Walking Douglass

I bought a guitar amplifier today. It’s a little Vox practice amp. I realized that I never, ever perform without running the amp through a microphone and, indeed, spend most of the time trying to figure out how to keep the performers on stage – including myself – from hearing the amp rather than the guitar signal in the ear monitors. With this regard, the purchase of the little – some would mistakenly say cute – amp made perfect sense for portability and price. Now I have to learn how to use it.

I purchased the device from Phil Uhlik Music in Wichita. I was distributing flyers for an upcoming auction of guitars, folk instruments and other like-kind items. I entered and was waiting to talk to Nick Uhlik when Phil walked out from the back. It was very good to see him – I hadn’t in the last several years. He’s always remembered my name since I started buying instruments and equipment from them over 10 years ago in high school, and it always felt good to be called by name when I walked into a store in the big city, even if it was by a guy who has a freakish ability to remember names. His kindness and friendly nature more often than not served to cause me to buy something more or something better.