HippyKritz Music and More in Abilene Texas

Back to School Days

HippyKritz — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:17:05 +0000

Good day folks, hope everyone is well. Well summer is almost over and school is back in session and we have noticed the lack of school- aged people in the store in the early morning and afternoon hours. I am remembering the days of high school band when I had to be on the field at 7am for marching band practice and then my first class of the day was band…good times. My trombone and I were joined at the hip for much of my high school career and band was fun stuff, even considering our director was somewhat of a dictator, and honestly a little scary most of the time. But marching at the football games was cool and the long bus trips out of town on Fridays was fun too. We would usually leave Abilene for the out of town games early in the day on Fridays so we missed our regular classes that afternoon and normally the fleet of Greyhound buses would drop us off at the mall in the city the game was in that night. So imagine 450 band geeks invading the local mall like a crazed army of dorks ready to pillage and plunder whichever establishment we happened to be in. After about 2 hours we would load the busses again and head to the stadium for the game. Heaven help anyone who made it to the busses late, but this usually only happened once, lol. When we would get to the game we would put on our ridicoulosly hot marching uniforms and line up like a good group of soldiers ready for a musical battle between us and the opposing band. The game started with the National Anthem and then both bands would tear into the school fight song. There were dueling songs between both bands during the game and then we would take the field at half-time for the show. Back in 85-87 Cooper High School had the biggest marching band in TX so our half-time show was always impressive and the crowd always loved it. After the game we would pile back into the busses and head back to Abilene, a lot of times getting home in the early morning hours. Hopefully a lot of people reading this are members of a school band and will have a lifetime of instrument toting band geek memories!! Remember to be safe, have fun and remember the good times, and play music!!! Kenny

Website News

HippyKritz — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:04:44 +0000

Good day folks, hope all are well. I am happy to announce that we have been doing a lot of work updating our website in the last few days. We have recently added a lot of new content with new products and images. A cool new feature we are in the process of doing is adding bios for all of our instructors with links to their websites and Email. We have a couple on now and are working on getting the rest up. Have I mentioned how awesome our instructors are lately?? Ric, Ryan D, Eric, Tighe and Dion are true professionals at what they do and we love having them as part of the family!! I want to encourage everyone to become fans of our Facebook page and our Twitter page. We have been doing some cool new things on those sites lately, I’m not going to tell you what they are, you will have to look!! My wounds from my recent dog attack that I wrote about in my last blog are healing nicely so I don’t expect permanent damage, which is a good thing. Our little puppy Marley has become a productive member of society and we bring him home Thursday. Shout out to the fine folks at USTK9 (US Tactical Canine) for all the good work they do with man’s best friend. H ow about some more shout outs!! To our manager Paul, you are a great asset to the team and I am always amazed by your knowledge of everything musical. And besides that you’re a good kid – your mom should be proud!! To Spenser, our web developer, you are a guru of all things internet, seo, html, jpeg, and all kinds of other things I will never understand. Thanks for all you do for us!! To Giles, our network guy, you always get us fixed up when we need you and are a joy to work with. To all our product reps, thanks for all you do to keep us stocked with awesome gear!! And to all of the other behind-the-scene people, thanks for everything – you all know who you are. Things are exciting at HippyKritz Music & More, and get better every day!! So remember to be safe, have fun and surround yourself with good people, and play music!!! Kenny

American Idol

HippyKritz — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:12:09 +0000

Good afternoon folks. I am happy to announce several new developments that we are really excited about here at HippyKritz Music. First of all, our buddy Kirk House is in Austin today auditioning for American Idol!! Kirk won the local competition at the Mall of Abilene recently and gets to do the Austin audition without camping out on the sidewalk, waiting in line, etc. If you know Kirk you know what a good singer he is and what a cool guy he is. Who deserves to be a rock star more?? Good luck Kirk! We are rooting for you!! Our buddy Ric, one of our guitar instructors, recently won the 2010 Blues and Rock Gazette Guitarist of the Year. How cool is that?! I’ve said a thousand times how fortunate we are to have the instructors we have here at the store. So again, many thanks to Ric, Ryan D, Eric, Dion, and Tighe for teaching their instrument of choice here at our store. We have recently dressed up all of our lesson rooms and I must say they are a ripe environment for learning. If you haven’t checked out our instruction rooms, come by the store and take a look. Business has been great and a huge HippyKritz thank you goes out to all of our loyal customers – it’s a blessing to see you all on a daily basis. Summer is almost over and school will soon be back in full force. It has been a lot of fun having our little drummer boy hanging out at the store with us while school is out. The last Open Mic Night night was another big success and we want to thank all who come out to perform and to listen - the two kiddos who sang and played piano were the stars of the night!! On that note, I am in the process of setting up an event at the store to showcase the talents of our younger musicians in town, so if you know any kiddos who sing or play an instrument, let me know. There are a lot of new arrivals at the store and a really cool thing coming around March of next year that the store is involved in that I am super exited about… details to follow!! Everyone be sure to keep checking our website and Facebook page, There is now a “Lunchtime Joke of the Day” posted on Facebook daily. Never hurts to laugh a little, right?? Remember to be safe, have fun and enjoy the rest of your summer, and play music!!! Kenny

