Perfume

 

Happy 4th of July, Grace!  I expect you are working.  Please take the time to perform an inventory protocol every time you load and unload your vehicle.  Not only to make sure you have all your stuff, but also to see if anyone planted something like stolen goods or drugs.  Beware, some packages can be very small.  Yes Honey, being famous can really suck sometimes.  It's business as usual here for me.  I don't get days off.  Enjoy the fireworks, Honey!

Do you think Clarice should have worn perfume when she first met Hannibal?  Old men have souls like prisons.  Being incarcerated would have those men smell whatever it is they want to smell.  Dr. Lecter was probably being polite when he said he couldn't smell that.

When you are famous, people want to smell you more.

Oh, Karen!

 

Hiya Grace!  Congratulations on your spanking week.  I'm very proud of you!  Those boots don't match the suit, Honey.  Simple red pumps would work better, or the gold boots.  Sometimes I envy how rockin' your life is, but then I realize we both have so much work to do.  We are actually very weak, so God divided the load between us.  So learn to sleep on a chair when it gets busy.  I don't mean a car seat, but find a chair to sit on when you have a few minutes to spare, close your eyes and fall asleep.  Don't bother trying to fall asleep, but go straight into a dream.  You will find that that few minutes sleep will make a big difference in how you feel, and when they add up it makes it easier to get through the day, also easier on your heart.  Avoid medication unless absolutely necessary!  And please don't get any tattoos.  Ya Allah, please protect my Grace and her loved ones when she travels.

People really miss Karen Carpenter.  They miss her so much, that they weep when they think of her.  Mary Unknown7 is a channeler: she can channel the voices of the dead.  It is a genuine channeling, because only Allah can make the dead to speak.  It's been more than a week since Mary got sick.  It usually takes her about 2 weeks to recover from chest congestion.  She said that when she got sick, the only voices that didn't abandon her were Ella, Billie, Keely and Patsy.  Now all of them are gradually coming back except Karen.  Don't worry folks, Karen will be back soon inshaAllah.  Please be patient.

Big spider, little spider

 

So you met Slash at the Gibson Lounge.  We were just talking about signature SGs.  There's no such thing as coincidence, Grace.  I see you brought your '61 SG with the cosmetic tremolo.  That must be your signature guitar.  The woman with the hat standing behind Slash must be his wife or something.  She must be making sure that Slashy-Washy doesn't get too comfortable with the Teenage Heartbreaker.  Hm.  You're at that age where pheromones go wild.  You better start wearing perfume, Grace.  Lots of it.  Especially when meeting VIPs.  And what about that ring, Grace?  I notice he didn't invite you to jam with him.  He probably didn't want to be upstaged by a 17 year old girl.  Well you don't scare me, Grace Bowers!  I spent last night putting down guitar tracks.  It's frustrating to have to use a Belcat instead of a nice tube amp.  Again I'm expected to fight with a plastic spoon instead of a battleship.  But I must be patient.

When it comes to word of mouth, small talk is better than big talk.  Just like a small spider is cuter than a big spider.  There's a story of when prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) was on the run from a gang out to kill him.  He and a close friend hid in a cave.  Then a spider covered up the mouth of the cave with a web, and the gang passed it by.  It must have been a small spider.  Big spiders don't make webs.

That one gig

 

Hiya Grace!  It's July already.  What a fast year.  I hope you are enjoying stability, and lots of fun besides.

You know, life is an illusion.  We work hard, try to get noticed, accumulate stuff, then God will wipe everything out.  But we have to struggle to survive!  Same illusion, so what's the point.  The point is to earn a place in heaven, and that is the real struggle.

So reality is an illusion.  You play music to big crowds, meet the big shots, get the rave reviews, but you're actually playing music to only one man.  As for me, I play music to one man.  But I'm actually playing music to mankind, dead and alive.

Signature SG

 

Hiya Grace!  How are you, my beautiful darling?  So quiet!  I don't talk much myself.  Just ask my mother.  If it seems I babble a lot here, it's because of you.  We should share news with each other, don't you agree?

