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1927 – 2023
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USA 1 – Canada 0 thriller!
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T Spoon Phillips in Spoonville reunion
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St. Pat’s Night 2022, Freddy’s Brooklyn
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Updated annually
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Utah Beach in Rubber
Top Secret Monday Map
Why it’s terrible and why that matters.
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“Hero is a word often overused, but an understatement when describing Bobby Moore.”
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MLB’s controversial new rules change seems to have gotten lost during the COVID-19 Lock Down
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From their shore leave in the Omicron Delta system, to a viewing screen near you…
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Transcription of Audio Message Making the Rounds
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The Effects of Weather and Environment on the Spread of a Coronavirus
Guest writer Mathematician David Plummer uses the metaphor of a phonographic record player to explain complex concepts in understandable terms.
Read the Article
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…a hoard of delusional Scotsmen charged, raving like mad badgers, across an open, boggy terrain, through freezing rain, and straight into a hot lead rain…
The Steeds of Culloden – a tone poem by T Spoon Phillips
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One Man’s Meal – Social Distancing Edition
Anytime Oats
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NatGeo The map that helped win WWII
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A paradise of Shakespearean scholarship lost is now found, as Milton’s annotated First Folio has been discovered in Pennsylvania.
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See it Now!
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Featuring the exuberant guitar anarchy of Adrian Belew.
See it Here
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“While today’s casual viewers wanted to see high-scoring offenses do their thing, in the scheme of NFL history it was the defenses that made this game memorable, even legendary.”
Read More Here
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Parchment from the Middle-Ages include unknown details.
Found in Bristol Central Library
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Io, Saturnalia!
An end of year salutation.
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Another adventure begins, and you can follow along HERE.
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Uniquely American musical experience for your 4th of July listening pleasure…
Full Show from 2006
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The very edge of the world, back before international flights, Sumatra has a rich and ancient history dating back to Sanskrit times, when it was known as the Land of Gold.
Read More Here
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First encountered in 1997, the Tapanuli Orangutan as been identified as a separate species form the Sumatran Orangutan, becoming the 7th Great Ape.
Read More Here
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The the macabre world created by post-feminist visionary cartoonist Dame Darcy in Meat Cake was the font of many new songs at the latest Bushwick Book Club show. As the little girl said at the end of the Hamburger Helper commercial, “and I helped!”
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A small film set during a very big event, Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk explores themes of fundamental human nature.
Read the Full Review
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The 75 year-old troubadour presents his required lecture, via a recording that nobelprize.org has shared through various media outlets
It is AWESOME.
Read and Listen Here
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Transatlantic Sessions Tour
Excepts from the final concert, featuring A List performers from Scottish, Irish, English, and American roots music devotees.
HERE
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Monday Map – Republic of Adygea
Virtually unknown to the West, and the homeland to one of the indigenous Caucasian peoples, this mountainous Russian Republic near the Black Sea has an unusual connections to islands off the coast of Scotland.
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Monday Map – Cacachilas Mountains
Remote corner Baja, and haunt of hikers, divers, and the giant spider of the Cacachilas
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100th anniversary of the ending of the Battle of the Somme
World War I veteran memories reveal the horror and humanity, and lessons that need relearned, however painful
Fascinating articles and podcasts
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Limited Edition Fender commemorates the 40th Anniversary of the Last Waltz, with a replica of the hot-rodded 1954 Fender Stratocaster that Robbie Roberston had bronzed the Band’s farewell concert in 1976.
See the video and rare archival footage HERE
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Our New Review of the New Yorker’s New Review of the New Dictionary of Canadianisms
By former OED editor Jesse Sheidlower, who is always worth reading.
Full Review Here
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A Most Dishonorable Result
As a white Anglo-Saxon male with health insurance, most any election result hardly touches my own life.
Yet I grieve for my fellow Americans who will suffer mightily as a result of this election. And that includes those who brought it upon themselves.
