A speck is a small particle; a mote is around a castle. HA HA HA Thanks for the laugh, brucie.

For spiritual reasons I am unable to quip up the obvious 'nasty retort' that can set a bastard straight... for my experience is clear... putting people down gives my music 'no discenernable benefit' whatsoever... and in fact, any negative comment made, turns back on itself ten-fold... Thomas the Rhymer, perhaps you are giving yourself a ccontradictory message, one that can't reasonably be expected to work. Could it be that if you tried to empathise with the down-putter that your system wouldn't go into a spin?

Right now I have a bit of a problem in relating to the 16-year-old and her sister. They come from a small village (this is Alaska) and are fairly new in town. They're quite talented singers and songwriters, especially the 16 year old, but they haven't learned jam etiquette.   For instance, one of them has walked over to the banjo player, held out her hand and said, For this song I have to use a banjo. OK? The banjo player was kind of dumfounded but was gracious. Oh. Oh, sure, he said, as he handed it over.

On occasion they will take over a song that someone else is leading until the other person gives up.

We are all older (except for one 13-year-old boy who is coming along great) by 20 to 50 years. I haven't figured out how to stop them so I'm working on how to keep from having them affect me.