The Official John Denner Website

	The mission of the Traveling Guitar is it to fund music education and programs for those unable to pursue these activities due to limited resources. We have a two prong approach for raising funds in support of our mission: 1) The Traveling Guitar Program: Each year two guitars will be built by Ballurio Guitars. These guitars will be built using materials from our sponsor, Northland Forest Products. Each stage of the build will be photographed and shared via the Traveling Guitar Website. Once built, the Guitar (the Traveling Guitar) will then spend the next year traveling around the country being played, signed and photographed by our Performing Sponsors. Each stop will be photographed with photographs displayed on the Traveling Guitar Website. At the end of the Traveling Guitar's year of travel, the guitar will be prepared for auction and professionally setup by the Official, Traveling Guitar Tech at Crossroads Guitar Shop using the "State of the Art" PLEK PRO computer controlled fret dressing technology. All (100%) of the proceeds from the on-line auction price will be donated directly to the Make A Noise Foundation. 2) Guitar Donation and Auction Program: All guitars donated, will have the setup checked and if needed, corrected by Crossroads Guitar Shop and will then be auctioned online (eBay). All (100%) of the proceeds from the auction price will be donated directly to the Make A Noise Foundation. To contact us about a donation or sponsorship, please send e-mail to donations@travelingguitar.org or sponsors@travelingguitar.org. The Traveling Guitar is proud to support the following charities: The Make a Noise Foundation was formed by Steve Vai in 1998 to provide funding for the creation and development of musical programs and education for those unable to pursue music and music-related activities due to limited resources. The scholarships, totaling $40,000, were donated to the Make A Noise Foundation during Vai's last tour. Steve opted to direct the funds to the foundation and partner with Grammy's in the Schools for distribution of the awards.

	John Denner John Denner was virtually unseen and unheard until his stunning performance on the Howard Stern Show in April of 2007. Now, John is recognized internationally as the unconventional guitarist whose Eddie Van Halen-style playing is both “amazing” and “inspiring.” Born without his right hand, John always had a fascination with guitars. In his early 20s, he taught himself to play electric guitar using a makeshift picking device. After abandoning his passion for nearly a decade, John began to play again. His exposure as a musician came when he shared an audio clip with a few fellow music lovers. Encouraged by the praise his playing received, John revealed his disability to his small audience of listeners. Interest grew, as his story developed into an inspiring tale of overcoming adversity in pursuit of one’s passion. John was featured in the “I Did It!” section of Play Guitar! Magazine. In December of 2007, John was honored to join the extraordinarily spirited staff and volunteers of Operation First Response (OFR) for a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) in Washington DC. OFR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing personal and financial assistance for our nation’s wounded heroes and their families. John is also proud to have allied with the Amputee Coalition of America (ACA). In support of its mission to reach out to and empower people with limb loss, the ACA is campaigning for insurance coverage to make prosthetic care equally accessible to all amputees. In the summer of 2008, John was featured in the DVD for Guitar Techniques magazine. Among other projects, he continues to work on his CD, which he plans to complete by January 2009. Check out John Denner at: http://www.johndennerrocks.com/index.html

	Bruce Kulick Bruce has been playing professionally since 1975. He first gained notoriety as a member of the touring band for Meat Loaf's classic "Bat Out Of Hell" album in 1977. Shortly after, Bruce formed the band Blackjack with a then aspiring singer named Michael Bolton. After the release of two albums, Blackjack folded and Bruce was asked to join KISS, where he remained as their lead guitarist for twelve years. After leaving KISS, Bruce formed UNION with John Corabi in 1997, who would go on to release three albums between 1998 and 2000. Bruce and John teamed up with Eric Singer and formed the Eric Singer Project (E.S.P.), releasing an album in 1998. In early 2001, Bruce released his debut solo album Audio Dog, which was followed in 2003 with Transformer. In 2001 Bruce joined Grand Funk Railroad as lead guitarist after receiving a personal invitation from drummer Don Brewer. Bruce is still touring with GFR and is currently in his 9th year as their lead guitarist. Bruce has just completed his third solo disc titled BK3. The CD will feature Gene Simmons, Nick Simmons, Steve Lukather, John Corabi and Doug Fieger from the Knack and will be out in early 2010. Visit www.kulick.net for all the info on BK's work.

