I have a couple of odd memories similar to that, just barely hanging by their fingers to a cliff in my brain. My brother and I wanted to ride a bus to Sunday school, and were allowed. He ran off and I got lost in the hallways, scared to open any doors. So a minister found me, asked if I was lost, and when I said yes, he had a great idea of taking me out in front of the whole congregation, so they could all pray for this "lost" child. I hate that clever bastard, whoever he was.

   And I had a babysitter who ironed and watched soap operas continuously. To this day the smell of ironing depresses me utterly, smells like a never-ending day of captivity and boredom. I remember how she complained about her soap being cancelled because of the first moonwalk.
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   It's hard to talk about personal style, maybe because so much of it is about what you don't do, or won't do. It's hard to consciously notice the omissions. I guess one frustration I have with mudcat, artists, and life in general, is it's hard to talk about what and how stuff comes across. Since I started a thread I can't live up to, maybe I can throw this in too. I've been reading some older threads about criticism, useful criticism, annoying criticism, smart-assed guy-in-a-bar criticism. But there are scattered bits and pieces of what I'm looking for. And any attempt to characterize somebody's stuff starts to come across as a slight, or a put-down, even if it isn't meant that way. Did you ever make a good comment that the player seemed to really get, and appreciate? It's hard to do.

   What's something you can't do well, that is a weakness and maybe also a strength? Or do you see it only one way or another? I can't sing that effortless-sounding, floating sort of singing, much. On the other hand, I can sing some stuff okay, and don't often sound facile or disengaged. Sometimes it quells my envy of better singers, and I'm okay with my own voice, for the most part. Virtuosos make a lot of bad records, I think, because they try to show themselves being Good, instead of simply being Good. I find some virtuoso-driven music depressing, and maybe not entirely out of envy.