Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

Here.

Here.

Your life will be prosperous if you use your creativity.

The other day, longtime reader and provocateur Mark Spahn asked me (in a blog comment) what I meant by "transcribe," as in "I've transcribed 25 songs in the past year." Here's my answer. The first thing I do when I'm ready to transcribe a song is open a Word document and put the relevant song information at the top, as a title. (This requires a bit of research.) Then I locate the lyrics of the song in question on the Internet. I copy and paste the lyrics into the Word document. Then I put headphones on and play the song several times, checking the accuracy of the lyrics as I go.

When every word is in place, it's time to add the chords. I do this piecemeal. Many songs have "guitar tabs" on the Internet, but they're not always accurate. (Some are quite bad.) There is also sheet music, which is often helpful. After checking many sites, including YouTube (for lessons, cover versions, and band performances), I figure out the chords. When I do, I add them to the Word document in the proper places, usually in boldface type immediately above the lyrics. Finally, since there are different ways to play a given chord, I list the chords (as they are to be played) at the top of the document. This ensures that if I put the guitar down for 10 years (God forbid), I will be able to play the song immediately upon picking it up. If there are notes to be played, I add them as well.

So what does the transcription look like when I'm finished? Here is the song I completed today. It took me weeks to get to this point, and it may not be exactly right yet. But it sounds pretty good. I do not exaggerate when I say that the song has been playing in my head nonstop for weeks, even when I'm sleeping. I have a perfect version of it in my head. Check out this video, which I consider magical. The band comes out of the darkness, plays a magnificently perfect version of the song that makes my eyes tear up, and recedes into darkness. This is as close to religion as I get.

The sky clouded up late in the afternoon of our first day on Mackinac Island. I snapped this picture of kayakers returning to the island as we sat on the dock awaiting the ferry back to the mainland. Click to enlarge.

Camille Paglia is a national treasure.

Robert Spencer continues his project of educating the American people.

To the Editor:

Once again your editorial board ignores the fact that the reproductive “right” of elective abortion involves the deliberate and direct annihilation of an innocent human life in utero.

The so-called constitutional right that permits the atrocity of elective abortion vitiates protections of life found in the Fifth and 14th Amendments to the Constitution.

Most compellingly, Supreme Court decisions permitting elective abortion amount to a court-sanctioned home invasion in the first home of the unborn human being, in the womb of the unborn child’s mother, a direct violation of the Fourth Amendment.

RICHARD H. ESCOBALES Jr.

Buffalo

Note from KBJ: The greatest irony of the abortion debate is that progressives fancy themselves the defenders of the vulnerable, the disadvantaged, the voiceless, the downtrodden, the exploited, and the oppressed. What could be more vulnerable than a human being in utero? How a woman could kill her offspring is beyond me.

Here.

Here.