	Bill Leverty Bill hails from Richmond, VA, the son of a great set of parents who gave him his 1st guitar at the age of 4. Big mistake - he fell in love with the guitar. In 1984, his band, White Heat needed a drummer – enter Michael Foster. After hooking up with CJ Snare and a bass player named Perry Richardson, FireHouse was formed. In December of 1989 the band was signed by Michael Caplan, Epic Records VP of A&R, and FireHouse went right into the studio with Producer David Prater of the "FireHouse" and "Hold Your Fire” CDs. The band won the American Music Award for Best New Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Band of 1991, Metal Edge Magazine's Best New Band of 1991, Young Guitar Magazine's Best Newcomer of 1991, and Music Life Magazine's reader's pop poll Best Newcomer of the Year 1992. Their first album sold over 2 million, and their song "Love of a Lifetime" sold over 500,000 singles reaching #5. "Don't Treat Me Bad" went to #14. Their second album sold almost 1 million copies to date with "Reach for the Sky" getting into the top 20 and "When I Look Into Your Eyes" reaching #7. The third Firehouse CD "3" enjoyed more success overseas going gold in several countries in Asia enabling the band to take their music around the world. Success continued on the following CDs, Good Acoustics, CATEGOY 5, Bring ‘em Out Alive, and O2. FireHouse is estimated to have sold 7 million albums worldwide since their debut. After almost 10 years with FireHouse, Leverty released his first solo album called Wanderlust. He followed this up with the release his first instrumental album, Southern Exposure in December 2007, playing all of the instruments except drums. In June of 2009, he released his first album of cover tunes, DEEP SOUTH named after an amazing piece of artwork created by his Grandfather, William G. Leverty. Visit www.leverty.com for all the info on Bill's work.

	Steve Lukather Versatile musician, guitarist, vocalist, composer, producer and arranger Steve Lukather was born in Los Angeles on October 21 in 1957. Before his father bought him a guitar (a simple Kay acoustic) and a copy of Meet the Beatles at the age of seven, Luke started to play drums and keyboards. In the years following Lukather taught himself how to play the guitar. He hung out with older friends who showed him how to play and how to set the chords. At high school he met the Porcaro brothers. Jeff Porcaro, already is Steely Dan, turned out to be like a brother and mentor for Steve Lukather. After playing and touring with Boz Scaggs, David Paich and Jeff Porcaro asked Steve Lukather, Bobby Kimball, David Hungate and Steve Porcaro in 1976 to create their own band Toto. In September 1977 Toto released their first album, Toto, that generated the hit singles Hold the line, I'll supply the love and Georgy Porgy. With the album David Paich and Steve Lukather started a more than 25 years Toto career. The year 1982 turned out to be the most successful (commercially) in Toto's and Lukather's career. Lukather, Paich and Jeff and Steve Porcaro contributed heavily to Michael Jackson's Thriller album. The album Toto IV went platinum and the hit singles Rosanna and Africa became all time classics. A year later, Toto received six Grammy Awards including a Grammy for Lukather for best rhythm & blues song Turn your love around, co-written with Jay Graydon and Bill Champlin. Throughout the following years, Steve Lukather continued touring with Toto, his own new band El Grupo (with Steve Weingart, Oskar Cartaya and Joey Heredia) and musicians such as Jeff Beck, Simon Phillips, Carlos Santana, Larry Carlton and his mate Edgar Winter. While working with Carlton, they recorded a couple of shows and in 2001 released a selection of songs recorded in the Blue Note in Osaka on their live album No substitutions, which received a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album for solo artists, duos or groups. He also contributed to projects of David Garfield, Richard Marx, Mike Terrana, Pat Torpey, Gregg Bissonette, Joe Cocker, Les Paul, Tommy Lee, Van Halen, and Edgar Winter and worked on albums with Toto [including Kingdom of desire (1992), Tambu (1995), Mindfields (1999), Livefields (1999), Through the looking glass (2002), 25th Anniversary Live in Amsterdam, and Falling in between (2006)] as well as solo albums [Lukather (1989), Candyman (1994), Luke (1997), Santamental (2003), and Ever changing times (2008)] Visit www.stevelukather.net for all the info on Bill's work.

	Damon Marks Born in the Garden State, Damon Marks has climbed the ranks to become one of rock's all time main stream players. Damon has developed his playing into a style that is easily identifiable and always innovative. Seamlessly blending melodic riffs that dance above crushing grooves, Damon's playing is unique, and always hard-hitting. Working with such artist as Tommy Aldridge, Marco Mendoza and Bruce Kulick, Damon recently recorded with Grammy winning Engineer / Producer Mike Plotnikoff ( Buckcherry, Daughtry) As a driving force, Damon Marks will be rocking for years to come! Visit www.myspace.com/damonmarks for all the info on DM's work.

