dimly reflected geographic glory

How small was the town I grew up in?

It's so small that it's a major point of bragging rights when I find out that the fellow who played Professor Moriarity in the holosuites on Star Trek: the Next Generation was born in Gurdon, Arkansas.

This recurring role, if you ask me, is more brag-worthy than Mr. Davis' other ten minutes of fame, as the butler on "The Nanny".

With the exception of Buz Blurr, the mail artist, most Gurdon celebrities are usually
bluesmen who were so grateful to reach the age of maturity that they immediately decamp for the coast.

It's interesting, and a misplaced point of pride, to find one who plays dinner theater rather than the blues.

life is a bulletin board

One thing I like about this whole internet experience is the great bulletin-board-like viral information stream of it all.

The most easy to parody and yet very effective form of this is found on Myspace. This platform demonstrates that it's not really important how stable or useful or function-filled the platform is, provided that it gives lots of leeway for people to set up pages about the things they do and the things they like.

Who would have imagined that this corporate behemoth of a notepad would create an effective distribution system for new music and ideas outside the traditional corporate record company mainstream?

Yet it's great that one can go to a myspace page, and get free plays and often free downloads of really great music by people who deserve to be heard. So many of these people are unsigned, and may always remain unsigned. But they're there to hear, and savor, and enjoy.

Tonight my friend ensenchiridion pointed out to me Lona Echo, who makes the kind of simple girl-and-acoustic-guitar folk-tinged pop that makes me happy.

Her myspace is right here, and with just a click there and a listening ear, you can hear a folk-pop song called "Red" which might put you in as good a mood as it put me.

In the old days, the bulletin board was mostly a place for used bikes and ways to get rich quick. Now it's a place for singers named Lona, who play the guitar and enchant.
I am fine with this very modern world.