Microwave Dave performs at the annual Alabama Cigar Box Guitar Festival

The 8th Annual Alabama Cigar Box Guitar Festival (now renamed “The Flying Monkey Arts Cigar Box Guitar Festival”) will take place on Friday, June 1st and Saturday, June 2nd, 2012 in Huntsville, Alabama. This is the event at which most of my documentary, “Songs Inside The Box” was shot several years ago.

The event attracts cigar box guitar enthusiasts from across the eastern U. S. and is a fun outing for anyone interested in these unique instruments.

Times and performers have not been announced at this writing but the fun is scheduled to run from 6pm to 9pm on Friday night and all day Saturday.

I shot some video of performances at the festival last year which you can watch here.

Max Shores.

With the dawn of a new year it seems appropriate to take stock of the past and plan for the future. 2011 was an exciting year in many ways and 2012 brings challenging new opportunities.

Over the past 20 years I have produced a variety of documentaries. I am extremely grateful to my employer, the University of Alabama Center for Public TV & Radio for the opportunity to do so, and I have often commented about how fortunate I felt to work in my dream job. The funding for new documentaries has dwindled over the last couple of years, but some of my past documentaries continued to reach new audiences in 2011.

As 2011 began, “Songs Inside the Box” was presented at the Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland, Australia. It was awarded First Place Documentary by the Prometheus Film Festival in August and was screened in Paris, France in October. Selected scenes from the documentary were part of a special exhibit on cigar box guitars at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, California for several months in 2011.

I was honored to present “Richard Johnston: Hill Country Troubadour” to an enthusiastic audience in Huntsville, Alabama in June 2011. I wish I could have been there when it was screened in Paris, France in October and Rome, Italy in November but I received good feedback from both events.

I was also honored to serve as a juror for the High School Film category for the 2011 On Location Memphis Film Festival and the 2011 Mississippi High School Film Competition. The latter event, held in Tupelo, offered me the wonderful opportunity to meet with the students in the competition. Some of them said they planned to attend the University of Alabama because of the excellent communications programs offered here. Being a part of those programs is a source of great pride for me. I taught “Intro to Media Production” classes in both the Spring and Fall semesters of 2011.

2011 also brought opportunities to collaborate with my colleagues at Alabama Public Television (APT) and Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB). The UA Center for Public Television & Radio joined with APT to produce “Alabama Stars in Education” in May and I have been working with MPB as director of “Sucarnochee Revue,” a music series which airs on both Alabama and Mississippi public TV stations each week.

I also had the privilege of collaborating with my colleagues at Alabama Public Radio for part of 2011 as the editor of weekly commentaries by Kathryn Tucker Windham.

Midway through 2011, I began working with the development of new content for the University of Alabama’s TV stations WVUA and WUOA. I am producing short documentaries for the stations and I look forward to what the future holds in 2012.

Max Shores.

Two documentaries produced by the University of Alabama will be screened in Paris, France during October, 2011. The documentaries, originally made for broadcast in Alabama, have both had an impact well beyond the boundaries of the state.

“Richard Johnston: Hill Country Troubadour” will screen as a part of the Raw Sounds Movie Club on October 17th at Le Fanfaron (6 rue de la Main d’Or). The film, which won the Best Alabama Film Award at the 2007 George Lindsey UNA Film Festival, tells the story of a Memphis, Tennessee musician who was performing frequently in Alabama during the time it was produced. Johnston draws his inspiration from a unique style of blues music that comes from north Mississippi’s hill country and the film serves as an introduction to the musician and the style of music. It has been shown across the US, England, and Germany but this screening will be the French premiere.

“Songs Inside The Box” will screen during the Cigar Box Guitare Mini-Festival on October 22nd at Boullion Belge (6 Rue Planchat). The film chronicles an Alabama cigar box guitar festival which attracts participants from across the US. It recently won the Best Feature Length Documentary Award at the 2011 Prometheus Film Festival and portions of the documentary are currently being shown at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles as a part of an exhibit of cigar box guitars. Through “Songs Inside The Box,” the Alabama festival has led to similar festivals around the world and the film will be shown at the first such festival in Paris. It has previously screened in Australia, England, Germany, and across the US.

