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BS: Don's new guitar.

09 Nov 01 - 06:24 PM (#589312)
Subject: Don's new guitar.
From: DonMeixner

Went to Elderly. Spent a lot of time. Played everything in my price range. Bought a Martin. Mahogany, plays good. Sounds nice. Met Mick. Went to dinner. Had a great time.

Don


09 Nov 01 - 06:28 PM (#589315)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Sorcha

Not a man of few words, are you Don? (grin) If that isn't the shortest "Tell All" I have ever seen..........."met Mick" indeed.


09 Nov 01 - 06:37 PM (#589320)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Rick Fielding

Cngrts Dn. Hv fn wth Mrtn.

Rk


09 Nov 01 - 06:37 PM (#589321)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Sorcha

ROFLMAO!!! Gd n u


09 Nov 01 - 06:50 PM (#589334)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Rick Fielding

Thnks Srch

rk


09 Nov 01 - 06:53 PM (#589340)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: 53

i guess some have to play martins to keep them in business, congrats. BOB


09 Nov 01 - 07:00 PM (#589348)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: catspaw49

Yeah, uh..........like uh, great message Don. Did you go out and enlist or something?

"Motored Michigan/Strummed Strings/Mulled Martin,Bought Same/Met Mick/Headed Home"

Geeziz......................

Good Guitar/Tell More/Kiss My Ass

Spaw


09 Nov 01 - 07:05 PM (#589353)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Sorcha

Maybe his internet connection requires that he pay by the letter............ya think?


09 Nov 01 - 07:17 PM (#589372)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Rick Fielding

How IS Martin Mulled these days?

Well, guess we'll just have to do it for him folks.

Pick a style. I'll start with Poe.

"The wind howled outside the showroom; gasping, shrieking, whispering and finally screaming it's hellish warning...but I continued walking towards the small black box. I knew what I might find inside, but I steeled myself against the horror, for what value is pleasure without possible instant death? In one violent move I undid the clasps, threw back the lid and....there she lay! Pale and white as the day she left her maker. I thrust my hand boldly towards her neck.....and grasped it! She was mine, yes mine forever more.....and then I saw them! My heart, already beating more rapidly than ever before, gave a huge protest, my chest constricted, my eyes fairly popped from their sockets..........OH....MY...GOD! Fuckin' Elixer strings!

rk


09 Nov 01 - 07:18 PM (#589374)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Sorcha

"mulled"....allspice, cinnamon, clove.....oops, not the cooking thread!


09 Nov 01 - 07:32 PM (#589388)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: catspaw49

I was thinking "mulled over" which is a pretty common phrase in these parts, but I hated to use any extra words ala Mr. Meixner. But I like Rick's idea...........

Soren Kierkegaard Buys a Martin

All guitars have unto themselves a particular likeness that is the inevitable result of the difference between each, That is to say that a guitar is in and of itself a certain instrument, possessing all the qualities of an instrument, while holding within it narrow confines of definition the very thing which distinguishes it. The Martin, although having the thing that by itself is not a thing but a construct of individual things can meld all of the factors of thingness into the difference which separates it from others which have the exact sameness and are without distinction. Thus to have the Martinness of being it can only have the sameness found in that quality of difference.

Ya' know, I never had a clue as to what Kierkegaard was talking about but he seemed to make such a good case for it that I just had to agree with him.

Spaw


09 Nov 01 - 07:52 PM (#589404)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: GUEST

"Give Me a Martin, Or give me Death"

There's many a man I've known in my day,

Who lived just to squander his money away,

On a brand name guitar, coveted by all,

And the owning of Martins was their downfall.

Chorus:

They won't have a Gibson, and a Guild won't do,

Nary a Yamaha, all Ovations eschewed,

Imagine Old Lester with a Fender in hand,

We'll have no other than the one sacred Brand.

Lowden, Lakeview and old Larivee,

No guitars with Ls or Ss or Ts,

Not even a Gallagher can satisfy,

If I can't have a Martin, than I'd rather die.


09 Nov 01 - 07:56 PM (#589405)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: GUEST,Fortunato in the Bullrushes

Sorry, forgot to sign my name to the song above. The above parody is not my fault, I've been frightened by one Larivee, One Huss and Dalton and one Santa Cruz this week. And I couldn't buy any of them. So sorry for the sarcasm, I'm in guitar heat. Know what I mean?


