What I never knew I always wanted

I did buy the banjo that week, if anyone was interested.

It wasn't on the weekend I had hoped, due to a lack of advertised opening hours, but I did have the banjo in my hands before the next weekend.

It fits.

I know that's a strange comment to make about a banjo, but it's true. Something about the thing just fits me - or I fit it, I don't know. The tuning for the Irish tenor banjo just sounds "right" to my ears, the neck fits in my hand comfortably, the chords are where my fingers happily fall on them, the fingers on my other hand just seem to find the strings without my having to think too much about them... the body is just a little bit too round for comfort, but I tend to forget that once I start playing.

The sound is a revelation to me. It's like it fills the whole space. I know that doesn't make much sense, but most of the other instruments I play carry the melody - they don't really have much "body" to the sound. The banjo has “body”. I have to say there's something in the sound of the strings that sings to me - a quality I wasn't expecting to find, but love.

It amazes me that this is the first time I've actually thought to try the banjo. Looking back on it, I think I've wanted this my whole life.

I remember once, when I was in school, seeing an advertisement on the wall of the school office offering guitar and banjo lessons. I distinctly remember, at the time, wondering about the banjo - wondering if it would be something for me.

This was a few years after the guitar lesson thing - and, I think, during the piano lesson thing.

I have a slight problem with musical instruments. I suppose, in the long run, it’s cheaper than drugs, but it still leaves me short of cash and in possession of several instruments I never play.

Part of my problem is I always seem to be searching for some quality, and I end up finding things that are close – but not quite right. I bought a melodeon, a piano accordion and a cornet* when what I really wanted was a concertina. I thought things that were close to a concertina would fulfill my desire for one, but they didn’t. When I finally bought the concertina, it’s like something inside me said, “Yep, that was it,” and my quest was kind of over. I wouldn’t mind owning a better concertina one day, but I don’t feel compelled to find anything that’s “not quite” a concertina.

I think all of the stringed instruments I’ve encountered over the years have been on a similar path. Something inside of me was looking for something in particular but, unlike the concertina, I didn’t actually know what it was. The guitar really didn’t fit. The ukulele didn’t really fit. The ukulele-guitar hybrid was closer, but I ended up breaking two of the strings and found that it fit much better when it was broken…

And then, it fit much better after I tuned the remaining four strings to Irish tenor banjo tuning…

And then I bought a banjo.

The banjo fits.

It’s like something inside me has said, “Yep, that’s it,” and part of the world has fallen into place.

*Yes, I know a cornet is nothing like a concertina. That was part of my “well, who needs a free reed instrument anyway?” reaction to the piano accordion, which really didn’t fit.

No Great Shining Light

I was reading Kristopher's post on the deportation of John Demjanjuk, and it put me in mind of another article I read some weeks ago on Guantanamo Bay. It seems there have been a lot of things coming out of America which all seem to be pointing to the same conclusion.

It's over, now, you know? America, I mean.

It's no longer the "great shining light" it tried to be for so long. For four centuries the American people stood up and swore black and blue (or, at least, red-white-and-blue) that they were the greatest, best and most noble nation in the world.

They were never right about that, but they were trying - and that meant they were close. The dream of America was the dream of a group of people who were always striving to be the greatest good.

When they fought for independence against the British Empire, they set themselves up as the great champions of freedom. Even their own Civil War (although having many non-freedom related factors and causes) became linked to the fight for freedom - the freedom of slaves.

Every big and great movement that has happened in America over the years as been a step closer to a better, freer, nobler, more enlightened society. Every victory in their history has been a victory for the "better man"...

Or, at least, that's what the "press kit" they've been issuing in their popular culture has been trying to say for the last few centuries.

Like many people who aren't American, but have had the American culture ladled into their lives in great doses thanks to films, television, books and other sources, I've always had the opinion that Americans "think more highly of themselves than they ought".

I've always thought they weren't quite as magnificent and shiny as they like to think they are, even though I've always liked the fact that they tried.

But... I'm not sure the people who count were ever really trying.

When you look at what the government actually agrees to do to people (through it's various agencies and policies), you realise they aren't quite so shiny when it comes to the crunch.

Truth be told, they're no better than the Germans/Russians/insert-country-with-unsavory-period-here, and they're just as likely to do something incredibly unjust.

You look at what they are actually doing - how poorly it fits with the image of the "great good", and you realise the Americans could easily become the things they claim to hate most - and they probably wouldn't even notice they were doing it. In fact, they'd probably still think they were acting as the "great shining light".

After all, the Germans/Russians/insert-country-with-unsavory-period-here-s thought rather well of themselves during the first years of their worst periods. Heck, the Russians still think rather well of themselves.

I hate to say it, but I think at some point the big "rogue state" is going to be the United States - they aren't as far away from Germany just before the Nazis or Russia just before the Soviets as they think.

I only hope it doesn't get as messy as I think it probably will.

A'Mhara is a poo-poo head

I told A'Mhara I was going to write a post with that title.

Mind you, I told her I was going to write it on her official work blog, after she foolishly gave me permission to post to it.

I guess there's some comfort in knowing that even I'm not reckless enough to put up such a post on the Special Collections blog for the university library.

We had a short, but interesting conversation about the term "poo-poo head". I thought it was interesting that every child seems to naturally produce this insult in some form or another. It's like there is something in human nature that produces an insult which juxtaposes poop and heads - either poop being on the head/brain/face, or the head/brain/face being made of or resembling poop.

A'Mhara told me they use "ka-ka head" in the Northern Territory - which means exactly the same thing, only in pidgin.

I think the final word on the subject goes to Andrew however, who responded thus to my question on how one would spell "poo-poo head":

I try not to spell "poo-poo head". I try not to say "poo-poo head". In fact, we shall never say "poo-poo head" in this office again.