A new axe swings...

I have returned from my tour of regional Victoria having eaten too much margarine, drunk too much instant coffee and listened to too much golden oldies radio. Believe me, I am ready to resume the rock. For my week-long roadtrip I grabbed a handful of CDs on my way out the door but unfortunately several of the covers did not have the actual discs in them (a nasty habit of mine that Mrs squid does not approve of). The result? I had working copies of The White Album, Astral Weeks and Squid Ink's underrated, limited-release bootleg John Barleycorn Must Live (nobody responded to my hilarious suggestion that we name it Hinny's Democracy so I'll chalk that up as a loss).

Needless to say the comparison with these classic albums was somewhat humbling and, as already been pointed out here, listening revealed a legion of errors (and I'm not talking about George's playing on While My Guitar Gently Weeps). But I felt we stood up well to some pretty stiff competition. To my mind Crossbreed and Mrs Bun rocked the house while, lyrical slips aside, Hinny had a certain something. I, it seems, need to work a little harder at coming in on the right beat (or at least on a neighbouring beat). Back in town and facing some work-life disappointment that I won't share here I resorted to retail therapy and went guitar shopping. After some serious road-testing I settled on the pictured axe, an Epiphone Jorma Kaukonen Riviera Deluxe, with some rather ostentatious gold pickups, dual humbuckers and an attractive Bigsby vibrato that I fell for hard but will probably seldolm use. (check out a review here)

It was sold to me by a lovely fellow at Gallins who had questionable underarm hygiene (as my nostrils saw it anyway) but a great passion for guitars. Came with a fetching professor-ish tweed case. It did mean I broke one of the foundation rules I set for myself (never buy a guitar with an autograph on it). Amusingly, I have never been a fan of Jefferson Airplane - that may now have to change. My favourite moment of the day came whe I sought Tedium's sage advice. 'He's a guitar nerd, he will know if this is a good move,' I proclaimed to my brother-in-law.
I called him, feeling slightly guilty about the public nerd slur. 'Hello,' he said. 'Sorry to bother,' I said, 'Am I interrupting anything important?'

'Not really,' he said. 'I'm just downloading some Windows updates.'
ROCK!