Guitar Emporium

Investigations continue according to the Secretary for War Pete Hegseth - but the tragedy of the girls school hit by a Tomahawk missile on day 1 of this conflict is hard to deny. We don't target civilians is not a very good defence - even looking at it generously.

There's a fair amount of that going on in the White House at the moment..

This is a beautiful duet - taken from the ABRSM Grade 4 syllabus. It's an arrangement of a piece attribute to Alfonso el Sabio - a 13th century musician/nobleman. Its taken from a collection of single line melodies "Cantigas be Santa Maria" and arranged by Stephen Goss.

The use of these things is questionable. I had a situation where two protagonists ended up filming each other for "evidence" . The only good thing about it was they were both so concerned about. getting a good recording- they almost lost the thread of their argument.

Maybe we can. Maybe we can't ... Glass half full - glass half empty. I'm always going to go for glass half full - maybe...

The latest negotiation tactic in the Iran war.

That great film - Michael Gambon & Daniel Craig were major contributors. How many layers are we being shown at the moment as all hell breaks out in the Middle East ?

Someone needs to stand up to these confrontational populist leaders. Are we really being led into more and more conflicts for the enrichment of some fairly despicable characters own (or maybe how they perceive) reputations.

The conflict in Iran is confusing, contradictory and makes you wonder what is the real reason for all this conflict - or is it just one or two leaders belligerence?

Seasonal affective disorder can affect mental health throughout the year - but its often associated with winter - tiredness and sluggishness. I don't think it affects most people but "woah" this winter has been awful - it feels like it may finally be coming to an end

I was reading stuff about some Arab states being keen to get big rock bands over to their part of the world to perform to their audiences - sounds great to me - and ( I would imagine) very lucrative for the bands that get invited.

Happy Birthday - 6 years on - and how your life has changed - for the better.

I'm not sure if this is the case but one of the lessons of learning from history is not to make the same mistakes as our predecessors . I'm not sure we're doing very well at it.

Ever been the wrong side of a trend ? I've heard the phrase many times - and they're right .

Impartiality (also called evenhandedness or fair-mindedness) is a principle of justice holding that decisions should be based on objective criteria, rather than on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the benefit to one person over another for improper reasons. I have little sympathy for those who get publicly vilified for bad things they have done but every so often our wonderfully impartial news hounds get it wrong - thats almost as bad as being the baddy in the first place.

Continuing with yesterdays pursuit of an approach to jazz guitar - this is another studied study of the style- not even close ...

I've been fascinated with Jazz guitar over the years - but never studied it for any length of time. The music of Philip Catherine has been something that I keep returning to - the effortless way he moves around acoustic and electric guitars has always been great to listen to. This piece was an achingly studied pastiche of that "effortlessness" - doesn't sound anything like him!!

As the rain continues in the UK - No days without rain since the New Year out in the sticks its getting very muddy.

I was talking to a shop keeper about how quick children are with IT - compared to the oldies they are so confident and competent they barely notice it.

Its the Weekend - enjoy the break, take it easy, do something just for you if you can.