Why is Phil Keaggy one of my favorite guitarists? Here are four reasons, spanning nearly forty years from his days with Glass Harp (and a really cool macramé vest), through his “Alan Holdsworth period,” into the “Windham Hill era” and on to the present. Now, the second video is fairly long, but please be patient… Phil will turn himself and one guitar into an entire band by the time he’s finished with an incredible run. I hope you enjoy….
Category: <span>Uncategorized</span>
Well, it’s official! Camille is pregnant, Sean is glowing and the Bailey and Salisbury families, here and across The Pond, are very excited.… Read the rest
Now, here’s a blog I get. Jonah travels the length and breadth of America, sampling the fare from taquerias of all sizes, posting his reviews on the Burrito Blog. As of this writing, he hasn’t sampled the best yet, which can only be found at El Tepeyac. ¿Es verdad, mi familia?
Now, if you’re ever in the Los Angeles area, you want to head over to East LA and find 812 N Evergreen Ave., between Brooklyn and Wabash. El Tepayac is across the street from a large Catholic church, in a neutral zone, and there’s usually a real long line outside.… Read the rest
Yes, that’s Promaster and not Postmaster. Although many of you know me as a Postmaster, I am also a harp player since about this time last year. I took up the harmonica, because I realized that the nerve pain in my right arm would probably prevent me from playing the guitar seriously.
I’ve really come to enjoy the harmonica, thanks in large part to my friend, Tom B., an excellent harp player. He dropped by one afternoon with Amy and a large suitcase full of harmonicas. Being a generous mentor, he gave me a handful of Big River harmonicas, Pucks, a tremolo harmonica and a nice Hohner Chromatic 260.… Read the rest
We are approaching the ten year anniversary of my brush with death from necrotizing fasciitis. Our local newspaper ran an article with this staged photo by the author. The article was amazingly factual, so hat’s off to Dave Moller, the reporter. Check it out and don’t forget to comment. If you haven’t visited my site, the full story is here.
By the way, you can tell it’s a staged photo. If you notice, I am depicted doing yard work.… Read the rest
When:
- I’ve learned PHP and MySQL
- My Revelation Commentary is live
- I’m spending more than a measley 8 hours in preparation for Bible study
- I’ve read Break, Blow and Burn by Camille Paglia
- Cacading Style Sheets are second nature to me
- My book about Richard Baxter is published or in the can
- Sean and Camille produce an heir
… Read the rest Oh, my. I found this great little clip of the Electric Flag — Mike Bloomfield is in fine form. I was too young to see the original Flag, but caught them on a reunion tour with Moby Grape in about 1974. Fantastic! We were in the orchestra pit and Mike Bloomfield was right in front of us. His guitars were totally memorable. He played a Les Paul that was beat with the standard white knobs from a Stratocaster replacing the originals which he must have lost somewhere. He also played a blue Telecaster that looked like he had painted it himself — there were drips and runs across it.… Read the rest
Because now, with a little bit of broadband, I can take a trip down memory lane and watch a lot of my favorite bands/artists from the past. For example, Living Colour on the Arsenio Hall show performing Cult of Personality. I once heard Living Colour referred to as the black Led Zeppelin… LZ wishes they were this heavy. Rock, funk, punk, noise, rap, African, reggae, metal, industrial, free jazz… they have it all and stage presence!… Read the rest
JF has a blog and it’s totally boss! Comments are switched to “on” and the posts so far are fab.… Read the rest
ReadyMade: Instructions for Everyday Life. I love this magazine — I mean the layout and style. I would never consider myself a handy man or hobbyist but, if I were, I would have a subscription to this fun and fabulously conceived periodical. The articles, projects and even the adds are all attractive, informative and sassy (to borrow a phrase from Denise). It’s obviously targeted to the Gen-Xers, who have figured out that not only are they not living in the shadow of the Boomers, but they can have a good job, pockets full of cash and out-consume their forerunners with kick.… Read the rest
Younger people probably won’t be able to empathize with me on this one, but I was returning a rented DVD the other day and, just before I dropped it in the slot, I opened it up to make sure I’d rewound it. Pavlov’s dork!… Read the rest
Denise and I picked up our couch in Concord CA and decided on this brown leather chair from Scandinavian Designs. So, our living room is complete… for now. For those with an eye for art and design, yes, those are toothpick legs on the couch, resin grapes on the Eames era end table and an original Crisell oil painting on the wall in the corner. And, no, they are not for sale.
Everyone has a film, a book, a piece of art that has a revolutionary effect on the way they look at everything. And, if one is fortunate (I would say “blessed”), that may happen many times along this journey we call life.
I first read Unholy Devotion as a young Christian, involved in ministry to people caught up in cults. The book received rave reviews within the apologetics community, so it was required reading for any aspiring counter-cult evangelist !