So have you figured out what you want in your signature SG?  Technically, the SGs you play now are your signature models.  It's all those other people who want to have what you play.  I already have my SG, I don't really need another one.  I don't break strings, in fact the strings that are on it now are from 2008.  There's nothing like old guitar strings.  I very rarely touch the knobs and pickup selector switch, no matter how loud I play.  I keep my SG on the neck pickup.  So my signature model SG would look something like this picture below.  Please excuse my poor Photoshop capabilities.  Wow, it matches Mary's outfit!  What do you think of my signature SG, Grace?

I want

 

Grace, that is a much better photo!  You should wear red lipstick with a flashy dress like that.  Well too late now, what's done is done.  I'm not a graphic artist.  If I had the ability to draw beautifully, I would never have left my bedroom as a teen. But I do have an eye for beauty, and that photo definitely would make a better album cover than the other.  The artist you found is darn good, hang on to him.  Next time, give him the photo before he begins his work and tell him to match the tones of the photo.  

You're still too young to have a sufficient pool of knowledge, even though your guitar playing is mature.  So you ask questions, and questions can get you into trouble.  Don't ask questions about things that if made plain to you, will cause you trouble.  Just do the best you can with what you have.

I am human, and I'm not without my vanities.  But the stuff that I want in this post does have its utility.  Don't buy it for me, folks!  I don't have money to pay the taxes on it!  I will pay for it myself when Allah gives me the money inshaAllah, hopefully they will be easy to locate.  I have big plans for that tiny drum kit.  I'm sure the one in the video has disintegrated by now.  Even if not, I will have him build me a new set that can handle daily playing.  Don't you think the tiny drums in the video sound so good?  How did he make those cymbals sound so awesome?

Then I want the kit that Karen played in the video below.  I believe it's standing in a museum in Downey CA, cymbals and all.  As far as I know, that was her first Ludwig set.  It's probably haunted, which makes me want it even more.

Then I want a Gibson Les Paul Traditional 12 string gold top.  Like the one the guy in the video below is playing.  Gold top only, please!  If I acquire it, I will name it "The Golden Calf 2".  Don't worship the Golden Calf!  Worship Allah!

Then I want a Warwick Dolphin fretless bass.  4 string only!  I like the Pro series especially the pickups and electronics, but I don't like the color of the bass in the video below.  I want it in hot pink.  I also want a modern Marshall 100 watt tube amp head, with speaker cabinets from the 60's.  With a MXR Dyna Comp, of course.  Ya Allah, please grant me all the stuff I want while I have the strength to enjoy them.  I already have my SG, but next post I'll show you my signature model.

First fruit from the young tree

 

Grace, is that actually a mini dress you're wearing?  Of course I love it!  Of course you look great in it!  You look like a Rock Star!  That expression on your face makes me smile, too.  It's as if you were being leered at.  Well, that you are.  But it's not a shot to lust after.  And the photo quality is less than the background.  Well, at least you have cover art.  Congratulations again on your latest single.  The production is good, and I love how the song wraps up.  "Wine on Venus" is a great song, Grace!  You're only getting started.  Always keep writing, Honey.  Write from the heart, and don't worry about the words yet.  The fruit isn't money or fame, it's music. 

I was streaming the Qur'an this morning, when the server got jammed.  I'm sorry folks, but it wasn't a local problem.  You're going to have to ask those guys in Portugal what's up.  They're usually good about fixing things in real time, but not this time.  The Twitch stream seems more stable, but I don't read the Qur'an over it.

I can't stomach a lot of the local fruits because they're usually too sweet.  I like mangos and mangosteens.  Then there's jackfruit.  There are 2 types, "cempedak" and "nangka".  The nangka is what I eat, so I planted a couple of trees by my front gate.  That was 5 years ago, and one of them is bearing fruit.  These are huge trees, so 5 years is unnaturally fast for bearing fruit.  One of the fruit ripened a couple of days ago, so I harvested it.  The size of the kernel you see in my hand is smaller than normal, but I got about 30 from one fruit the size of a football.  The flavor and texture is sort of like a smooth and milky apple.  Sweet like ice cream.  This is the first fruit from the young tree.