Music Before the Money

1. Every sentence should make sense in isolation. Like that one.
2. Excessive hyperbole is literally the kiss of death.
3. ASBMAETP: Acronyms Should Be Memorable And Easy To Pronounce, and SATAN: Select Acronyms That Are Non-offensive.
4. Finish your point on an up-beat note, unless you can’t think of one.
5. Don’t patronize the reader-he or she might well be intelligent enough to spot it.
6. A writer needs three qualities: creativity, originality, clarity and a good short term memory.
7. Choose your words carefully and incitefully.
8. Avoid unnecessary examples; e.g. this one.
9. Don’t use commas, to separate text unnecessarily.
10. It can be shown that you shouldn’t miss out too many details.
11. Similes are about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
12. Avoid ugly abr’v'ns.
13. Spellcheckers are not perfect; they can kiss my errs.
14. Somebody once said that all quotes should be accurately attributed.
15. Americanisms suck.
16. Capitalizing for emphasis is UGLY and DISTRACTING.
17. Underlining is also a big no-no.
18. Mixed metaphors can kill two birds without a paddle.
19. Before using a cliché, run it up the flagpole and see if anybody salutes.
20. There is one cheap gimmick that should be avoided at all costs…………..suspense.
21. State your opinions forcefully-this is perhaps the key to successful writing.
22. Never reveal your sources (Alistair Watson, 1993).
23. Pile on lots of subtlety.
24. Sure signs of lazy writing are incomplete lists, etc.
25. Introduce meaningless jargon on a strict need-to-know basis.
26. The word “gullible” possesses magic powers and hence it should be used with care.
27. The importance of comprehensive cross-referencing will be covered elsewhere.
28. Resist the temptation to: roll up the trouser-legs of convention, cast off the shoes and socks of good taste, and dip your toes refreshingly into the cool, flowing waters of fanciful analogy.
29. Don’t mess with Mr. Anthropomorphism.
30. Understatement is a mindblowingly effective weapon.

- Compliments of the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

The quest for a portable piano has been around since the invention of the Fender Rhodes and the Wurlitzer Electronic Piano. However, I’ve owned both and neither had the sound of a real piano.My first “string” piano was a Lesage “Bug” but it wasn’t until I got a Yamaha CP70 ‘Electric Grand Piano’ that I had something approaching a ‘real’ piano that could be toured around, however heavy!

I bought my CP-70 on August 1983 and, once set up, it was a jewel to play. However in their brochures, Yamaha claimed their electric grand pianos were “compact” and “portable.” But that was really hype. Get this, they measured at least 57 inches wide by 45 inches deep (front to back) and weighed as much as 313lbs! However, compared to a Hamnndo organ I guess it was portable.

To make it easier to transport, the CP piano dismantled into separate units with the strings and frame in one case and the keyboard, legs and sustain pedal in another (right) which made it slightly more manageable. It was re-assembled with some clever lock catches. Even so, it was a two man job to cart it around but I learned to get it onto a hotel room cart and then manhandle it into the back of my truck.

But it had to be tuned. So I got a chromatic tuner and learned to do it myself. It may not have been the correct way but I used the guide provided and adjusted the harmonics on the scale in the diagram. For example the mids were bang on but the tuning got gradually sharper on the high end and flatter on the low end.

The pianos were not finished with a rugged covering the way fender amps were. Many a tattered CP-70 was seen along the road. I wrapped mine in blankets so this would not happen. I sold mine a year later to afford a trip to Australia.

When one hears the term “pilgrim” images of Thanksgiving usually pop into the brain, complete with blunderbuss, turkey, corn, square shoes with buckles and a tall black hat. The background setting is always autumn.

In reality the word pilgrim means “circling” in may cultures. For example, in Tibet the term means, “To turn around the place,” and the word in Muslim connotation, hajj, is the journey to Mecca that every Muslim is required to make in his or her lifetime. In this instance it is an old Semitic word meaning “to go around in a circle.”

Early Christians embarked on pilgrimages to Jerusalem to view scenes of the Passion of the Christ. Even after Jerusalem had been occupied by the Saracens freedom of the pilgrimage was built into treaties and the task of protecting pilgrims gave rise to the medieval military orders, such as the Knights Templar.

Pilgrims, then, were always thought of as noble travelers and given safe passage through lands in their path and were accorded respect and hospitality by the occupants. One of the most dreaded tribes in the American Southwest was the Yaqui Apache. In their land was a mesa thought o be a holy place by all the adjoining civilizations. And as fierce and protective of their land as they were the Apache warriors stood back and let anyone up to the mesas who was following a Vision Quest. For this was their rendition of a pilgrimage.

A pilgrimage does not have to be so austere. Everyday people make small pilgrimages to their own version of “holy” places whether it be a journey to a spiritual place or to Graceland.