Issue 78

News: For lack of a better news story...
This week has been a slow one for news and school and Newspeak Dictionary have not been providing fodder for my blog as they usually do, so I'll give you some personal news. This Tuesday, for the first time in 2 1/2 years, I got a new guitar: An Art and Lutherie Ami. I first learned about the models from the store where I got my guitar lessons, and I discovered the guitars hanging on the wall. When I played one of several of the models, I was amazed by the quality of the guitars, and especially the tone, which was very reminiscent of that of bluesman/Faust Figure Robert Johnson. I eventually had a black version of the guitar ordered and it was supposed to be in for my birthday a few months ago, but apparently the order to get the guitar got lost, so I had to get a guitar as similar as possible to it from an Okie dealer. Eventually, I finally got it. Better five months late than never, and as I expected, the wait was totally worth it. After the store failed in its attempt to acquire the instrument, I allowed it to install the pickup (an LR Baggs Element Active) and fit it with a new set of Strings (D'Addario EJ26). In addition, in lieu of a Direct Box so I could plug it into a mixer when performing, I got a Danelectro BLT slap echo to aid in a Scotty Moore-type echo tone. No, I'm not being paid by any of these companies to plug their products.

Band Name of the Day: The Lina Lamont effect. My name for a problem that I have heard about with micing acoustic guitars: move out of a certain position and you lose the tone and may risk losing volume. The name comes from Singin In the Rain. Halfway into the movie, as Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) prepare to turn their film into a talkie, Lina forgets the location of her mic, so the soundmen are frustrated with the fact that she misses every other word of her lines.

Reviews of the day: Annie On My Mind. I just finished this controversial novel about two teenage girls in love and would highly reccomend it. Of course, the fact that the religious right-wing Book burners have been targeting this book to the point where it became the 48th most challenged book in the nation may have had something to do with my high opinion of the book.
World According to Garp. I watched the film version of the famous novel for creative writing class recently, and I liked it very much, from the beginning where he is a baby floating around to the tune of The Beatles' "When I'm 64" to the end where Garp becomes a crusader against a militant feminist organization called the Ellen Jamesians, who cut out their own tongues in solidarity with a rape victim, who herself is appalled with them.

Quote of the Day: "Burned! I didn't think people burned books any more. Only Nazis burn books."
_______Nancy Garden

Link of the Day: Strange old Newspaper Ads.