	Chris McKay Hailing from South Carolina and choosing Athens as his home, nationally known photographer Chris McKay earned a couple of ASCAP Music Awards for his solo work but had wanted to be back in a group since his days with Q-Sign. In 2004, McKay and his bass-playing high school friend Frank DeFreese formed The Critical Darlings. When word started to spread, the offers for shows came. "For the first year, we never booked gigs. We only accepted invitations," McKay said. "I thought that was a great sign." Eventually, the Darlings went into the studio to record C'mon, Accept Your Joy! Since the official release of Joy, the songs have been picked up by over 150 stations around the world (from Poland to New Zealand to London and back to the States). In 2007, the Critical Darlings expanded to a quartet (with the addition of guitarist/vocalist Joe Orr and drummer Joshua Harrison) and started work on their second album, titled Satisfactionista, with GRAMMY nominated producer David Barbe (R.E.M., Drive-By Truckers, Cracker, Betty Lavette) behind the board. Of special interest is the collaboration with David Bowie's inimitable pianist Mike Garson (Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans) who appears on the track "Something Unseen" (which also finds Drive-By Truckers' Brad Morgan on drums). After working on the album for nearly a year, Satisfactionista was released in February 2009 and is available through iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Target and many other digital outlets. If that's not enough, The Darlings are one of the first bands chosen to employ Pete Townshend's Lifehouse Method in co-composing several tracks with The WHO's songwriter / guitarist via software that produces a unique song based on data input. It's no wonder that Lee Valentine Smith of Creative Loafing has named the Critical Darlings "a great little buzz-worthy band" and dubbed McKay "power pop potentate." You can check out what Chris is doing at the following links: www.chrismckay.net www.myspace.com/criticaldarlings www.reverbnation.com/criticaldarlings www.facebook.com

	Marco Mendoza Marco comes from a very musical family and started playing the guitar at an early age. Marco is perhaps best known for his work with a number of rock bands and artists such as Thin Lizzy, Blue Murder, Whitesnake, Ted Nugent, Neal Schon and Soul SirkUS. Marco is currently working with Dolores O’Riordan from the Cranberries project and touring with the Lynch Mob. Marco is living in Los Angeles. When he's not touring he can often be found playing local jazz clubs with Joey Heredia and Renato Neto. Visit www.marcomendoza.com for all the info on MM's work.

	Ronny North Ronny plays his own signature brand of instrumental guitar rock and is a So Cal guitar hero. In 2006 he won Best Male Guitarist Award at All Access Magazine Music Awards, after which, Ronny was featured in a cool interview in All Access Magazine to talk about the win. Ronny sells CDs and gets airplay all over the world. he also regularly does clinics trade shows all over the U.S. His music was even used on MTV's Real World reality show. Ronny is regularly featured in ad campaigns for his many sponsors (He's endorsed by 50 different music equipment manufactures and even has his own signature guitar by Tregan guitars) Ronny recently was honored with his own RN Day at his former school Norwalk High. He has also been featured in numerous music publications and Guitar Player Magazine head editor Michael Molenda said some very complimentary things about Ronny’s playing. The Traveling Guitar is excited to add Ronny North as a performing sponsor as he also has a philanthropic side: he has performed at the Special Olympics Summer Games for the last ten consecutive years and has performed at numerous events for Toys for Tots, the Vets and the Troops. He has also has performed for benefits for Tsunami Relief, The Norwalk/Lamirada School District, Heart of Gold Charities and musicians in need. Ronny North is tomorrow's guitar hero today...... Definitely check out Ronny and see what all the excitement is about (www.ronnynorth.com).

	Carl Verheyen In his 40-plus years of playing the instrument, Carl has created a wildly successful, multi-faceted career. He is a critically-acclaimed musician with ten CD’s released worldwide and is commonly regarded as a guitar virtuoso capable of playing any style of music with remarkable mastery and conviction. He has been one of LA’s elite “first call” session players for the past 25 years, playing on hundreds of records, movie soundtracks and television shows. Carl has graced the pages of countless industry publications and been the subject of numerous articles chronicling his rise to the forefront of the modern day guitar scene. Carl has won numerous polls and musical honors in the US, Germany, France, Italy and the UK. A member of the smash hit British rock group Supertramp since 1985, Carl has played to millions of enthusiastic fans in sold out arenas worldwide. As the creative force behind The Carl Verheyen Band, he has released an impressive and eclectic discography that showcases his endless talents across a wide array of musical genres. Complete Bio for Carl Verheyen>> To find out more about Carl, visit www.carlverheyen.com.

	Bobby Vogel Bobby Vogel began his music career at age 12 when he was asked to join an international gospel radio program called “Children’s Bible Hour,” where, for the next 4 years he sang and played guitar on over 500 radio stations worldwide. After high school, Bobby formed his own band fronting a country rock group that toured the United States for the next 10 years, playing concerts with stars such as Tanya Tucker, the late Ricky Nelson, Johnny Paycheck, the Kingston Trio, and The James Gang with Joe Walsh, to name a few. Bobby has a Degree in Music. During his studies, he received the “Jimmy Forrest Jazz Scholarship" and performed with some Jazz greats including the late Stan Getz. He also performed with his band and was awarded a personal letter of recommendation from President Gerald R. Ford for outstanding service to the community. In 1991, Bobby moved his family to Nashville, where he found work as a session picker. His most notable sessions were with Harold Shedd recording with Davis Daniels. He was asked to join a recording and touring act on the Epic/Sony label. After two years of touring, Bobby returned to Nashville and formed a new band, Nevada, where he played Lead Guitar. In 1996 Bobby auditioned for Loretta Lynn who hired him on the spot. Bobby has played Lead/Acoustic Guitars and the 5-string Banjo for Loretta Lynn for the last decade.