Presenting Gibby

HippyKritz — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:22:47 +0000

Good morning music lovers, hope all are well on this last day of June!! I have blogged in the past about the fact that for the most part I believe most people are Coke or Pepsi, Beetles or Elvis, and Fender or Gibson. I made it clear that as far as the latter, I was definately in the Fender group. I am a blues guitar player by heart; it is my favorite genre of music to play and a Fender Strat is my axe of choice. My beautiful USA Sunburst Strat has played a lot of blues licks over the years, and it just fits me, and sounds great, and looks great, and yada yada. About 3 weeks ago a fellow came in the store with a Gibson Les Paul and when he opened the case something happened that I did’nt expect. I drooled a little. It was absolutely beautiful and the Desert Burst finish just grabbed me. I couldn’t stop looking at it every time I walked by and saw it hanging on the wall. I played it all the time and finally had to have it, and the rest is history. Here’s the deal folks: this Les Paul is totally awesome and I now question my whole Fender or Gibson theory. I am now a lover of both and have decided that is an ok way to be. I wanted to customize it a bit so my buddy Ric installed Seymour Duncan pick-ups on her yesterday, a 59 Humbucker in the neck position, and an Alnico II Pro Humbucker in the bridge position. He was like a surgeon with the precision that he utilized in working on this beautiful instrument. He then set the action and tweaked this and that to get the exact sound that I was looking, and listening for. I will say again, Ric is an asset to have as part of the family here, and a great guy as well. It’s interesting to me that guitar players tend to name their instruments more than other musicians do. I never had a name for my trombone, and if I would have I think that would have made me a bigger dork than I already was. From early on my Strat has been called Champagne and I have been thinking about what to call the new LP. This morning as I was walking out the door with her tucked snuggly in her case, my beautiful wife said “aww, you’re taking Gibby to work with you.” How perfect is that!! So that is now her name and I am glad this guitar has made me more open-minded. So HippyKritterz, if you’re at the store, give Gibby a test drive if you like. Instruments, just like the music they produce, should be shared by all. Remember to be safe, have fun and name your guitars, and play music!!! Kenny

Be Indie-pendent

HippyKritz — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:21:07 +0000

Good morning all, hope everyone is well rested after an awesome but scortching hot weekend!! Ok folks heres the deal…Indie Guitars are AWESOME!! I can say this because I have taken the Indie challenge and have compared them to other guitars that are much more expensive and I have to say that the Indie Guitars are as good as any I have ever played. Don’t just take my word for it, ask Kirk and Ric what they think. These two guys are giggin musicians who know good gear when they get their hands on it and they are both playing Indie Guitars. Have you played one yet?? I really think you should. Not only do they play great but they are beautiful instruments. So getting right to the point, TRY AN INDIE, we have several in the store to choose from. We have gotten some new stuff in the last few days so everyone needs to come by and check out the new arrivals. We are currently considering some new brands for the store so tell us what you would like to see here and we’ll do what we can to get it in.

Attn drummers: We have a lesson room that is dedicated to drum lessons and great drum instructors eager to get going in this new room. There is a full Ludwig kit for your drumming pleasure and we think this will make our drum lessons much more functional and enjoyable. Have I mentioned lately how awesome all of our teachers are?? I think I have but again I should tell you that we LOVE our instructors and they are a huge reason HippyKritz Music is the coolest music store in the history of music stores!! We are excited about a new week and remember to be safe, have fun and try out an Indie, and play music!!! Kenny