Well, some of them anyway.
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Treasure Trove on Cornelia Street
Since 1977 the Cornelia Street Cafe has enriched the cultural life of New York City.
And it is currently proving as impressive and delightful an experience as ever, if not more so.
July’s Solofest of performances in music, comedy, political satire, of course the delicious and well thought out menu, and lovingly sculpted wine list.
Rediscover this West Village gem
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The Deadly Red Zone of France – Monday Map
“… most people are unaware this caged landscape exists among the otherwise beautiful French countryside, near the border with Belgium… completely closed to people. It is known as Zone Rouge – the Red Zone.”
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Bob Dylan performing Visions of Johanna 50 Years Ago Today
Read and Hear More
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Monday Map – Duluth, MN 1891
50 years before Bob Dylan was born there, 75 years ago this month. And 50 years since he toured the world with an electric guitar that changed music forever.
Read More
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Tennessee Williams 1982
Playhouse Creatures Theatre Co. premieres two Tennessee Williams one-acts, written in the last year of his life.
Kate Skinner is riveting in the world premiere of the cautionary, gentle folktale “The Recluse and His Guest” and the New York premiere of the kinetic, and brutally funny “The Remarkable Rooming-House of Mme. Le Monde.”
Now through March 13th!
Read the Full Review
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Bowie in a Bar and Love in the Air
…No one noticed my tears. My back was to the crowd, as I was watching a TV away from the main ones, with only the young couple at the end of the bar just ahead to my left. And they were not paying attention. But they did help distract me from the crumbled milestone of my own shortening lifetime…
Read More
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Russ & Daughters Cafe One Man’s Meal reviews the contemporary eatery owned by one of the historic purveyors of traditional Jewish appetizing. “This fish is delish, and oh so rich. It was lightly smoky – think Oban rather than Laphroaig, both of which are available by the glass at market prices for diners who like to pair smoked fish with smoked single malt whisky.”
Read the Full Review
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Monday Map – Normandy 1944  Top Secret map of Omaha Beach and others from the most monumental June of them all. Read More
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New podcasts from Public Broadcasting featuring folks whose attitudes were altered by getting to know the flesh and blood people on the other side of hot button issues. With host Trey Kay “…Kay’s pleasant manner and affable speaking voice has a calming effect…He listens and reacts, remaining very much in the moment, which is engaging for his audience, and those he is questioning….” Read the Full Review
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An unlooked for side effect at the dress rehearsal of Don Carlo As I entered the empty house at the Metropolitan Opera and walked down the aisle, I was hit with sudden pangs of tense anxiety and adrenaline when I saw them… Read More
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Newsweek’s wonderful obit of the historic NYC block blown up in Thursday’s gas explosion. Read More
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Monday Map – Celtic Genes in the UK  A paper published in Nature reveals startling truths about the still-separate genetic populations of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. …The Celts were anything but a single people. The findings “show that in non-Saxon parts of the United Kingdom, there exist genetically differentiated subgroups rather than a general ‘Celtic’ population”… Read More
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The Annual McCrindle Concert at Carnegie Hall – a Review With Joshua Gersen conducting, guest star Elena Urioste shone bright in Beethoven’s violin concerto, opus 61, followed by an NYYS ensemble rendition of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, op. 35, full of memory, passion, and promise. I couldn’t have been more delighted. Read More
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Monday Map – Ancient Persia 
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Armistice Day Essay  Remembering veterans while not forgetting why we chose this particular day. Read More
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* * NEW FEATURE – Around the Web * * Backpacker has three-inch leech up her nose for a month! Read More
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A personal remembrance upon the death of Eli Wallach, actor, chameleon “A gleam came into his eye, and his lips twitched as his mouth searched for words around a flickering tongue, as if he was savoring the tasty memory of being 38 again and starring in his second major Tennessee Williams play on Broadway. “Kazan would Wwwwork it up. And then we would shhhow it to Tennessee…” he said like a master storyteller, to the arc of listeners around him.” Read More
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Life in a Blender – New CD Review!! We Already Have Birds That Sing, the new CD from Life in a Blender… “…inventive thinking man’s rock composed by an ensemble of veteran musicians, and the sneakily adroit lyrics of front man Don Rauf, which are like little short stories, filled with quirky characters defined by the imagery of a specific time and place, yet achieving the cathartic impact of broader human experience.”
