Chas, I immediately thought of you when I heard of the attack. How totally unnecessary and sad!

Tell your friend I admire your joint commitment and sincerely hope they can avoid harm on future builds.

After the nice note I got from New Orleans, I have put the much larger donation on the fast track. They'll be getting the first much larger check before the end of January (needs to be dated 2009). It's slated as an annual contribution. After all, the 2009 and beyond donation has the same dollar value as the XK purchase.

To be honest, I'm feeling a little guilty about that, in light of the needs of so many less fortunate folks world-wide.

For a year or so, I've been thinking of selecting several guitars, a bass or two, I B-3, 1 Rhodes, one piano and having a massive fire sale with all the rest, and donating the proceeds. I don't need all the stuff I have, and could raise lots of money for those who need it more.

Sadly, I will never be able to do enough; the need is just overwhelming.


Russ