The Next Blues Prodigy?

Music outside of Rush

Moderator: Priests of Syrinx

Post Reply
CygnusX1
Posts: 17306
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2005 12:53 pm
Location: We don't call 911 here.

The Next Blues Prodigy?

Post by CygnusX1 »

Blues prodigy, 8, packs the house

Carrie Antlfinger ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thursday, August 14, 2008

ELKHORN, Wis. ? When Tallan "T-Man" Latz was 5, he saw Joe Satriani
playing guitar on TV. "I turned around to my dad and said, 'That's exactly
what I want to do.'"

Three years and countless hours of practicing later, 8-year-old Tallan is a
blues guitar prodigy. He has played in bars and clubs, including the
House of Blues in Chicago, and even jammed with Les Paul and Jackson
Browne. He has a summer of festivals scheduled and has drawn interest
from venues worldwide.

(Click image to enlarge)

Image

What, you might ask, would a boy not even in the third grade have the
blues about? The state of Wisconsin, for one, and some possibly jealous
older musicians for another.

An anonymous e-mail sent to state officials complained that Tallan was
too young to perform in taverns and nightclubs because of state child
labor laws. His booking agent even got an anonymous letter threatening
her with death if she keeps booking him.

When Tallan's father read him the state's letter saying Tallan couldn't play
clubs anymore (he can still play festivals) the boy's response - like his
music - seemed beyond his years.

"He goes, 'It's not how many times you get knocked down but it's how
many times you get back up and go forward,' Carl Latz said his son told
him. "And I told him that's exactly what this is all about, and if nothing
else, this letter just taught you a life lesson."

The lesson can be stiff: Each day he performs, his employer can be fined
$25 to $1,000 and the parent $10 to $250.

Jennifer Ortiz of the state Equal Rights Division says her agency has a
responsibility to enforce the law once it becomes aware of a
violation. "Well, the law prohibits it, and the Legislature enacted the laws
to protect the health, safety and welfare of all children," she says.

Carl Latz, who also is Tallan's manager, has asked a legislator for help
changing the law, but it's not clear whether any action will be taken. He
received the letter a few days before Tallan was to perform at Lil
Downtown Lounge in suburban Milwaukee, where club co-owner Michelle
Boche said the boy always packed the place when he sat in with other
musicians.

Mr. Latz claims that two weeks before getting the letter, he overheard
local blues guitarist Jammin' Jimmy, whose real name is James Kemeny,
say Tallan shouldn't be in a bar and he was going to turn the boy in.

However, Mr. Kemeny, who's been playing for 44 years, denied badmouthing Tallan.

"It seems totally unbelievable that somebody would even go to that
extreme to send a letter to somebody, let alone looking to find something
about child labor laws," Mr. Kemeny says.

Miss Boche says she has received backlash from musicians and area bar
owners because she supports Tallan. Some have tried to take patrons
away, she said. Some even called in fake incidents to police, causing
them to look for guns or underage drinkers, she said.

"If my doors close and I never open again and this boy becomes
successful, then I will be the happiest person in the world," she says.

Tallan's agent, Sharon Pomaville, said she received a threatening letter
June 2 warning her to stop booking the boy. She thinks the letter writer is
a local musician and believes he's harmless. Deputies came to her
house, but she didn't want to pursue the case.

Greg Koch, 42, an internationally known guitarist and clinician for Fender
Musical Instruments, calls the backlash despicable. He says most 8-year-
olds don't have the strength or attention span to pursue guitar or can't
endure the calluses.

"It's strange that a kid at this age would glean onto this particular kind of
music and show the intensity and kind of the ability to function as kind of
an 8-year-old blues guy," Mr. Koch says.

Brad Tolinski, editor-in-chief of Guitar World magazine, says child guitar
prodigies are rare, with one emerging perhaps every four or five years.

"It would be unusual to find an 8-year-old who can play Joe Satriani
licks," he says.

Carl Latz says there's no explanation for Tallan's blues connection other
than that he seems to have an old soul.

"I've had more people tell me, they say, 'It's a kid's body, but it has a 70-
year-old dude inside,'" Carl Latz says.

