Been gone for 10 days or so, and thought I'd try to catch up:

* Chas. Takes a hell of a player to post some Monk and Chas is one who can pull it off. This is just one reason why, almost daily, I'm blown away by a humble combination of depth, humanity, ability and intelligence. I'm so glad to know him!

* Favorite solo: Agree with Nigel on the guitar from the Chuck Mangione piece. Also, the B-3 from "Out in the Country" (Three Dog Night), "Overjoyed" by Victor Wooten, both players; all solos from the Jimmy Smith/Wes Montgomery album, "Dynamic Duo", George Benson; Affirmation, Gato; Europa and so many others.

GOOD TOPIC!

* Capo's; Used by acoustic players and singers who do a solo who require lots of full open bass notes in keys other than E. A, D, G; usually in a country or folk style. Also used by inexperienced players, with limited chord knowledge. Rarely used by experienced electric players; NEVER by jazzers. You'd be laughed off the bandstand.

* Tommy Emmanuel. Someone talked about his Martin guitar. Met him and played one of his small bodied instruments. It's a small steel stringed non cut-a-way guitar made in Australia, not a Martin, although it looks a lot like one.

Don and Gary....thought about you guys every day.

FINALLY....musicians and women. Believe it or not, at my age, I STILL have LOTS of female fans. Problem is, they're all under 8 and over 80, so when the underwear comes flying towards the bandstand, it's depends and Huggies or pull-ups...NOT PRETTY OR particularly pleasant.

Came back into town Sunday; right into the studio for a Ford production; 22 straight hours. Finished two hours ago.

Going home to rest. Job tonight at 6:00 PM.

I MISSED YOU FOLKS!

Russ