In my personal pantheon of guitar heroes, Charlie Hunter ranks right up there with Stevie Ray Vaughn, Dave Matthews (c’mon, he’s an innovative guitarist!), and Slash as players who had the most influence on my style.

Hunter plays an 8-string guitar with the top three strings bass notes and the bottom five standard guitar strings. And somehow he manages to play both bass and guitar parts simultaneously.

Some have suggested he has two brains. While I don’t believe that, I do believe he writes some of the best and most original jazz pieces I’ve ever heard. His music is both accessible and interesting, and he manages to preserve melody in the midst of some fairly heady experimentation. I really admire him and the choices he’s made in his career.

This video was recorded at a concert in 2000. I hope you enjoy it.

While surfing YouTube, I’ve started coming across a lot of these speed painting videos. For some reason — probably the same reason I loved watching Bob Ross when I was younger — I am riveted by these videos.

I enjoyed this one so much, I’m sharing it with you on what looks to become a regular feature for Mondays. Just as last week, I’ll be back tomorrow with a meatier post. For now, I hope you like the video. (I’ve got that French fry song stuck in my head now!)

Since I started this blog, I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for stories or pictures or, in this case, videos that are proof of the “one thing new” concept. That is, taking two completely different ingredients and creating something original.

Enter the non-Newtonian fluid oobleck. Oobleck, named after a substance in a Dr. Seuss book, is a mixture of cornstarch and water that has properties of both solids and liquids.

Maybe I should add that equation to my one thing new sidebar: solid + liquid = onethingnew!

Enjoy your Monday night. I’ll be back tomorrow with a more substantive post.