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Back in the day when I was a little kid (Early Teens) I had a 14 foot Century Runabout with a 20 horse Mercury outboard. I raced around Long Beach Island N.J. with that boat all the time. But I needed gas, so I learned how to tread clams for gas money. I would catch a few hundred and bring them to the local fishery for gas money. & I would eat a dozen or so while I was right in the water.

 

Little did I know that I would someday manufacture clams with my guitar. :rawk::cheers::idk:

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Maybe I've never had good clams but I've always considered them to be sort of like chewing gum made out of nasty meat. I do like clam chowder though.

If I am going to consume garbage eating monsters my first choice is scallops and my second would be Dungeness crab - third up is wild caught shrimp and then maybe oysters but only cooked.

 

On the other hand, some of my best licks started as clams. When you are up on stage and the dance floor is full and you blast out a clam, sometimes it is just the thing so you work it into your solos after that. Eventually you have a bunch of splendidly odd clambake licks and sound like nobody else.

 

I've dug maybe 4 clams down in Pismo Beach long ago and far away. We just flipped them out into the water, weren't getting them to eat. I'm sure they found new homes and plenty of bottom of the ocean poop to eat.

 

I've played probably 4,000 clams and umpty bajillion clam licks. It's my style, yo! :laugh:

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I love fish, mollusks, and crustaceans of all sorts. Clams aren"t my fave....but I still love them enough that they get my immediate attention when available.

 

As for the guitarry kind? Well, there are times I ought to be called 'Eric Clam-ton.' Probably contributes to my aversion to actually joining a band.

Sturgeon's 2nd Law, a.k.a. Sturgeon's Revelation: âNinety percent of everything is crapâ

 

My FLMS- Murphy's Music in Irving, Tx

 

http://murphysmusictx.com/

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I just had Dungeness crab for dinner last night...on sale at Safeway for $3.99lb. !!! It's my favorite seafood. Just crack'em and eat'em with some hot butter and garlic to dip my French baguette bread in. I used to dig Pismo clams back in the day and we would bring them home and make some of the best homemade clam chowder I've ever had. I used to love going to San Francisco Fisherman's Warf and having a bread bowl of clam chowder and chowing down on fresh cracked Dungeness crab while sitting on the dock of the bay... :cool:

 

Speaking of making guitar playing clams, I have made a few now and then in front of an audience and have always felt bad about it LOL! I understand the pros make them on rare occasions and when the same part comes back around they make them again on purpose. Makes it look like it was part of the arrangement. Although when it's a real smelly one, they just make a face when they do it again, so the audience knows they're joking and having fun with it. I' m no longer gigging for money now days. So that way I no longer feel bad if a clam makes the scene and my motto is no one gets to complain when you play for free LOL! :cool:

Take care, Larryz
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I just had Dungeness crab for dinner last night...on sale at Safeway for $3.99lb. !!! It's my favorite seafood. Just crack'em and eat'em with some hot butter and garlic to dip my French baguette bread in. I used to dig Pismo clams back in the day and we would bring them home and make some of the best homemade clam chowder I've ever had. I used to love going to San Francisco Fisherman's Warf and having a bread bowl of clam chowder and chowing down on fresh cracked Dungeness crab while sitting on the dock of the bay... :cool:

 

Speaking of making guitar playing clams, I have made a few now and then in front of an audience and have always felt bad about it LOL! I understand the pros make them on rare occasions and when the same part comes back around they make them again on purpose. Makes it look like it was part of the arrangement. Although when it's a real smelly one, they just make a face when they do it again, so the audience knows they're joking and having fun with it. I' m no longer gigging for money now days. So that way I no longer feel bad if a clam makes the scene and my motto is no one gets to complain when you play for free LOL! :cool:

 

Larry, up here I've become good friends with an Elder of the Lummi Nation. They are fishermen. Last summer we were at my band leader's wife's home on Sandy Point having a BBQ right on the edge of the water. Elder Dean's son in law Jason spotted a boat way out on the water and said to Dean "That's your boat out there". Dean said "Yeah, my son borrowed it to go crabbing." Then he called his son and asked him how his catch was, he said it was really good so Dean asked him to come over where we were and give us some crabs. We got 9 large Dungeness, still alive when we tossed them in the boiling pot of sea water on the fire. Then Dean looked out and said "That's my brother's boat." He called his brother and asked him to bring some crab. We got 6 more large, live Dungeness. I learned how the Lummi eat them. They crack them in half, grab the legs and briskly flick the guts out onto the sand. Then they swish the cleaned part off into the boiling water and the crab is ready to eat.

