Clark Plays Guitar: Latest News

Every year the Rockford Area Music Industry (RAMI) organization holds an award ceremony recognising musical artists from the greater Rockford, Illinois, USA community. This year Clark Plays Guitar has been nominated in the "new act" category. The number of nominees in this category is by far the largest, so Clark & the guys could really use your vote. Anyone can vote - all you need to do is go here and fill out the ballot. Once you have voted, you will receive a confirmation email.  You must click on the link in the confirmation email to confirm your vote. (They do this to prevent voting fraud.) Voting ends Saturday, March 20, 2010, but please don't wait! Vote now!

To learn more about the RAMI organization, visit their web site: http://www.ramiawards.com/

The winners will be announced Saturday, April 29, 2010.

Wow, it's been a while since we posted any news. Maybe Clark will explain what's been happening in his blog soon. Anyway, a new video is up, featuring highlights from the Nov 28 concert in Rockford, Illinois. You can see it here, and it has some really fun moments, so if you were at that show you'll get to re-live the moments, and if you missed the show... well, let's just say seeing these few minutes will strengthen your resolve to be there the next time Clark & the guys perform near you. There was lots of good music, crazy antics on stage, the Amazing 9 Headed Whirling Drum-of-DOOM, cool lights, a dramatic entrance, and more than a little guitar playing. Check it out!

Lots of new stuff to mention! We have 2 gigs in our home area, the first at Bar 3 on April 17 & the second one opening for The Syn, from England.

Let's talk about Bar 3 first. Street talk has it that the Terrifying 9-Headed Whirling Drum-of-DOOM is a myth. WRONG! It will be making an appearance at the Bar 3 show. You really, really need to come to this show if you are anywhere near Rockford, Illinois. An amazing musician named Brian Beer is opening for us. Brian plays something called The Chapman Stick, which is a mutant-hybrid guitar-bass thing with 12 strings, and he plays a synthesizer-like instrument he invented called the Matrix. He creates loops & uses a bunch of high-tech voodoo to create absolutely mesmerizing performances. The we go on for a full blown concert length show, more than 2 hours straight through, where we promise you that the Amazing 9-Headed Whirling Drum-of-DOOM will make an appearance. PLUS we will give the first public performances of several songs from the upcoming CD. (Or is it CD's? hint, hint) Click here for a tiny taste of what you'll enjoy when you come to the April 17 show at Bar 3.

Now let me tell you about the May 13 show at the Chubby Rain House of Tunes, opening for legendary prog-rockers The Syn, from England. Early members of The Syn went on to found super-group Yes, and current members have played with everyone from Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) to Echolyn to Yes. They are currently touring in support of their new release "Big Sky." It's an early show, with Clark & the guys performing a scorching open set. More details will be coming shortly.

That's all for now, but come back soon for more news!

Hi everyone! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all! We had a bit of a last minute gig pop up, and I would love to see you all there. We'll be playing at Bar 3 in downtown Rockford, IL on Saturday, Jan 3. The shows starts at 9:00pm, with Downplay kicking things off. I believe we are up next, followed by our new friends from Wisconsin, Roxtar. Bar 3 is located at 326 E. State St, right in Downtown Rockford.

This is the perfect chance to hear the new line-up of my band, & to meet them, as well. The amazing Darryl Andrus and the spectacular Joel Baer are both great guys as well as outstanding musicians, so come on down & say "Hello!"

There is just a $5 cover charge for all 3 bands. It IS important that you tell them you are there for Clark Plays Guitar; this is how they decide who gets paid what, & I would really like to see Darryl & Joel get their "slice of the pie" 'cuz they have been working really, really hard.

I can't wait to see you all there, and I really look forward to being able to give you some guitar-driven holiday cheer, and to wish you "happy holidays" in person.

See you there!

Clark

If you are a subscriber to the ClarkPlaysGuitar.com Newsletter and your email address is (or has been) through InsightBB.com you may need to update your info with us. Insight was recently purchased by Comcast, and all of Insight's customers have had to change their email addresses. Usually the address would simply go from YourName@insightBB.com to YourName@comcast.net, but not always. If another Comcast customer had your user name prior to Comcast acquiring Insight you have to pick a new user name.

