I saw Bruce Cockburn at the Orillia Opera House (a beautiful hall) a couple of years ago, and it was a wonderful concert. Me and a couple of friends got to talk with him after the show for about 20 minutes, and he is a very pleasant, unpretentious guy as far as I'm concerned. He played a whole series of amazing guitars...quite a sight to see.

As far as using a guitar made with Brazilian Rosewood...well, that is not necessarily the problem. If the timber industry would cut selectively, taking out only some trees, then the forests would not be destroyed, but would be a resource available to future generations. One large tree can make an absolutely enormous number of guitars, and it would certainly be possible to plan accordingly, and not cut down the whole Amazon.

Unfortunately, the industry normally cuts down every desirable tree it can find. Kind of like shooting down every last buffalo within range. In this manner, the industry eventually destroys its own source of survival, as well as that of many others.

That is not the fault of people who use the wood or the fur afterwards for some useful purpose. It is the fault of a social order that values money above all else...and lives as if there was no tomorrow, beyond the current fiscal year.

- LH