WELCOME!

 

I am a guitarist and teacher (formerly) in New York City, where I have been

playing and studying the guitar since age 12, which is more than 50 years.  

 I have performed on the guitar in numerous public places:  art gallery showings,

private functions and affairs, restaurants, weddings, and the concert stage.

 

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stuAndNorasWedding

 

 

 

 

 

I have a CD available for purchase,

and a web site dedicated to the guitar. 

I also have a YouTube channel with subscribers,

and many music videos I made of my performances. 

 

I have performed in public for literally, thousands of hours. 

My favorite spot is in Central Park in the arches,

on the East Side of the park:

 

79th St entrance

Greywacke Arch

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Glade Arch

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Trefoil Arch

The natural acoustics inside these arches is fantastic. The sound is gorgeous.

As much as I loved (and sometimes hated) the city of New York, I now live in beautiful Albuquerque, New Mexico.

 

79th St entrance

79th St entrance
79th St entrance

How I got here is another story, including retirement from my job

(the boring but salaried one, unrelated to guitar), a cross country RV trip,

a Breaking Bad tour, a fried fuse in an RV fridge, and many other events.

They all combined to land me and my beautiful wife Robin, here in this wonderful town.

But prior to Albuquerque...

 

MY STORY

 

Like many players, I was frustrated with the lack of opportunity to perform. I had studied for years and years, and finally arrived at concert level, but without an outlet for performance, it started to seem like a waste. I could get the occasional restaurant gig, but often in a restaurant you can fade into the background. What I really wanted was to be on a stage performing. There wasn't one available, so, one day I bought an electric classical guitar and a portable amp, and took them to Central Park. I sat myself down in a populated area and started to play. I was nervous! People were looking at me and listening to me, because I was not part of the background, but in their faces! When I finished the piece, I got APPLAUSE! So I played another piece. And then another. At the end of the day, I had so much fun and so much encouragement to come back - that I did, the following day. Sometime after that, I moved to "center stage" - the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There were about 30 people sitting on the steps. I set up my stool facing them, and imagined I was in a concert hall. I wondered if I was going to get thrown out of there any second - or if I was going to get laughed at or booed. But they too applauded for me, and I realized that this is what I was made for. As I came back again and again and gained experience, I became a far better player and performer. Well, I've played in Central Park and at the Museum ever since - about 15 (update - 25) years. I NEED to perform. I thrive on it. Playing alone, with no listener, is just practice for me. I can't put out any intensity or emotion into my playing, for just the walls. But sit one person on the steps - and I can tell when they are tuned into me - and I go into this zone where I am putting all the intensity and feeling that I can muster into my playing. Overall, it's been very rewarding, and the reaction has been very positive. I have a steady following - people I recognize that come out and listen. Today, a woman bought a CD and told me she was taking it back to Italy! I have CD's all over the world. If I had never had the chutzpah to go out there in the first place, I would have missed all this. It's been wonderful.

 

I arrived at my spot last Saturday, May17 2008, to find the steps under construction.  I asked around at it looks like the steps may be out of bounds for playing, for at least a year.

Not so bad - I went into the park and had a lovely day.  Just lovely, in every way.  Next weekend was the same.  I find I like being inside the park even more than at the steps.

If you're looking for me, I might be in the park, just inside the East 79th St footpath, or the East 76th St footpath.

   
   
   

At least half my existence in this lifetime is centered around playing for people in the Park, and at that museum. You can't imagine the time I've had, the tide of humanity drifting past me, in and out of the museum, and walking through the Park.

  Some people just toss a buck in my case and keep walking.  I'm grateful to them, but I don't appreciate them as much as those that hear my sound, stop in their tracks, and sit down and listen - sometimes for hours.  It might sound crazy, but I bet as many people have heard me play live, as have heard John Williams, Andres Segovia, or any other concert player.  It's possible.  It's not unreasonable.   On a typical busy day, thousands of people pass by and hundreds sit down on the steps.  And I've been doing this for years.

Sure a lot of folks on the steps that day.  They must have heard I was playing there.  Couldn't have  anything to do with the Van Eyck or the Breugel exhibit!!
 

Every so often, someone pays me a huge compliment.  Sometimes, they just walk up and tell me that they love my playing.  Others draw me, photograph me, record me and film me. 

Some write me little notes on napkins.  And once in a while somebody comes over and tells me to shut the hell up and go away (you can't win 'em all!).  But at least those people are in the small minority. 

Sometimes somebody will tell THAT person to shut up and go away.  I really like people like that!

 

   

Dear Mr. Guitar Man,

Thank you for playing so beautifully.  You made my day.  Many years from now, I will still remember the day when I sat on the steps of the Met and was comforted by the sounds of Albeniz.  Keep playing.

Thanks again - a tourist from the Philippines

p.s. I'm sorry it was just $2.  Your music was priceless

   

June 1, 2013

A HOT day, and a BEAUTIFUL watercolor painting by Sally Steinwachs from Rochester.

   

Sunday July 9, 2006

A guy took this Polaroid of me from the museum steps.  

It sure was quiet there at that moment.  

I wonder where everybody went!!!

I don't get it - the place was jammed a moment before I started playing. 

Gee - what could have made everybody split like that???

   

Teatro Roma, Buenos Aires Argentina, 1998

   

See that photo on the left?  I was told that Enrique Caruso sang on this very stage.  Caruso WAS born in Buenos Aires, so it is probably true.

Now you're going to tell me that the theater looks like it is  empty!  Well, wise guy, I have news for you.  That photo was taken at a rehearsal the day before the actual concert.  The night of the real concert, the theater was ANYTHING but EMPTY.  Why, there was a couple seated in the 4th row.  My parents sure enjoyed the show, too.  But there were other people besides just my family!  There was another guy in the balcony (the theater manager).  I must have been playing really great because the guy was crying his eyes out!

 

PRIVATE PERFORMANCES

I am happy to play at weddings (gay or straight - I'm nonjudgemental), Bar Mitzvi, parties, bashes, art gallery shows, fashion shows, house warmings, exorcisms, or anything else that comes up.  If there is classical guitar involved in whatever you are planning, I can do it!  email me at the link below and we'll work something out.

HIRE ME FOR ANY EVENT - CLICK FOR DETAILS

 

It's not all a bed of roses!

The cops were hasseling me for playing out by the Met, and on the paths.

Mainly it's the amp.

A real BUMMER!

But I found a partial solution:

tunneling around

 

 

MY BABIES

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I've been doing this a long time. I love playing the guitar more than pretty much any other activity.

 

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I'd already been playing for at least 20 years here

 

Older Marc

30 years later, and I still haven't quit