Author: sjwillis

A friend unexpectedly gifted me this the other night when we were rehearsing for an upcoming gig. I can not believe what a huge difference it makes in the sound/volume of my already very loud Martin D-18. It’s called a d-gard and is purpose built for the back of a Martin dreadnaught. I put some…

When you sit down to learn Norman Blake’s New Chance Blues and just keep clicking though on the jams: https://youtu.be/x4wIldrOSJE https://ift.tt/tqbuJ6R

Love the mix of drum machine and live drums on this track:

Man, I have got my music streaming dialed in using Marvis. Combining tracks from a bunch of playlists, applying some filters and sorting. Just saying.

This: Massive centralized platforms create problems for society. By posting to your own site, you control your content, distributing it more evenly across the web and minimizing the power of big tech companies. and Temporary, viral movements like #DeleteFacebook are not enough. We need something sustainable that permanently changes the narrative. Both from Manton Reece’s…

This quote from Illich shows up in more than one of L.M. Sacasas’ excellent newsletter, The Convivial Society: “A convivial society should be designed to allow all its members the most autonomous action by means of tools least controlled by others. People feel joy, as opposed to mere pleasure, to the extent that their activities…

Out for a late afternoon walk in my local woods. The silence in this particular spot was incredible, in part because I’m in NJ and it’s almost never quiet, anywhere here. Took this with my iPhone. I had my Fuji w/ me in my backpack but was too lazy to take it out. Wish I…

Several months back I read Tim Egan’s Pilgrimage to Eternity. I am a sucker for books about long walks. Egan’s was really good. He references a great St. Francis of Assisi quote: Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. I’ve had that quote in my mind so many times…