Clark had the Krypton staff change all user names ending in "@insightBB.com" so that they now end in "@comcast.net" in the hope that everyone would continue to receive the newsletter. If you know that your email address changed more than the extension, you can simply sign up for the newsletter again with the correct email address & your old one will be automatically deleted when it "bounces" from a newsletter mailing. Isn't that easy? And Clark has offered to send a free MP3 of a rare, unreleased track recorded live with his old band Cheater to anyone who updates their info, and to all new sign-ups as well. How cool is that?

Hi, Clark here. I've set up a new page for my blog. I really wanted to keep this page more for "real" news (whatever that might be) and have an actual blog set up where I could vent, tell silly stories, think out loud, and post about the not-quite-momentous things that happen on a regular basis.

So I got my amazing website team to make that happen (okay, it wasn't really the whole team, it was Michele, who totally ROCKS, all by herself), & I posted my first blog last night. The URL is simple:

www.ClarkPlaysGuitar.com/blog/
Although I don't think I'll have a link added to the navigation bar, I am having one put into the homepage greeting text, so it will be easy for you to get there. I think it may have RSS feed links & some other features that I don't really understand, but if my web gurus tell me it needs to be there, then I let them have their way.

Time to go work in the studio; I need to get this new CD done for you guys. See ya at the blog!! (I'll tell you which song I'm working on...)


Clark

The newest design in the Clark Plays Guitar t-shirt line is here! It says "Shred Happens" in HUGE letters on the front, with a small, tastefully placed web address for ClarkPlaysGuitar.com underneath. It comes in the traditional hard rock t-shirt color of course: black. The lettering is red with white highlights & shadows. In fact, it looks like THIS:

The only place to get one right now is right here at ClarkPlaysGuitar.com, although once the new CD is done and Clark starts performing again, you will be able to get them at the shows. To order one just send $19.80 ($15 plus $4.80 shipping & handling) via paypal to input@clarkplaysguitar.com or mail a check or money order (please-no cash) to Krypton Entertainment Group, P.O. Box 15101, Rockford, IL 61132. We will have credit card capabilities & a shopping cart on the site soon, but for now PayPal is our only option. We will ship anywhere in the continental U.S.A., for international orders email us for a quote. Be sure to tell us what size! More details & options coming soon!

Hi everybody, Clark Colborn here. I would like to introduce you (or re-introduce for some of you) to an online magazine called Music Street Journal. They have been around for ten years now, providing reviews, interviews, concert news, concert photos, and more for fans of progressive rock, hard rock, and metal. I normally don’t push products or web sites to visitors to ClarkPlaysGuitar.com unless there is an excellent reason, so let me tell you why you’re seeing this.

As most of you know I am on a very small, independent label. The phrase that the music industry has coined for artists such as me is “indie,” and unlike the major label super-stars most indies lead very regular lives, and really need support. I believe the absolutely best music being made today is from indie musicians, and without support from publications such as Music Street Journal and from fans such as you the indie cannot survive. Gary Hill, the publisher of Music Street Journal, has explained what’s happening to music (happening right now!) in his new blog entry. It’s far clearer than anything I’ve seen about this issue in a very long time. I think it is so good that it is worth sending out to music fans everywhere, so I am quoting his blog in it’s entirety here. Please do me & indie musicians everywhere a favor: read Gary’s blog, & then forward it on to any music fans that you know. And consider taking a look at his online ‘zine, perhaps even getting a “Members Only” subscription. Here’s a link to a video that explains what the Music Street Journal is all about:

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=30988061
And here’s a link to the Music Street Journal site: http://www.musicstreetjournal.com/
The Music Street Journal has shown support for me & my band, and I’d like to do the same for them. Please check them out and pass the name around to your friends. Thank you so much for your time & support. (I’ll have an update for you all on the progress of the new CD very soon.)

Here is Gary’s blog:

“We here at Music Street Journal are working on the next issue, which will be up at the site in about ten days. The thing is, there has been something else on my mind lately – partly due to issues we are having with the site and partly due to recurring themes I’ve been hearing from musicians. It seems as good a time as any to expound upon this theme. Those of you reading this are, no doubt, music fans. It seems likely that the music you listen to isn’t the stuff you hear on Top 40 radio. You are the people who really need to consider the proper care and feeding of music.

