Everything You Always Wanted (and maybe didn't want) to Know About Me . . .
Greetings and welcome to my far-out, righteous and exceedingly cool
website! Technology never ceases to amaze me, which is why I figured
it was high time to utilize it and do a little shameless self-promotion.
So, having said that, welcome to the section known as the “bio.”
I’ll try not to bore you with bits of trivia that you couldn’t
care less about (like how old I was when I started eating solid food)
but will strive to touch on only the high points that have made me the
musician I am today.
I started playing guitar in 1967, a rather apropos year because it was,
after all, the year of the Summer of Love. Not that I cultivated any
kind of personal, lifelong relationship with Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir
(for I was only nine years old at the time), but it did give me a pretty
good running start toward a lifelong relationship with the guitar. As
a teenager, I was in and out of rock bands in the boomtown of Bismarck,
North Dakota. Yeah, like many kids that age, I had dreams of being like
Jimi Hendrix or George Harrison and, later on, Eddie Van Halen. Such
was not to be my fate, however. Learning lightning riffs and playing
speed guitar didn’t work out for me since my brain is a little
slow for such mental challenges. So basically (and here I’m skipping
over lots of stuff that would be guaranteed to bore you), I rediscovered
the acoustic guitar and began working on techniques that were more to
my ability. This “Age of Rediscovery” also brought me back
in touch with the music of Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Bob
Seger, John Mellencamp and many of the “one-hit wonders”
of the 70’s who have since faded away.
Every once in a while, you may even find me sitting down to write a
tune or two of my own. My debut CD, Spice of Life, is a collection of
11 of my original tunes. I don’t like to write in any one particular
style, which is why the CD is titled as it is. (i.e.,“Variety is
the spice of life.”) As a matter of fact, when people ask me what
kind of music I play, I answer by simply saying, “I play everything
from Van Halen to Peter, Paul and Mary.” But to set the record straight, it’s
not a speed-riff version of Van Halen’s “Ice Cream Man”
that I do, but more of an “adapted to the slow-finger ability
on acoustic guitar for Kevin Thomas” version.
So what does all this nonsense mean? Just this: I’m an absolute
music nut who likes to play Classic Rock, New Age, Blues, Folk, a few
novelty tunes and my own material. I like to make people laugh, cry
and just feel good with my music. I’ve been playing the coffee
shop/restaurant scene in the Twin Cities area since 1998 and would ask
that anyone who personally knows Garrison Keillor to put in a good word
for me to get on A Prairie Home Companion. (Hey, I already covered myself
on this one. Remember when I said “shameless self-promotion…..?”)
Well, that’s about it. Hope you enjoyed my bio and will
check out my schedule of upcoming appearances. (And, by the way,
my mom told me I was 16 months old when I started eating solid food.)
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© 2004
Kevin Thomas
All Rights Reserved