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Well, I went to the Costco in Winchester, Virginia with a buddy of mine and we almost hit Oliver North as he was headed into the store.  Then when we were done and on our way out again, guess who stepped off the curb in front of us and we almost hit?  Yep.  Oliver North again.  But I knew who he was. 

I took a guided whitewater trip one time and there was an old-timer with a young gal (twenties or so) in an old beat up aluminum canoe with a terrific home made tandem skirt.  The guy was wearing jeans and a sweater for a cold bottom-release run on a controlled river.  Definitely an old school paddler.  Well, his canoe takes on a ton of water and I'm getting nervous about seeing him back there behind us on all the lines with his sloshy canoe and made mention to him that it might be time to bail out.  "Soon.  Soon," he replied.  A little later, "Dude, that canoe is really listing.  You need to bail."  "Oh, I'll be all right.  There's a pinhole in the skirt.  We'll be fine."  I figure the guys a doofus who doesn't know squat and he can learn his own daggone lesson the hard way.   At the takeout, he came up and introduced himself.  Said it was nice of me to try and make a safety recommendation.  It was Lou Matacia, an absolute whitewater paddling legend with more first descents than anybody his age except maybe Randy Carter.  It'd be like meeting Eric Clapton and making some recommendations on putting together a blues lick.  And, by the way, guess who was shivering like mad and in the early stages of hypothermia?  Not Mr. Matacia in his denim jeans.  I was in all my fancy clothes.   So it would be like playing a really horrendous lick ending on a sour note and THEN suggesting to Eric Clapton ways to spruce up his solos. 

- Zurf

There you go.  You said in your initial post that you can't wail off significant solos.  So, I'd say learn how to wail off significant solos would be a good place to start.  That means chords, arpeggios, and inversions until your eyes cross, and then just a little bit more...

Try also to learn more about playing by ear.  Grab an electric (because you can use one unplugged and not annoy others watching TV with you as badly) and watch TV.  Try to pick up and play bits by ear as you hear them.  Theme song riffs, ad jingles, etc.  I did this with my bass a lot when I was working on bass scales and found that it was fun to do.  I need to start working guitar scales and arpeggios and such so that I can take my own advice. 

- Zurf

I don't know, Old Doll, I never tried the stuff.  I'd go to parties where folks were smoking and I noticed they got stupid fast.  I didn't need any help getting stupid, and if I did there was usually beer or bourbon to help me out.  So I've just avoided it altogether or substituted inebriating substances more to my liking. 

I don't have a problem if folks want to smoke it in a safe location, just don't see much point to it for myself.  I don't like tobacco cigarettes either, truth be told.  I've got a lot less use for tobacco cigarettes than marijuana mostly because from what I've seen the guys smoking pot just hang out around their own home or around camp and are courteous to non-smokers, which is not what I've seen by and large (with exceptions) from tobacco cigarette smokers.    Now pipes and good quality cigars - I rather like the smell of those. 

- Zurf

I have the problem too Doc.  In the mirror, I see a handsome, young, and muscular individual.  But in pictures of me there's this homely, gray-bearded, fat guy.  I can't figure out how every camera in the world is broken. 

- Zurf

Topdown -

If you have the rights to that picture and are willing to share the RAW file, please e-mail it to me.  I would like to print and frame that for my office.  If you are not willing to share the RAW file, I can't blame you.  That's a shot that you ought to be able to get some mileage out of from a clearinghouse. 

Thanks,
Zurf

Canada's a big place.  You may want to narrow that down some. 

My mom noticed the same thing when she walked with a cane.   

- Zurf

Brain chemistry and medicine.  Let's just say that there's a lot of work yet to do by the medical community to get it working better.  I'm glad for you Bill that your wife was smart enough and caring enough to get you attention immediately so that you could get your meds in order.  Keep on pushing and keep on singing.  No more of that naughty talk.  From now on when you get to feeling down, you have one of two assignments.  One, tell your wife.  Two, write a blues song.  Then bang on some drums.

- Zurf

My wife bought a Willie Nelson box set for me for Christmas.  It follows his career with 100 songs from his earliest attempts - including a demo tape he cut overtop of the farm report tape from a radio station where he was a DJ.  Some excellent songs on there that were before my time, but exceptional.  "Any Old Arms Won't Do" being a new favorite.  And of course "Bloody Mary Morning" and "Bubbles in my Beer". 

It came with a short biography of Willie Nelson's music career.  What I found interesting is that when he was working out of Nashville, while his songs were treated well by recording artists, his own recordings weren't considered country music because the studios thought he had "jazz timing" by coming just before or just after the beat.  It wasn't until he quit Nashville and moved to Texas where he had a huge following that his career rocketed (and has never really come down off the apogee).  There's an interesting story about how he had signed on with a new studio (I don't recall which one) and he did a stripped down recording.  The studio didn't want to release it as it was and wanted to re-engineer the whole thing with background singers and horns and all manner of whatnot.  It was Waylon Jennings who got up in the face of the studio head and said, "You don't get it!  This is what you get with Willie.  He's genius and if you mess with genius you just get mess."  The studio released the album as is.  The album was "Red-headed Stranger" and it went straight up the charts, went platinum, and even fostered a movie. 

- Zurf

Ooooohhhhhh dino.  I have definitely tried a little whiskey.  I have not tried any OTC sleep aids, aside from the kava kava. 

Doug, that's pretty funny, but no by source you trust I mean someone who will sell a good quality product and stand behind it.  Kava kava is legal.  However, the first I used of it, it was contraband smuggled in by a friend of mine who served in the South Pacific in the Peace Corps and wanted to bring back enough for a grog ceremony to show his friends what it was like.  We had a BLAST.  There's a million internet sources that are less expensive than the health food store where I buy mine, but I know that the owners of this health food store are sensitive to only carrying good quality products.  So I trust them and it's worth the extra money, especially with how infrequently I use the stuff. 

- Zurf

Nope. 

The resin isn't messy.  It's powdered and you just take the pegs out, tap them on the bag of powdered resin, and put them back in and they suddenly have a lot more friction. 

But one thing that I don't know a darned thing about is mechanized tuners on a ukelele.  Wish I could help.

- Zurf