The PenOpticon

Looks like I'm raiding YouTube again, but this is too good to miss.  Roy's lyrics would make Richard Dawkins grin like a chimp and they sure put a smile on my face.  There's a long preamble before he starts playing, but it's worth the wait — Zimmerman throws in some kick-ass Bluegrass licks, too. A true Evolutionary:

YouTube is famous for prank videos and bone-crushing skateboard mishaps, but video clip culture also allows the world to sample pockets of beauty and skill that would never have seen the light of day a few years ago. These days anyone can "make it" — all you have to do is make it.  That's what Andy McKee did. Check out this gorgeous piece of music that blends complex tapping, harmonics and guitar percussion techniques to create a rich, mesmerizing sound.  Clearly,  Andy McKee has listened to and learned much from the likes of Michael Hedges, Don Ross and other players who have redefined the acoustic guitar for the digital age. Thanks for sharing this Andy:

In the few weeks that I have been blogging, I’ve been happy and bitter, optimistic and critical — and often a bit of a pompous ass! And, as I expected, I have not been able to focus on any one subject. I wanted to play a good April Fools trick on you — my non-existent readers — but as my satirical muse, Jon Stewart would say: I got nuthin! So instead, I’ll leave you with a few home-made MP3s and two pictures of Midnight (who went to the big pond / cheese factory / squirrel-chasing country in the sky last year).

Here’s old man Midnight looking at you kid!

Midnight could always make us laugh, no matter how surreal things got. He put up with us for 15 years and we walked hundreds of miles together all over southern Ontario. This was taken years earlier at the southern edge of the Oak Ridges Moraine near Richmond Hill, Ontario. Sadly, this valley has now been cut in half by a 4 lane bridge, the paths have been eroded by ATVs and thousands of new houses are crowding in where the trees used to be.

…and a few MP3s