Tea Leaves

I spent last week in San Francisco and the Bay area, which is why updates have been infrequent. Allow me, however, to share one of the niftier things I saw while there: a busker playing the cymbalom, a Hungarian dulcimer, using tools of his own design:

The performer is named Michael Masley, and his web site is here. When I first saw him, I momentarily thought that he had grown his fingernails out to a ridiculous length. On closer inspection, the extensions on his hand are a tool he has created. The cymbalom is normally played with two hammers, one in each hand. Masley’s “bowhammers” allow him to strike, bow, or pluck the strings with all of his fingers.