My home was built in 1938 by a man named Henry Selinger. Henry was a violinist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a music director for WGN-Radio. Shortly after moving in, he built a room over the garage in which to play and practice the violin. The room is all pine and acoustically perfect. When the Selingers moved out, the Weiss family moved in. And then around 1987 – the Petersens.

The room over the garage was originally a rehearsal room for Mr. Selinger. It later became a bedroom for a young boy. This young lad had a BB gun and if you look carefully at the walls and ceiling, you can see it is dotted with BB’s. All over. . . . .

The room became my office, my safe house, refuge. . . . my man cave. There is a door to an small outdoor porch (which I rarely use) and a bees’ nest in one corner above the boards. I leave them alone and they leave me alone. I have left the BB’s as they are (they add character), as well as a University of Michigan “M” decal on the window which adjoins an American flag. And then in the corner – out of sight of prying parents – there is scratched prominently in the wood “RW + DM.”

I learned that Mr. Selinger also bought and sold violins. At one point he owned at least one Stradivarius and a Guarneri. Thus – when I am noodling on my guitar, I sometimes think that Stradivarius and Guarneri also sang in this room. Ahhhh to have been a fly on the wall. . . . .