Autumn Remains

A massive cornfield is at one end of the street where I live. They usually plant corn, although one year it was a hayfield. It takes them days to harvest all of the crop, and they still have a ways to go before they are finished.

I assume that most of the corn is used for grain to feed cattle, but also could be used for anything from corn syrup to fuel additives. I don't think any of it is meant to go directly on people's tables, or they would have harvested it all by now. It's been weeks since they were last here.

So I just continue on my fall walks and admire the remaining vibrant colors in the neighborhood, before the next storm strips the first wave of colors bare.

 

String Attachment Styles

                                                       

I've been playing guitar for a long time. Self taught and a detailed listener to the more influential guitarists of my childhood. Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, John Fogarty. Although I idolized players like Eddie Van Halen, The Edge and Stevie Ray Vaughan, they came along after the Rock bug had already bitten me as a child. Still, they were all huge inspirations as well.

Back in the mid 1980s, a high school friend of mine had a guitar laying around that he did not play. It was a 1960s Fender Jazzmaster. I became instantly fascinated with the instrument, and borrowed it from him for a month of so. It was very useful for playing the Blues and Rock & Roll, and I liked it more than a Stratocaster at that point. My friend contacted me and asked for it back, returning the '72 Fender Telecaster I briefly swapped with him. I had never played one since then.

I had been doing some research over the years about more recent models, and there are a ton of them out there to choose from. You have the Fender American standard, the Vintera series, the Player series, the Classic Player series, the Modern Player series, the Blacktop series, the Affinity series, the Classic Vibe series, the J Mascis series... and the 40th Anniversary Series. I went witth the 40th, because it reminded me the most of my friend's faded and dull looking '60s Fender. Both guitars have a ton of quirks (all of which I adore) although there's obviously a difference between a brand new Squier and a 60 year old Fender. I'm sure the electronics will need replacing, but those are easy and affordable upgrades expected if you intend to put these instuments to daily use. It only took me a few days and a new set of strings to make it feel like the one I played nearly 40 years ago!

Life on Mars (and in Boston)

We visited the Boston Museum of Science over the weekend, to watch The David Bowie Experience at the Planetarium. Not sure the last time I was here... possibly never? But I was looking for something that would be similar to seeing U2 at Sphere, but not costing $400 a ticket and taking 3 days travel to do it. This cost $10 a ticket, plus parking. We took a 2 hour drive on a foggy cool and damp afternoon on Route 2, with a tropical system to both our east and west.

Afterwards, all we had to do was walk over the canal bridge and around the corner to the Royal Sonesta Hotel, where we had dinner, and took pictures of the Boston skyline on a tropical early October evening. Welcome to New England.

I've been visiting Boston for 40 years, and have witnessed many changes. It's still the State I live in, and the Capitol city. Not as many clubs as I remember, but still plenty of culture, and the physical nature of the city has been somewhat altered by the tunnel and the development on either sides of where the highway overpasses used to cast giant shadows on the North End.