Juber closes out tour in SoCal

Two-time Grammy-Award winning guitar artist Laurence Juber will close his latest tour with a homecoming concert in Southern California.

Juber will play 8 p.m. Saturday, June 16, 2012, at Boulevard Music, 4316 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City. Tickets are $17.50. Juber will also host a two-hour guitar workshop preceding the concert from 4 to 6 p.m. The cost is $40.

The workshop and concert appearance closes out a six-month tour, which started in January.

Known for playing lead guitar in Wings from 1978 to 1981, Juber, known as ‘LJ’, has since had a distinguished career as a solo finger-style guitarist. A world-class guitar virtuoso solo artist, composer and arranger, LJ fuses folk, jazz, and pop styles and creates a dynamic multi-faceted performance that belies the use of only one instrument. 

Laurence has released 20 acclaimed solo albums since Wings folded, including two volumes on The Beatles and one on his former group with McCartney. His latest, Soul of Light, is a retrospective collection of original compositions that span over 30 years of creative work on solo guitar. All newly recorded, some of these tunes may be familiar from being heard on TV and radio, while others have been touchstones of the solo guitar. 

“I started out as a composer for solo guitar and I’ve written well over a hundred tunes. The compositions on Soul of Light reflect a particular mood – one of romance,” Juber says. “Not only pure love songs, but also in the sense of using imagination and narrative to expand and transcend the traditional solo guitar genre. It also serves as a complement to the blues/jazz direction that my current composing and arranging is taking me.”

As a studio musician, he can be heard on recent albums from artists as diverse as Barry Manilow, 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 and Dirty Dancing, the James Bond thriller The Spy Who Love Me and 2011's The Muppets.

For more information visit:

http://laurencejuber.com/

What: Laurence Juber 

Where: Boulevard Music, 4316 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, June 16

Cost: $17.50

Information: 310-398-2583 or http://www.boulevardmusic.com/

Coffee Talk with Laurence Juber

Two-time Grammy-Award winning guitar artist Laurence Juber will make a rare and intimate appearance this weekend at the Cave Creek Coffee Company, 6033 E. Cave Creek Road in Cave Creek, Arizona. The show starts 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15. Often considered most famous for playing lead guitar in Wings from 1978 to 1981, Juber, known as ‘LJ’, has since had a distinguished career as a solo finger-style guitarist.

LJ graciously granted me an interview to promote his upcoming Cave Creek appearance. As always, the virtuoso was in rare form.

Q: You’ve been on a mini-tour of our lovely state. What do you think of Arizona?

LJ: I enjoy Arizona, especially the northern portion. Last year I played in Flagstaff and right now I’m headed to Cottonwood. I like the audiences here, too, because they are not only enthusiastic but actually show up. That’s always a good thing!

Q: In between shows, you also do guitar workshops. What are those like?

LJ: They’re definitely more on the technical end of the spectrum of what I do. It’s usually a group lesson between eight and 20 people, showing them tips, tricks and ways to improve their playing. I also explain my process for arranging and playing the solo acoustic guitar, how to get sound, resonance and character from the instrument. I pass on my knowledge and experience on how to create a solid musical experience.

Q: It’s been a while since you’ve played at the Cave Creek Coffee Co.? How do you like the venue?

LJ: I remember it being a really cool place. When I first played there, it was a smallish coffee house and I played indoors. The last time I played they had moved the stage to the outside and there was a much bigger crowd. It’s a great vibe being outdoors and in the desert. It’s a great evening.

Q: At your concerts, you play all styles of music, including a nice sampling of the Beatles. Why are their songs so magical?

LJ: (laughs) Every time I hear a Beatles record I gain a new appreciation. 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.

Q: Did you hear that Cave Creek is hosting a running of the bulls hours before your gig?

LJ: I heard about it…No bull at my show.

For more information, call the Cave Creek Coffee Company at 480-488-0603 or visit www.cavecreekcoffee.com/


What: Laurence Juber
Where: Cave Creek Coffee Company, 6033 E. Cave Creek Road
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15
Cost: $20 advance; $23 at the door
Information: 480-488-0633 or www.cavecreekcoffee.com

Laurence Juber makes Cave Creek appearance

Two-time Grammy-Award winning artist Laurence Juber will make a rare and intimate appearance this weekend at the Cave Creek Coffee Company, 6033 E. Cave Creek Road in Cave Creek, Arizona. The show starts 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15. Tickets are $18-$22.

Often considered most famous for playing lead guitar in Wings from 1978 to 1981, Juber has since had a distinguished career as a solo finger-style guitarist.

A world-class guitar virtuoso solo artist, composer and arranger, Juber has released 15 critically acclaimed solo albums since Wings folded. His latest, LJ Plays The Beatles Vol. 2 (Solid Air Records), is a solo acoustic guitar arrangement of 15 songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

For more information, call the Cave Creek Coffee Company at 480-488-0603 or visit www.cavecreekcoffee.com/

"The White Book" cracks the Top Ten

"The White Book" cracks Top Ten on Amazon charts

"The White Book" has cracked the Top Ten on Amazon.com according to its most recent chart listing. The memoir, penned Ken Mansfield, former U.S. Manager for Apple Records and record producer, has charted in three different categories.

The book ranks #2 in the music category; #3 in entertainment and #11 in biography and memoirs.

Mansfield has worked with some of the biggest giants in the rock 'n roll and the country music genres. As the former U.S. manager of the Apple Records label, he was invited by his bosses, The Beatles to be among only a handful of eyewitnesses to catch their last-ever gig on the rooftop of their London headquarters on January 30, 1969. He was a loyal employee and companion to John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr both during the band years and well after their breakup in 1970. He was present when they composed some of their most enduring tunes. As a record label exec and Grammy Award-winning producer, he also worked on the marketing, promotion and production of dozens of top-selling artists, such as the Beach Boys, and was also a major player in country music in the 1970s as producer of choice of the groundbreaking Outlaw movement, whose impact is still felt in the genre to this very day.

Now, Mansfield's experiences with the Fab Four and the music industry - many of which are told for the first time - are recounted in his first all-music tome, "The White Book - The Beatles, the Bands, the Biz: An Insider's Look at an Era" (Thomas Nelson/ISBN 1595551018) published on October 30, 2007.Through exclusive, never-before-seen photos and personal stories, Mansfield - one of the very last Fab Four insiders to pen a book - offers a compelling memoir that delves into his life in the 1960s and '70s and his unique partnership with The Beatles and other musicians who had orbited their world, from James Taylor to Harry Nilsson.

It also includes fleeting, yet unforgettable encounters with Mama Cass Elliott, Eric Clapton, Donovan, Glen Campbell and Dolly Parton. As observer, friend and colleague, Mansfield attended Beatles recording sessions, partied in their swimming pools, took their irate calls, witnessed the madness of Beatlemania, and publicized their success.

Entertaining, historically accurate, and illuminating a side of the Fab Four known only to a few like Mansfield, The White Book shines fresh light on the true characters behind the cultural phenomena that revolutionized a generation."The White Book" is packaged in a limited, numbered edition, a la the original copies of "The Beatles" highly influential double album from 1968, also nicknamed "The White Album."For more information, go to www.fabwhitebook.com