TGIF

HippyKritz — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:30:07 +0000

Good morning HippyKritterz, hope all are well. Several things to talk about this morning. First, as I mentioned in our previous blog we have some really capable instructors in house and we are going to add another lesson room which will be dedicated to drum lessons. Our fearless Eric (Anderson Percussive Services and the Tony Barker Band) has been giving lessons in our piano/violin instruction room and we talked yesterday and decided it would be wise to have a seperate lesson room for drum students that will have a full Ludwig kit and plenty of room for percussion items as well. We think this will be better for students to learn the fine art of drumming and will hopefully be a big draw to bring in other folks looking for lessons. One thing we do at HippyKritz is be flexible and always look for better ways to serve our loyal customer base. Eric and I have also talked about bringing in another drum teacher as well and we are both exited about the percussion oppertunities here at the store. Have you met Eric yet?? well I think you should - he’s a great guy and an awesome drummer and has the knack for teaching his trade to others. Come by the store and say hi to him sometime. Tighe and Ric, I have to give you both more props for what you do for your students also, we are trully blessed to have these folks as part of the family!! We have some new arivals here at the store. A beautiful Ovation guitar and Washburn guitar are now on the guitar wall and don’t forget the Brian Setzer Gretsch and Martin D28 also, all great instruments!! Piano players, come by and check out our Roland pianos – we have five different models to choose from. Today our G&L rep Adrian is coming by the store and should be here around noon, so if anyone has questions he is the expert, and a cool guy too. The summer NAMM show started yesterday in Nashville and HippyKritz was featured in their Playback Magazine!! How cool is that? Go to the NAMM website (www.namm.org) and hit the link for the mag and check out the article they did about us.

To all of our loyal customers, THANK YOU for making HippyKritz the coolest music store in the history of music stores!! We love seeing you guys on a regular basis and love meeting our newbies as well. Remember to tell us what you need to make all your music goals a reality and we will bend over backwards to help you however we can. Charlie and Tab, wish we could be there tomorrow but we are with you in our prayers and we know you two will have a beautiful life together!! Remember to be safe, have fun and come see the new drum lesson room, and play music!!! Kenny

Shed Session

HippyKritz — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:27:08 +0000

Happy Monday all!! Well the good Lord has blessed us with another beautiful day and I am exited about the new week here at HippyKritz and am still jazzed about the Shed Session we had here last Saturday!! Kathryn and I want to thank everybody who brought in their musical talent and participated in this event. This was the second session that we hosted here and we saw some familiar faces and some new ones as well. To all of the wonderful drummers, you are great and kept the beats steady and interesting and fun to jam along to. Eric, David, Anthony, Joe and Jacob kept the place groovin with their drum skills and played great together. A big shout out to my buddy Jim, Quentin, and Paula for keeping a rockin low end with their bass guitars. Aaron and David were soulfully smooth on the keyboards while Elizabeth kept a steady tempo on the djembes. Ryan, Kirk , Gaylen, Kert, and myself kept the electric guitar riffs going in full force througout the entire session. The cool thing was watching these folks switch to different instruments during the jams!! Abilene has some amazing musicians and that was proven Saturday right here at the coolest of all music stores!! Be sure and go to the Abilene Reporter News website, click on “media” and check out the video they did at the Shed Session, also check out todays newspaper, there are a few pics of the event on there as well, good stuff!! So remember to be safe, have fun and “Shed”, and play music!!! Kenny

Music Instructors

HippyKritz — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:33:17 +0000

Hello all, hope everyone is well and ready for the weekend. I was thinking yesterday how awesome it is that we have four very capable instructors here at our store giving music lessons on a daily basis. I think any music store should offer lessons at the store and here at HippyKritz, the greatest music store in the history of music stores, we have some truly gifted people offering this service. Not only are our instructors the best at what they do, the are great folks on a personal level which is a huge plus!! Ric has been giving guitar and bass lessons here basically since the day we opened the doors. He is a well known player around town and a fun guy to be around too. It’s an added bonus to watch Ric play at the store between lessons and check out the guys chops, He can play any genre of music and is a really amazing player!! His students are growing musically from week to week and its cool seeing their enthusiasm. Not only does Ric teach the music aspect of the guitar, but also things like stringing, set-up, and repair, who else does that, my teachers never did and that is probably why I was basically about 35 years old before I learned to string a guitar properly. I saw rick teaching one of his younger students the basics of stringing his guitar once, good stuff. Eric, a true percusionist, has been giving drum lessons here at the store for a few months now and again, a great guy on a personal level. Eric is active in several bands in town and has the ability to play with anyone, no matter what style of music. Eric attacks the lessons in a way in which his students know that being a drummer is not just hitting things with wooden sticks, but being a firm foundation of the rythym section and teaching theory and rudiments and paradiddles (whatever those are??) to his students. Eric also teaches how to perform maintenance and set-up of the kit and Eric is big on timing and how to master a steady tempo which is a huge part of being a drummer as anyone who has ever played with one knows!! Tighe has been with us for about 3 weeks now as our violin instructor and she is such a talented player and one of the nicest people I have ever met. Tighe has a way with her students that make them feel at ease and she is so encouraging to her folks and they are great violin players already, and some of her students are younger kids who can’t have been playing for very long but it sure sounds like they have and Tighe is the reason for that!! Tighe performs at weddings and at her church and does a lot of other things around town and she is amazing at her instrument!! Between lessons I love to listen to her play classical pieces, she is a very gifted person and plays beautifully. Donna has been on board for a couple of months as our piano teacher and she is very well versed in the art of praise and worship music. Donna teaches a method which make playing the piano a fun thing and where it is easy to play along with a guitar player or a full band or even by yourself. Donna is a very sweet person who has a wonderful singing voice as well. She performs at her church regularly and has a very musical family as well, they have got on stage at our open mic nights before and it was good stuff. I could go on and on about these folks, they are all truly professional at what they do and we are blessed to have them here as part of the family!! Are you thinking about learning an instrument, or do you already play and want to add to your skills? If so, we have the people here that can help. Come by the store and meet these guys, at any given time there is probably one or more of them here giving a lesson or helping out in some other way. So, my beautiful wife and I want to give a HUGE HippyKritz THANK YOU to Ric, Eric, Tighe, and Donna for all they do to give the world better musicians!! Remember to be safe, have fun and learn an instrument, and play music!!! Kenny

