Supernatural 2.21 Promo

Supernatural Season 2 Episode 21 - "All Hell Breaks Loose (I)"

Sam and other "special children" are abducted by the Yellow-Eyed Demon and taken to a ghost town, where the ultmate battle must start.

Heroes - Episode 22

Heroes Season 1 Episode 22 - "Landslide"

Angela Petrelli is forced to play a bigger role in Nathan, Peter, and Claire's life. The truth about the death of Nathan and Peter's father is finally revealed along with his true identity. When Nathan finds out that he may have a chance to become more than a Congressman, he is confronted with a decision that he must make. As election day nears some try to leave NYC. HRG and Matt learn another surprising secret. Also, Sylar is eating another hero's brain. Hiro's dad returns.

Ken Parker's $30,000 archtop guitar

There's a great piece in the new New Yorker about guitar design and Ken Parker, who founded Parker Guitars, making carbon fibre guitars in the late '80s with funding from Korg. He sold the company to Washburn in 2003, and is now making Ken Parker Archtops, which are made from wood, carbon, composites and gold leaf. And cost $30,000. Along the way, we meet:
The Tonequest Report, super high-end guitar mag
Tom Murphy, who's paid by Gibson to 'age' their new custom shop guitars ("To imitate years of belt wear, he held an old buckle aainst the back and whacked it a few times with a hammer")
Juha Ruokangas, a Finnish guitar maker who makes expensive and ugly guitars using the shinbone of a wild moose as the nut
This guy who makes guitar parts from fossilised walrus ivory
And finally, the history of the lute.

New invention: Tweak your knobs with your feet

The Third Hand, by Tone in Progress is a rocker foot pedal attached to a extension tube which connects directly, physically, to a knob on another effect pedal. So any control can be tweaked with the pedal. It's a tiny, delightful bit of mechanical genius for £95. I don't know if you can get longer cables, which could snake up to a modular synth like some kind of steam-powered high-tech pedal steel. I discovered the 3rd Hand on the site of Jam Guitars, a fantastically boutique guitar shop in my home town of Bristol (yes, England).
UPDATE: Looks like it was inspired by the Electro Harmonix Hot Foot, which does pretty much the same thing.

Tiny Music: Cologne Airport has a song

Jon writes: "Did you know that the International Airport at Koln/Bonn has its own completely brilliant tekno-pop song? Go to their site and click on the 'Music' link at the bottom. A player pops up and you are away. It gets better as it goes along. Funky guitar at the end. I have no idea who is responsible for it."

I'm not totally taken with the track, but it has an interesting history. It was written by Plus49 - and started out as a five second chime, played 200 times a day at the airport, and heard by 22 million people since 2003. What you can hear on the site is the extended full-length version, which appeared on the album that Plus49 made with the money they got from the airport commission. Brian Eno et al would be proud of them. (Pic via Ozan)

Awesome custom-made pedals in tweed and snakeskin

Apart from one hideous snakeskin superstrat guitar, I love everything that Basic Audio make - a snakeskin covered wah/filter pedal, a tweed theremin, a ring modulator wrapped in 100 year-old chestnut, and fantastic custom multi-pedal enclosures. They also have a brilliant range of t-shirts - logos from Hammond, Arp, Sequential Circuits, Echoplex etc. I wonder if they'd make me a tweed MPC? (Thanks, Tridact)

In UR modulez upgradin UR filterz

Yes, it's been a while. Thank you to everyone who's sent fantastic stories over the last week, sorry they haven't been posted yet. I've had several dozen suggestions each for: The monstrously ugly steampunk guitar, the worms making music on a circuit board (circuit bending getting half a million views on YouTube? This old thing was never so popular) and the making of the '80s version of the Dr Who Theme music. I'm on holiday this weekend, but sporadic updates will be resuming soon. (Thanks to Mikey for the image. He doesn't think anyone else will get this joke, but I'm pretty sure you will)