There are often a few buskers around Tauranga and I'd like to see more.
Coming out of a supermarket or browsing around downtown it's always nice to see a small kid with a violin or some bloke with a guitar making music. And some buskers are very good. I sometimes see Noel Beasley or blues player Chris Smart on the street and know I can stop and enjoy a few minutes
of nifty sounds.
Back in the late nineties and early two thousands (is there a better term for that? Dunno.) you might have seen a cute little blonde kid busking around Tauranga. You might even have dropped some money in his guitar case. You might not have realised that the money you donated helped him become one of Tauranga's biggest international musical success stories. Starting as a twelve-year-old, until the time he was seventeen and ready to study music at Massey University in Wellington, Mark Mazengarb used to busk every Saturday morning. He reckons he made about $50 an hour, which he says was 'pretty good – especially for a twelve-year-old!”. He used the money to buy a couple of nice guitars.

Regional rocker
Mark also played with various bands around town and even won the regional rock quest one year. But from the age of fifteen he got more and more into classical music. After first living in Welcome Bay he moved to Bethlehem (where his family still have the same house today) and after high school at Bethlehem College he headed off to Wellington and graduated in 2006 with a Bachelor of Music. Then he moved to the USA...
Why am I telling you this? Because Mark Mazengarb and his musical partner Loren Barrigar are coming to Mills Reef and bringing their guitars for what promises to be a spectacular night of acoustic guitar music on October 31. This will be the duo's first visit to New Zealand. Loren is a New York guitarist with the distinction of being the youngest instrumentalist to ever appear on the Grand Ole Opry.

Back to it
So let's get back to the story...
Mark and Loren were first brought together by Tommy Emmanuel. Mr Emmanuel should require no introduction but – should you not recognise the name – let me just mention that he is one of Australia's most revered guitarists, a simply staggering player who continuously tours the world with his innovative solo guitar show.
While Mark was just completing his degree in classical guitar at the University of North Carolina he attended Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch guitar camp. That in itself is (for guitarists) pretty amazing. Kaukonen is the legendary guitarist of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna fame. There Mark spent a few days working with Tommy Emmanuel and met Loren, already a seasoned guitarist but newly-discovering the acoustic guitar. After the workshop Mark visited Loren and they spent some time picking guitars, and picking each other's brains.
Fast forward a few years and they met again at the 2009 Chet Atkins Appreciation Society guitar convention, an international gathering of hundreds of guitarists. At the following year's convention they were scheduled to play together and popular demand from those who heard them through the week led to them being added to the big Saturday night grand finale concert.
Since then they've toured extensively through the States. Their music is influenced by bluegrass, jazz and western: their style of guitar playing is largely built on techniques pioneered by guitar greats Merle Travis, Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed; their songs feature Loren's vocals and harmonies from Mark.

First album release
They recorded their first album together the summer of 2011 and their most recent album Onward was released in August 2012. Both of the duo's studio albums have won SAMMY (Syracuse Area Music Awards) awards for Best Americana Album and the title track of their second studio album Onward also won Best Instrumental at the International Acoustic Music Awards. They have most recently released a Live in Europe album following their tour of Germany, France and Switzerland this year.
Mark and Loren play Mills Reef on Thursday October 31 kicking off at 7.30pm. Dinner is available from 5.30pm. Tickets are $25 from eventfinder.co.nz or the winery. There's a five minute preview of the show at http://vimeo.com/51718023.