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Blazing Jazz – Stefon Harris and NYYS Jazz Orchestra “Part acrobat, part magician, Harris enveloped himself in the round and ringing tones from his vibraphone, only to switch to the woody plunk and rolls of a marimba. But whether his mallets were hammering away at metal or rosewood, or stretching wide to play both at once, he coaxed out melody and raised cacophony like a shaman communing with his spirit guides.” Read the Full Review
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D.B.S. Reunites for gig after 24 years The same year that Spinal Tap took the mickey out of hard rock, D.B.S. put a skewer through the heart of Punk…Many of the songs are indeed quite funny, but they are also clever in the way they captured the blistering essence of Punk music, often mixing the raw edge of the Stooges with the finesse of the Minute Men. This is not surprising, considering the artistic background of every member of D.B.S., all of whom went on to critical acclaim as a writer of weightier material. Read More
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Last night, at the Cornelia Street Café, there reading with music of the works of Seamus Heaney featuring Paul Hecht with music by Ellen Mandel. “The timbre of the women’s voices added highlights and brightness to the evening, set off by the sonorous shadows in the voice of Hecht, rich with resonance, and wide and deep in range, with just enough gravel to mark the boundaries. The evening opened and closed with passages from Heaney’s Nobel acceptance speech, filled with its own poetic imagery. But none quite so distilled and served up like the actual poems read tonight, with their memorable memories relived…” Read the Full Review
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Rare photo of Pancho Villa, Zapata, others at very first Fiesta de la tarro vacía, 1912
In Mexico during the time of the Revolution, mayonnaise was a national obsession. More of the condiment was consumed there than any other one place on earth.
“In fact, leaders on both sides of the conflict were crazy for the stuff. But it was Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata circa 1910, who spread the spread among the common people, as it were, so that its popularity soared…” Read More on this amazing find
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At the Met: From Guitarmania to Beatlemania The Metropolitan Museum of Art gave a lecture about Martin Guitars, featuring Dick Boak, who has worn many hats at Martin and now is the company’s chief archivist, historian and head of the Martin museum. He was joined by two-time Grammy award winner Laurence Juber, who is among the finest guitarists of this or any era. Juber’s first book, Guitar with Wings, is set for release in May 2014, and features his personal photography from the years he spent as a member of Paul McCartney and Wings. Read More…
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Scots were hae – Tartan Week in NYC included the Pipes and Fiddle Concert at Jalopy, in Brooklyn Featuring players who frequent the weekly Monday night Scottish music session at Iona, in Williamsburg, with special guests like award-winning multi-instrumentalist Troy MacGillivray and fiddler extraordinaire Katie McNally. Read the Full Review with Video
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Monday Map – The Irish in America The immigration from Ireland in the early 1800s placed many Irish in America, and across the globe. But the paths to assimilation and success were varied 
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NYYS at Carnegie Hall  featuring guests Pleasure is the Law, and the world premiere of Against the Shrieking City Air, by Loren Loiacono. “There was no malice in the maelstrom, just the exhilarating risk of being overwhelmed, if not drowned. And just at the crest of it all, it falls away, with but one minor surge before the exhalation, as all tensions fade quickly into a subdued calm, quiet enough to hear the country crickets, had she chose to add some. It was a very impressive piece, no less so for one just starting their career as a composer.” Read More
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The Joys of a Great Breakfast  He shrugged his shoulders, and sighed as he shook his head at the waiters flying around him, nearly frantic in their efforts to stay afloat on the latest wave of customer demands. He knows; nobody’s gonna die if they don’t get their eggs before they wish. They come back anyway. They always do. “A hundred pots, on Saturday and Sunday. So, that is… What? A thousand cups a day?” He answered me with a voice that suggested mild fatigue and remnants of a Greek accent.
