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Sweet Lavender Blues is a labor of Love. I started playing guitar at 17 but did not stay with it and went on to play piano and flute. Being a child in the heart of the sixties was a magical mystery tour and music became my muse. I began my groupie voyage and traveled in an old school bus up and down the California coast from Big Sur to Mendocino with Cat Mother, a groovy hippie band. It was my Summer of Love, 1971. My love and desire for music and dance led me to Hawaii where I landed in a tree house, picked up the guitar again and strummed to the sound of beating ocean waves. Kendall and I met about 2 years ago and immediately had a great musical connection. He has been very patient, and a fabulous teacher. Music started pouring out of me. I have written 40 songs and they keep coming! I'm amazed what the muse can do when your heart is open enough to trust the creative process. (Kendall adds:) My first decent guitar was a used Martin 00-16 New Yorker - a classical guitar that also could be strung with light steel strings, great for finger pickin' but not for rock 'n roll or anything played with a flat pick. Sold that to buy a custom Gryphon dreadnought that Frank and Richard built in Frank's garage before they opened their store in Palo Alto. The gents at Gryphon added a sweet pickup for me some years back so I could plug in and jam with the electrified crowd. I grew up jamming with my friends (especially Joe Etigson) - it wasn't jazz, but it was improvisational (meaning we pretty much just got in the zone, listened to each other and made it up as we went along). Tara and I have spent many days in our own zone, sometimes just goofing, but often working on her songs, which she patiently played over and over while I tried out different lead riffs and counterpoint rhythms until it felt right. We've played some open mikes in Marin, spent some time in studios - we've had our ups and downs, but we're still playin' together.... I never went on a bus trip like Tara's (although there was this one crazy trip across Western Europe with some Scandanavian acquaintances where we were packed into the bus like sardines) - and I did work at the Santa Cruz Coop natural food store with some of the Pranksters after they parked their bus (Hi, Zoe and everyone!). Hope you enjoy our music, all.