Welcome to the official website of Fretboard Frolics with Mikhal Caldwell...20+ years later!
This site was created by the show producer David Lungu and gives a history of Fretboard Frolics in memory of Mikhal who passed away in 2011 at the age of 54.
Fretboard Frolics was a 30 minute guitar instructional program hosted by Mikhal Caldwell and was produced by David and George Lungu for public access that aired on TCI Cablevision channel 52 from 1988 to 1993/1994. There was 160 episodes produced and included many local and national musicians. To name just a few: Al Di Meola, Larry Coryell, and John McLaughlin (the Big 3 as we would call 'em,) Greg Howe, David T. Chastain, Billy Sheehan, Michael Schenker, Jimmy Reed, Tony MacAlpine, Vinnie Moore, Paul Gilbert, Michael Angelo, Steven M. Graves, Joe Genereux, Esham The Unholy, George Neal of the local band Halloween. In all there was about 46 interviews and the list is available under Guests tab.
I first met Mikhal in Hamtramck, Michigan at one of his gigs to ask if he would be interested in hosting a local public access show on how to play guitar. He was very cool and we discussed what the show would be about and he said yes. I had seen a guitar article by Mikhal in Tom Ness' local magazine called The Jam Rag - that's why I picked him to ask. We used the title of his article for the show title. I never did stay to see the show. At the time little did I know that I was getting a schooled musician, let alone a show that I thought would last long, and a friend. We won local public access awards and regional awards called the Philo T. Farnsworth in the instructional video category.
Frolics was produced at the TCI Cablevision public access studio located on the Northeast corner of 9 Mile and Planavon at 344 West Nine Mile in Ferndale, Michigan. Every time we taped a show Mikhal would buy cream cheese brownies (they was addicting) from Hagelstein’s Bakery across the street. He would sometimes bring his friends, students and daughter along to watch the taping. His daughter was on a few episodes for National Guitar Month where we highlighted previous guests.
There was two opens for the show. The first featured music by Mikhal and was used up to show number ##. The second open was used until the end of the series and was a much improved look that was created by Pat Coller as a favor who worked for the company in the local origination department. The new theme song for Fretboard Frolics was a medley of parts of songs that Mikhal wrote and I asked him to make a condensed version for the intro and outro for the show. We recorded the song at The Tempermill Sound Studio (then located in the basement of Dave' house in Livonia) at midnight for free. In exchange, we gave credit to the studio at the end of every show. Dave Feeny was the engineer for the track. It took around an hour, hour and half from start to finish with Mikhal playing all the instruments. We sat in the control room and he first laid down the drum track. then he added the bass line. then guitar track, and finally the solo and any chorus' in that order. It amazed me that when he did the bass line you could not really hear how the song would sound until it was completed. It was cool to hear a song assembled from start to finish based on how I heard it in my head from bits and pieces. Mikhal was a true professional musician because all I said is I needed 30 seconds for the open and one-minute-twenty for credits for the show. As far as I Know he did not rehearse it at home but took the idea and ran with it at the studio. I used the first 30 seconds for the intro and for the end credits I would back track time from the end of the song to the start of the credits and would use as much as needed. Never before has the entire song been heard until recently (see Videos). I hope you enjoyed knowing the history of the show Fretboard Frolics with Mikhal Caldwell. And, as Mikhal would say at the end of the show..."Make The Dots Dance On It." –David Lungu
This site was created by the show producer David Lungu and gives a history of Fretboard Frolics in memory of Mikhal who passed away in 2011 at the age of 54.
Fretboard Frolics was a 30 minute guitar instructional program hosted by Mikhal Caldwell and was produced by David and George Lungu for public access that aired on TCI Cablevision channel 52 from 1988 to 1993/1994. There was 160 episodes produced and included many local and national musicians. To name just a few: Al Di Meola, Larry Coryell, and John McLaughlin (the Big 3 as we would call 'em,) Greg Howe, David T. Chastain, Billy Sheehan, Michael Schenker, Jimmy Reed, Tony MacAlpine, Vinnie Moore, Paul Gilbert, Michael Angelo, Steven M. Graves, Joe Genereux, Esham The Unholy, George Neal of the local band Halloween. In all there was about 46 interviews and the list is available under Guests tab.
I first met Mikhal in Hamtramck, Michigan at one of his gigs to ask if he would be interested in hosting a local public access show on how to play guitar. He was very cool and we discussed what the show would be about and he said yes. I had seen a guitar article by Mikhal in Tom Ness' local magazine called The Jam Rag - that's why I picked him to ask. We used the title of his article for the show title. I never did stay to see the show. At the time little did I know that I was getting a schooled musician, let alone a show that I thought would last long, and a friend. We won local public access awards and regional awards called the Philo T. Farnsworth in the instructional video category.
Frolics was produced at the TCI Cablevision public access studio located on the Northeast corner of 9 Mile and Planavon at 344 West Nine Mile in Ferndale, Michigan. Every time we taped a show Mikhal would buy cream cheese brownies (they was addicting) from Hagelstein’s Bakery across the street. He would sometimes bring his friends, students and daughter along to watch the taping. His daughter was on a few episodes for National Guitar Month where we highlighted previous guests.
There was two opens for the show. The first featured music by Mikhal and was used up to show number ##. The second open was used until the end of the series and was a much improved look that was created by Pat Coller as a favor who worked for the company in the local origination department. The new theme song for Fretboard Frolics was a medley of parts of songs that Mikhal wrote and I asked him to make a condensed version for the intro and outro for the show. We recorded the song at The Tempermill Sound Studio (then located in the basement of Dave' house in Livonia) at midnight for free. In exchange, we gave credit to the studio at the end of every show. Dave Feeny was the engineer for the track. It took around an hour, hour and half from start to finish with Mikhal playing all the instruments. We sat in the control room and he first laid down the drum track. then he added the bass line. then guitar track, and finally the solo and any chorus' in that order. It amazed me that when he did the bass line you could not really hear how the song would sound until it was completed. It was cool to hear a song assembled from start to finish based on how I heard it in my head from bits and pieces. Mikhal was a true professional musician because all I said is I needed 30 seconds for the open and one-minute-twenty for credits for the show. As far as I Know he did not rehearse it at home but took the idea and ran with it at the studio. I used the first 30 seconds for the intro and for the end credits I would back track time from the end of the song to the start of the credits and would use as much as needed. Never before has the entire song been heard until recently (see Videos). I hope you enjoyed knowing the history of the show Fretboard Frolics with Mikhal Caldwell. And, as Mikhal would say at the end of the show..."Make The Dots Dance On It." –David Lungu
NOTE: If anyone wishes to use any of this material as reference, please give proper credit where credit is due and cite this website as the source.