Matt, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your offer of help. Your moniker, heartstrings is most fitting. Please feel welcome to contact me at: info@chapdoc.com

Brett, Emmett made history on August 26th, 1969 by discovering a new method of tapping on strings. It changed the way music would be played. It broadened the possibilities of expression for anyone who tried it. It definitely "messed him up." After he discovered this way to play, his life would never be the same. 

Emmett, you are too modest. If you are Amadeus in my movie, who plays Salieri?

There could only be one man for the part of Salieri : Traktor Topaz!!!

Sorry, I couldn't resist!

LOL LOL LOL

Steve A also plays a good heavy in the Hartke video's.

Brett

Dan said, "Emmett, you are too modest. If you are Amadeus in my movie, who plays Salieri?"

If Mozart were somehow reincarnated today (whatever that means), there'd likely be many Salieris all over him, sucking the life out of him, and no king to support his creations with official stature and funding.

Hi wife would divorce him with a big court settlement. His music would be sold to Michael Jackson's estate and used in commercials. His internal organs would be....

Now I've gone way off on a tangent, but it's late and already the first hour of the day of Christmas Eve.

Many thanks for your comments Dan, but I don't think it's modesty that makes me uneasy about such historic comparisons. It's just that I've got my own creative life to live and it feels very different from any of those greats mentioned here. It seems that for me there's nothing yet "written in stone", though it's great to know you're at work on the film version.

Best, Emmett.

Thanks for the input from everyone. I know during this season it hasn't been easy to take time for this, but please keep the comments coming. My goal is to open a creative dialog with you all.

"a film needs to find a way emotionally to show how the person affected everyone around them. " - Brett

I understood what you meant Brett. Your analysis and suggestions are very welcome to me. Also the "loyal defenders" input here is very warming. It shows right here Emmett's effect on this group.

"Emmett has deeply affected all of us in such positive and deep ways. Having that come across in a movie can be hit or miss." - Brett

My goal from the very start has been to show the broad impact Emmett has made on others' lives, me for one. When you say "messed people up," I think of the phrase "shakes things up." He definitely did this early on by his continuous searching for a new way to play. Some conventional players might be threatened by it. Any time someone shakes up the status quo, the pot gets stirred up.

Emmett's story is interesting on many levels.

The trailer that's up at: http://www.chapdoc.com/trailer.html was made several months ago for Emmett's lecture at UCMO (University of Central Missouri). A new one is in the works right now. I was asked by Sean Malone, Assistant Professor of Music Theory at UCMO to put some footage together so the students would get a clearer picture of of their lecturer.

What? No comments... even on the groovy '70s picture I posted?

Hi Dan,

People have to be logged in to look at pics that are posted as attachments. For maximum exposure, I usually post a pic to my website, then copy the location using the forum's image tags.

Nice pic. I love the look on Emmett's face.

Looking forward to seeing the new trailer.

Haha! Just saw the picture and post now.
Love it. The pickup looks like nothing I had ever seen on a Stick. or anything else... Was that the orginal Stickup prototype? Or a predecessor?

That picture brings up something for me that might be slightly off topic but Stick non the less.

The Stick especially as a solo instrument is so interesting to watch as the players hands move.
More than a guitar because both hands "sing" and more than piano because it is visually
right there; no looking over anyone's shoulder or down a row of keys.

But more, each player has an idiosyncratic approach that becomes a signature. In Emmett's case the left hand dipping down into the melody side is obviously something that he incorporated from the beginning. When I visited SE, Emmett played my Stick and his Ten String Grand and he was all over the melody side with his left hand and his right hand thumb was all over the higher register bass. But it was the way he moved his hands that made it unique to him.

Perhaps Stick playing more than any other instrument "requires" a personal style to get
the music out *j*

Interesting shot, Dan, and "groovy", but I don't remember it at all. Was it you behind the camera? Was I on my way to play somewhere?

And yes, Japhlet, the square pickup plate was my first experiment in 1972 with stereo groupings of five strings and lead to the first Stickups with ironwood housings in 1974, the year of my first production run of six Sticks.

At the time, I was playing weekly with dynamic drummer Les DeMerle at his L.A. club, The Cellar, and I needed stereo to separate the clean bass output from my rock and fusion melody effects.

Best, Emmett.