Have you ever seen one of these?

This is a 1915 Gibson Style U Harp Guitar, coming up for auction in New York City this month. Here's your chance to get a conversation piece for the next family holiday.



Other gems from the auction:

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I know its a long way to December , but still....

I bought this on Ebay and wanted to post it. I remember getting one each Christmas at my after school religion class in Queens, New York. Looking at the ones below, it looks like mine was the entry level model. The others are more deluxe, with more figures. In once case there are palm trees instead of winter firs, which seems appropriate for Bethlehem, except for the snow flakes on the roof. Makes a lot of sense.

Good Books

  Here is the incredible work of Sue Blackwell. I first learned of her work when I attended the exhibition Otherworldly at the Museum of Arts and Design.

London (Uber) Calling. What would Fezziwig think?

Pretty damn cool tattoo.  I love London cabs, especially the classic Austin FX4s

.  This London taxi driver put his allegiance on his arm to protest the entry of Uber into the London market. I like tradition and wish London black cabs and red double decker buses and classic phone booths would never go away, but I also appreciate progress and know that the old must give way to the new, even though I'm not often very happy about it.

It reminds me of what Fezziwig (Ebenezer Scrooge's boss in "A Christmas Carol") had to say to Mr. Jorkin about progress:

Jorkin: "Mr. Fezziwig, we’re good friends besides good men of business. We’re men of vision and progress. Why don’t you sell out while the going’s good? You’ll never get a better offer. It’s the age of the machine, and the factory, and the vested interests. We small traders are ancient history, Mr. Fezziwig.”

Fezziwig: “It’s not just for money alone that one spends a lifetime building up a business…. It’s to preserve a way of life that one knew and loved. No, I can’t see my way to selling out to the new vested interests, Mr. Jorkin. I’ll have to be loyal to the old ways and die out with them if needs must.

Austin FX4 scale model from Welly.