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whoa!
local press
Laura McLean
E
me!
My
Music
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Folk
singer OUCH! Laura McLean is one
of Wilmington’s most valuable natural resources. She calls herself
“the last of the guitar natives”; NOT THE
LAST..OMIGOD DON'T KILL ME GUITARDADDIES!!!others refer
to her as “the Guitar Guru of the Lower Cape Fear.” Music has
been a guiding force throughout her life. As a child, she played
the organ in church.eeek! NOPE!!!A
LOST WRITER'S NOTE..IT WAS STEPHANIE BATSON SORRY CHURCHGOERS..
“I started stalking the dime stores, scribbling chords down for
tunes,” says McLean. At age 10, she learned to play A
LITTLE guitar from a 12-year-old friend, and credits her
New Hanover High School teacher Deborah Hart Sherril and a job
at Gillham’s Guitar Works for her passion for rock ’n’ roll. McLean
majored in theater at the University of North Carolina Wilmington,
and laughs that she was “playing Freebird underage in beach clubs
before it was a big hit!” IMAGINE HOW I
LOVE HEARING IT NOW...Her current schedule can make you
tired just reading about it – she fronts the band Calamity; sits
in with acoustic outfit Someone’s Sister; records regional artists
via her production company, Cool Calm Productions; organizes the
annual Cape Fear Folk Festival; serves as a mentor and board member
NOPE! JUST A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT RECIPIENT...of
Indiegrrl (an organization founded to help women in the independent
music industry); hosts WHQR’s Magnolia Fatback Hour (which she’s
done for 11 years); WORKED AT THAT PUBLIC
RADIO STATION FOR FREE SINCE 1983 THO!! and works with
children at the Dreams Center for Arts Education. “I love teaching
anyone anything and don’t feel balanced unless I am ‘giving back,’”
she says. “... I got my mojo from a teacher, and God knows where
I’d be now if not for cool teachers.” McLean will record new acoustic
material with local producer Karen Kane this fall and wants to
learn to play the mandolin.HA!! AND EVERTHING
ELSE.................NEXT WEEK! Her CDs Darkside Heaven,
Gone Guru, Call Me Ms. Whut? and Spiderblue are available at www.cdbaby.com.
Or check out www.guitarheel.com. – S.K
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