I have received many comments on the volume of my speaking voice. What can I say, I am a loud talker. Some attribute it to growing up in a large family, all of whom liked to talk. Others blame my size commenting that the echo from my chest cavity causes the stentorian tones. (Word geek trivia - this word comes from the Greek herald, Stentor, mentioned in Homer's Iliad, known for his loud voice.) 
In actuality, I speak loudly so I can hear myself over the voices in my head. They never stop. "Do this.", "Do that.", "Make sure you have lots of quick lime and a shovel.", "You sure you left no fingerprints?", etc. In order for me to hear my own thoughts, I must speak loudly.
The other day an acquaintance sat next to me in a public house and
asked who I thought was the best guitar player. His question brought to mind the medieval query, "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" That question was never meant to be answered. Its purpose was to encourage discourse and sharpen rhetorical skills.
However, he truly expected an answer. Consider Doc Watson, John McLaughlin, Leo Kottke, Chet Atkins, Les Paul, Robert Fripp...I could go 
on for pages. Music, like art, evokes personal feelings. It is not a contest in which one comes out on top. Music opens the soul. It offers a glimpse of the infinite beauty that we pursue, but can never achieve. To quote Robert Browning, "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?"
On the subject of music, several times I've been asked why the songs I do don't sound like the original artists' versions. My early mentors taught me to make each song my own. Billie Holiday said it best, "If
you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling. No two people on
earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music or it isn't music."
Anarchy is misunderstood. Many consider it a state of chaos and disorder. They think of anarchists as bomb throwing radicals. Few study to see what anarchy really is. People use anecdotal knowledge as an explanation. Anecdotes are not facts. The works of Proudhon, Chomsky and Zerzan are good starters, but who am I kidding. Their works read like the philosophical texts they are, and many find them pedantic. I enjoy this reading, but understand that most don't. Res Ipsa Loquitur.
Politics has become a battleground of polarities. Historian Shelby Foote blames the American Civil War on the failure of our political system to do what it was meant to do - create compromises. It's happening again today. We have devolved into a country of discord. Polemics replace reason; insults replace argument. Right/left, conservative/liberal - terms have replaced ideas. We are more concerned with labels than results. Politicians masquerade as leaders. Polling data supersede judgement.
Democrats and Republicans are two sides of the same coin. They have constructed a system to keep the power amongst themselves. It is rigged against any third party or independent candidate to make a change. Our government is dysfunctional and dishonest. Come to think of it, maybe some bomb-throwing radicals are just what the wild-eyed doctor ordered. As ever - BB
"What a field day for the heat, thousand people in the street. Singing songs and carrying signs, mostly say 'Hooray for our side!" - For What It's Worth - Stephan Stills
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