~ Earliest Human Footprints Outside of Africa! “In a thrilling discovery, detailed in a paper published February 7 in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, the earliest human footprints ever found outside of Africa appeared in May, in ancient sediment along the English coastline at low tide, near Happisburgh, in Norfolk.”
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David Crosby in the middle of the street, a passel of Guinneveres, and faith renewed… “And there before me were seven blondes, each with that natural barley fading to flaxen hue, dropping like waterfalls around each girl in abnormally long tresses…”
At the Met –
 January 15, 2014 An after-hours reception was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art last night, where an invited group of some 60 guests were treated to a private viewing of the exhibit Early American Guitars: the Instruments of C.F. Martin, which opened to the public earlier that day.
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Monday Map – New Feature
 As a proud American, I might budge an inch, but never a centimeter. I don’t even know what a centimeter is. “Like all right-thinking people, such as we Americans, along with Liberians and those staunch defenders of traditional values living in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, no effort to brainwash us with logical Base 10 measurements can penetrate, let alone sink in. None of this newfangled metric nonsense for us. No sirree bob.”
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More than just another Johnny Cash biography, Robert Hilburn’s latest volume reexamines the rags to riches details of this unique example of the American Dream with its extremes of peaks and pitfalls, as lived by one the nation’s most iconic musical artists. “…an insightful yet sympathetic analysis that conjures up the late Man in Black in living color… it is Hilburn’s ability to include the many quoted snap-shots within the smooth emulsion of his own smart prose that keeps the focus on events as they happen, present and alive. And his insistence on allowing others to speak with emotion and opinion, while he sticks to the facts and resists grand conclusions, that provides a sense of authenticity to the story, and keeps the pages turning.…”
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“Starring Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, and staged by director Sean Mathias, theirs is an affectionate production, bringing together two of the greatest speaking voices of our age to revel in the language finely formed by that most deft of English sculptors, the late Harold Pinter…”
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Humor from the Blog
“Now that we are deep into a festive Why-On-Earth-Would-They-Send-Me-THAT-Catalog season, I reflect upon the many rites and rituals associated with this time of year… I found no less than the promise of the American Dream, with its wild frontiers and the sanctity of home and hearth, and peopled by the hardworking, hardspending folk that made P.T. Barnum a very rich man.”
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Own the music of One Man’s Guitar!
Click here for details
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Standard Series SC models arrive!!!
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A maple/walnut marvel
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Sustainability is beautiful
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Splendaculariffic!
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VTS Adirondack Spruce!!!
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Aged 1954 Recreation!
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Custom Shop Super Dreadnought Takes Flight!
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New Authentic Dreadnought Shape!
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Solid-wood SC Custom Shop Special
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New Authentic Series dreadnoughts, new Custom Shop SC, Custom Artist, D-42 Special and more!!!
The latest news HERE
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The Journal of Acoustic Guitar
Read it HERE
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Martin Pre-NAMM releases 2022
The Magnificent Seven – New Modern Deluxe Models
Our exclusive scoop on the new 13-freters
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Featuring an article by yours truly!
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Guitar News from Martin, Taylor, Gibson, Breedlove, Collings, etc, etc.
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Music for a Social Distancing Audience
YouTube Live. 4 PM Eastern (9 PM British Summer Time.)
Go to Youtube and search for onemanzguitar if you are not already a subscriber.
If the first video listed doesn’t say “LIVE,” keep refreshing your screen until it does.
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Wonderfully entertaining interview for a Social Distancing Audience. Sit back and enjoy.
