The Strings the Thing: Sunday Concert is Benefit for Guitar Art Fest

Jayme Kelly Curtis wants to bring high end guitars to the people and the people to Santa Cruz.

The musician has been working for more than a year on creating the county's first Art of the Guitar Festival, one that would connect the area's more than 20 internationally-known guitar makers to musicians and just ordinary people who want to see what the top of the line looks like.

"Even if you score a front row seat to see Lindsay Buckingham, who plays a Rick Turner guitar, you only see about 30 percent of what makes that guitar special," she says. "It's about the tiny details you can't see unless you are up close."

The Festival is planned for February, but Kelly Curtis is laying the groundwork Sunday night with a concert by two master players and an exhibit in the lobby of the Rio that will give people a clue about the guitar art to come.

"A guitar festival, by definition, appeals to people who are already insiders," says Kelly Curtis. "The average high-end guitar buyer is a male in his mid 50s, with an average income of $115,000 and a guitar collection valued at more than $10,000. I say, why should those guys have all the fun?"

"What we are going to do Sunday is turn the Rio into a mini-guitar festival," she adds.

She says the festival should bring in tourists and open up Santa Cruz's reputation as a mecca for the arts. 

The show's headliners are Eric Skye, from Portland, whose guitar interpretations of Miles Davis's Kind of Blue called A Different Kind of Blue made Acoustic Guitar Magazine's top 10 album list last year.

Here some Skye here. 

He will be joined by New Zealand player Brett Hallam Holland, who has taken his slapping, funky style to Nashville. 

Here him here. 

Expect some local special guests to hit the stage as well. 

You can get $20 tickets for the 7 p.m. Sunday show at the Rio Theatre at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/379143 or locally at Tomboy, 1207 Soquel Ave., next to The Rio. 

See earlier story on the fest here.