- New York Guitar Show
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The New York Guitar Show was an annual, two-day, vintage guitar exhibition and sale scheduled on the third weekend in September and held at the Mary Help of Christians Church on E. 12th St. and Avenue A in New York City. Over the span of a 15-year period (1986-2000) the New York Guitar Show was the only regularly scheduled vintage guitar event dedicated entirely to charity in the United States. The event was created and produced by Skip Henderson, an ex-social worker turned vintage guitar dealer (City Lights Music) from New Brunswick, New Jersey, primarily to support the AIDS Resource Foundation for Children in Newark, New Jersey. Henderson later went on to establish the non-profit Mt. Zion Memorial Fund to assist rural black churches in Mississippi.
The New York Guitar Show was also a venue for a Saturday night performance series which over the lifespan of the event featured an eclectic array of performers such as Nokie Edwards of the Ventures, guitar maker Semie Moseley, Junior Brown, the Le Roi Brothers, Lonnie Pitchford, Elliot Easton of The Cars, You Tube favorites The Otis Brothers featuring the late Bob Guida (an early financial backer of the event), and numerous others. In 1996 as Henderson became more involved with the activities of the Mt. Zion Fund, production of the show was transferred to another vintage guitar dealer James Pasch, with the contractual stipulation that it remain a fund raising event for the AIDS Resource Foundation for Children.
Primarily because of its East Village location, the event was known for attracting a diverse crowd of notable musicians and figures from New York City such as Billy Idol, Allen Ginsburg, Lenny Kravitz, Willy De Ville, and many others.
[Guitar World Magazine, "New York Guitar Show 1989" by Teisco Del Rey, December 1989, p.95]
[Guitar Player Magazine, "Elvis Spotted at New York Guitar Show", by Richard R. Smith, January, 1990, p.17]
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