There is nothing like playing music with an accomplished and brilliant professional guitar player like Al Schackman, writes Sun editor Norm Wheeler. For the past 10 years I have been lucky enough to sit in with him, Chris Skellenger, and Patrick Niemisto every summer at Cherry Republic and Boonedocks in Glen Arbor, or at Ketch 22 in Arcadia, when Schackman visits Northern Michigan from his home near Wagon Mound, NM. Schackman is almost 93 years old, and he spent 43 amazing years as Nina Simone’s guitarist, music director, and confidant. He captures his remarkable musical life in his new memoir, “Me, My Guitar, & Nina Simone.”