Guitar Emporium

Every human endeavour is a beauty contest - and my goodness its competitive out there. Beauty in terms of the most beautiful brain, the most beautiful body, the most beautiful face and the most beautiful achievement .. and on and on it goes

A fashionable phrase for those who have sustained a consistent high standard throughout their life - of integrity, of performance, of achievement.

Finding something to believe in is central to us busy little souls. You got a cause - You got something to believe in .

The London marathon - my nephew entered for it this year, something I would loved to have done - a real achievement. Congratulations. The song alludes to the Dustin Hoffman / Laurence Olivier film Marathon Man and the escape of Nazi leaders through Europe and away to South America

It is all moving so so quickly - almost as though it is totally out of control - surely not. But its clearer than ever - if you ever doubted it - for right or for wrong it is all about money. Humanitarian stuff - however its argued - is secondary. Ok its Monday morning - have a good week

As Spring gets up and and running in the UK the mornings are beautifully " a bit nippy" - there's a frost about at dawn. I see this wonderful jogger out and on a 3 mile + circuit - she must be in her 70's, she used to run marathons and has now cut it back to just an early morning jog!!!. Loads of energy lots going on - go with the flow.

Lou Reed's wonderful Perfect Day - said it very eloquently. This is in hope of that day and many like it.

The change in landlord / tenant arrangements in the UK takes effect in May 2026. In the meantime the rental market is seeing increases in rent, no fault evictions ( section 21 notices) and all kinds of shenanigans by these delightful property owners.

This is a piece I've returned to again and again over the 57 (!) years I've been playing the guitar. I've arranged it for a school group for concert and festival performance in the next couple of weeks. I hope it goes well.

The road to nowhere. Some of the rhetoric thats flying about now makes you despair. Find another way - a new direction - don't let the past drag you down .

A tune linked to the beautiful guitar part Dominic Miller composed for the Sting tune - Shape of my heart, With Rob on percussion . From Parables - a 2012 compilation of acoustic songs and tunes.

.....more to do with the nursery rhyme than the Artemis mission . An acoustic version of the 2008 ( I think ) song

"Digging that hole" can refer to a literal act, a humorous 1960s song by Bernard Cribbins, or a metaphor for making a situation worse The song was a satirical take on a bowler hatted exec telling the workman how to dig the hole.... Making the situation worse - I'm sure we've all been there - well, if you haven't I certainly have .

After the Lord Mayors show comes the ---- cart.

A standing eight-count, also known as a protection count, occurs when the referee stops the action and gives an eight-count to a boxer who has not been knocked down but appears hurt. During this time, the referee will determine if the boxer is fit to continue. When scoring a fight, a standing eight-count is considered the same as a knockdown. I'll go for the standing count - down but not out - re-mix

Thanks for bearing with a lot of re-hashes of late - sorry I mean re-mixes - some are OK and some were really indifferent. I got a bit of breather over the last few days - some better stuff coming through - I hope. Run it around in your head - about how some folk have no filters or empathy with the sensitivities of others - we've all met 'em...

Theres nothing as good as a bit of indecision - or maybe not.

It originated in British pubs as an abbreviation for “mind your pints and quarts.” Supposedly this warned the barkeeper to serve full measures. Essentially Mind your Ps and Qs is an English language expression meaning "mind your manners", "mind your language", "be on your best behaviour", I always am on my best behaviour - I'm sure we all are ?

I thought about calling this Dire Straits but that would be too awful to contemplate. However in this asymmetric war ( what a civilised way of saying one sided ) Irans handling of the Strait of Hormuz and Houthi's protection of the Bab- al- Mandeb Strait has really evened up the conflict to counterbalance Irans and the Gulf States pain with the prospect of international economic hardship.

In about 2013 Robert designed and built a Hybrid Classical Style guitar. 24 frets, Richlite fretboard, Wittner Planetary Pegs, Laser cut rosette, and floating fretboard amongst many other design ideas. 13 years later he completed his best guitar to date - cedar topped, maple neck . Here it is - The Hybrid Guitar goes on...