The following is part of a series by Randy Lutge, a longtime friend of Michael Hedges and Manager of the New Varsity Theater in the 1980s. Randy Lutge went to Gunn high school in Palo Alto, California — the same school as Alex deGrassi and Will Ackerman. While studying at U.C. Berkeley, he studied “ethnographic filmmaking,” a study that would inform much of his later life’s work. During summers at Cal, Randy toured Europe, playing guitar and singing in the band “Montana” with college buddies. In 1974, his father took the lease on The Varsity Theater in Palo Alto and asked Randy to join him there as a manager and live music producer. He would eventually become a partner in that business. When the lease ended at The New Varsity, Randy spent 17 years with Alexia Moore Wine Marketing. Today, he is a professional photographer/videographer living in the coastal town of Mendocino.
The Slow Series: Michael plays Two Days Old slowly so that a friend might learn it
I believe it was sometime around 1983 that Michael taught two workshops in Palo Alto at the invitation of Rick Van deVeer. During one of those sessions an attendee asked Michael how to play a certain part of one of his compositions. Michael demurred and said, “Oh, you don’t want to play my tunes, better that you discover your own creation.”
These roughly-edited video tutorials were subsequently released on YouTube.
This footage has helped countless students of Michael’s work learn these now-classic tunes, many of which Michael debuted at the New Varsity Theater. The “slow” series includes, “Lenono,” “Two Days Old,” “Layover,” “Ragamuffin,” and “The Happy Couple.” The videos show much of the sweet, generous personality of my dear friend.
25 Years Since We Lost Michael
It’s been 25 years since we lost Michael. Not a day goes by that we don’t think of him. Here’s an update on the projects we’re working on to celebrate his life and music.
Waltzing Kokopelli to the Greek
“Our mystery here starts on August 10, 1996, the day I got a call from my pal Michael Hedges on my ruby red rotary-dial telephone.” – a remembrance of Michael Hedges written by his friend and collaborator, songwriter Patrick Brayer.
The Slow Series: Layover
In 1983, Michael Hedges’s friend Randy Lutge filmed him playing several of his songs slowly, so that others might more easily learn them. Watch him play “Layover” in this format.
