Fellow listers, let me share my joy and excitement with you. In two days I will be in Amsterdam to see my favourite band on stage for the very first time, but I can't quite concentrate on it due to what happened last Sunday. A few months ago, a luthier who happens to be a great friend of mine informed me that Dominic Miller had been invited to an Italian guitar festival in a beautiful castle (www.musicaafiorano.it), to give a workshop in the afternoon and a gig in the evening of September 9. I immediately saw it as a fantastic opportunity to make a dream come true: a dream so unconceivable that I'd never even thought of it. I love Dominic's solo music, and in the past years I've figured out a few of his songs on the guitar, most of them from First Touch. Given the informal setting in which the festival would take place, I decided I would try my luck, so I spent part of the summer practising. Last Sunday, I drove to the festival with Lydia... and my guitar in the back. When Dominic arrived he seemed to recognized me, because I'd already had the chance to chat with him after a gig of his in Milan. But after all I was only a fan, with little to distinguish me from the ones he meets around the world. I was in front row at the workshop, which was great as expected, and asked him a question about Rush Hour, a track from First Touch. As soon as Dominic was finished, he devoted himself to signing autographs and posing for pictures, then came to greet us die-hard fans. It was then that I seized my chance. "Dominic, I have my guitar here and I can play a few of your songs, I was wondering if I could take this opportunity to try one with you." "Really? Sure, I want to hear you!" So I took my guitar and sat down. Dominic literally kneeled in front of me and I started playing, with him watching closely my left hand. He was impressed, and he was so kind to give me suggestions on chords and finger positions. He even took my guitar (my friend built it), which he tried and warmly appreciated. He wanted to play with me, but in the meantime his manager had taken his guitar away, so he said "Well, next time". I couldn't lose such an opportunity, so I begged the people around me to go and find his manager. At last his guitar was found, so he grabbed a seat and placed himself in front of me. And then... One song (Last Dance) would have been more than enough to make me happy, but as soon as we finished and the clapping had ended, he said "Let's do another!". So we played Do You Want Me, and we didn't see why we should stop there. We ended up playing for half an hour, to an increasing and cheering crowd. We basically played all the Dominic songs I know, and he suggested other ones for me to study. Then we started jamming on a few Sting songs: Fragile, I Was Brought to My Senses... He was genuinely impressed. "I'm not gonna give your phone number to Sting, though", he joked at the end, to which I replied "Sting? Who?". He signed the back of my guitar, which now has become even more of an invaluable object to me. No need to say that my friend the guitar-maker is as happy as a king. Check out the pictures on this page of my website: http://www.michelepiumini.it/Michele%20Piumini/9%20settembre%202007.html I knew Dominic was a kind and modest person, but this was way more than I could ever dream of. Ciao! Michele from Milan PS: I still have those 3 tickets for Munich.