News and Thoughts

The Junkyard Angels are all pleased to accept with open arms Mr. TG. Vanini. George Quinn and I have been doing some shows with T.G. as a trio as well as a few performances with Brian Hollander on dobro who joins the Junkyard Angels whenever his schedule permits. Brian also has his Saturday Night Bluegrass Band and also plays with Tom Pacheco whenever Tom is in the area. T.G. fit right into the band from the first time that he played with George and me. It wasn't until Sunday night September 5th when the full Junkard Angel Band got together for a show at The Colony that Dennis and Chris heard Mr. Vanini for the first time. Both we quite expressed with T.G.'s emotional violin weaving in and out of the songs with no boundaries on passion. I heard that one of T.G.'s friends and fan told him that this was the best fit for him yet and that it was his best playing ever. I personally have been blown away by his playing and the way he works within the songs. Chris and Dennis are not easliy swayed both being musicians without comparison. Welcome !  

T. G. Vanini started learning classical violin at the age of 6 in Hong Kong. He became proficient in Celtic fiddling during many evenings spent in smoke-filled pubs in the Irish community in Manchester, England. Since moving to Woodstock, NY, in 1985, he has combined his pursuits of songwriting, fiddling, singing, poetry and writing.

He performs his own compositions with The Princes Of Serendip (www.princesofserendip.info) and so far has recorded three albums of his songs: growth & gravity (Rose Hill Records, 1996), The Princes Of Serendip’s eponymous CD (Rose Hill Records, 2002), and What She Said (Jaiya Records, 2008).

He has fiddled in many ensembles and genres, including a French folk-rock band called Menerval, and Ulster County’s inimitable and lamented Fighting McKenzies. His violin features on recordings by Esther Frances and the Holographic Donuts, Sarah Underhill, and Might Xee’s Chernobyl.

T. G.’s poetry has appeared in numerous small magazines, anthologies and websites. Some of it can be found on his personal webpage http://faculty.baruch.cuny.edu/vanini/. He recently completed his first novel.

His alter ego, Laurie Kirby, is a Professor of Mathematics at Baruch College (City University of New York).