As much as people talk about doing music for the love of their art (and there is something to that) no one can continue to produce quality music without financial support. The truth is, time spent making music is time that could be spent doing something else (even if that’s working in a factory) to make a living. So, by replacing that labor income with money for the musician’s time is crucial if they are to have time to continue to make music. This used to be a lot easier to do. The truth of the matter is, illegal downloading does have a major effect on music. And it’s a snowball effect. If you participate in illegal downloading you are effectively starving the artists you take the music from. You wouldn’t starve a pet if you loved it, would you? Then why do the same thing to the musicians whose work you love?

Here’s a more detailed analysis of how this whole chain works. By taking music for free you make it harder and harder for the music you like to be produced. This means that some of those musicians will simply call it quits and you will lose out on any future works from them. Others have to find other ways to make money. Some turn to selling merchandise (shirts, buttons, etc.) at a higher price than they did before to make up for that loss. Others resort to trying to make a living from live gigs.

The vicious circle with live gigs is this – it used to be that concert tours usually lost money. The labels would sponsor the tour and take the expenses in order to promote the albums – and the live shows would result in increased sales to make it a worthwhile expenditure. This also helped to keep ticket prices down. With the downfall of music sales this was no longer possible. That means that the chance to see groups in your home town is less and less common. And when they do come around you have to pay much more dearly for the tickets because in many cases it’s one of the few ways that the artist can put food on their table. Now, the end result is that due to higher ticket prices you are seeing lower attendance, which breeds higher prices, etc. It is another vicious circle. I know of one prominent progressive rock musician who recently had to cancel a big festival because they were going to lose too much money on it. Who loses out? The fans. Of course, for every one of those fans who downloaded the latest CD by that artist, it’s their own fault. Those of you who bought the disc, though, also paid the price.

The vicious circle continues. Lack of sales means that bands and labels have no money to buy advertising. That’s where we come in. Sites like Music Street Journal provide a way for fans and artist to connect in terms of readers seeing what is out there. It allows people to read reviews and interviews and make an informed decision about what music to get. But, MSJ costs money and time to maintain, as well. Without advertising budgets for musical acts and labels that support has to come from the readers. When we redid our site and added the new members’ area our goal was not only to provide a better zine for everyone, but also to try to keep this thing going, by making it profitable. If one out of every 2,000 visitors to the site were to buy a membership, then it would work. Well, the everyone-wants-something-for-free approach applies there, too. We have sold more like one for every 2 million visitors. We can’t survive on that.

While I’m not sure a lot of artists would agree with me (but I’ll bet they would) checking out a couple songs (or even a whole album – too many discs have one or two good songs and a lot of garbage) is kind of like looking over a book at the store. I don’t really see a problem like that. But if you are going to keep those songs and continue to listen to them, you need to buy them. If you don’t, your pet will die. The moral of the story here is – feed your pet music. Buy CD’s or at least buy legal downloads of the music. Support the publications that support your favorite artists. Without your support the whole house of cards tumbles down and you won’t have music from your favorite musicians. You also won’t have any publications out there that focus on anything but the latest pop star. Buy a membership to Music Street Journal today and then get out a buy some music, too.


Gary Hill

Author of the book The Strange Sound of Cthulhu –
Music Inspired by the Writings of H.P. Lovecraft
musicstreetjournal.com/cthulhubook.htm
lulu.com/strangesound

Music Street Journal
http://www.musicstreetjournal.com”

The April 2008 issue of Guitar Player will have a short piece on Clark in the column called "Editor Boy's Big Eight." Naturally Clark is very happy to be in the magazine. Here is the official press statement released by The Krypton Entertainment Group:

"Rockford musician Clark Colborn is featured in the April edition of Guitar Player magazine, which hits news stands on March 11, 2008. Colborn is highlighted in a regular column on independent guitar artists who publish on small "indie" labels. Editor Michael Molenda writes of Colborn’s music, “Clark Colborn’s fat and massively effected tone comes on like Godzilla, and it shifts between slinky, silky, scary, spiky, and searing. ...his brilliantly schizoid technical/primitive approach to the guitar is pretty exciting. In short, he rocks."

