last year was an interesting year for me, and not all of it necessarily good. probably the biggest time absorber was a long overdue house renovation, which took most of the year. plus a busy year at my day job and it all added up to squeezing out much of my leisure time, which includes my favorite hobby – music. it also took away my time and energy needed to keep up with my blog. but that is all behind me now and i hope to make up for it in 2025.

to help me with my writer’s block, i thought i would start off with an easy one – a documentary my brother steve turned me on to. ‘norman’s rare guitars’ is a very well done accounting of the store by that name in hollywood, and the tale of it’s founder – norman harris.

norm was a nominally successful musician in the late sixties who started a side job finding and then selling vintage guitars. after about a year or so it became his main gig, and word of mouth led to major musicians seeking him out to find guitars for them. his business exploded and his store is still in existence today and he probably has the largest collection of vintage guitars in the world.

this trailer will give you a taste of the magic of this place:

running time is over 90 minutes, so it is a bit of a commitment. but if you are into vintage versions of the premier instrument in rock and roll history, and the musicians who played them, you might find this interesting.

for marcus king fans, his in store spontaneous recording basically jump started his career:

next post will be a handful of releases i really sunk my teeth into last year but never got around to sharing with you.

and then a few books i felt that enlightened me to some more music history.

thank you for your patience, and we will see you soon.