09 Nov 01 - 08:18 PM (#589421)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: DonMeixner

It was a dark day from the get go. The bus ride from the cheap hotel to the middle of the great metropolis was made notable only by the passengers. Six well behave autistic boys from the local school. Their teachers where more trouble than the troubled youths.

I stepped off the bus into a rain that came out of the gray of the western sky. Only no Penny, no Songbird and no Sky King. Just midwest drizzle blowing forty and coming in sideways.

The walk of eleven blocks gave me pause to think. To make my plans. To question my intent.

I bought an umbrella.

As I trudged the way across town and campus I glared back at the people staring at me. "Who is the hick here anyway?" I muttered to my self. I pressed on.

Soaked to my soles, wet to my knees, I looked at the entry to the store. A Himalayan strand of conrete steps arose before me. As I climbed the steps my energy flagged as each tread hit my Dexters. With my remaining strength I climbed the last step to the landing and noted with a certain irony that a wheelchair ramp was built to my right.

I entered the store.

A great store. I got there about 11:30 and with the exception of a half hour walk to clear my ears and grab some coffee I played guitars all day. Till about 8:30.

I played everything with in my price range and an awful lot that was way beyond it. A $10,000.00 Monteleone Cittern ferinstance. I have to say I was saddly disappointed with the Taylors almost universally. The exception being some Koa wood cutaways. I played every Larrivee in the place and liked them all but they had no electronics and that was an issue with this purchase.

I kept coming back to a pair of jumbo 16s. I was deep in comparitive thought when Mick Lane walked in and he and I wasted some time with hellos and how are yas and such. He was there to pick up a Bazooka but he can tell his side of that. He and I compared merits of the guitars, discussed the different electronics. We also trade war stories about gigs. He even mentioned the Gettaway very briefly for the next hour and a half. We played the guitars in a practice room. Swapped some songs. ( Mick has a great voice for those who haven't heard it).

Good advice: Have someone else play the guitar you are considering for you so you can listen. Mick kindly did so for me. Also don't just play it. Sing with it as well. You gotta her every aspect of the sound.

My brother Gary came in and he played them both and point out a set up problem with one of them that mu very numb finger didn't notice. He then played the rest of the finalists and few he just liked himself. I settled on the Jumbo 16 and off we went for beers and mediterranian food.

I think I got a great guitar and I have Mick and Gary to thank for it.

Don

The next guitar will be strictly accoustic. Maybe a Santa Cruz, Hmmmmmm.


09 Nov 01 - 08:22 PM (#589424)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: DonMeixner

Great stuff gang, very funny. Kiss your own ass Pat.


09 Nov 01 - 11:06 PM (#589500)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Sorcha

LOL, Don! That was much better. Keep it up, friend.....uh, uh, I didn't say that did I? Never mind.


09 Nov 01 - 11:49 PM (#589521)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: GUEST,Ditzee Lee ('cause ya know ya love 'er!)

Like that is so like kewl, ya know, Don, i mean, wow, like man, you just went and did it, I swear, but like it took all day, like for a guiTAR? Like I know all the guys just die for them, like ya know, but I mean a whole day??

An' who are these dudes you met, like some big guy and was he like kewl or what? Really rad that your bro was there, like I can understand that totally and the rain and stuff, wow what a turned down day, huh, like in the song, ya know, like it even sounded a little like X-rated there, if ya know what I mean, not sure my mom would've like let me be there what with you grabbing necks and all, like were there heaving bosoms, too, like in that one movie that came out about that Shakespeer guy, ya know, where like all the women were like powder white and their boobs almost fell out and like, well, I gotta go, but like I'm really, totally flipped out for ya man, that's totally rad that ya got what ya wanted and like I'll bet all the guys'll just die when they see it. Like, see ya!


