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Thanks, CG ... all the best to you and your family also. We'll have three Mom's here tomorrow, with my own mother, my dear wife, and my wonderful daughter-in-law here for a meal. My son and I are cooking, so it could be a disaster.      

This is fantastic, Jets ... five stars, straight up! There's been a lot songs / poems written over the years, about people trying to satisfy an inner thirst, but none of them are any better than yours. I love the lines: "Maybe it's not even a real a place, maybe it's just a state of mind." There's more truth to that than art, IMHO.

Great job, man!

Great choices, Neo ... Pink Floyd's DSOTM is likely one of the most recognized album covers of the 20th century.

I also thought of ELP's 1973 album "Brain Salad Surgery", which opened in the middle to reveal the victim's entire face. "It was dark and very foreboding, and for me it represented ELP's music." - Keith Emerson

Good comments about the bass guitar, Bill ... both McCartney and Entwistle are good examples of a player making the bass more than just a rhythm instrument. Other notable greats are the late Chris Squire (Yes), Mike Rutherford (Genesis), Jaco Pastorius (Weather Report), John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), John Wetton (King Crimson), Greg Lake (Emerson, Lake and Palmer), and of course Geddy Lee (Rush). This list could be much longer, and we certainly have a lot of great music to enjoy because of the skill and creativity of so many fine musicians.

As far as Steve Hogarth vocals, he's not for everyone ... who is? This particular song has a very raw edge, so perhaps his singing style for this one is appropriate.     

Our Loremaster comes through again! That's an amazing piece of history, Peatle, which I was never aware of. The next time I hear a boys choir sing "I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In" at Christmas-time, I'll be wincing and cringing.      

Peatle ... I guess the use of effects isn't only reserved for electric guitarists, and adding some reverb, delay, sustain, etc. also works well with other types of guitars and instruments. In studio, the sound engineer can do most of this; but when performed live as a solo act, then the guitarist has to do it all ... if they want them. Some would obviously prefer the pure sound of the guitar on it's own, but personally I like some creativity. Effects or not, the outcome here is a beautiful original piece Christie that wrote & performed.

CG ... you're 100% correct that a pickup is certainly necessary for a lot of what many finger-stylists do. As per the comments on effects, obviously they're useless without a pickup. Two of my acoustics have pickups, and they're not only useful for amplification. Adding some effects is sometimes interesting as long as it's not overdone ... however a person would subjectively term what that means. I personally like to add a barely perceptible bit of reverb and phaser when playing some acoustic songs. The opening 12-string acoustic guitar section of Led Zeppelin's "Over the Hills and Far Away" sounds amazing with a bit of these two.

Bill ... this clip isn't from the actual competition that she won in 2017. I grinned about your comment that her little mallet looks like a reefer at first glance ... good one. It's just another way of hitting the strings to produce a sound, and in this case she's able to bounce it quickly on the strings to create the "raining" effect as per the song title. Isn't a guitar an amazingly versatile instrument? Whether we use our fingers, flat picks, thumb picks, finger picks, glass or metal slides, or even a violin bow, there are so many ways for an artist to create music with unique sounds ... viva le gitarre!

Thanks for the comments and the interesting observations ... stimulating stuff!

That's incredible, Bill ... isn't it amazing at how barbaric humans can be to one another ?!?! This is taking "the punishment should fit the crime" principle to a whole new realm. I can think of a whole bunch of pop / hip hop "artists" that should be wearing these. Do they come in case lots? Is there a discount for bulk buys?      

Congrats on the new wheels, Zurf! I'm not an avid cyclist, but I know that "Specialized" make quality street and off-road bikes.

I've never seen or played a "guitalele" Graham. Is it essentially a 6-string uke, which is tuned like a guitar? I played one of those 6-string banjo-guitars a couple years ago. It was a cool instrument, but I don't play enough music that requires a banjo, i.e., I didn't get G.A.S. from playing it.      

You're coming through loud & clear, Bill ... it's hard to be critical of our heroes, isn't it? As a avowed Jethro Tull fan, I had admit that their 1983 album "Walk Into the Light" was, to be frank, horrible. It was sharp left turn from their typical very "organic sound", into this synth heavy / over produced nightmare. Every artist has the right to explore new territory, but I for one would have been happier if this was left as an undiscovered country.     

Wow! That was amazing!

I had no idea that Mr. Laurie could play and sing like that ... fantastic contribution, CG. He was a very convincing actor in "House", but didn't know he had other talents at this high level. I did a quick look, and also found out that he bears the distinguished title of "Commander of the British Empire" (C.B.E.) like Paul McCartney, David Gilmour, and others ... quite the achiever.

Thanks for this, CG!

Focus    "Focus 3 / House of the King"    Apeldoorn, 1990

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPlNcYgy-fA

Here's the same Jan Akkerman as was featured in yesterday's "Flying Fingers", in a more familiar role. In this vid, he's playing a Dutch-made "Robberts" guitar, and the tracks are a medley from two or three of their songs. Focus broke up in the late 70's but reunited for this one 40-minute concert for a TV special. There were a couple of other featured reunion concerts in the next few years, and apparently Van Leer (keyboards & flute) made several attempts to reunite Focus permanently ... Akkerman wasn't interested. Akkerman's personality has often been compared with Ritchie Blackmore's, making him difficult to work with. Anyway, we've got YouTube to thank for some great memories of perhaps the greatest Prog Rock band to ever come from the Netherlands.