Happy Birthday Jesse!

Congratulations! I can't wait to see the film, "Art is the salvation of the soul"

We did it! :)

Come on, if every backer gives just $2 more, they got it!

It's like nearing the end of a Public Radio fundraiser... where the hosts find so many unique ways to say the same thing. We need you! And that's because YOU need US, and this is why. So why does the world need this film about musician Peter Blanchette to be the best it can be? Because of what his work says to young people about their dreams. Here's a guy who discovered a totally unique path through life early on and stuck with it through thick and thin, in the process giving so much to so many. What if more people had Peter's guts? So many choose some well-traveled road or other that kind of fits their dream of life. What if young people were encouraged to know themselves more deeply and strike out from the first for what they REALLY want? The world would be such a richer place and that's what Peter Blanchette teaches. He's been bushwhacking his path through life for decades and it's only in bushwhacking that you sometimes discover an incredible new species. He discovered an exquisite new species of musical instrument and proved its viability. That in itself is an amazing gift to the world! And your gift back on this last day is to stretch yourself... pledge a little more... and help this amazing story be told.

Every dollar counts!

And now.... just $16 each will do the trick. We believe in this project, right? Let's get it done!

At this moment, if we each increase our pledge by $24.25 it's a DONE DEAL!

John,
It's a good idea to increase our pledges. It is easy to do and if we each do just a little bit more (or a lot more as our means allow) we can make sure that this beautiful project takes off. I just increased mine!

We are blessed to have the opportunity to be part of a truly inspiring project. Peter not only "pours his soul" into his music, he connects with his audiences in an honest, open and caring manner that is unique and to quote Maddie, "magical".

People have posted some exquisite comments here about the caliber of Peter's musical talents. To those I would like to add that he is also devoted to opening new worlds of music to his audience with his joyful, accessible explanations that entice those of us with less sophisticated knowledge of music to listen with his gentle guidance and hear more of the delicate intricate layers of his music. Peter draws us in and teaches us with the modest enthusiasm of a consummate teacher. And he combines this with his quirky humor (don't forget the eyebrow action!) and a bit of the banter of the skilled, wily busker who draws us in, convinces us to pause and listen for a couple of minutes and then stay for hours because we fall in love with his music and his presence and what it awakens in us.

So this is great! Just noticed that the total took a big leap after Nanofest. Almost halfway there, but yikes... only 9 days to go. Fellow supporters, please think of those you know who appreciate guitars... or music... or film... or soul... and let them know about this. Soul, you say? Yes. That's what Peter Blanchette has poured into his work for over 30 years, and that's something that is truly precious in this world. People should know! It's inspiring!

I just doubled my pledge, it was really easy. Just press that blue button "manage your pledge" and do something cool. Do it for your soul!

Paul & Jesse

great promo- I'll post it on my FB to get others to watch it. Fascinating project - best wishes in getting it funded to completion. Wonderful to see you are following your own dreams as rocky as the road may be at times. Keep it up!

Here is a beautiful piece from music writer Carl Vigeland about the December 31, 2010 concert to which Werner John refers:

"I’ve made the recent acquaintance of a 50-year-old Northampton, MA-based musician, Peter Blanchette, who may be the world’s preeminent player of a unique instrument, the 11-string guitar (or arch guitar, as he terms it), which he more or less invented (working with its maker, a man who teaches design at Harvard); brilliant, modest, and with a great sense of humor, Blanchette is a virtuoso who, despite appearances on Fresh Air and Prairie Home Companion, has somehow remained undiscovered by the larger music public, perhaps because there is a greater appetite for Kanye West than John Dowland; his repertoire is wide, ranging all the way to the present (as well as writing his own stuff, he does very clever transcriptions of composers from Grieg to Satie to Bartok and is rumored to be working on a Lady Gaga cover); he is also the founder of a one-year-old group of amateur and professional musicians (a onetime sub in the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a blind painter, a high school student) called the Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra, the only such group I’ve ever encountered; with brio and surprising passion, they play a lot of spaghetti western soundtrack tunes, a Blanchette specialty; married to a local lawyer who works as a public defender, Blanchette comes across a little as a kind of techno-hip survivor of, say, the so-called Beat generation, appearing on stage in a suit that doesn’t quite fit his large frame, with unruly graying hair that falls over his bushy eyebrows as he stoops to plug in what he called on one occasion, “my backup band” (his iPod); audience laughter follows his frequent, self-deprecating jokes—a favorite turns on Bach and the Brandenburg concertos—and then suddenly the space around him quiets, his deeply expressive face assumes a meditative pose, and he begins softly and slowly to play an old Scottish ballad; when I heard him do this at Smith College on New Year’s eve, I wept."

http://musicforadesertisland.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html
http://www.carlvigeland.com/

Hi Film Makers,

Great project! As you go forward here are some thoughts.

I imagine you know, I hope you realize, that you haven't come across just another very interesting scruffy musician who plays in the streets. No... IMHO, Peter Blanchette is actually a World Class Musical Artist and National Treasure who likes to dress like them scruffy musicians and play incognito at craft fairs and farmers markets and such.

My wife and I attended his double performance in Northampton a couple of First Nights ago. The Guitar Orchestra was great. But then... a seemingly quite exhausted Blanchette sat down and gave a solo performance that equaled anything you'd hear by great classical guitarists in major concert halls of the world. Plus... demonstrating beautifully and movingly the lost art of improvisation in the Renaissance style. Plus... having designed his own instrument, a design so successful that the extra strings seem only to have enhanced the sound of the original six. Movie makers, please keep in mind that your bohemian subject is also a musical genius... and include plenty of solo classical performance in the film so people with ears to hear will get it.

And don't spare the irony either. Why does this guy play out in the rain at Lincoln Center when his natural habitat is some intimate sold out hall ravishing breathless fans with exquisite harmonic beauty? Why does he still need to offer a toe to get a toe in the door when he holds in his hands the music of the spheres and mastery of the ages?

Please explore these questions and what they mean for our culture. Thanks, and best of luck with the project!