Colborn’s CD Clark Plays Guitar was released in 2004 on the independent Krypton label. Songs from the CD have played on radio stations and internet stations all over the world. Stainless (with a Touch of Cosmic Power) was a number one hit on Madd Radio internet radio (maddhauz.com) for five weeks, and spent 30 weeks in
the top five.

“It’s great that mainstream magazines are recognizing independent artists more and more,” said Colborn. “There is so much good music out there that never makes it to the big labels. If it weren’t for columns like Editor Boy’s Big Eight in Guitar Player magazine, these artists would never be recognized,” Colborn added.

As the guitarist behind Clark Plays Guitar, the name given to both his band and his first CD, Clark Colborn has combined hard rock guitar sounds with elements of classical music, progressive rock, blues, and heavy metal. This approach has earned him high praise from fans and critics alike, who consistently compare him to such heavyweights as Randy Rhodes, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, and Jimmy Page. The Clark Plays Guitar CD is available at all major online retailers such as iTunes.com, CDbaby.com, Amazon.com, and guitar9.com. More information is available at www.ClarkPlaysGuitar.com.

Guitar Player magazine is considered to be the most credible, and respected guitar publication worldwide. The flagship magazine of The Music Player Network, Guitar Player is for all levels and ages, reaching 154,000 dedicated players each month."

YES! The studio is nearly done!

At long last the interior of my studio is basically complete. Wall finishing & texturing was completed a couple of weeks ago (thanks to Bob & Jeff from Johnson Drywall & Remodeling) and immediately after that the painters came in (world-class Iverson Painting), followed by Lonnie’s CarpetMax, who laid the carpet last week. Then I installed the heaters & baseboard, and part of the lighting, and began moving the gear back in. I am so stoked that words fail me.

At the moment I am still arranging everything; amps & recording gear & drums & keyboard rig & my desk & miles of cable all need to be in the right place, then all of it has to work together for each phase. Writing, recording, & live band rehearsal all have their own unique elements, & I would like to do as little reconfiguring as possible for each phase. By the end of this week the studio should be ready for laying some basic tracks. And believe me, I will start recording immediately!

There is still much to do for the studio to be totally complete. I still need two soundproof doors, which are being custom-built. They should be ready in 2 or 3 weeks. The “outside” wall needs drywall & paint (it’s actually inside the building, but faces out into another room), the doors will need trim once they are installed, more lighting fixtures need to go up inside the studio, a decorative door needs to cover a utility panel, and shelves need to go up in the closet. And ultimately the studio will get some decent studio furniture to replace the cast-offs, hand-me-downs, & bare-bones stuff I have right now, but that may be a while. The current stuff does the job, & honestly, that’s all I really care about. I just want to get this new CD done!

So my biggest worry at the moment is making certain I take time to play my guitar. I need to build my chops back up, & I find that some days I spend too much time working on the studio. So forcing myself to balance the day is my current challenge. Realizing that I need to work at both right now does take a bit of self-control, but it’s coming together. I’ll keep you posted on the progress of both the studio & the recording.

Another thing to look for soon is a slide show &/or video of the various phases of the studio as it was progressing. And remember that this is just a little project studio! I’m not a rich rock star that can have a huge, world-class recording facility in my mansion! My little studio is about the size of a control-room in your average commercial studio. And it is my live room, control room, office, audio-video editing room, conference room, & my rehearsal hall, all jammed into one little space! A couple of folks have dropped by during various stages of the build, & were visibly disappointed, probably because they had envisioned something like Abbey Road or The Hit Factory. Not with my budget! LOL! And that’s okay; what this studio lacks in space & fancy gear is more than compensated for with sheer passion and commitment.

That’s it for now; I gotta go play my guitar! Blog at ya soon!

Clark

Hi everyone! I hope you are all having an enjoyable holiday season, whatever and however you choose to celebrate. I just wanted to take a minute to give you all a brief update on what's happening in my world.

I have been super-busy trying to get the new studio finished so recording can resume on the new album. I decided that I was taking several months off from live performances in order to get the studio done, and to make time for working on some "back room" aspects of my music career that really need some attention.

