Hammer Mill Days

Turn the first little knob on the top. Yes, that one. Turn it. A little more. More. Right, now back it off a little. Good... now the next one - turn it clockwise. I said CLOCKWISE! What do you mean you're from the land down under? What's THAT got to do with ANYTHING? Ho, man. Just getting ready for BIG GREEN'S [INSERT NAME HERE] INTERSTELLAR TOUR 2011, and as you can see, Marvin (my personal robot assistant) will be the guitar tech again this time out. Thought it might be wise to go over the basics, just one more time, before we really need his help. No, he can't tune a six-string guitar all by himself. He needs someone to hold the fat end while he turns the tuners - but that's not the main drawback. You see, Marvin is made of bits left over from other experiments, in essence, including machine parts from Mitch Macaphee's shop - air powered tools, drills, vise-grips, sanders, and the like. Sometimes when you ask him to do an open tuning on the Martin, he turns t...

The killing of Troy Anthony Davis has demonstrated one thing beyond a shadow of a doubt: that we as a people cannot be trusted with the death penalty. To that I will add my modest opinion that no people can be trusted with this brutal and most final punishment. I am not suggesting that that is the most compelling reason to abolish the death penalty. I think the reasons are legion. The first should be no surprise to anyone who calls themselves religious in any major monotheistic tradition - killing is morally repugnant, particularly in a situation in which the intended victim is powerless, such as someone who is incarcerated and therefore a danger to no one. Beyond simple humanity, it is legally and ethically indefensible - the ultimate denial of due process under the law. So long as you may be proven either innocent or not as guilty as first thought, there is no justification for execution. Also, in a nation so fraught by its racist history; a nation whose justice system is shot throug...