10 Nov 01 - 10:54 AM (#589672)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Peter T.

It was a Martin. It was like every Martin. It was like those Martini machine guns we used on the Italian front that never jammed, and once we were asked to kill Germans with another kind of machine gun, and we wouldn't, and they overran our position, and that is how I ended up spending the rest of the war in Munich. It sat in the window that winter, that cold winter when the snow crunched underfoot, and women wore short fur coats tight around the waist, and we sat and drank Amaretto and hot milk in the Piazza and thought about the Martin we could not buy. It was good, but it was not as good as it would have been with the Martin. And Mick said that it was like a Marlin he had once almost caught, though playing a Marlin used only one string, and we bought him a drink on the strength of that joke, and we were laughing as we had laughed in the early dawn before taking the bridge from the Fascists, and then the Duchess walked in with the Martin under her arm and she came and put it on the table, and she stood up and looked at me and said: "Oh, Jake, we could have had such fun, you and I, here is a guitar instead to play with," and she turned and walked out. And while it was a Martin, and it was fine, very fine, it was not the same.


10 Nov 01 - 12:14 PM (#589691)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Amos

Classic Hemingway from PT!! Classic Poe!! Kiergegaard to the letter!! Oh my aching college memories!!

A


10 Nov 01 - 12:16 PM (#589693)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Lonesome EJ

They started early, wending their way up through the leafy bowers, scented with persimmon, peach, and permellion, and at last reached the rough pass of rock called Condomli'an by the White Elves of the Eastern Grove, Batar Udor by the Strange Men of the Gray City, and Thologoin by the Dwarves of Bley, wherein the Stone of Blabbos lay unused. Don-Ald, clad in mail of dwarf-make, hefted Elurion, short sword of the Red-headed Giants, and thrice vowed to uncover the treasure-place of Marr Tin. Don Bungee watched Don-Ald chant the elf-vow, and felt hungry again, reaching into his own pack for a portion of glammas, the tasteless but sustaining traditional grain-mush of wanderers. It was then that a great flash blinded them, a mighty sound as of rock splitting deep within Middle-earth shocked them, and the gravel path parted to reveal a huge stone fist that rose before them. As they watched awe-struck, it opened to reveal the sacred Marr Tin, beloved of the Folkmeisters of Bistrovia. As Don-ald took it in his shaking hands, the fist disappeared and a voice like distant thunder said "keep it safe, and neglect not the humidification of its storage-place!"


10 Nov 01 - 12:30 PM (#589706)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: 53

I LIKE THAT SONG BOB


10 Nov 01 - 12:55 PM (#589727)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: katlaughing

They were meant to be at the cottage at the meadows by now, but Papa Don just had to stay in the city one more long week. Oh! How Emmeline longed to be with her friends! She thought she might die of the suffocating oppression of the noise, the horses, the children, all of the reeking city if they didn't go soon, but her Papa knew best, so here she sat, bored, hot, and out of sorts.

Really, though, she knew it would be worth the wait. Papa Don had promised a special new song when they went down to the country this year and she knew it had to do with his visit to that special store, the Ancients, or whatever it was named.

He mind skipped ahead to the cottage where she had a room with a view. She imagined the leafy bowers, the sun hot on the blossoms of so many fragrant flowers, bees droning in a lazy fashion. She would be wearing one of her new summer muslim dresses, probably the lilac for it complimented her dark hair and violet eyes. Papa Don would be sitting under the arbor, strumming quietly until he got it just right. Everyone would gather round and she would sink to the grass at his feet, gaze up at her Papa loving and ask, "Papa, tell us again, how you came to have this wonderful Martin and the song that came to you for it? Please, Papa?" And, he would spin the story in his elegant voice, while her friends and family sat around, sipping cool lemonade, relishing the story but eager for the song.

"Emmeline! Enneline! Where are you? We are ready to go, honestly girl, come here!"

She jumped up with a start. "Coming Papa!" And, with that she was off to the carriage, her Papa back from his quest, black case securely placed beside him on the seat. "I have a new song for this year, Emmeline. One I think you will like. It has Elderlys in it and this wonderful new Martin, plus a dashing large Irish fellow with a voice like an angel and even your uncle is in it."

"Oh, Papa, I would love to hear it!"

(


10 Nov 01 - 01:31 PM (#589740)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Bill D

Man said to his Martin,
"Fie, box, fie"
Man said to his Martin,
"Who's the tool, now?"
Man said to his Martin,
"Get thou in tune, and stop this fartin'
"Thou must well plunkin', box,
"Who's the tool now?"


10 Nov 01 - 01:54 PM (#589749)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: GUEST,Fortunato up the holler

53

Sing it to the tune of Dark As A Dungeon, it sort of works.



"I've got the guitar, aquisition, blues, oh lord a mighty, I've got 'em down in my guiter picker's shoes."