I had hoped to post news here at ClarkPlaysGuitar.com more frequently this last year, and it has just been too busy. So I spent a couple of days writing & editing a blog for my page at MySpace, which I started with the hope of simply explaining the delay on the new album. I really opened up & poured out my soul regarding the making (or not making) of the new CD, and a few other things as well. It ended up being long enough that I decided to post it in parts, that is to say, as a series. The first part will go up on December 27 or 28, depending on how my schedule shapes up in the next couple of days.

Please stop by MySpace & check out the blog. Once you've read all the installments you'll probably understand why the new album is still under construction. Then feel free to drop me a line here at this site. I really appreciate the emails that you all send to me. It's extremely gratifying to know that my music has touched people all over the world, and that's a large part of what keeps me going. Best wishes to you all!

Clark

Catch a LONG set from Clark & the guys this coming Friday, August 24th, 2007 At the Chubby Rain House of Tunes, 4210 Countryside Estates, Poplar Grove, IL 61065.

The show starts around 9:00pm-ish with Brian Beer, who plays a totally wild instrument called the Chapman Stick, which is
essentially an electric bass & guitar all on one wide neck! He also plays a gizmo he invented called The Matrix at the same time (!) and creates loops that he simply shreds over as they play back. Wow!

Then Mark Maffioli & Friends take the stage for a short set of Mark's jazz-infused blues-shred-mania, which brought the house down at the July GX3 show.

And then Clark Plays Guitar will take the stage for an extended set featuring originals from Clark's critically acclaimed CD as well as a bunch of cover tunes from bands such as Rush, Dream Theater, Joe Satriani, & more. Of course the concert will close with an over-the-top G3 style jam at the end!

And best of all, the cover is ONlY 5 BUCKS! Plus you have the Chubby Rain menu of food & drinks to choose from, so BE THERE!!

Clark Plays Guitar will be blowing the roof off the Penny Road Pub for the very first time, so come on down & help make this a huge success! September 14, The Penny Road Pub, 545 Penny Road, South Barrington, Illinois 60010 Special guests TBA...

Mark your calendar. The band will be playing a GX3 show at the Chubby Rain House of Tunes in Poplar Grove on Friday, August 24th. The CRHOT has an awsome sound system & great lights, so the show will be better than ever.

And a few more reasons you'll want to come to this show: Shawn Williams (great entertainer), Brian Beer (who plays the wildest instruments you may ever see), the uber-jam, and Clark Plays Guitar will be performing an extended set! Which means the "Whirling 9-Headed Drum of Doom" may make an appearance, along with another surprise or two. Seriously, you won't want to miss this variation on the GX3 show! Clark Plays Guitar, Shawn Williams, and Brian Beer each playing a set, and the monster-jam all performed with the Chubby Rain House of Tunes sound & lights? Yeah! You know you need to be there! Friday, August 24th. Mark your calendar now!

Tickets for the highly anticipated GX3 concert at the Rock Box in Rockford, Illinois are on sale NOW!!! Details here. There is a very limited number of tickets available, so here's how to guarantee that you get yours: the fastest way is to use your PayPal account. Send $10 for each ticket to input@clarkplaysguitar.com with the phrase “GX3 Concert” as the subject line. Include the mailing address where the tickets should be sent in the body of the email. Your tickets will be mailed to you that day. The other way to purchase tickets is to send a check or money order to:

Krypton Entertainment Group
GX3 Tickets
P.O. Box 15101
Rockford IL 61132

Online advance sales will stop 7 days before the show.
PLEASE DO NOT SEND CASH!! If you must pay cash, please get your tickets through the performers, or at one of the outlets listed below. Once your payment has been received & cleared, you will receive an email from gx3concert@clarkplaysguitar.com confirming your ticket purchase. Remember, online advance sales will stop 7 days before the show, during that week you need to get them from one of the following sources:
The performers - Mark Maffioli, Shawn Williams, Clark Colborn, Ryan Bielefeldt, and Joel DeLuna
The Rock Box (during their regular business hours) 317 W. Jefferson St, Rockford, IL
Guzzardo Performance Music, 3010 Charles St, Rockford, IL
Mike Roberts Music Studio, East Wind Mall, Rockford, IL
Tickets will be $14 the day of the concert, so get yours NOW & save money. (Not to mention, this looks like it will be a sold-out show and you may not be able to get a ticket the day of the event!) For only ten bucks you can see 3 truly extreme & entertaining guitarists & their bands, AND support a worthy cause! We'll see you there!

