Those of you who tuned in Feb. 20 to Steve Cowan’s terrific concert for TGS on konnectclub were sure to find much to like. We seem to be getting the hang now of organizing and carrying off these online guest performances. And although they do offer some advantages and a degree of interaction, I hope we don’t get too comfortable with this virtual model. We have to stop meeting this way!

Although these online concerts appear seamless, they take a lot of work behind the scenes to get right. Besides introducing Steve, Program Director Dennis Aberle was instrumental in making his concert happen in the first place, from recommending Steve as our second guest artist this season to engaging Steve’s participation and promoting the concert from his end. Together, they conducted an online “sound check” before the concert and made sure everything was ready.

Membership Coordinator Billy Switzer again worked hard to send out notices to members and others who might have an interest in seeing Steve and kept advance advertising prominent in TGS’s web presence and social media channels.

And a thank-you to everyone who bought a ticket, filled the virtual “tip jar,” and left appreciative comments on konnectclub.

This issue of TGS News debuts two of what I hope will remain regular columns. One, by Dennis, will highlight the new and notable happenings in the world of flamenco guitar music (see Flamenco Corner, page 3). In the other, one of our newest members, Jon Sayles, presents the first in a regular column of his personal guitaristic reflections called Clear Sayleing.

Jon lives in Youngsville, north of Wake Forest, and has pursued classical guitar and its repertoire seriously for many decades. You might also check out his webpage devoted mainly to his own arrangements and recordings of early music for guitar ensemble.

For my own part, I’m offering nine pages of my new unique modern performance edition of one of Fernando Sor’s most celebrated masterworks: Grand Solo, Op. 14, starting on page 11. In the newsletter I tell about the decisions I made in creating this special, one-of-a-kind edition.

By the way, folks, next time you are in Atlanta, make certain to visit Maple Street Guitars. This family business, incorporated in 1981, was initially focused on guitar lessons, classical guitars, and sheet music and has grown through the years to include a staff of 20 and an extensive inventory of all kinds of guitars and fretted instruments.

George and Claire Petsch and their son Lindsay run the shop and are always a delight to chat with about all things guitar. Maple Street Guitars has always been a fun place to visit and play their many fine concert-level guitars these many decades, as I have driven back and forth to Tallahassee, happily avoiding I-95, and since my son Ben was at Emory University and now lives there.

Maple Street and the Classical Guitar Store in Philly are two of the finest classical guitar shops south of New York. Two other shops, the Miami Recorder Workshop and Sophocles Papas’s Guitar Shop in Washington, D.C., have long gone.

So, folks, stay tuned for announcements of our next two concerts coming up this season, and send in your annual dues if you haven’t yet done so.

— “Prez” Randy Reed