Darcy Hay

I've been into what you might call world-music ever since I was a young kid. For me, youtube is a treasure trove of music from all over the world. One of my favorites is a young man from Australia who goes by the name of Darcy Hay. He is an authentic folk singer who is inventive as he accompanies himself an acoustic guitar. Some of the best musicians I've ever heard are people who are not famous; just regular people who possess a unique ability to make great music. Darcy Hay ranks in that category.

Halloween 2011

The weather cooperated quite nicely on Halloween: warm fall temperatures and no precipitation, making it just right for people in costume to really show them off. But, turn-out was rather light this year. Characters young and old quit walking our neighborhood about a half-hour before the scheduled end time

The number of Halloween visitors has declined noticeably over the past decade, especially the past few years. Previously, there were  more visitors, and it wasn't uncommon for stragglers to come knocking on the door after the scheduled ending time. People would sometimes run out of candy early because of so many visitors. This year, we bought  the usual amount of treats, and wondered if we would run out early. But, we still had about half of them when people quit coming.

Amazing Acid Adventures

Storage Tanks, a photo by Citizen110 on Flickr.

The Commie-caster

The Commie-caster
Originally uploaded by Citizen110

This Kramer Stratocaster copy feels like it is made out of lead. The plywood body is H-E-A-V-Y, and it has these terrible speed bumps on the neck that are supposed to be frets. I've used it to try out various electronic modifications, like shielding the body and the pick-guard with aluminum to cut down on electrical interference. I recently configured it so I could get a sound like the tambura on the old Sixties hit by Canned Heat titled, "On The Road Again." The strings are tuned to an open E chord that lacks a third: E, E (an octave higher), B, E. The strings are adjusted very low to the neck, to get that buzzing sound that the tambura is famous for. You simply strum the open strings, no fretting required! So simple, even a drummer can do it!