Saturday, May 2, 2009

Values & Valuables


One of the things I enjoy most when I watch Antiques Roadshow is the number of times I'll see items brought onto the show that are examples of things created because someone wanted to make them more than they wanted to sell them. Just the simple enjoyment of industry.

It's said that man really only has two basic needs -- security and significance. Deriving no significance from that which brings our security leads to the decline of excellence. And deriving too much significance from that which brings us no security leads to potters and guitar players.

4 comments:

  1. what kind of guitar playing do you do?

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  2. I've played since I was a kid (10 years old) and I play a little bit of everything. I play lots of the stuff I grew up with -- James Taylor, Paul Simon, Gordon Lightfoot, Beatles. But my folks enjoyed dancing, and I grew up with big band and jazz standards being played around the house. So I play lots of standards (Stardust, Moonlight In Vermont, Just The Way You Look Tonight, The Nearness of You, Misty). And then I'm pretty passionate about bluegrass, newgrass, and old-timey, so I flatpick a bit -- just enough to annoy the fiddlers.

    Do you play?

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  3. i took up frailing on the banjo when i was in college and after about 5 years i conceded that my tin ear and other interests were making it a no-go. i love all kinds of music and feel like salieri in the mozart movie. i know enough to appreciate it but i can't really play.

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  4. I learned to frail a few fiddle tunes a while back. I still love clawhammer banjo. My wife doesn't share my love. So I took up mandolin.

    There's a really good group of old-timey players up here in Goshen, IN. Lots of clawhammer banjo players.

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