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This is a photograph of my friend Dan for whom I had grown up with as a child dating all the way back to possibly the late 70's or possibly the very early 80's. Dan lived only about two houses away from where it is I had lived then at the time way way way back then over at 27515 Shackett in the city of Warren in the state of Michigan in the 48093 zipcode. I cannot predict nor easily foretell for what the exact year and the month and the date of this photo might be. I am guessing for that this was taken sometime between 1985 and before 1990. Dan was a very brilliant and a creative musician on his guitar and for when he sat down and onto a drum set in the basement. The bond and the link of our friendship forged way back then was pretty cool. This is around the time of probably 1981 or maybe 1982. This was for when the album by The Police called Ghost in the Machine had come around. Being the age of 12 and 13 then around at that time. There was alot of music for that I had loved. But I could not even begin to approach the musical talent and the genius of Dan for when it came right down to the actual playing and the use and the performance of musical instruments. MTV had just rolled out during all of this time. My father was still alive between the time of 1981 and 1984. Everything about that time seemed quite shining and idyllic. The music was good. There was an obvious painful shyness and awkwardness when being that young and trying to engage women into conversation. But girls around that time were quite beautiful. I still continue to marvel to this day how the landscape and the terrain of the origins of my child hood and background have changed to this very day.

two musicians playing the Ruan (left) and Er Hu (right).

The ruan (?, pinyin: ruan) is a Chinese plucked string instrument. It is a lute with a fretted neck, a circular body, and four strings. Its strings were formerly made of silk but since the 20th century they have been made of steel (flatwound for the lower strings). The modern ruan has 24 frets with 12 semitones on each string, which has greatly expanded its range from a previous 13 frets. The frets are commonly made of ivory. Or in recent times, metal mounted on wood. The metal frets produce a brighter tone as compared to the ivory frets. It is sometimes called ruanqin (??), particularly in Taiwan.

The erhu is a two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a "southern fiddle", and sometimes known in the Western world as the "Chinese violin" or a "Chinese two-stringed fiddle". It is used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras. It is the most popular of the huqin family of traditional bowed string instruments used by various ethnic groups of China. A very versatile instrument, the erhu is used in both traditional and contemporary music arrangements, such as in pop, rock, jazz, etc.