The Great Guitar Show: Earl Klugh and George Benson with "Dreamin"

Both Andy and Buck have raised questions about the initial "war" metaphor we've been using in this series. I too am tiring of it. Not the guitar posts. The metaphor. I'm really enjoying the posts that we're all putting up and I'm learning about many new guitarists that I haven't heard of before. As Buck says, we're all winning. I'd like to keep this going awhile longer if everyone agrees. But suppose we change the metaphor.

In writing about baseball, reporters refer to the major leagues as "The Show." It's the supreme entertainment showcase for all the high level skills that each player possesses. Sure, there's competition, and it can be fierce, almost like war at times, but even the losing teams have players that exhibit tremendous skills worth watching. And in the history of baseball there have been many odd and unusual quirks as well, players that drew fans in for reasons not necessarily related to their skills. I'm thinking here of the midget (not PC I know) Eddie Gaedel who pinch hit for the St. Louis Browns in a major league game against the Detroit Tigers in 1951...

Browns owner Bill Veeck was a showman who enjoyed staging publicity stunts. He found Eddie Gaedel through a booking agency. Due to his size, Gaedel had worked as a riveter during World War II. Gaedel was able to crawl inside the wings of airplanes.

With Bob Cain on the mound - laughing at the absurdity that he actually had to pitch to Gaedel[7] - and catcher Bob Swift catching on his knees, Gaedel crouched with bat in hand. Veeck later wrote in his autobiography that he'd measured Gaedel's strike zone in this position before the appearance, and that it was just one and a half inches. The Tigers catcher offered his pitcher a piece of strategy: "Keep it low." Cain delivered four consecutive balls, all high (the first two pitches were legitimate attempts at strikes; the last two were half-speed tosses). Gaedel took his base (stopping twice during his trot to bow to the crowd) and was replaced by pinch-runner Jim Delsing. The 18,369 fans gave Gaedel a standing ovation.

I mention this story to support my contention that "The Great Guitar Show" would be a good name for our series. Andy's already thrown out a couple of surprises including a child prodigy on the guitar. So there's plenty of room for that kind of thing in our series.

Guitar playing isn't exactly a team sport, but the skilled and talented musicians who play this instrument are in the truest sense of the word putting on a tremendous Show. So, suppose we call this series The Great Guitar Show. And whenever you feel like it, post someone you think is at the major league level.  Like these two guys...