10 Nov 01 - 02:48 PM (#589766)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: 53

OK BOB


10 Nov 01 - 04:06 PM (#589815)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: DonMeixner

Golly!!!!


10 Nov 01 - 04:35 PM (#589835)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: catspaw49

Ain't it amazing what a short little post will inspire around here? (:<))

Spaw


11 Nov 01 - 03:34 PM (#590337)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: UB Ed

Amazing, indeed.

Congratulations.

D15 GT? I assume you played it both acoustically and electrically. What type of system did you play through?

Ed


11 Nov 01 - 05:53 PM (#590398)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: DonMeixner

Hi Ed,

JC-16 GTE, Solid wood, Mahogany back and sides, spruce top, single cutaway. Triple O surface dimensions but kind of a deep body, hence the Jumbo Nom d'guerre. Kind of a fat but balanced sound. Fishman Prefix pro preamp. I'll play it both ways but its mainly for electric gigs with the band. Once the newness and novelty wears off I'll probably go back to the Guild for accoustic work.

Lonesome, let me guess, You've just reread the Sword of Shanara or The Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories for the 34th time. :-)

Kat, I'm lost at your inspiration, C.J.Cherryth perhaps??

Bill D, I like it. Its obvious who is the tool now.

Don


12 Nov 01 - 08:00 PM (#591226)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Big Mick

The night was long, and the day was dreary
The rain fell down on N. Washington Street
I walked alone, up miles of grey stairs,
Into the Shrine, a old friend to meet.

I walked into, the room of beauty
The wonderous instruments all hanging there
I saw the friend, I had ne'er yet met
Guitar in hand, in the Pickers Pal Chair
I touched his shoulder, he looks up at me
His fingers still playing the music bright
I said "Old Friend, it's good to meet you"
I knew his face, I knew it on sight

My good friend, Don, had been playing
Five and a half hours, by that time
He played every instrument in Elderly's Showroom
300 or more, every shape and size.

I like this Martin, the grand man said,
Though the Larrivees, surely have a sound
But electronics, and action must prevail
We went to the practice room,
It was one floor down.

He played it for me,
And I played it for him
We both agreed, it had a sound
Then in comes his brother,
a wonderful musician
And he agreed,
The new love, it had been found.

We left the shrine,
And homage had been paid
Weary, yes..but satisfied
We then broke bread,
and talked like old friends
With the love of Mudcat,
held deep inside.

Mick

PS: I also picked up my new Freshwater Bouzouki with the Belcat electronics. I have only had it for about four days and am growing more in love with it by the minute. A wonderful piece of craftmanship, great action, and wonderful sound. A real value. I will keep you all posted on my progress with this new discipline.


12 Nov 01 - 08:30 PM (#591257)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: 53

what type of instrument is that? BOB


12 Nov 01 - 08:47 PM (#591266)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Big Mick

Hey BOB. The Irish borrowed the bouzouki from the Greeks and others in the Mediterranean area. It is in the mandolin family of instruments. We cut the back off and made it flat (it was a gourd shaped back), changed the scale length, are still monkeying around with the tuning and so on. It has changed so much as to be a whole new instrument, but it is still called the Irish Bouzouki. Wonderful sound and fits into trad very well. There are those that say it is replacing the guitar in Irish trad. It crosses over very well into other genre's.

By the way, I never offered my welcome to you. Glad you are a member of the Mudcat.

Mick


12 Nov 01 - 08:56 PM (#591276)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: catspaw49

I still think you made a mistake Mick, but there's nothing new in that. You should have gone for the Saltwater Bazouki. The greater Specific Gravity makes the tone lighter.

Spaw


12 Nov 01 - 09:01 PM (#591277)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: 53

thanks for the info big mick and i appreciate the welcome aboard. BOB


12 Nov 01 - 09:13 PM (#591287)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: DonMeixner

Thanks Mick,

And well met indeed.

Don


13 Nov 01 - 12:17 AM (#591372)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: katlaughing

Ya got me, Don, I think it was kind of a crossover of Anne of Green Gables meets A Room With A View! **BG**

Anyway, it's been fun. I told everyone in Cheyenne to check out the new story thread, Don's New Guitar!


13 Nov 01 - 09:05 AM (#591502)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: mooman

Aw Don! Why didn't you take Francois Rabelais with you to write up your adventure?

