Well now I know how to get written up without being a contributing musician ; instead of an instrument ya bring along a 3 1/2 lb slab of Alaskan Coho and slap it on the barrelhead , then a well-tempered grill liberally sprinkled with Apple wood chips, and ya get more music. Something about the right fuel at the right time in the right setting. and well-fed musicicans. Visiting Virginia with musician friends from New York who were invited to play with Virginia-based musicians for a friendly jam was my first impression of Virginia and kept me coming back . Those gatherings have long since scattered to the 4 winds and seemed like for the longest time the only place I could sit and sup and swap tales and smart-arsed wits with gatherings of fine friends & fine guitarists , all informal-like, was back with my tribe in New York. Well this weekend , at Bobert's & Eve's personal Arboretum de Musique , I 've finally been allowed to recapture the magic that first got me to come to Virginia about 20 years ago and I was enchanted all over again. I would've loved to digital video tape this gathering , but ,unfortunately ,it was far too humid to risk exposing the camera to it. Thus I'm looking forward to doing this again , when these gracious hosts' time allows , as we wend our way into my absolute favorite time of the year ; God Almighty Autumn when you no longer need gills to breathe the air and just the right crispness of night temperature mercifully wakes up the blood and calls the spirit to action. Now that I'm familiar with Bob's "rowdy" ( I calls it "ornary" ) Blues ,which has my ear now, I'm already lobbying him to craft his style around a "correct" rendition of the old Rolling Stone's "Sympathy for the Devil" ( "Beggar's Banquet" Album ) . It was originally written as a slow , growly ,accoustic-bluesy piece before it got all 'over produced' into some over-produced nonsense completely divorced from its original incarnation. Hearing Bob's self-described "rowdy" performance style convinces me he could do it justice as it was originally written. And I want to get that, and his fine original guitar blues sermons, on DV tape and see what happens. Too many magic moments , and grist for new ideas, born out of improvization of the moment are lost because no one thought to capture it. This is gonna chage if I've got anything to do with it. All 'round thanks to the visiting musicians whom helped make Bob & Eve's Hobbit's retreat stir up the muses to everyone's delight. I'd say that was fair exchange for a slab of Alaskan Coho ithat needed a good home anyway. Till we meet again, Fred a.k.a. Taliesn ( Yeah I'm a big time Frank Lloyd Wright freak. What of it. ; )