Once upon a time, in a tavern on the North Side of Chicago, I was having a beer and growling about politics when an open mic night broke out. When his turn came, a young gentleman in wearing a Che tee-shirt and old jeans unshipped an odd looking instrument, took up two, tiny hammers, and proceeded to blow the doors off the place.
The instrument was a hammered dulcimer.
The moment was magical.
And it sounded something like this.
2005 National Hammered Dulcimer champion, Max Zbiral-Teller -- "Apple Juice" (original composition)
By driftglass
— September 9, 2008