Not Just A Guitar

F350M

Dreadnought Series Acoustic

How it looked new. Photo at Takamine.com

I noticed just how much my guitar has aged when I saw a picture of my F350M when it was new.

I got the guitar new in 1979. ( There is a story there that I will write one of these days.)

It sounds and plays even better with the patina of time. I know I do.


The Character Age Can Bring

Making music with a guitar nearly half my age!

I did a little rehearsing and songwriting with John Harrison this afternoon. He was trying a different brand of strings on his vintage, Fullerton Stratocaster. I am learning why his guitar sounds so much better than other guitars of the same make and model. I am still learning the names of the 1950's master guitar makers at Fender, but when I am a bit more knowledgeable on the subject, I will write in more detail.

John Harrison and his vintage Fender guitar.

It is the sound that these two guitars create when we play together that brought about the current band. It is a sound that is unique to those particular instruments, and the way we play them.

We were making some last minute changes on some arrangements for the songs we will be playing this Friday as part of the Blues By The River activities. We are thinking that next year, maybe, we will perform in the main event.

We Were What We Ate

A collection of stories about food in America.

Once upon a time, our government subsidized the arts. That's right, the people of these United States, actually invested in our artists, writers, musicians, sculptors, etc. Our blessed democratic republic, paid writers to write, singers to sing, dancers to dance, and orchestras to play, from sea to shining sea.

This book is a collection of stories that writers were paid to write about what people ate in the different parts of our country. Mark Kurlansky ran across this stack of material that had been written just before 1942. It describes regional dishes from Maine to California. It's not a restaurant guide, but a variety of experiences eating what the American people actually ate for breakfast, lunch/dinner, and supper. Some recipes are part of the prose.

What caught my attention was in the introduction. There were some statistics that really struck me, like how fast we filled up America. When I was born in 1945 the population of the United States was less than the population of the State of California is today.

It's an interesting illustration of a time when artists, writers, and musicians had full-time government jobs, creating art.

A review of this book at USA Today.

Lunch At Phil's Place

A healthy bran muffin, a la mode'.

I figured the muffin was healthy because it had nuts and some sort of vegetable matter in it. The ice cream and whipped cream are real dairy products and not some laboratory experiment like, Cool Whip. Eating fake food is detrimental to your health and digestive system. If you are eating anything artificial, just stop it!

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
Eggs and Sausage - Tom Waits

I Am Here For The Rhapsody