Monday, November 5, 2012

Juber will host birthday bash at McCabes

 Laurence Juber invites fans to his 60th birthday celebration this week at McCabes

Grammy artist Laurence Juber will celebrate a milestone in grand style with a birthday bash at a SoCal institution.

Family, friends, fans and well-wishers are invited to join Juber help ring in his 60th birthday with a concert performance set for 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, 2012, at McCabes Guitar Shop, 3101 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, Calif. Tickets are $20.

I always look forward to my annual McCabes gig. I celebrate my birthday as the anniversary of first picking up the guitar,” says Juber. “I can’t imagine a more appropriate place to play than this legendary guitar store and concert venue.

The former Wings lead guitarist and virtuoso just may be the busiest man in the music industry. In addition to recently playing a part on tribute albums to Bob Dylan and Linda McCartney, Juber performs almost 100 dates a year, has regular session work, conducts professional workshops, performs on soundtracks for feature films and television. His latest effort, “Soul of Light,” was released this past April. Early 2013 will see the release of two new projects: “Under An Indigo Sky” showcases the jazz/blues 'Noir' side of his playing; “Catch LJ Live” is a concert set CD/DVD combo.

A world-class guitar virtuoso solo artist, composer and arranger, Juber fuses folk, jazz, and pop styles and creates a dynamic multi-faceted performance that belies the use of only one instrument. As a studio musician, he can be heard on recent albums from artists as diverse as Barry Manilow, Donovan, Al Stewart and Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks. He is also featured on the soundtracks to hundreds of TV shows and movies including the Academy Award-winning “Good Will Hunting”, the James Bond thriller “The Spy Who Love Me”, the 1987 smash “Dirty Dancing” and most recently, “The Muppets”. He is also featured on the new Paul Williams digital single “Still Alive”, from the documentary film of the same name.

Known to his fans as ‘LJ’, Juber has released 20 acclaimed solo albums. His celebrated arranging skills are featured on two volumes of LJPlays The Beatles, the first of which was voted among the all-time top ten acoustic guitar records. Juber says fans never tire of hearing him play their songs and he remains endlessly fascinated by their catalog.

"Every time I hear a Beatles record I gain a new appreciation for them," Juber said. "Above and beyond the analytical part of it and creating the arrangements, when I start deconstructing Beatles songs, I find unexpected things. I can never listen to a Beatles record twice and hear exactly the same thing. There’s always something that I’ve missed, or a new discovery where you say, 'Wow, what was that little guitar lick?' Or the way in which the backing vocals come in…there’s always something new to discover in their work."

If you go:
What: Laurence Juber
Where: McCabes Guitar Shop, 3101 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10
Information: 310-828-8037 or www.mccabes.com

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