 

Mmmm... crab (where's my Homer Simpson meme!!!!).

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Dungeness may be my favorite crustaceans, but not by much.

 

I always wanted to try a particular recipe I saw on a travel show ages ago, but I never have all the ingredients at the same time. There"s a high-end restaurant in a skyscraper in Tokyo that has a street-vendor by the door as their only ground-level announcement of their presence in the building. All he sells (as I recall) are king crab legs, split in half lengthwise, drenched in a beer & butter mix, and grilled over coals. As I recall, back when I saw that show, they were selling them for something like $8/leg.

Sturgeon's 2nd Law, a.k.a. Sturgeon's Revelation: âNinety percent of everything is crapâ

 

My FLMS- Murphy's Music in Irving, Tx

 

http://murphysmusictx.com/

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Dungeness may be my favorite crustaceans, but not by much.

 

I always wanted to try a particular recipe I saw on a travel show ages ago, but I never have all the ingredients at the same time. There"s a high-end restaurant in a skyscraper in Tokyo that has a street-vendor by the door as their only ground-level announcement of their presence in the building. All he sells (as I recall) are king crab legs, split in half lengthwise, drenched in a beer & butter mix, and grilled over coals. As I recall, back when I saw that show, they were selling them for something like $8/leg.

 

A huge factor in my preference for Dungeness is my location. Our waters are full of them, they are abundant.

With crab, getting them live is different than getting them frozen and often pre-cooked to prevent spoiling.

 

If I was in Alaska I might prefer the King crab. In Texas there probably isn't much difference if any and both are still fantastic.

It's rare up here to get scallops that are fresh and have never been frozen. Even the frozen ones if you thaw and cook them carefully are still way better than Dungeness or King in my opinion. I like them the best. Fried in garlic butter...

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Maybe I've never had good clams but I've always considered them to be sort of like chewing gum made out of nasty meat.

 

I never chewed the clams I just slid them down the throat where I come from the bay clams are smaller than the ocean clams, so I would open and eat the small ones.

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Speaking of making guitar playing clams, I have made a few now and then in front of an audience and have always felt bad about it LOL! I understand the pros make them on rare occasions and when the same part comes back around they make them again on purpose.

 

These days I recognize the mini clams that the pro's make a lot of the time. They are not so exacting as we would think. But they sure know how to disguise them quickly. Little things like a missed picking that they cover up with another quick note Or a quick mute. Even those old country pickers miss notes a lot of the time. I used to think Roy Clark was flawless but watching those old Hee Haw and Opry Shows on Circle TV. I could see the clams and the little smile on his face after he made them. A non player would never notice that.

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Kuru, Eating fresh crab at the waters edge with the Lummi fishermen sounds like a blast! :cool:

 

DBM, +1 Yeah the pros are pros at hiding the live clams! Roy Clark always made the best funny faces as part of his act too...I always give a pass to all players for live clams in front of an audience as there are no re-takes like there are in the studio... :cool:

Take care, Larryz
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My greatest clams were on two different occasions with two different songs.

 

I don't remember the name of the first one, it was country and it was a 1-4-5 in G. Lead singer strummed guitar and sang.

I played backup/lead guitar and sang harmony.

 

I played a 1-4-5, just like the song, except I was playing in C - all the way through. It isn't right but it doesn't sound as bad as one might think. The singer and I are great friends and I played in his band for 9 years in Fresno.

He thought it was funny and didn't really care. I only did it once.

 

The second song was a pickup gig on lead guitar, a 4 piece with a female lead singer. She wanted to do Rock and Roll - the Heart cover of the Led Zeppelin song.

1-4-5 in E, I played it in A. The lead singer hated me, probably still does if she ever thinks about it. No biggie, I played well on the rest of their stuff and we did OK.

 

I have no idea how my mind can shift like that, how or why I did it. Not just little blips here and there, a total fail all the way through the songs.

I was a bit of a "buzz buzzard" back then, not any more.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Kuru, Eating fresh crab at the waters edge with the Lummi fishermen sounds like a blast! :cool:

 

DBM, +1 Yeah the pros are pros at hiding the live clams! Roy Clark always made the best funny faces as part of his act too...I always give a pass to all players for live clams in front of an audience as there are no re-takes like there are in the studio... :cool:

 

 

It was awesome Larryz!

We were all amazed, you can't get service or food like that anywhere. And it was totally unplanned, we had all sorts of delicious food to eat and then they spotted the boats.

