music boro?

they said, "you have a blue guitar,

you do not play things as they are."

the man replied, "things as they are

are changed upon a blue guitar."

-wallace stevens

i have been aware of the existence of cigar box guitars for some years now. how could i not? i mean, i play the mountain dulcimer, a not so distant cousin of the cigar box guitar (one might even say, kissin' cuzzin's). i've been to folk music festivals here and there (and even a few way over there and elsewhere). but i never really heard one played properly until most recently. by properly i mean, in the depression era blues style it was meant to used to create...

the other day i ran into a man downtown sitting on a transit bench. though he was definitely not waiting for an errant bus. he was instead taking advantage of the shade and the not-so-comfortable place to sit and make music on the most ingenious instrument.  a cigar box guitar. i was hooked! totally and utterly mesmerized!

i began chatting with him...and then with anyone on the world wide web who would respond...about these ingenious instruments and found out how amazingly simple they can be to create (granted, i found many marvelous and head-spinning examples of creativity and skill as well) so i set out to find the perfect cigar box with which to make my first guitar. i saw this skull and bones box at a local smoke shop and new i had found the one (remembering that i have a penchant for bones and the personal symbolism of skulls to remind us that time is fleeting and we must make use of every moment while we are still here).

i had hoped to talk them into selling me the smaller box as well, with a mind to turning it into a coordinating cigar box amp, but it was still half full of cigars and the shopkeep declined. sigh. i hope to find one (or this one, when it is empty) some day as i love the idea of the coordinated amp!

piper is busy licking his chops in anticipation of finding me at home for a while any chance i get so that i can work on my new cigar box guitar (of course, he could care less about the guitar. he's more interested in the fact that he will have a nice warm lap to sleep on while i sit at my workbench).  i pick up the electronics, hardware and strings for this project tomorrow. this bit of music boro. cobbling together bits of this and that to breathe new life and dimension into sound.

i'm so excited, i don't know how i am going to sleep when i get off work in the morning...

namaste'