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Topic: Margie Mays |
HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 20 Mar 2006 7:37 pm |
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With a talent like hers, I guess she must be well known.
I saw her for the first time last week at the Dallas Show in the non pedal room. I was floored. Unfortunately I don't have any photos.
She had some of the finest tone and flawless playing that I have ever seen. Margie played a D8 Jerry Byrd Excel.
Has she appeared in Joliet previously?[This message was edited by HowardR on 20 March 2006 at 07:43 PM.] |
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Jeff Au Hoy
From:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
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Posted 20 Mar 2006 7:52 pm
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| I've seen a video of her from Joliet around 1993... She's fabulous. |
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George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
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Posted 20 Mar 2006 9:19 pm
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| Margie has played many conventions over the years. She is an excellent steel guitarist who often appeared on stage playing a single neck with solinoid switches which gave about 6 immediate changes to her tuning. Damned if I can remember the brand of that guitar! I'm sure others can recall her guitar.... |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 21 Mar 2006 2:59 am
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| I heard Margie once in the late 80s. She sure is a smooth player. If I recall correctly, she learned from Belva Dickerson (daughter of the guy who built Dickerson lap steels) who was a student of Sol Hoopii's. |
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Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Al Marcus
From:
Cedar Springs,MI USA (deceased)
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Posted 21 Mar 2006 6:49 pm
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I think a saw Margie Mays play at Scotty's in the 70's. She was very good.
Keoki-I saw that guitar with the 6 solinoid switches to change the tuning at the NAMM show at the Palmer House in Chicago in 1953. I played it but didnt like the sharp noise it made every time you pushed a button. I think it was called a "Magnatone"....al 
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My Website..... www.cmedic.net/~almarcus/
[This message was edited by Al Marcus on 23 March 2006 at 12:23 PM.] |
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Roger Shackelton
From:
MINNESOTA (deceased)
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Posted 23 Mar 2006 8:54 am
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Hello Gerald, Does Margie have any tunes that can be added to the HSGA website?
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Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Roger Shackelton
From:
MINNESOTA (deceased)
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Posted 23 Mar 2006 11:29 am
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Margie played at the ISGC a few years ago (around 2000 or 2001?). Billy Reed from Halifax, Nova Scotia hosted a Hawaiian show at the ISGC, featuring Alan Akaka, Merle Kekuku, Margie and perhaps a few other players. One of Margie's tunes was "Just Doodling". Isn't that an Andy Iona tune.?? Someone correct me if this is wrong.
Roger
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Nick Reed
From:
Russellville, KY USA
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Posted 23 Mar 2006 7:30 pm
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Howard R,
Margie is what influenced my wife to want to take up non-pedal Steel. We heard her play in St. Louis at the Hawiaan show. Absolutely outstanding. NR |
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George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
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Posted 23 Mar 2006 10:12 pm
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| Thanx Al...Yes, it was a MAGNATONE and I agree, those solinoid switches were almost like miniature explosions...but that was the technology some 40 years ago. I'm sure if someone put their head to it, a new version of quiet switching could be invented with todays advanced electronic technology. I'll bet there just might be a market for something like that today. |
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 24 Mar 2006 4:56 am
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I'm all for technology and it has it's place, as long as we don't forsake the roots of such wonderful playing.
"It's all in the solenoids" just doesn't quite sound....Aloha to me.
I spoke a bit with Margie. She also plays a U12. I imagine she's quite proficient on that also. |
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DeWitt Scott
From:
St. Louis, Missouri, USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 24 Mar 2006 11:54 am
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| I've known Margie and her husband, Don, for many years and have heard her perform in Honolulu, Winchester, and other Hawaiian venues across the US. She played at Gerry Hogan's Steel Guitar Festival in Newbury, England. She has played on the main stage of The International Steel Convention as well. But I have never heard her played as good as she sounded in Mesa, AZ and at the Dallas show. She and her Excel steel guitar seems to blend together as one. She did nention that Jerry Byrd played her guitar at one of the Conventions in St. Louis. Maybe something has rubbed off on her, maybe Jerry left a few licks on the guitar for her. Regardless of all this, Margie is one very fine player and has her own touch, style and tone. Scotty |
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