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SC-13E the twenty-first century acoustic-electric hybrid
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Recent Reviews:
Martin DSS-17 Whiskey Sunset \ Black Smoke
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“The instruments in Martin’s oh so Modern Deluxe Series combine vintage Martin aspects with modern day know how and high-tech advancements in a most exciting way.”
Read More in the Blog
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The last hold out of the old standard models has received its makeover, with the new neck and old pre-war styling.
Full Review with Video
T Spoon Phillips Custom Artist Edition
Available Only at Maury’s Music
Read More
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Video Reviews out now, written reviews coming soon.
Read More
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CD REVIEW
Howard Emerson Releases Fourth Album
“Formidable fingerstyle finely fretted, both solo and accompanied by other instrumentation – The Wall Talks, and people should listen
Hitting Play on a new Howard Emerson album is like receiving a visit from a favorite old friend, where even the instrumental tunes are like hearing about the places they have been and the people and events they encountered along the way.…”
Read the Full Review Here
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The most iconic guitar in history gets its first makeover in many years.
“With its retro styling and ultra-modern neck, the new 2017 model is a souped up enhancement of the straight-braced D-28, given a more powerful engine, with a roomier interior.”
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“The bass is big but not boomy. The trebles are clear and ringing. The midrange notes are distinct but have a woody warmth to them… In other words, the SJ-200 is a classic. And this jet black version is pretty darn classy.”
Read the Full Review
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The 2017 Martins including the …
“Never woofy nor muddy, there is a firmness from the bottom E string. It is buoyant, yet taught and strong. .. The sound of the unwound trebles with clear-cut definition and a silvery ring.”
Read the Full Review Here
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Woody to be sure, it has an old dry box resonance that is accentuated by a torrefied spruce soundboard. The undertone remains open and uncluttered, yet with a glowing presence reflecting the hum of each string… At times, that tonewood combination had those singing trebles soaring through the room – and straight to my heart, as uplifting as sunlight streaming through the flawless glass of a spotless, squeaky-clean window.
Read the Full Review Here
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“This converted 000-28 has my favorite kind of Brazilian/Adirondack tone, warm and richly colored, with a bass that is plump but not woofy, spawning a rich undertone that at times hugs but never smothers the higher registers, and trebles of fine purity that are precise but solid, yet radiating shimmery harmonic overtones.”
Read the Full Review Here
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“The 000-30 A 1919 offers the kind of sound many luthiers and guitarists have sought to produce since the invention of steel strings.”
Read the Full Review
And from 2016…
A large caliber canon of Guatemalan rosewood and VTS Adirondack spruce with a large sound hole.
“…something charming to the chime ringing off the unwound treble strings, supported by a palpable cushion of rosewood undertone welling up from the bottom end, where the bassiest string is plump and succulent…”
Read the Full Review
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First 14-fret Grand Concert added to the Standard Series, with a modern, short-scale neck and a LOT of classic tone.
“…a relaxing, comfortable playing experience that rewards the guitarist with a prosperous voice, lavish with presence in the undertone resonance and the wafting high harmonics.”
Read the Full Review Here
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Classic Reborn at its Birth
The flagship of Martin’s 2016 fleet, the D-1 Authentic 1931 is a magnificent dreadnought for the ages.
“The D-1A feels exactly like a pre-war Martin. It’s astounding in just how light it is. And it’s astounding in its sounding so very marvelous.”
Read the Full Review
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NAMM Show Special
“Everything from the prodigious volume, bottom end presence, responsive playability, expansive depth, and projecting definition are remarkable for a short-scale guitar with a body smaller than a 000 or OM.”
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Read the full review of this model with video HERE
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The First Affordable Pearl-Trimmed Martin in the Authentic Series is a Beauty
“It is an emotionally expressive instrument that naturally inspires nice bluesy string bends, and even subtle little waggles of a fretting finger translate into evocative alterations in the tone of each note, which then spawn echoes that radiate within and without the lively 000 body with its scallop-braced VTS top.”
