Some interesting parallels have been made here - particularly with art (visual) and music. As a jazz saxophonist for most of my life I can trace my musical roots from the old masters: Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Duke Ellington etc. to the young (then) masters:- Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Danny Moss, Miles, Bird, Wardell Gray and on to the new masters:- Scott Hamilton, Ken Peplowsky and the like.

I am not a jazz master. I'm a journeyman sax player who mostly earnt my living playing pop music at weddings, business functions, dances etc. But all those wonderful musicians influenced my jazz playing on those all too few occasions when I could get up and jam with the rest of the guys.

I am grateful to all the jazz greats for sometimes moving me to tears when I listened to them. For the excitment they gave me and the fact that they spurred me on to be a better player.

For me, the masters are the jazz greats of bonsai. I don't care if we are talking about the old or young Suzukis, Kimura, Pall, Invernezzi, Lewis. They too have all moved me with their wonderful designs and have instilled in me the desire to improve and do better with my own.

Whether I listened to the jazz greats on record or in live performance made no difference to me. The same with trees. I can enjoy a great photograph of an exceptional tree just as much as I can enjoy a live viewing.

I will never be a master of the bonsai art. I'm too old and not forward thinking enough. But that does not prevent me from wanting to improve and striving to be better.

I know I will improve. That is certain as long as I stay in the hobby, practice and observe just as I stayed playing, practicing and listening.

So wheel 'em on, old or new masters I don't care. I simply want to look, learn and enjoy!

I'll keep it simple, a classic will stand the test of time.

You may get bored with it, but that doesn't change anything. In some cases there is some redefining of terms as something evolves, but it is what it is.

Unfortunately under achievers have a tendency to flood the area with crap when put to task, causing an averaging down effect, too. Hey look at all these, a really nice one, ooo 17 pretty decent ones, eeeh look 3 bad ones. After a while the 17 decent ones are all you really see. This goes too back to your #1 editorial Al, if no one is putting in new material, we keep seeing the old stuff "redesigned, or repackaged.

Bill