How the noble Sir Strum-a-lot visited the Friars of Elderlute, played at Twang with all of their toys, met the Jolly Giant Mickalane and had a Grand Repast

Gargantua then sat down amongst the assembled company and recounted the adventures of noble Sir Strum-a-lot who had set out on an inclement, dark day across the great countryside to visit the faraway Friary of Elderlute, his mind being bereft of those sweet musical sounds that sootheth man.

After the long and tiresome journey to the Great City, the Good Sir did chance upon the Great Friary at the twelfth crossing and did gaze upon its portal whose causeway did appear to ascendeth to heaven. With an effort worthy of the great Grarguantua himself did he finally reach the Great Gates.

Well my friends, I can tell you that good Sir Strum-a-lot was royally entertained by those Jolly Friars of Elderlute. Here are some of the games he played in that fine and airy place:

L'arrivee sans twiddleknobs...
La Lute qui n'ose pas mentionner son nom
Leap-at-Lyres
Monteleone DixMille Forget-It
16 Elephants
Pick-a-psaltery
Hump-a-Harp
Vellum-a-twangyclunck
Axe-thumping
Mando-chops
Boo! Zookie!

After the Friary bell struck vespers, who should suddenly appear but our old friend the Grand and Celebrated Giant Mickalane who did recount unto dear Sir Strum-a-lot multitudinous tales of Lutherie and The Fair One.

My friends, the pleasing conclusion to this tale is that dear Sir Strum-a-lot did depart most gladly with a 16 Elephant which he did name Martin.

May it not surprise you if I tell you that dear Sir-Strum-a-lot and Jolly Giant Mickalane did carouse until the small light enjoying vittels and chitterlings from the coast of the Southern Sea, ale of the finest and wines made from those grapes that, in that region, are called by the name Wet-Farters.


13 Nov 01 - 09:22 AM (#591517)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: katlaughing

Bravo, mooman, Brill!!!


13 Nov 01 - 11:45 AM (#591621)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: GUEST,DonMeixner

But what of Pantagruel?


13 Nov 01 - 12:08 PM (#591644)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: mooman

Ah Pantagruel! How could I have forgotten?

Well during the climax of this discourse he let rip an enormous one which begat all forms of little men and women that ran amok and multiplied. Indeed, so successful were they in multiplication and devilment of all sorts that they became all the little trolls and flamers we are so familiar and happy with to this very day!

mooman


13 Nov 01 - 06:33 PM (#591953)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: GUEST

Port . . . hut!

Pray!

This is my Martin. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My Martin is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it, as I must master my life. Without me my Martin is useless. Without my Martin, I am useless. I must play my Martin true. I must pick faster than the show-off who is trying to out-play me. I must out-play him before he out-plays me. I will.

Before God I swear this creed. My Martin and myself are defenders of my music. We are the masters of our technique. We are the saviours of my life. So be it .. . until there are no wrong notes...but harmony. Amen.


13 Nov 01 - 06:39 PM (#591961)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: catspaw49

OUTSTANDING GUEST!!!

Spaw


13 Nov 01 - 07:43 PM (#592015)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: 53

very well put, i've never heard a story quite like that before, but you really could say that about any body's love with their guitar, ifeel the same way about all my guitars, but you did put it very nicely. BOB


14 Nov 01 - 07:55 AM (#592318)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: GUEST

...guess the source for 13-Nov-01 6:33pm should've been acknowledged: the movie "Full Metal Jacket." The original prayer was to the rifle, so 'Martin' was substituted where the word 'rifle' was encountered, etc.

The original last line was: 'So be it...until there is no enemy ... but peace.' (which is kind of ambivalent)

The Rifle Prayer


14 Nov 01 - 09:31 AM (#592374)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Fortunato

Now here, children, is a very good example of a thread which has turned truly ugly. I want all of you to form a double line, hold hands and follow me. We're going far away from here.

The rest of you take your medication.


14 Nov 01 - 10:05 AM (#592392)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: katlaughing

I vote for Fortunato to take Roger the Skiffler's place as official bedpan emptier at the NYCFTTS!!


