8Yr old smarter than you? Send him threats.

[Van]

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8-year-old guitar wiz has reason to play the blues
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 9:03 AM EDT
The Associated Press
By CARRIE ANTLFINGER Associated Press Writer


ELKHORN, Wis. (AP) — 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's 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.

And what, you might ask, would a kid 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.

Read the rest of the article, people the boy is associated with received death threats.

 

[TenaGoble]

One of my cousins, (who is "pushing 50"), in the 1970's was considered a musical prodigy when he was 12 years old and he played with various bands until his mid 20's, (one of them putting out 2 solo acts that later on "made it big" on the country music charts). In high school, he didn't play in the high school band, leading someone to make a comment that the reason he couldn't get in the high school band was "he was caught faking it", which led to a fist-fight at school. (He didn't even try out for band!) When he was 16, he joined up with a band, (that has changed it's backup musicians over the years), left high school and was schooled on the road, but it was tricky in some cases to let him play in some "honky-tonks", him being underaged. In his mid-20's, he left the band, due to "burnout", went to college, got married, had 2 kids and also graduated from law school. He plays "gigs" every once in a while inbetween cases or whenever he has time nowadays.