Category Archives: love

2012-07-20  #1502

On a whim this evening I watched a documentary about the history of banjo music – it was wonderful: Give Me the Banjo. It had great music, a fascinating journey, a sordid past, a hopeful future and it was narrated by one of my heroes, Steve Martin – I really couldn’t ask for anything more from a documentary.

One of the many people featured in the program was the influential folk singer and banjo icon, Pete Seeger. During an interview with Seeger he discussed how he was himself influenced by Woody Guthrie and how he came to the idea of writing something on his banjo because Guthrie had the words “This Machine Kills Fascists” written on his guitar.  Seeger said he wanted to put a message out there that was less violent and thus the banjo he showed the film crew says, “This Machine Surrounds Hate and Forces It to Surrender.”

I really liked this idea of putting a message on your instrument, but my music is made with a magic marker and they’re kind of small – they definitely don’t get a lot of display time.  I suppose I could write on one Sharpie using another, but then what would I do? Hide it in my pocket or let it get lost in with all the other markers in the jar? I decided instead to make this doodle. Hopefully, this will be my reminder of what my machine is here to do.

What’s your instrument?  What would you write on it for the world to see?

http://www.EquationArts.com/2012/07/this-machine-doodle-sharpie