I used to have a right-handed friend who was such a good bowler, to keep herself interested, she started bowling left handed.  The Embassy Hotel was born of such hutzpa.  Originally conceived as a project to help a gang of Ann Arbor musicians survive the winter, The Embassy Hotel has grown into its own strange and fatuous beast. Its members hover over four-stringed instruments, playing hot Jazz from the 1920s, blues, pop songs, and classic rock.   If a song can be re-interpreted, channeled or revived, these are the guys to do it.  Their songs and tastes span generations, so bring your momma and your grandmomma (and lock up your daughters) because the Embassy Hotel Orchestra is coming to town.

"In April 1944 steel guitars, banjos, and ukeleles were outlawed, another stroke against baneful foreign influences."
                                               --"The Pacific War 1931-1945" by Saburo Ienaga (Pantheon Books, English translation 1978)  regarding Japan's expansionist activities beginning in the 1850's.

Damn, it's cold!