An Acoustic for Every Room, a Book for Every Corner

That's Verble Gherulous's mantra for living, and he means it. In the Zen and Tao Acoustic Café Verble keeps several acoustic guitars, tuned and on stands in the back corner near the small stage, for whomever wishes to play when they wish to play. And even if you don't play, you are certainly more than welcome to come and just pluck the strings and listen to the warm tones of this most wonderful instrument.

And books! My goodness, does he keep books scattered around the café . . . there are floor to ceiling bookcases on either side of the front doors, so that every person upon leaving has the opportunity to take a book with them when they go. (Verble not only believes that people should read more, he also read once that by giving someone something free to take, they won't be tempted to steal - his theory: if they have the gift of taking off with a seven dollar trade paperback book, they won't run off with the $800 Martin DX1 acoustic guitar!)

But there are two texts featured most prominantly, usually on the counters: the Holy Bible and the Constitution of the United States. Verble once told me, "While I would never anyone to think that I actually am placing these two texts on equal footing, since one is written by God through humanity and the other is written by highly intelligent rich white guys, I do think that in this American culture, both of these documents need to be given away more freely and more read than what they are; The Bible and the Constitution are the two texts that everyone quotes but no one really reads. I mean come on! The average American citizen only knows that the Constitution lets people say whatever they want, lets them carry guns, and has something about freeing slaves. Some even think it guarantees them the rights to Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

"And don't even get me started on the American lack of understanding of the Bible! Most Americans can name more American Idol winners than Apostles of Jesus Christ! Some hide behind it, rather than reading it, because they're afraid of the mirror . . . and some ignore it without realizing that it denounces the same hypocrisy that they despise . . . .

"Either way, both must be read more than they are, and I'll do whatever I can to get them into people's hands.

"Now, you prefer the King James, the American Standard, or the New International Version?"