Tony at the La Honda Fair 2012
by craig eddy
This months pick for The Face of Local Music is truly a son of La Honda. Tony Buekers grew up here in La Honda. He started playing guitar at eleven year old. You can blame the band Aerosmith for that. As he was learning to play he was influenced by bands like Aerosmith, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam. As time went on he started appreciating the folk scene too. He loved listening to Bob Dylan and has enjoyed playing more acoustic oriented music. Seems as you get older this tends to happen, you start out rockin' but eventually your mind opens a bit while your body slows down. Tony credits La Honda icon Reid Dennis in helping him get started on electric guitar and also says Reid cured him of playing only Fenders. These days Tony plays his Martin 1970's D28 and a Epiphone copy of the Gibson 235. Tony has only played with one band. He is still, after eleven years, playing with local favorites Lighthouse. Tony tells of the band's worst gig ever when the opening band left with all the sound gear leaving Lighthouse high and dry. The club owner also billed them as a 80's and 90's cover band. Oops. Lighthouse features lots of original music and a few covers but no Abba and BeeGees. The band plays a mix of rock, reggae, psychedelic, country and blues. Tony's favorite gigs are the local La Honda and Pescadero festivals. He has sat in with many of the local acts but rare as it is around here, officially plays in only one band. The back patio of the local cafe is his favorite venue due to the outdoor acoustics and the beautiful setting. I asked Tony what he likes most about playing and he really likes the crafting of new songs as well as the energy of playing live for an audience. Tony will be appearing with Lighthouse at AppleJacks on March 8th. If you want to learn more look for Lighthouse on Facebook and Myspace. If you search on La Honda Fair on Youtube you can watch Lighthouse playing at the Fair in the new Documentary video by Bill McKay. As the outdoor music scene starts warming up soon you'll see Tony and Lighthouse playing even more at the local venues.
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