A guy who knows how to use his instrument

Last night, I recorded an episode of PBS's Great Performances, A Tribute to James Taylor, which had JT's great music and lots of special guests doing his music, including the Dixie Chicks, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, and others. Then Sting came out. If you've seen him perform lately, you've seen that he's taken up using medieval instruments, like the hurdy-gurdy he used at the 2004 Oscar telecast.

So on this show, he walked out, and I said, "Jeez, what's that he's carrying? Did he bring a fucking lute again? Yeah, that's what it is."

Dori says, "What's the problem?"

"There's nothing he's doing with the lute that he couldn't have done just fine with a guitar. It's just an affectation."

"It sounds good to me. He's Sting, he can do what he wants. Besides, chicks dig a guy with a lute."

"Really? Since when?"

"Um, since about the sixteenth century."

I knew when to quit.