The Holy, Forgotten Man

My name is never mentioned.
I am the smile that lubricates your day.
I am the two minute encounter that reinforces your hope and dreams, some black but ever my eyes are skyward.

I do not wish to be remembered other than, "that guy."
The smile should linger, if but for a moment.

Life Of A Guitar Player

As a guitarist, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper’s cemetery in the back country. As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost.

I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.

I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn’t know what else to do, so I started to play.

The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I’ve never played before for this homeless man.

And as I played ‘Amazing Grace,’ the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my guitar and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full.

As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, “I never seen nothin’ like that before and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.”

Apparently, I’m still lost…

Thanks to "A Thrifty Mom"

Nothing New

It seems music ebbs and flows much like any other organism upon this earth. There are times when great music is being pumped out as though it were owned by Mobil-Exxon.
Witness the 1960s through the 1980s until Disco killed the radio.

There are however, long stretches of 'in-between' time in which pop is poured out like concrete in the inner city.  Do not get me wrong, there are pop tunes worthy of replay, admiration, dissection and study. But for the most part the chaff far outweighs the wheat.
Just garbage.

And now that technology has made things such as autotune (technically manipulate any output, change pitch, tempo, timbre et cetera) possible what is really garbage comes with its own lipstick applied. What an ugly kisser!

Also this is not a nostalgia rant. I do not hold vinyl over digital but I do think Diana Ross could sing and I am not as sure about Nicki Minaj. I have found many contemporary vocalists who can more than carry a tune...Ingrid Michaelson for instance.

Caleb Hawley

Without resorting to gimmicks they have a natural quality that is very much endearing to the ear if not the mind.

We are in the midst of dead air time.
With the exception of the NPR radio stations I have yet to find quality music being broadcast anywhere.
Where I live there is one Jazz station and a plethora of talk shows or CleaChannel garbage passed off as "classic rock." They play the same tired tunes over and over. Jimi played more than 'Purple Haze.'

So dear reader, it is up to YOU to seek out and find the music worth hearing. It is out there, I know. I play it.

Windows 10 A Solitary Solitaire Tale

Painless for the most part.
A rather long install process starting with a three gigabyte download and then about 3 hours of installation of that download.
I went to sleep.
When I woke I had to reboot and was greeted with a very familiar layout. My desktop was intact. The Start menu looks about normal...a bit Windows 8-ish but otherwise fine. There is now a panel on the right side if I want to explore the touch side of Windows 10...and another place to hide more settings.

My only real recommendations are check your antivirus software before you begin the update process. Afterwards was a bit more of a pain but not that hard in any case.
And get the OEM video drivers for you system. If you have an integrated video card this may not apply.

My PC actually seems faster and snappier. It certainly boots much faster than Windows 7.

The biggest bone of contention I have noticed is the old favorites of Solitaire, Hearts et cetera are now an upgrade...a subscription no less.

Start/File Explorer/This PC/ then double click to open the C:\ drive and navigate to C:\Windows.old
Nestled within that you will find...C:\Windows.old\Program Files\Microsoft Games

And all your old rabbit holes are open for you to fall into anytime you desire.
You're welcome.