Tallan, whose heroes are Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, has 13
guitars and endorsements from at least nine companies to use their
equipment. He can read music but plays mostly from memory.

He has two bands - one with veterans called T-Man's Blues Project and
another with 16-and-younger band mates called Tallan "The T-Man" Latz
and the Young Guns. He also sings and plays drums, harmonica, bass
and piano.

Tallan says he likes to play guitar to "put smiles on people's faces" when
they are having a bad day. He knows 30 to 40 songs and someday hopes
to write his own. It was his idea to start playing in public.

Tallan says the problems he's faced have done nothing to dampen his
ambition to be a blues rock star when he grows up. Just the opposite, in
fact.

"Because I got more inspiration, I got more sadness in me," Tallan
says. "I'm just feelin' it."
Don't start none...won't be none.
User avatar
YYZ30
Posts: 6196
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2004 6:05 am

Post by YYZ30 »

The other musicians that are complaining should hike up their skirts, shut up and practice. The other bar owners that are complaining should all be shut down by the board of health because of vermin.

A musician is a musician, I don't care if he/she is 2 or 102.
CygnusX1
Posts: 17306
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2005 12:53 pm
Location: We don't call 911 here.

Post by CygnusX1 »

YYZ30 wrote:The other musicians that are complaining should hike up their skirts, shut up and practice. The other bar owners that are complaining should all be shut down by the board of health because of vermin.

A musician is a musician, I don't care if he/she is 2 or 102.
TESTIFY my Brutha.
Don't start none...won't be none.
User avatar
YYZ30
Posts: 6196
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2004 6:05 am

Post by YYZ30 »

As a musician it pisses me off that someone would want to stifle someone that young and creative.

The laws I can understand, they are in place to protect him, however the bar owners and other musicians do not make a lick of sense and it sounds like a case of the jealous Johns to me. You don't wish ill will on anyone (like calling in fake underage drinkers, gun threats, "hey that kid is underage!", etc.) - thats asking for bad karma to come knocking.

The kid is 8- leave him the hell alone- whats the matter all you other musicians- afraid an 8 year old boy is gonna beat you up musically?

Pussies.
CygnusX1
Posts: 17306
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2005 12:53 pm
Location: We don't call 911 here.

Post by CygnusX1 »

YYZ30 wrote:As a musician it pisses me off that someone would want to stifle someone that young and creative.

The laws I can understand, they are in place to protect him, however the bar owners and other musicians do not make a lick of sense and it sounds like a case of the jealous Johns to me. You don't wish ill will on anyone (like calling in fake underage drinkers, gun threats, "hey that kid is underage!", etc.) - thats asking for bad karma to come knocking.

The kid is 8- leave him the hell alone- whats the matter all you other musicians- afraid an 8 year old boy is gonna beat you up musically?

Pussies.
the labor laws are one thing - no getting around that - but no one should
put the kid in a box. There are ways around everything.

Call his gigs a BENEFIT CONCERT and just charge a DONATION....that's
right.

that's how we do it here....no permits needed. It's all good.
Don't start none...won't be none.
User avatar
YYZ30
Posts: 6196
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2004 6:05 am

Post by YYZ30 »

CygnusX1 wrote:
the labor laws are one thing - no getting around that - but no one should
put the kid in a box. There are ways around everything.

Call his gigs a BENEFIT CONCERT and just charge a DONATION....that's
right.

that's how we do it here....no permits needed. It's all good.
See how easy it is to fix?
CygnusX1
Posts: 17306
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2005 12:53 pm
Location: We don't call 911 here.

Post by CygnusX1 »

YYZ30 wrote:
CygnusX1 wrote:
the labor laws are one thing - no getting around that - but no one should
put the kid in a box. There are ways around everything.

Call his gigs a BENEFIT CONCERT and just charge a DONATION....that's
right.

that's how we do it here....no permits needed. It's all good.
See how easy it is to fix?


rock on. 8)
Don't start none...won't be none.
User avatar
Walkinghairball
Posts: 25037
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 9:42 pm
Location: In a rock an roll venue near you....as long as you are in the Pacific Northwest.

Post by Walkinghairball »

I have seen some youtube clips on this kid, he is really good........keep on kid.
This space for rent
Post Reply