I like my Deering banjo, it sounds nice and the company have a good reputation. However they've just taken a turn for the weird. Along with a useful maintenance manual I've just received a book called 'The Way to Happiness - a common sense guide to better living'. It has the kind of pencil illustrations you only see in fundamentalist evangelical hand outs and chapters called 'Don't be Promiscuous', 'Do not Murder' and 'Support a Government Designed and Run For All People.'

Well, I've had to have a sit down and a cup of tea. Reading the small print on the back cover it turns out it was written by L. Ron Hubbard the Scientologist. To quote Wikipedia, "Publicly, Hubbard was sociable and charming. Privately, he wrote entries in his notebook like "All men are your slaves," and "You can be merciless whenever your will is crossed and you have the right to be merciless."

I like to consider myself a broad minded cove but do banjo players really need the thoughts of a scientologist to dig a nice clawhammer run, or has scary picket fence America just landed on my doormat by way of me banjer?