Stella was first posted two years ago on this date, and I am presenting it as a Flashback Friday special:
We were sitting around in a circle. As one song ended, the next person in the ring would pick up and add their voice with a piece of their choosing: Josh, someone new to us, joined the circle. Josh was carrying the Stella guitar that no one ever used. It had action so high that fretting was almost impossible. Abandoned by an uptown Folkie, this unwanted guitar shifted from one corner of the living room to another, never getting played.
“Hey, Josh, borrow mine; you’ll never get the old Stella to play.” Josh replied, ” Let me try a few things…see what I can make of it .” He experimented with the fretting, tuned the old guitar up, and then his face lit up in a grin. He pulled a smooth brass tube from his pocket and began to play a Delta blues tune using the old Stella as if it had always been a slide guitarist instrument.
When he ended, we were all impressed and confounded. He had made music on an instrument we believed to be worthless. “Hey, Wes, someone stole my *ax last week. Can I buy the Stella from you?” Everyone in the circle stared at Josh. Pay money for the Stella?
“Tell you what, Josh, you can have the guitar. Just play some more.” and so he did.
- Folkie jargon for a guitar.