Open Mic Night

HippyKritz — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:18:31 +0000

Happy Tuesday all!! Where to begin? Its been quite a while since my last blog because we have been so busy with the store but that is no excuse to deny my faithful blog readers their daily dose of my words of wisdom. I’ll start with our open mic night we had last night. I think that the open mic nights are my favorite event at HippyKritz because its a really cool atmosphere and a lot of really talented people show up and perform. Last night there were great players that hit the stage, some of them here for the first time and I was blown away by the talent that they shared with all of us. The best part to me is when a few people get together at the front of the store and work something up real quick and then get on stage and play with basically no rehearsal together, and it sounds great!! I have always thought that music is like its own language that not everyone can speak, but those that do are able to “comunicate” it through each other, even if it is the first time they have played together. I have met a lot of good folks at the open mic nights and have gotten to jam with several of them and it is all good!! Me and my buddies Paul and Jim and Charlie and Eric jumped on stage last night and played some groovy blues, some of them even switching instruments of choice between songs to showcase the talent they have. Props to Charlie from going from drums to lead vocals to guitar and to Jim from playing some awesome acoustic guitar and singing a Clapton classic, then swithching to bass to complete our set. Eric was at the ready to hit the drums when Charlie went to the mic, and Paul kept a steady, soulful blues piano going, again all of this with absolutely no rehearsal whatsoever. I love making music with these guys, I keep telling them we should go pro, lol. I wish I could mention everybody who was here by name but I know I would miss a few so I’ll just say THANK YOU for everyone who showed up and played last night, you all know who you are!! Things are great at HippyKritz music, a lot of people are playing a lot of good instruments in town these days and I love hearing people come in and tell me how much they love their new gear. I took the plunge the other day and got a beautiful Les Paul with a Desert Burst finish, it is one sweet little number!! I am a self proclaimed Strat guy but now I realize a person can use the best of both worlds. I’m still getting used to the neck which is considerably different than what I am used to, but the transition is going smoothly and I really love the new Gibson. Everyone keep checking out our Facebook page for upcoming events here at the store and keep a look out fow new things we are going to try, exiting times!! Remember to be safe, have fun and speak the language of musicians, and play music!!! Kenny

Long Time No Blog…

HippyKritz — Thu, 20 May 2010 22:46:21 +0000

Good evening HippyKritterz!! To all of my faithful blog readers, my appologies for not writing in such a long time. I am happy to announce that things have been so busy at HippyKritz that I have not had much time lately for blogging. Several things have been keeping me plenty busy lately. We are setting up an Ebay store, have been getting a lot of new gear in, and have been adding a lot of students and a new instructor to our “family.” I want to thank Tighe for coming on board and teaching violin lessons. Tighe is an amazing violinist and it is a pleasure having her here. If you or someone you know would like to learn the violin, I can’t think of a more capable person to take lessons from, plus she is a wonderful gal as well!! I’ll say it again, we have the greatest staff in the history of music stores!! I want to thank my buddies from The Jaron Bell Band for spending time at the store when they aren’t out playing. Those guys stay real busy making music but always make time to come see us and play us some new material they have been working on. Cool guys, go give them a listen when they are playing. On a personal note, my life is all good!! My beautiful wife and our little drummer boy are the biggest blessing I can imagine and I love them more than anything!! So remember to be safe, have fun and love the ones your with, and play music!!! Kenny