I overthink a lot of things. After more than 4 decades of tightening and loosening nuts and bolts, I can still confuse myself about which way to pull the handle of the ratchet when it’s facing away from me. The mnemonic “lefty-loosy, righty-tighty” works great when you are looking directly at the fastener you’re about …
Articles about guitarists inevitably take a turn toward describing their “rigs.” It’s usually in connection with discussion about their “tone.” When I was first learning to play guitar, I remember reading articles and feeling like I should understand what “tone” was – and knowing I didn’t. Not really. So I took the authors at their …
I had been hoping to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame while I was in Cleveland. I had even made a point to schedule a little extra time into my travel plans, to make it easier to fit that visit around the conference agenda for Crossroads. So I didn’t necessarily need the extra …
My office door isn’t plumb. That bugs me. It isn’t far out. You can’t see it. Really, its only noticeable if there is weight on the coat hook on the back of the door. Because then it falls partially-closed. Not fully-closed mind you. Not even mostly closed. Just closed enough to look sloppy. If my …
Eddie Van Halen died a couple of weeks ago. What follows is, I suppose, something of a tribute to him – though that is not why I wrote it. I had actually written this more than a year ago and it has been waiting for me to make space to do something with it. It …