Byrne Journal / Ryan’s Diary – October 2020 Edition

October 6, 2020 RyanByrne

Music

Nostalgic Distortion 8th Annual ONE ROCK Benefit Show Goes Virtual

Digital poster for Nostalgic Distortion 8th Annual ONE ROCK Benefit Show

Nostalgic Distortion (ND) recently announced their 8th Annual ONE ROCK Benefit Show will be held virtually this year via Facebook Live from the ND Facebook Page. The show is scheduled for Saturday, October 24th from 7:00PM – 8:00PM. The format of the show will be an intimate acoustic setting focusing mostly on ND’s originals with a few of their favorite covers thrown in for good measure. All you have to do to watch the show is visit Facebook.com/NostalgicDistortion at 7:00 PM on Saturday, 10/24/2020.

From A Stage On The Water, To Water On The Stage – Liquid Velvet September Recap

During these unprecedented times, gigs can be a little hard to come by. Therefore, I am extremely thankful for the relatively busy month that Liquid Velvet had in September. We started off the month with a triple-header weekend: Friday night at the Smoky Mountain Brewery in Pigeon Forge, TN, Saturday night at Stardust Marina in Andersonville, TN, and then Sunday afternoon at the Tellico Tie-Off – a very cool show on a barge stage in Tellico Lake to listeners on over 200 boats.

The following weekend found us traveling up to Lawrenceburg, KY for Stave Fest. This was an all-day outdoor festival with over 10 musical acts on stage ranging from bluegrass to country to rock, as well as food trucks, vendors, and lots of other fun stuff (I was introduced to the spicy stew known as Burgoo by one of the food vendors – Yum!). Featured performers were Sam Hawkins, Billy & Casey, Time Flyers, Ashley Renae, Puncheon Creek, Andy Palmer, Joe Robinson, Jarrod Ray Stratton, D Boone Pittman & The Fugitives, and then Liquid Velvet took the stage to end the night. Unfortunately, we only got about three songs into our set before heavy downpours and wind-whipped rain came blowing in from the sides and front of the stage, absolutely drenching our equipment.

It was a beautiful day right up until it was our turn to play. Two years in a row. Maybe next year, Lawrenceburg, KY.
Posted by Ryan Byrne on Saturday, September 12, 2020

Last but not least, we played a beautiful wedding party at Dara’s Garden in Maryville, TN. Catered buffet – I went through twice – I was a very happy bass player.

View this post on Instagram

Hello social media land! Ryan here with Liquid Velvet. We're playing a wedding today, so this is our office for the day. We're in set-up mode right now, so I'll probably check in a little later. Have a great day!

A post shared by Ryan Byrne (@ryanbyrnenetwork) on Sep 18, 2020 at 11:54am PDT

Education

All Music Lessons Go Virtual For October – Ryan Teaching Online From Gorham, NH

Each October I make my annual trip to my hometown of Gorham, NH to visit with family and friends, as well as perform our annual reunion benefit show with Nostalgic Distortion. I normally visit during Fall Break week at Knoxville Academy of Music and then take one additional week off for a total of two weeks. Of course, the music lessons I would miss are normally subbed out to one of our other instructors for the week. However, this year, because of the coronavirus, instructors at the academy have the option of being available for either in-person lessons at the academy, or online lessons – which means they are able to teach from home. I am one of the teachers that chose to be available for in-person lessons at the academy. However, for the month of October only, I took advantage of the teach-from-home option, and am using this option to visit with my parents for the entire month – all while being able to keep teaching my music lessons online!

Welcome New Music Lesson Students

I would like to welcome some new students to my lesson schedule at Knoxville Academy of Music! Maria C. is studying ukulele and Nathan P. is studying bass. Welcome aboard, let’s make music!

Ryan Bones Up On Violin

I am a lifelong learner, and I take advantage of all the knowledgeable music instructors around me at Knoxville Academy of Music (KAM). Yes, I am a teacher, and yes, I am also a student. November will mark my fourth year of being a student at KAM. For about a year I studied with KAM Director Jeff Comas, focusing on classical guitar. Then I studied with Jim Cooper for about a year, focusing on blues guitar. Next, I studied with Marek Rosinski for about a year, focusing on jazz guitar and theory. Recently, I began studying violin with Karen Christie. As a music education major in college, I had to take methods classes for most of the instruments taught in public school settings, including violin. My college major and many years of teaching and learning since then have shaped me into the multi-instrumental instructor that I am today. However, I felt it was time to take advantage of Karen’s presence at KAM and improve my violin skills.

Business

Ryan Gets Caught Up On Web

It’s no surprise that my work as a gigging musician has been heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The music lessons business was affected as well, though luckily, online music lessons have made it possible to keep the majority of students. However, my work as a WordPress website developer has picked up during this time. For the time being I have had to slow down on the development of internal websites for my Music Ed Media business project so that I can concentrate on the for-hire work that has recently come my way. Having said that, we have reached the end of this month’s newsletter, and it’s time for me to get back to work on those other websites. See you all next month! 🙂