Read the full review of this guitar HERE
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A museum-worthy piece of craftsmanship and design, the McPherson Manhattan Skyline is a towering achievement in the art of luthiery Read the Full Review
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Inspired by a 1955 Cadillac convertible and just as cool. “It sounds great, looks amazing, and is a dream to play. It will stand out in any collection, but would also add an air of panache to any stage show…” Read the Full Review
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One of world’s most popular acoustic guitars remade afresh – thin finish, hide glue, exclusive bracing! “This model didn’t get a makeover, it got seriously buff…” Read the Full Review
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Decked out and delicious Grand Jumbo “With its Grand J sycamore body topped with VTS Sitka spruce, the CEO-8 has a voice with a unique character. The bottom-end boost from the extra-large sound chamber fills out the bass, while the rest of the voice stays open. Strummed chords ring out, vivid and vibrant, while arpeggios and picking patterns lay down a succession of clear strong notes that never get in each other’s way, thanks to unusual rates of sustain and decay…” Read the Full Review
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NAMM NEWS
Winter NAMM Martins A Killer Crop for 2015 Martin CEO-8 Decked out Grand Jumbo Martin CS-00041-15 Short-scale cocobolo angel Martin OM-28 Authentic 1931 And about time too!
Indie Luthier Series
Brondel A-2 Indie Excellence K Wingert Model F Custom West Coast Wonderment Schoenberg Quartet 12-fret 0000 More To Come
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Combining the looks of a pre-war Style 42 12-fret slothead with the convenience of a 14-fret OM, made all the more powerful with extra-deep sides, this Madagascar/Adirondack jewel box from Martin’s fabled Custom Shop is a feast for the eyes as well as the ears. “From the first strum there is a stark ring to the fundamental voice, each note pure but with pronounced substance, clear yet dense, like diamonds. And with each steely note ringing off a string an expanding sonic reaction blooms, from an echo beneath the top voice and a woody hum deeper down, to a shining choir of lofty overtones. This guitar shows off the most sophisticated type of Madi-Adi tone.”
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High-tech but simple to use, this capo with the postmodern looks was the brainchild of guitarist Nick Campling. “His primary concerns were the effect of the capo on a guitar’s intonation, the ease of use in terms of applying and removing it, making sure the capo did not damage the guitar’s neck or get in the way of the guitarist’s fretting hand, and finally, a capo that was attractive to the eye. The G7th Performance capo does a good job in all these respects…”
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Martin’s successful take on the prewar Gibson L-00 remains more Martin than anything else. A slope-shoulder 00 for the ages. “When it came down to it, the whole time I was playing the guitar I kept feeling like the CEO-7 is the Golden Era Series reissue of a pre-war Martin that never existed.”
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Sinker Mahogany
Review now up!
“In a word, the voice is huge … a good example of a Bluegrass banjo killer with focused trebles that cut through the stout, strong bass of its pronounced bottom end …”
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Superb steel-string acoustic guitars
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Dig the Blog. So I have a pretty awsome piece of Martin History. I have a All original 58/59 Original D18e never been touched as far as work being done to it. Have the original hardshell case as well.. I’ve tried to learn more about the guitar and have read only 300-302 were actually built the one year.. and of those 302 only around 20 original ones are said to exist. Of course that’s all internet research so take that for what it’s worth.. I would love to actually know more about it tho.. thanks. Have a Blessed New Year!
I’m so glad to have discovered your blog. Great writing and insightful information. Where can I buy or download a Major Linguistic Groups map like the one you posted? It would be the ultimate gift for my man if I could get a clear file to enlarge and frame for him. Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you, Joy, for your encouraging words.
I suggest you get on Google, look up “map of major languages” and then click on the Shopping tab, which will reveal many different maps for sale that show language families, etc., or just show the native name of each place, etc.
Good hunting!
Really enjoy your blog, your life-take and your writing. Thanks for softening my cynicism.
Enjoying your finely written words! You have a gift.