The Finnamore family came to New Jersey in the 1700s, chose the Brit side in the American Revolution, and was shipped off to New Brunswick at the end of the war. A few generations later, my great-grandparents moved from Canada to the Twin Cities area of Minnesota and established a family which is there to this day. Seemingly, we're of English-via-Ireland descent, though it might be just English.

Considering all my grandparent's lines, I'm seemingly English-Swedish-Irish with generous dashes of Scottish and German stirred in for good measure, plus minor amounts of Dutch, French, and Danish, and bare traces of all other European stock. One of the lines on my mother's side, 14 generations back from me, intersects with European royalty via Count Johann "Crazy John" Wilhelm (1562-1609) of Altena in North-west Germany, and traces back through him to Charlemagne. Or, tracing back through the Scottish and Irish kings, all the way back to Adam and Eve. No kidding. See my genealogy site for more info.

The surname Finnamore probably derives from an English place name referring to a land of moors inhabitted by Finns or members of the clan of the legendary Celt named Finn.

I play or have played, with varying degrees of proficiency:

• guitars - acoustic, electric, and bass
• keyboards
• drums and percussion
• fipple/block flutes such as recorder and irish/tin/penny whistle as shown below
• trumpet
• lap harp

I'd like to learn folk harp, lyre, psaltery, and similar instruments, cornetto, crumhorns, and medieval fiddle.

Most of Western Civilization has been stuck on the idea of 12 tone per octave equal temperament for about 100 years now. Guitars are tuned to it, and pianos generally have been since about Debussy's time. Few Western musicians are any longer aware that anything else exists, never mind that it has only been in regular use since the late 19th century, and (as we use it) only in the West fairly recently.

I love to explore tunings of many other kinds. My favorites are often subsets of just intonation, though more recently I've become fascinated with the unlimited possibilities of tunings based on the Golden Mean. If you want to explore tunings further, consider joining the definitive mailing list for it, the Alternate Tuning List at Yahoo Groups, and put on your thinking cap! :-)

My favorite current show is Smallville. The production values aren't quite as high as the X-files, but the stories are often better. Themes are often related to salvation, self-sacrifice, true love, strong families, and the reality of the supernatural. It makes a presentation of good vs. evil that is clear and real without being corny. Usually.

I also enjoy "Star Trek", "The Simpsons,", and Andy Griffith reruns. If I had the Sci-fi channel, I'd watch "Dark Shadows" reruns, too.