I had no idea what I was in for. Rather than focus on cultic strategies to deceive the naive or unwitting Christian into joining the Baha’i Faith or Watchtower Society, Harold Bussell identifies cultish tendencies among mainline and evangelical groups that set up otherwise solid believers to cash in their pearl of great price for a worthless counterfeit faith, presenting itself as the genuine article.… Read the rest
I think this is a first for me… I’m blogging while watching a film — Schindler’s List. I’ve already seen it once, but that was years ago. Anyway, I was thinking about getting iListen for dictation and transcription. I do most of my best thinking in the morning, while I’m commuting and doing production/deadline work. I’ve tried a cassette dictation machine ten years ago, but that just didn’t work. I started looking into iListen to use with my computer at home, comparing it to other dictation/transcription software and hardware solutions. Then, it occurred to me… I have a video iPod.… Read the rest
While I retain bragging rights with my latest design coup, Denise did not waste any time in answering back with her own decor riposte! This crushed velvet, swiveling, 60’s variation on the “womb” design was found at a local thrift store and picked up for a song. The living room is coming together nicely and will be anchored by a beautiful new chair from Scandinavian Designs.… Read the rest
I had another living room epiphany last week. But, before I go on and you get all excited and ask me to come work my interior design magic on your place, remember that I only do this for pleasure… no silver will cross the table.
We looked into putting an insert into our fireplace, but new regulations made it prohibtive, both in cost and efficiency. So, I sat gazing at the center of our living room, the locus of fellowship in our home and thought, “now what?” Should we put a large flower arrangement in front of it? Or, pile up a bunch of candles inside the fireplace, like the hipsters in Rocklin do?… Read the rest
Well, we quit Netflix. I found that I was watching more movies than I normally would, because I wanted to get my money’s worth. My discontent surfaced when I read about the class-action lawsuit filed against them for dragging their feet on fulfilling customers requests, who were signed up for “unlimited” rental accounts. I noticed that my service degraded around that time and their “cycling” became obvious and inconvenient for us.
Anyway, we are spending much less time in front of the tube, which is a real bonus and, now that I know what I’m looking for at the local video store, I can get in and out for about a buck.… Read the rest
Addressing the Suicide of Thought, G.K. Chesterton cites the French Revolution as an example of modern man’s inability to truly be revolutionary (in a good way), because of his self-imposed prison of “objectivity” and open-mindedness — euphemisms for an unhealthy and paralyzing skepticism. This degradation of thought, weaving its way through the 20th century and terminating in 2007, may explain why so many Americans (and cloistered, postmodern epicurean, hedonistic European socialists) will trouble themselves (and, the rest of us) over the genocide in, say, Darfur, while villainizing the liberation, in process, of vast numbers of victims of a large, totalitarian regime.… Read the rest
That’s the vista or view of Julio Ojeda-Zapata in his review, Vista’s pretty, but it’s a shameless Mac OS X imitator Bottom line. He sums up Windows Vista this way:
Get a Mac with OS X unless your home-computer needs are Windows-specific, or if the fine Media Center is a must for you. You likely won’t regret a Vista-PC purchase, but I’m betting you’ll enjoy a Mac much more.
An amusing tongue-in-cheek video by David Pogue covers the same ground in a more creative fashion. I have to say that I use Windows XP at work and I really don’t mind it that much.… Read the rest
Okay, I can finally announce it! Camille has just been promoted to manager and she “broke the record for the quickest promotion” to manager in her firm’s history. There’s no CPA following her name, but that’s a mere formality.
What some may not know is that Camille developed many of her management skills as a young girl in her home, neighborhood and school under the able mentorship of her mother.… Read the rest
Our brother from Uganda was told by the Lord to deliver a message to our church and he obeyed. It was a very costly undertaking for someone living in a country with an annual per capita income of $280. He has preached five times now from this passage:
2 Chronicles 7:14 …if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
He has spoken of humility, prayer, seeking God’s face and repentance.… Read the rest
Pastor Steve has been busy here in Nevada County. We’ve been to prayer meetings, a youth meeting and even a Reformation Bible Conference, where Pastor Steve met Dr. Henry Krabbendam. Pastor Steve attended a pastors prayer meeting and spoke at a sports awards banquet for William Jessup University. He’s taught us some African praise songs. And, he’s working on a mission for Bo to come to Uganda. The indications so far point to May 2007, if the Lord wills.… Read the rest
Our friend, Pastor Steve from Uganda, is full of surprises. He sings beautifully around the house in the morning, he is a gifted preacher, and he is also a real good soccer player. As he puts it, “when I was in school, I was a sports-man” (an athelete). He said that he hadn’t played soccer in 10 years, but you’d never know it to watch him. He played in running shoes and even when he fell down or slid, his recovery was graceful and showed amazing skill!… Read the rest