Thanks for excellent words about the MMM event with Tom and me, and about my music on bare bones Stick.

Sometimes I think about coming back as Superman with my pedalboard, Patch of Shades and rack. It's still intact and ready to go, except that I haven't looked at it for about six years now.

Clark Kent has something to offer too. You just have to appreciate the subtleties, which might have been diluted on stage with room PA and Webcast camera. It does seem that those subtleties are considerable. For each electronic effect abandoned, I gain five or ten "finger effects" that make me more the actor in my own musical space.

Still, it's great to have that metronomic "ride" that comes from compression, distortion, looping and other time extension devices. Then I must ride the wave or be overwhelmed in the turbulence.

Thanks also to Tom for including me in this Museum event, and I enjoyed his stage presence, a surprising dry wit, his music and orchestration, also our impromptu duo after the first set.

And thanks to Dan for his creative diligence in capturing it all on hi-D video with his friend Aaron on second camera, also for his good words on this thread.

And thanks to Yuta for coming in spite of a cold and for keeping track of names, faces, obligations, relationships, facts, history and whether I'm dressed right. It's all overwhelming for me, but she always makes me look smarter than I am on these occasions.

A real pleasure and honor to play at the Museum of Making Music (and thanks to MMM Director Carolyn Grant). Best, Emmett.

Emmett, I have to say that every time I watch/listen to you play, I am amazed and dumbfounded by your fearless improvisational abilities. Your comfort on the instrument and ability to let loose and ride the wave of your creativity is truly inspiring.

Thanks James, for your excellent words. In my younger years I couldn't always get there. Sometimes it took me a whole set to warm up, or release my mind, or "let loose" as you say. It's central to my playing, so thanks for your observation. Sometimes "letting loose" feels like jumping off a cliff.

Thanks also to JRJ and to Per for compliments that mean a lot to me, especially about live improv. "The power of now" is a great slogan that exemplifies the sensation, but I have to add that "now" must also be tied in some way to the immediate past - listening together with the audience to each turn of the music, playing the intervals.

Tonight I'll also send a message of thanks to Carolyn Grant, Museum Director at MMM, and will include a link to this thread. She organized this "Spirit of The Stick" event at Tom's suggestion and is herself an active and dedicated cellist, having earlier performed the classics on piano. She is also an authoritative researcher and teacher in the field of historical American musical instruments and she opened the show with some fine words directed my way. Many thanks, Carolyn.

All the Best, Emmett.