THAT GUITAR IN THE CLOSET
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| Veterans and musicians will team up at Sam's Burger Joint and Music Hall for free guitar and songwriting lessons beginning Sept. 9. |
Music
heals.
Ask the lovestruck teenager who has Adele playing on an endless loop on her iPod. Or the scorned woman who takes strength from Alanis Morissette. No matter the emotion. No matter the genre of the music. No matter the age, sex or background of the listener, music has the almost-magical ability to transcend space and time, to make all things better, to show you that yes indeed, someone else does understand what you're going through.
And
if just listening to music helps a person heal, imagine the power of writing
and creating music. To put the anguish into words and the pain into
notes…imagine how good that must feel.
There’s
an organization making its debut in San Antonio next month that aims to foster
that cathartic environment for our nation’s veterans. That’s the goal of
SoldierSongs and Voices.
The
premise is simple. Bring musicians together with veterans. Teach veterans how
to play the guitar, whether they’re experienced or novice. Help them get their
emotions out by putting pen to paper.
The
best part of this deal – it’s free. And it’s open to veterans of all ages and
any conflicts.
Another
cool benefit of this program is that SoldierSongs and Voices lets veterans
borrow guitars if they don’t have one of their own. When they’ve written their
first song, the guitar is theirs to keep.
San
Antonio is just the latest Texas city to start a chapter of this nonprofit
organization. The workshops will take place at Sam’s Burger Joint and Music Hall the second and fourth Sundays of every month, BEGINNING SEPT. 9, from 1-3
p.m.
So
how can you help? I’m glad you asked.
If
you’re a veteran and you would like to participate, please email sanantoniossv@gmail.com and provide
us with your name, phone number and military affiliation. We want to be sure we
have enough mentors available at these workshops.
If
you’re a musician and you would like to volunteer your time and talents, please
email sanantoniossv@gmail.com and
provide us with your name and phone number. If you have a preference in what
you would like to teach, let us know.
And
if you are one of those well-intentioned people who bought a guitar years ago
with dreams of becoming the next Eddie Van Halen but your career never went
anywhere … in other words, if you own “that guitar in the closet,” email sanantoniossv@gmail.com and let us
know if you would like to donate your guitar for the cause. We’ll make
arrangements with you to pick up the guitar and give it a good home…and fix it
if it needs some work.
Charlie
Gallagher, president of the board of directors of SoldierSongs and Voices, is
excited about branching out to the Alamo City.
“We’ve
had a tremendous outpouring of support for our other Texas chapters in Austin,
Houston and San Marcos,” said Charlie. “Next Sunday (August 12) we’ll
inaugurate our workshop in La Grange. With San Antonio’s reputation for being
‘Military City, USA,’ I knew we could do great things here if we had the right
people at the helm.”
The
first musicians on board to volunteer in San Antonio will be Jimmy Spacek,
Michael “Maestro” Aurora and Patrick Sigel. Helping coordinate the workshops
and publicity and otherwise herding cats will be yours truly, The Groovy
Gringa. All four of us behind this initial effort also happen to be veterans,
so we definitely have a special place in our hearts for this organization.
So,
to wrap things up:
Veterans,
musicians and owners of dusty guitars – please email us at sanantoniossv@gmail.com with your
information.
Make
plans now to be at Sam’s Burger Joint and Music Hall at the corner of Grayson
and Broadway on Sunday, Sept. 9, from 1-3 p.m.
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