Bluejay, I sincerely apologize for what seems like rudeness, I swear I typed a "G" after my "lazy git" to signify jocularity, but enclosed it in pointy brackets which must have been understood by the software as an HTML command. I was not being offensive, I promise you.

Thanks Noreen I will practise on the practise thread.

Lucius, I hate to tell you, but Tony is just as amazing with a flatpick as he is with his fingernails. The "Easy Club Reel" which brought upwards of a thousand people to their feet in Cape Breton is a flatpicked piece, God only knows how it is possible to play it. And may I say that it followed straight on from JP Cormier playing "The Mathematician" which is yet another tour de force.

I have no axe to grind as regards Tony Mcmanus, yes he is a friend, but I gain nothing from publicizing him except the satisfaction of knowing that I may have helped even one person to discover a musician who truly (and maybe uniquely in the field of folk music) merits the term "genius".

While om the subject of genius, I would just like to add that there are IMHO only three guitar players I have heard who merited that appellation, and I think I have heard and listened to more guitar players than I have had hot breakfasts. My take on genius is that when listening to the player you have to experience a certain sense of awe and an awareness that you have heard something which transcends mere technique and reaches into another dimension. Like, there are hundreds of players I have heard who I know I could never hope to emulate and whose music I love and enjoy, but who are merely brilliant.

The genius is someone who can never be duplicated by anyone. That said my three against the field are
1. Blind Blake
2. Roy Buchanan
3. Tony McManus

Voila, je repose ma valise.

Murray