Both documentaries were directed by Max Shores at the UA Center for Public Television and Radio. The Center was created in 1955 to produce programming for the newly formed Alabama Public Television network of stations covering the state. For the past 20 years the department has focused primarily on the production of single topic documentaries which have shared aspects of life in Alabama and the southeastern US with audiences around the world. In addition to broadcast distribution, CPT&R documentaries have been screened at international film festivals where they have won awards.

The presentation of these two music documentaries within one week in Paris is a coincidence but the stories told by the two films are related. It was through Richard Johnston’s use of cigar box guitars that director Shores learned of the widespread interest in the instruments and the Alabama festival that brings cigar box guitar makers and musicians together.

Max Shores.

“Songs Inside The Box,” the cigar box guitar documentary has been selected for screening at the Prometheus Film Festival of York, Pennsylvania. The festival will take place in the York Little Theatre on August 19th and 20th, one week before York will host the annual Pennsylvania Cigar Box Guitar Festival.

I’m very proud to have the film screening in York because it is the home of Shane Speal, the self-proclaimed King of the Cigar Box Guitar and central figure of “Songs Inside the Box.” Shane will be performing at the festival.

For more information:
PrometheusFilmFestival.org
ShaneSpeal.com
SongsInsideThe Box.com
Pennsylvania Cigar Box Guitar Festival

Max Shores.

Microwave Dave performs at the annual Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza

The 7th Annual Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza (now renamed “The Alabama Cigar Box Guitar Festival”) will take place on Friday, June 3rd and Saturday, June 4th, 2011 in Huntsville, Alabama. This is the event at which most of my documentary, “Songs Inside The Box” was shot several years ago.

The event attracts cigar box guitar enthusiasts from across the eastern U. S. and is a fun outing for anyone interested in these unique instruments.

Times and performers have not been announced at this writing. Screenings of two of my documentaries, “Songs Inside The Box” and “Richard Johnston: Hill Country Troubadour” are planned along with lots of live music.

Max Shores.

I’m pleased to announce that “Songs Inside The Box,” the cigar box guitar documentary will be screened at the 2010/2011 Woodford Folk Festival in Woodford, Queensland, Australia. The screening is scheduled for Wednesday, December 29th at 6:30 p.m. and will be followed with performance by Eb ‘n’ Flo, a local cigar box guitar duo.

The annual Woodford Folk Festival is one of the largest cultural events of its type in Australia. The festival takes place over six days and nights from December 27th to January 1st each year. It features a wide range of performance styles, musical genres and nationalities, in many simultaneous venues across the site. About 130,000 patrons attend annually, camping on-site.

Eb ‘n’ Flo are actually Paul Thorley and Fluer Shelton who are from the area. They both make cigar box guitars and perform together. Their music ranges from melodic Appalachian music to country blues. I am excited that they will be appearing with the documentary.

For more information:

The Woodford Folk Festival

Paul Thorley’s profile at CigarBoxNation.com

Fleur Shelton’s profile at CigarBoxNation.com

SongsInsideTheBox.com

Max Shores.

The second annual UK Cigar Box Guitar Festival will take place on Saturday, October 16th at The Public in West Bromwich, West Midlands (near Birmingham) and I’m pleased to announce that “Songs Inside The Box” will be screened at the event.

“Songs Inside The Box” is a documentary about cigar box guitar enthusiasts who communicated over the Internet and decided to get together in person at an annual event in Alabama. The Alabama Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza has been the longest running such event and now the UK festival is following in its footsteps.

Just like the Alabama festival, the UK festival came about as a result of discussions on the Internet. Both festivals owe a debt of thanks to Shane Speal, the self-proclaimed “King of the Cigar Box Guitar” who created avenues for communication among cigar box guitar builders and players around the world. Speal is the founder of CigarBoxNation.com and discussions there inspired member Chickenbone John to establish the UK event.

I’m very proud that “Songs Inside The Box” will be a part of this event and wish everyone there all the best!

For more information:

CigarBoxNation.com discussion about the Festival

Information from ChickenBoneJohn.com

Information from The Public.com

Songs Inside The Box website

Max Shores.

