Santa Claus is Back in Town

First of all, I'd like to wish everyone who visits the Hive a Merry Christmas. It's been a good year for us here and we are full of the Christmas Spirit. So much so, in fact, that we decided to exchange gifts with one another last night a couple of days early.

Now there is something I should point out before we go any further. 2008 is tenth year of Janie's and my wedding anniversary. So for Christmas this year we decided to splurge and spoil each other with a nice gift. So please don't think we go around buying stuff like this every day.

Which leads me to the point of this post. For those of you who don't know, I'm a beginner guitarist with lots of passion and enthusiasm, but at this point, very little skill. But a couple of things have inspired me to give the ol' six-string a try. Two were my Dad and My Grandaddy. My Dad plays bass guitar as well as guitar and he can really make it sing. My Grandaddy played guitar for years and was so good it just seemed like it came natural to him. Now I love the sound of live music, and hearing those guys play inspired me to give it a try myself. The third inspiration was my Grandaddy's guitar. I can't remember exactly what it looked like because I haven't seen it in years, and I don't know exactly what happened to it when he passed away, but I'm just almost sure it was a semi-hollow body. When I heard him play I knew that was the guitar for me.

And now I have one.



The bad boy you see me holding in this image is my new Epiphone Sheraton II archtop guitar. It's a semi-hollowbody, just like my Grandaddy's, and this is the same model ax that was slung by none other than John Lee Hooker. So I figure if it's good enough for the Boogie Man, then it should suit my needs. Pictures do not do this work of art justice. It is an absolute piece of beauty, and even on my cheap old amp it sounds great. I can't wait for the chance to plug it in on my Dad's big Fender tube amp and hear it the way it was meant to sound. Even a hacker like me can make beautiful sounds come from this instrument.

Now I new this one was special from the minute I picked it up. It took a ton of effort from Janie, the help of my brother and sister in-law, and Janie's Dad to get this guitar to me. There is a lot of soul in this instrument simply from the huge effort put forth just so I could have it for Christmas. For those of you that helped to pull this off I can't thank you enough. I can assure you that your hard work was not for naught. For years to come I'll be able to tell everyone about the journey this instrument took to get to me.

Lastly, if you ask me (or B.B. King), every guitar good should have a name, and the name for this one hit me last night like a ton of bricks. So from here on out, when I talk about Emma and when I play and sing, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Peace.

Evel Knievel

Well it's been a long time since I've made a post here at the hive. About 2 months by my reckoning. So I don't know how many hard-core fans are still hanging on. But this is one of those nights where I can't sleep, so I thought I would make a post for all of you who still bother to check in.

In case you haven't heard, Evel Knievel passed away yesterday. The young folks probably are saying "big deal", while the older folks, for the most part, are probably saying "big deal". But my perspective is a bit different.

You see, as you have probably figured out from previous posts here at the hive, I'm pretty much a kid at heart. Always have been. And I remember, as a kid, seeing footgage of Evel jumping his motorcycle over busses, cars, canyons, pretty much anything that needed to be jumped. I just thought that was the coolest thing.



I even had all of the Evel Knievel toys when I was a kid, and as I recounted to Janie, I actually wore my Evel Knievel toy motorcycle out jumping it over anything I could find. Later in life, I got really interested in riding dirt bikes and for meny years enjoyed jumping myself (although I neverd measured up to Evel's standards) so the daredevil spirit lived on. I also thought it was cool that Evel rode a Harley Davidson (American made) and wore a red, white, and blue suit.

Now there is no argument that Evel led a checkered life, and had a few brushes with The Law, along with some less-than-savory choices of action. But he did embody a few ideals that we hold sacred here at the hive:

-Work hard,
-Be good at what you do,
-If you fall down, get back up,
-Communicate effectively,
-Love your Country,
-Ride your motorcycle :-)

Rest in Peace, Evel, we here at the Hive classify you as a true American, and you have added a good slab of fun to our lives.