Tickets for the extremely exciting GX3 concert at the RockBox in Rockford, Illinois will go on sale Wednesday, June 13, 2007, BUT you can pre-order NOW! There will be a very limited number of tickets available, so here's how to guarantee that you get yours: the fastest way is to use your PayPal account. Send $10 for each ticket to input@clarkplaysguitar.com with the phrase “GX3 Concert” as the subject line. Include the mailing address where the tickets should be sent in the body of the email. As soon as the tickets go on sale, they will be mailed to you. The other way to reserve tickets is to send a check or money order to:

Krypton Entertainment Group
GX3 Tickets
P.O. Box 15101
Rockford IL 61132

PLEASE DO NOT SEND CASH!! If you must pay cash, please wait until the tickets go on sale through the regular outlets (all of which will be announced soon). Once your payment has been received & cleared, you will receive an email from gx3concert@clarkplaysguitar.com confirming your ticket purchase. Online advance sales will stop 7 days before the show.

Tickets will be $14 the day of the show, so order yours early & save money. For only ten bucks you can see 3 truly extreme & entertaining guitarists & their bands, AND support a worthy cause!

If you have any questions please send them to gx3concert@clarkplaysguitar.com, and while you’re online go to these MySpace pages & check out the GX3 guys:

Clark
Shawn
Mark

And just who or what is GX3, you ask? It's a concert, perhaps a series of concerts, where three hotshot guitarists each play a set with their band, then get together at the end of the show for an over-the-top, uber-jam. Sounds familiar, you say? Well, yes, it should. Joe Satriani has run a series of concerts like this with Steve Vai and other awesome guitarists for many years. But that series is called G3. This is GX3, which is 3 local guitar hotshots, all known for their EXTREME playing styles. And yes, one of those extreme guitarists is Clark!

Clark Plays Guitar, Mark Maffiloi & Friends, and Shawn Williams will kick off the series at The Rock Box with an awareness & fund raising event to benefit the Alzheimer's Association - Greater Illinois Chapter, on Sunday, July 29 at 1:00pm. Tickets will be on sale soon. Watch right here for more details and dates, all coming very soon!

Clark & the guys will be making an appearance for a short set this coming Wednesday (April 18, 2007) at the Chubby Rain House Of Tunes, in Poplar Grove, Illinois. (Check out their website here, and get directions here.) Come on out & show your support for the band! You’ll hear a bunch of cover tunes they have never played in public, as well as the absolutely amazing "Big Fat Guitar Medley", which has more than 50 songs in it! So you’ll have a great time, you won’t be out very late (they go on fairly early) and it’s FREE to get in. So don’t miss this rare live appearance in a local venue. Come on out and ROCK!!

Hi everybody, Clark here. Okay, the time has come to explain the name of the CD, which has also become the name of my band. I get a lot of weird looks when I tell people my band, and my CD, are called Clark Plays Guitar. Often they assume the name is part of a huge ego trip. It's not. No, really! It's not! Here's how it came about :

When I first began to play in bands around my neighborhood, the other guys' parents always had a little trouble remembering what I did in the band. A typical conversation would go like this: Me: "Hi Mrs. D., how are you?" Mrs. D.: "I'm fine, Clark. Listen, can I ask a question? How can you and my son Mike be in a band together? I never heard of a band with TWO drummers!" (At this point the son jumps in.) Mike: "Ma! I AM THE ONLY DRUMMER! Jeez, I told you before, Clark plays guitar!" Mrs. D.: "Ohhh yeah... You did say that once. That's right, I remember now. Clark plays guitar."

Another one of my drummers, Pat, said basically the same thing to both his parents: "He's not the drummer, I am! Clark plays guitar!" But I was also mistaken by parents as the singer ("No mom, I'm the singer. Clark plays guitar!"), as the bassist, keyboardist, even a flute player. Always, my band mates' response was the same: "Clark plays guitar." I must have heard that phrase hundreds of times the first two or three years that I was playing guitar.