I took one large crab home and ate it for breakfast.

 

It's nice to have a family up here, my siblings are in Utah and California so it's not often that we convene.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Bonzo Dog Band were an enormous influence on my misspent youth. I had all the albums, & often find myself reciting their verbal riffs in reaction to the ongoing absurdity of life as we know it.

 

Right with you, brother! Of all my CD collection, I only have two Box Sets, and one is the Bonzo Doo Dah Dog Band.

 

"We are Normal, and we dig Bert Weedon!"

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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The second song was a pickup gig on lead guitar, a 4 piece with a female lead singer. She wanted to do Rock and Roll - the Heart cover of the Led Zeppelin song.

1-4-5 in E, I played it in A. The lead singer hated me, probably still does if she ever thinks about it. No biggie, I played well on the rest of their stuff and we did OK.

 

You should have told her that you were playing in E mixolydian mode. LOL!

I rock; therefore, I am.
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Used to go treading for clams in Great South Bay off Long Island. My father grew up near docks in the Bronx and Manhattan and saw/smelled them rotting, so he couldn't eat them, but he was an expert at shucking them. Clams are OK, but when I lived in New Orleans for 5 years I developed a taste for oysters. I have then on rare occasions, and have had to tell my wife not to say things like "disgusting!" or "revolting!" while I have a half-dozen. Mussels I don't get, too gamy for me...
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+1 when it comes to clams vs mussels vs oysters, give me oysters every time! I don't care for mussels. I like raw oysters but seldom eat them as there is a risk factor. But a favorite way to eat them is to buy them in the shell and throw them on the barbie for horderves till they open up. Then just add a little soy and Tabasco sauce to the half shell to suck up the juices. This can be habit forming LOL! Don't forget the beer! :cheers:
Take care, Larryz
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The second song was a pickup gig on lead guitar, a 4 piece with a female lead singer. She wanted to do Rock and Roll - the Heart cover of the Led Zeppelin song.

1-4-5 in E, I played it in A. The lead singer hated me, probably still does if she ever thinks about it. No biggie, I played well on the rest of their stuff and we did OK.

 

You should have told her that you were playing in E mixolydian mode. LOL!

 

 

I have a secret knack for polytonal, poly modal and polyrhythmic music. Doesn't work so well for bar band. So it goes.

 

Marzzz, mussels don't keep well. If you can get them just out of the water they are fantastic. Probably impossible in Scottsdale.

Shellfish should be freshly caught, frozen, or cooked before shipping like they used to do with crabs in Fresno when I lived there.

As good as fresh crabs and oysters are (and I can get those any time I want them, I'll take frozen jumbo scallops every time, as long as I get to cook them. Most people overcook, or do something weird like wrap them in bacon and broil the life out of them.

 

Cast iron skillet, fry finely chopped garlic in butter until garlic is browned. Add scallops, flat side down. Watch. As soon as the bottom turns white a little over a third of the way up the scallop, flip them over. Same thing on the other side, take them out of the skillet and they will finish cooking resting on the plate. Barely done but done. Pour the garlic butter out of the skillet and on top of the scallops and enjoy.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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These days the only seafood I will eat are salmon and shrimp. And I don't really like them that much. I eat them because the wifey likes them, but I only have small portions.

 

I never eat seafood in restaurants, I will usually order the chicken or steaks with fresh veggies on the side. I really do not like restaurant food all that much. I'd rather stay at home and cook, or eat what the wifey cooks. I do not like spices at all. If the food I eat needs flavors to hide the real taste of the food, I don't eat it. That is the real reason I stay away from restaurants, too many spices.

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These days the only seafood I will eat are salmon and shrimp. And I don't really like them that much. I eat them because the wifey likes them, but I only have small portions.

 

I never eat seafood in restaurants, I will usually order the chicken or steaks with fresh veggies on the side. I really do not like restaurant food all that much. I'd rather stay at home and cook, or eat what the wifey cooks. I do not like spices at all. If the food I eat needs flavors to hide the real taste of the food, I don't eat it. That is the real reason I stay away from restaurants, too many spices.

 

 

If you want good salmon or shrimp, only purchase Wild Caught. Even if frozen (what I would get in Arizona for sure), there is a big difference in texture and flavor. Farm raised salmon and shrimp are just plain nasty, don't google how they are raised or you'll never be able to eat them again!!!!

 

FWIW- they don't farm scallops (yet).