Shane Speal, King of the Cigar Box Guitar

Add a stick and some strings to a wooden cigar box and you’ve got an inexpensive musical instrument, a cigar box guitar. Each one is an original and some people say that each one has its own songs inside. These unique guitars and the people who make music with them are the subject of “Songs Inside The Box,” Sunday, June 20th at 2:00 p.m. on Alabama Public Television.

“Songs Inside the Box” was shot primarily at an Alabama event that brings together cigar box guitar enthusiasts from across the eastern U.S. The Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza takes place each year in Huntsville. It will be on Saturday, June 26th this year. (More information below.) The event is attended by some of the more than 3,000 cigar box guitar builders and musicians who are connected through an Internet forum started several years ago by Shane Speal of York, Pennsylvania. Speal is the self-proclaimed “King of the Cigar Box Guitar” and he has united cigar box guitar hobbyists and professional musicians in a movement he calls the cigar box guitar revolution.

The revolution is all about having fun building instruments and playing music while finding some aspects of your personality that might otherwise remain hidden. Daniel Carter Beard, one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America, published instructions for building a cigar box banjo in 1870. His programs were designed to help boys find their hidden inner savage.

“When you pick up a cigar box guitar, it’s like putting on a mask for Halloween,” says Huntsville blues guitarist Microwave Dave who appears in the documentary. “It gives you license to do whatever you want because nobody knows what to expect.”

Cigar box instruments have provided inexpensive entertainment since the 1800s and many professional musicians, including Jimi Hendrix, started their careers with cigar box guitars. “Songs Inside The Box” includes performances by more than a dozen different musicians and information about how to build and play your own instrument.

“I’ve had the opportunity to present this documentary at several film festivals,” said director Max Shores. “People in the audience laugh at the characters on the screen initially but then they begin to identify with them. By the end of the film a lot of people decide to build their own instrument and write their own songs,” he continued. “It’s an amazingly powerful way to express yourself.”

Shores is a producer-director in the University of Alabama Center for Public Television and Radio which is a service division of the College of Communication and Information Sciences providing instruction and practical experience on high quality productions to students.

For more information:

SongsInsideTheBox.com

The Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza

Max Shores.

It was announced on December 30th, 2009 that "Songs Inside The Box," the cigar box guitar documentary won an Honorable Mention award from the Los Angeles Reel Film Festival. Despite the name, this isn’t a real film festival because it doesn’t include screenings of the selected films. It’s simply an awards competition, but I’m still quite honored that my work has been recognized.

According to the festival website:
"The Los Angeles Reel Film Festival was founded by a group of industry professionals whose aim is to seek out, acknowledge, and award the many talented independent filmmakers and screenwriters who may not get the recognition they deserve through many of the more political and commercial film festivals. The LARFF recognizes filmmakers and screenwriters who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity. All genres of film, music videos and scripts are accepted by The LARFF and each will be judged thoroughly by accomplished award winning directors, producers and industry executives."

"Songs Inside The Box" is a really fun documentary and I’d like for as many people as possible to see it. If you haven’t yet, look for it on your PBS station in 2010. When I know dates, I’ll post them here.

The people who are in the documentary are the reason it has won several awards and I would like to thank them for sharing themselves through the documentary.

For more about "Songs Inside The Box," go to SongsInsideTheBox.com.

Pictured above: Robert Hamilton with Shane Speal, King of the Cigar Box Guitar

Max Shores.

Hill Country Troubadour
This film on Memphis musician Richard Johnston won Best Alabama Film and Best Documentary at the George Lindsey UNA Film Festival, Best of Show and Best Documentary at the Macon Film Festival, and Second Place Documentary at the Tupelo Film Festival. It has been shown at festivals and special screenings around the world. Click for more… Holy Smoke Over Birmingham
A mouth-watering survey of nine top barbecue restaurants in Birmingham, this documentary aired on Alabama Public Television in 2006 and was screened at the 2008 New York City Food Film Festival while New Yorkers dined on southern-style barbecued pork and chicken. Click for more…

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Max Shores.