The news of Paco de Lucia’s death caught me driving to the airport on my way to a conference http://woodmusick.org/ in Paris and I just got back.  I was not a flamenco aficionado by any means as I learned to play the guitar but I am not sure that any flamenco at all was being listened too in my neck of the woods.  When I moved to Spain in 1989 wanting to become a guitar-maker flamenco was present everywhere in the culture here and became a part of my life.  I took some lessons, built my first guitar out of cypress and began listening to Paco de Lucía.  I had one cassette on which he accompanied a singer whose name I can’t remember and I was completely hooked.   I am sorry to see Paco go so soon.