14 Nov 01 - 11:09 AM (#592429)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Fortunato

Thank you, katlaughing, I am moved by your recognition. Deeply moved. And movement is good, as those bedpanners will tell you. Shall I be known as the BFBMGE? The Benign Facilitator of Bowel Movements and General Evacuation? I am honored.


14 Nov 01 - 11:24 AM (#592434)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: catspaw49

I think Fort is definitely in the running here. I hadn't realized how overloaded with work Skiff was.....I may need several people to replace him!

Spaw


14 Nov 01 - 11:59 AM (#592460)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: katlaughing

I just calls 'em as I see 'em, Fort. Glad to be of service, as long as it's YOU doing the emptying!

Definitely a thought there, Spaw!

kat


14 Nov 01 - 12:22 PM (#592485)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Steve in Idaho

Now Guest you know history better than that - "The Rifle's Prayer" has been taught in Marine boot camp since I was there - back in 63 - "Full Metal Jacket" just brought it to the pubics attention.

A Martin - huh - well my guitar is going for a Buzz Feiten tunup and my buddy is loaning me his 1936 Martin for the couple of weeks mine will be gone.

"We'll see." he said with tongue in cheek *G*

Steve


14 Nov 01 - 12:28 PM (#592489)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Lonesome EJ

I took my true love by the river
Where the green buds were a-startin'
And while she lay on the grassy bank
I shot her with my Martin

And though she called for "E" and "A"
I give her F sharp minor
And I left my true love where she lay
With a broken pick beside her


14 Nov 01 - 03:10 PM (#592624)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: GUEST

yep...no argument about the history. The source the GUEST used, however, was the link provided in the post.


14 Nov 01 - 03:49 PM (#592643)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: JenEllen

He'd always assumed that these sorts of things started innocuously enough. Isn't that what people always heard on Oprah? Springer? Montel? "It just happened." Like you were puttering along in your daily rut, and all of the sudden raised your head and realized you shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque. He certainly hadn't expected to know what he was doing all along, and still end up feeling like he'd come up against the working end of a Mack truck.

Was it really that long ago? He'd taken his Martin from it's case, and played. Dancing his way through an inebriated version of CatspawRag, he'd looked up and seen her. She was at a table with her friends, but that was easy enough to solve. The question remained, to fret or not to fret. Well, old man, you only live once, and fretless is really the way to go. He'd bought her a beer, she paid for the cab, and he remembered the hardshell case looked truly fine leaned up against her wall in the growing light of dawn, as it had for many nights since.

His wife was already gone for her 9-5 by the time he got home, not like it mattered. She had long ago ceased to 'know' him. At least that's what he told himself all the mornings he had dragged himself home, smelling of smoke and whiskey, only to find her sleeping in the spare bedroom. To fret or not to fret? Once again, the path of fretlessness. They lived like two shadows under one roof, and the Martin seemed to sag wherever he happened to set it down.

This morning was different, he'd hit the grill of that truck, and hit it hard. He'd reached into the hardshell after the few remaining smokes that might linger there, and found the note. The girlish scrawl outlining a woman's self-determined destiny.
Do not smile to yourself
Like a green mountain
With a cloud drifting across it
People will know we are in love.
~otomo no sakanoe

XOXOX
Shelly

Holy shit. When did this happen? He thought of Oprah and Montel. "It just happened, asshole. There you go." He lit his cigarette and picked up his Martin. He slowly picked out a little bit of 'Kansas City'- until he got to the bit about the crazy lil'wimmen there and realized he'd done got himself one. He dropped the remainder of the cigarette into a glass that his wife had left on the table, and then he slowly crumpled Shelly's note and tossed it cleanly in the garbage. Hmmm, two points.


14 Nov 01 - 03:59 PM (#592660)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Lonesome EJ

Jen....:>}


14 Nov 01 - 04:12 PM (#592672)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: catspaw49

Classic JE....Classic!!!!!!

Spaw


14 Nov 01 - 04:42 PM (#592699)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: Amos

Holy rutabagas, Polka Dotty!! You write like Ernestine Hemingway!!!

Love it!!!

A


14 Nov 01 - 05:05 PM (#592722)
Subject: RE: BS: Don's new guitar.
From: JenEllen

*blush* Flattery will get you everywhere.

Hemmingway? Ha. S'what I get from making myself a cuppa, sitting down and thinking, "Hmm, what would Leej write?"


Polka Dotty Ironshorts of the Green Tea Society