BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//www.yoshis.com/sanfrancisco//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.10.5// X-WR-CALNAME:www.yoshis.com/sanfrancisco X-WR-CALDESC:www.yoshis.com/sanfrancisco X-WR-TIMEZONE:US/Pacific BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20130525T031056CEST-424744rguR@www.yoshis.com/sanfrancisco DTSTAMP:20130525T010556Z DESCRIPTION:\nAndy McKee&rsquo\;s acoustic guitar can approximate the polyr hythmic interplay of a percussion ensemble\, the harmonic sweep of a strin g section\, the dazzling runs of a bluegrass doghouse bass-and-banjo duo\, and virtually anything else his pastoral compositions and tasteful covers require. In nine years and five records he&rsquo\;s written an oeuvre tha t globally inspires and intrigues music fans. His robust 200 dates-a-year tour itinerary&mdash\;often spanning domestic rural to the exotically remo te\, from Albuquerque to Jakarta to Zurich and everything in between&mdash \;and his fans-first commitment\, make him a worldwide ambassador for a ne w era in acoustic virtuosity.\n\nAndy&rsquo\;s imaginative and masterful a pproach to the instrument and his Guitar Masters tour franchise&mdash\;a t our package of edgy progressives&mdash\;is helping to redefine our concept ion of acoustic guitar. Recently he&rsquo\;s garnered plum exposure playin g with Prince in sold-out arena shows in Australia as a featured soloist a nd special guest member of Prince&rsquo\;s extraordinary live band. He has toured two different continents with Dream Theater (where he played to 10 \,000 in Mexico City and to tens of thousands in South Korea\, Thailand\, China and Japan) and with one of his hero&rsquo\;s\, Eric Johnson (who mad e a rare acoustic showing on the Guitar Masters Tour)\, where he&rsquo\;s been able to share his unique artistry with a wide and diverse audience. F ans of sophisticated holiday music had the opportunity to hear Andy on Jos h Groban&rsquo\;s Grammy-nominated\, multi-platinum Christmas album\, No&e uml\;l. In December 2008 Andy was awarded Acoustic Guitar Magazine&rsquo\; s esteemed worldwide silver medal award for his fingerstyle approach. But most fans first exposure to Andy&rsquo\;s guitartistry has been through hi s YouTube presence\; the Topeka Kansas native&rsquo\;s 150 million cumulat ive youtube views puts him in the top three most viewed subjects on the si te&rsquo\;s storied seven-year history. YouTube\, and video culture in gen eral\, tends to have a shtick-based popularity where humorous and superfic ial images tend to attract the most attention. That a guy with just an aco ustic guitar and no fancy camera work or special effects could resonate wi th that many people is inspiring in that it showed there is a powerful and widespread hunger for pure and progressive musicianship.\n\nAndy is curre ntly building the Guitar Masters Tour brand\, a franchise that seeks to co mbine technically masterful acoustic guitar performances with artist&rsquo \;s workshop accessibility for an engaging and participatory fan experienc e. His current CD/DVD package\, Joyland (Razor &\; Tie\, 2010)\, has a cinematic feel often conjuring up abandoned theme parks though it also fea tures his trademark pastoral compositional style. The album is a breakthro ugh as he tastefully expanded his artistic palette through adding drums an d cello in select places\, showcasing his scoring capabilities outside the guitar-centric realm. The DVD component has an instructional bend with An dy&rsquo\;s trademark candor and wit as he takes the viewer through his mu sical journey and generously reveals tunings and techniques\, bringing the guitar fan close for intimate masterclass performances of the new standar ds on Joyland.\nAndy McKee's website DTSTART:20130209T200000 DTEND:20130209T220000 DURATION:PT3H LOCATION:San Francisco SUMMARY:ANDY MCKEE plus Joel Tipke END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR