Speaking of banjae, plectrum and plucktrum (and strumpet), during the last great disaster (the Mudcat Crash of l998), with nothing else to do, I was surfing banjo sites and one link led me to eBay.com--"Almost heaven, ee-bay--dot--com." I have been spending almost as much time there as on the 'cat. A few days ago I had a five day hold on a 1971 Vega tubaphone, mint condition, until the last day when the bidding shot up from my modest but still beyond my means $600 to finally end at $910. There are five-strings from Kays to Silvertones, plectrae and tenor, banjo ukes, banjolins, banjitars, a sitar, lots of git-tars, violins (not one listed as a fiddle), dulcimers, autoharps, whatzitae and gizmae, etc. I should probably wait a week or so before telling you all for fear that you'll come along and top my high bids.

One other "Almost heaven" I have found recently is Lark in the Morning--somewhat limited on the usual folk instruments, but what a great supply of the less common: steel drums, spoons, stainless steel and wood (!), all kinds of percussion and string instruments from around the world: Asia, including ChinaJapanPhilippinesVietnamIndia/etc. Africa, middle east, eastern Europe, Latin America, and on and on. Just skimming their online catalogue is a gas--and there's a real live store across the bay from me, in San Francisco--at the Cannery. --seed