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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For me, oysters have to be eaten raw- I guess I can managed Oysters Rockerfeller, etc., but I have eaten literally thousands when I was in NOLA with no ill effects. Speaking of which, Gulf oysters have a pretty strong flavor compared to NW or Chesapeake varieties, so I have them with cocktail sauce and a healthy dose of horseradish. The more subtle and delicate Blue Points, etc. I prefer with vinegar.

 

Bluesman- yeah, out here in the desert we have to be a little bit careful with regard to seafood. But in Scottsdale there is Eddie V's and Lure, who generally do a decent job. But oh man do I miss NOLA, St. Pete's, The Keys, Eastern LI, Boston North End, SFO...

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For me, oysters have to be eaten raw- I guess I can managed Oysters Rockerfeller, etc., but I have eaten literally thousands when I was in NOLA with no ill effects. Speaking of which, Gulf oysters have a pretty strong flavor compared to NW or Chesapeake varieties, so I have them with cocktail sauce and a healthy dose of horseradish. The more subtle and delicate Blue Points, etc. I prefer with vinegar.

 

Bluesman- yeah, out here in the desert we have to be a little bit careful with regard to seafood. But in Scottsdale there is Eddie V's and Lure, who generally do a decent job. But oh man do I miss NOLA, St. Pete's, The Keys, Eastern LI, Boston North End, SFO...

 

I've eaten my share of raw oysters. I prefer placed on the bbq and watched, the second the shell pops open it gets taken off the grille and eaten.

20 minute drive from here, down the coast is Taylor's Shellfish. they have oyster beds with a variety of different types. They also have a small pool inside the store that circulates sea water at a brisk pace. You can get live Dungeness from the pool, several varieties of oysters, mussels and depending on how the fishermen do, sometimes live caught shrimp.

 

One time I went there and one of the oyster pickers walked in behind me with a large sack full of oysters he'd just brought in from the beds below. Couldn't be much fresher if I picked them myself.

 

There's an oyster bed on San Juan Island where you can go pick your own oysters and drop the money in the cash box, all on trust. That's a bit of a ferry ride so you'd want to be prepared to cook them on the island. Just the usual type that grows up here but those are good.

 

I've not tried Gulf Oysters, would love to do a taste test but that means quite a trip since they won't be the same by the time they get here.

 

I was visiting my sister in Salt Lake City and she said "Let's go get sushi." I said "Let me take you for sushi the next time you are in Bellingham, let's go get pho. I hear they raise some great beef cattle here." So we did and it was great. Always better if you can get close to your food source!

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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If you want good salmon or shrimp, only purchase Wild Caught. Even if frozen (what I would get in Arizona for sure)

 

I grew up on an Island out in the ocean, I used to go to the beach every day as a kid, the commercial fishermen would throw some fish on the beach for us kids to have free, if they were too small or for some other reason they rejected them. You can't get sea food any fresher then that I did not like seafood then, and I still do not really like it like some folks do. I'll take chicken or turkey or steak anytime over seafood.

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I was visiting my sister in Salt Lake City and she said "Let's go get sushi." I said "Let me take you for sushi the next time you are in Bellingham, let's go get pho. I hear they raise some great beef cattle here." So we did and it was great. Always better if you can get close to your food source!
Let me tell you about the two times I had steak in Kansas City...!
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I was visiting my sister in Salt Lake City and she said "Let's go get sushi." I said "Let me take you for sushi the next time you are in Bellingham, let's go get pho. I hear they raise some great beef cattle here." So we did and it was great. Always better if you can get close to your food source!
Let me tell you about the two times I had steak in Kansas City...!

 

 

Go for it, we're off -topic and nobody minds. Guitar players are chill like that. Plus they've all been there...

Kansas City would be a fine place for steak, no doubt in my mind.

 

And then I will tell you about the backstop of Alaskan elk, bbq'ed baby goat and fire roasted (illegal) doe fawn. Those were all tasty.

Food is better than making mistakes on guitar, although I probably owe my style of playing to mistakes as much as anything.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I was visiting my sister in Salt Lake City and she said "Let's go get sushi." I said "Let me take you for sushi the next time you are in Bellingham, let's go get pho. I hear they raise some great beef cattle here." So we did and it was great. Always better if you can get close to your food source!
Let me tell you about the two times I had steak in Kansas City...!

 

 

Go for it, we're off -topic and nobody minds. Guitar players are chill like that. Plus they've all been there...

Kansas City would be a fine place for steak, no doubt in my mind.

