheduled for release in the Summer of 2008. "Songs Inside the Box" is a production of the University of Alabama Center for Public Television and Radio.
The 4th annual Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza will be held Saturday, June 21 at the Flying Monkey Arts Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
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