Our friend John Seabrook from The New Yorker "Guitar Whispering" Robert Earl Keen

Hi, Ian, and many thanks. Yes, of course this would be way back before both our times. But I just thought you'd have heard about the store, being in the family. Attached is a photo of a mute I own that has a Manny's store sticker to verify the Forsyth Street store. This is so strange! how no one remembers… Continue

When my folks divorced my mom started going with this guy who claimed to have played bass with Jay and the Americans - he turned out to be a real louse but that's another story. We were living in Kennebunkport Maine when he decided we should all go down to New York for the weekend. This trip included a trip to Manny's. I remember standing there bug-eyed, staring at Hendrix's signed photo. A couple years later after a lot of begging and pleading I was told I could get 2 new top of the line Sonor… Continue

It was in 1967 that my dad said to me "It's time to get you a good guitar." He was the local counsel for Musicians Union Local 802 in Manhattan and of course, they said to him "Take your boy to Manny's!" So, off we went.
The first thing you noticed were the photo's of every damn musical act imaginable. I spent many days looking at those walls over the years. The second thing I noticed was that standing 10 feet across the room was Garth Hudson from The Band. "Holy Crap!" my 13 year old brain said… Continue