 

And then I will tell you about the backstop of Alaskan elk, bbq'ed baby goat and fire roasted (illegal) doe fawn. Those were all tasty.

Food is better than making mistakes on guitar, although I probably owe my style of playing to mistakes as much as anything.

Well, long story short we were in KC for a conference, and stumbled into a steak place called Plaza III and had literally one of the best steaks in my entire life. The next day we met up with a former roommate of my wife's (from back in her single days) and she and her husband took us to "the best steak place EVER!" Plaza III.

 

Also have had an absolutely amazing steak (24 oz filet mignon, blackened on the outside, a perfect medium rare on the inside!) at Sparks Steakhouse in Manhattan- you know, the place where they whacked John Gotti...

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I was visiting my sister in Salt Lake City and she said "Let's go get sushi." I said "Let me take you for sushi the next time you are in Bellingham, let's go get pho. I hear they raise some great beef cattle here." So we did and it was great. Always better if you can get close to your food source!
Let me tell you about the two times I had steak in Kansas City...!

 

 

Go for it, we're off -topic and nobody minds. Guitar players are chill like that. Plus they've all been there...

Kansas City would be a fine place for steak, no doubt in my mind.

 

And then I will tell you about the backstop of Alaskan elk, bbq'ed baby goat and fire roasted (illegal) doe fawn. Those were all tasty.

Food is better than making mistakes on guitar, although I probably owe my style of playing to mistakes as much as anything.

Well, long story short we were in KC for a conference, and stumbled into a steak place called Plaza III and had literally one of the best steaks in my entire life. The next day we met up with a former roommate of my wife's (from back in her single days) and she and her husband took us to "the best steak place EVER!" Plaza III.

 

Also have had an absolutely amazing steak (24 oz filet mignon, blackened on the outside, a perfect medium rare on the inside!) at Sparks Steakhouse in Manhattan- you know, the place where they whacked John Gotti...

 

NIce! Short for short - A LONG time ago, my friend Mike called me up and said "Come over, we're having BBQ.: Mike was a butcher so I knew not to miss it. I brought beer, big whoop.

He was at work and a customer came in with an elk he'd shot in Alaska and had shipped on ice to Fresno. He asked Mike how much to butcher it. Mike told him he'd do it free for the backstrap.

Customer agreed, Mike got backstrap and called friends. That is the "filet mignon" of an elk. He cooked it perfectly. Easily the best meat I've ever had the pleasure of eating.

 

#2 - I was living in a hippie commune in eastern Mendocino county, just northwest of Clear Lake. It was my 21st birthday and I was 21. I went for a walk/hunt with a friend, we were hoping to shoot something tasty but being stupid we went out in the heat of the day, when critters are scarce. We came around a bend in the trail and a huge golden eagle took flight, dropping the dead rabbit it was eating. Gorgeous animal, it soared down the hill until it got enough speed to start upwards. We just watched in joy. Later, on our way back down the hill, total failures at hunting - we heard a murder of crows going nuts. We walked over to see and there was a great horned owl - gigantic - up high in the crotch of a tree. The crows hated it and were tormenting it. There were dozens of them. They kept their distance, this was not about suicide. We watched for a while, then left - outcome unknown.

Early evening we walked down to visit our friends Don and Cathy. They had goats. Spiderman was a young buck, the rest were does. When Don heard it was my 21st, he started an oak fire in a rock fire pit, got "Spiderman" (the baby buck and blew it's head off with a rifle. Then he butchered it and we ate baby goat. That was really good.

 

#3rd and last. Same hippie commune, a dirt road went through it and up into the wilderness. Some hunters had an agreement with a landowner that they could hunt deer back there. Fine. They came through the road very early and damaged some of our stuff that was maybe a bit too close to the road. 3 of us went down to the ford and rolled 2 strategic rocks out of the water and off to the side. A bit later, we heard the hunters down there, stuck.

We went down and had a talk with them, then helped them get the rocks back in and their truck out. They invited us to come to their campsite later for dinner. We went, thinking we could have some of the doe they'd shot.

We got there and they were butchering a fawn, a doe fawn. Very illegal!!!! One of the hunters was too hung over to go hunting so he stayed in camp. He heard some sounds after they'd left, woke up and saw a doe fawn in the campground. He reached over, got his rifle and shot it.

 

We had that for dinner. Very tasty. Never again but nothing would have made the baby deer live again.

 

And those are my meat stories - we have some good ones. Sorta OT for "clams" but I don't like clams anyway, at least not the ones I've eaten.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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