Now fast forward to the year 2002, as I am about to release my fist solo CD. Friends & family all want to know what I will call it. And I say I don't know. Will you start a band to play your music in concerts? I don't know, maybe. What will you call it? I don't know... And on & on it goes, until one day a new acquaintance asks what instrument I play and someone in the room says “Clark plays guitar.” Flashbacks of years gone by pop into my head, and the next time some asks about what I will call the CD, or the band, I reply “Clark Plays Guitar,” mostly as a joke. But somehow it sticks, and word gets out. People I haven’t heard from in years are calling and asking “How are things coming with the Clark Plays Guitar CD?” The next thing I know, we have a web site, press releases about Clark Plays Guitar, and swag, and who knows what else.

So there you have it. It is what it is. Some guys think my band needs a scary name because we’re heavy & metallic. Something like “Body Fluids of Doom” or “The Evilness” or some such thing. Others think it should be an intellectual sounding name, because we’re progressive. Maybe something like “Forge of Ascension” or “The Phrygian Postulate” or similar nonsense. I think that I’ll just leave it like it is. Maybe then people will remember what I do with the band.

Come on by the Clark Plays Guitar page at MySpace.com. You can check out the blog, leave a comment, add Clark Plays Guitar as a friend to your page, and see pics (and videos, soon) that you might not find on this site. And feel free to send some friends by there (or here) to discover the underground progressive hard rock sounds of Clark Plays Guitar!

Much to our disappointment Durty Nellie's has decided to cancel the Labor Day show. Apparently they felt attendance would be lower, rather than higher, and postponed the show. They have not yet set a new date. We'll keep you posted.

Clark has enlisted bassist Ryan Bielefeldt to complete the lineup of the live band. In addition to playing bass, Ryan will be doing vocals, and perhaps some keyboards as well.

There are conflicting rumors regarding Ryan's background. One rumor indicates that Ryan is an award winning bassist, who was once in a band elected to a Midwest Hall of Fame. The other rumor is less glamorous. That story has it that a few weeks ago Ryan was waiting at the Barber School for a haircut when he began reading a Green Lantern comic book. Inside the comic was an ad that said something like “Learn to Play Bass in 10 Easy Lessons!!” Thinking of the fame & fortune that could come from the life of a rock bassist, Ryan sent in his money, and the rest is… well, maybe not history, but something like it….

All that nonsense aside, Ryan has spent several weeks in rehearsals with Clark and drumming phenomenon Joel Deluna, and they have put together a killer show. They are currently working on bookings, & showcases, so stay tuned to the Clark Plays Guitar news page for details on where to catch them. They will be playing material from the debut album, songs from the upcoming album, and throwing in some very cool surprises that you won’t want to miss.

The entire Clark Plays Guitar CD is now available on the Apple iTunes site, right here! You can purchase the entire album, a single song, or anything in between. The CD is also available on 32 other digital download sites, including MusicNet, MSN Music, AudioLunchbox, Rhapsody, Liquid Digital Media, and many more! So if you have not grabbed a copy of the CD from a webstore because you are more into downloading, now you can download one or all of the songs from Clark's first solo release. So what are you waiting for?

Clark began laying down basic tracks for the new CD during the first part of March. As with the first CD, Clark will produce, write & arrange all the songs. An exciting change for this CD will be the addition of world-class drummer Joel Deluna on several of the tracks. Fans have seen Joel perform live with Clark frequently, and his virtuoso drumming enhances Clark's songlist dramatically.

Slated for a late summer release, the new CD will be called "Again."

ClarkPlaysGuitar.com has been redecorated and moved to a new website hosting service. We hope you like the new, streamlined look of the site. As cool as the old look was, any updates or changes required far more time & expertise than the humble Krypton Entertainment Group staff usually could offer. The new site is sleeker in look, actually offers more, and is far easier to maintain. (Thanks Hostbaby.com!) New features include streaming audio without leaving the site, a guestbook, and an email list signup. We'll soon be adding some small video clips as well.

Watch for more frequent updates because of the new format. Including some exciting announcements!