Saw the Magic Smoke...

We should have known things were not going to go right at the Strat Kat Band's monthly  Lufkin State Supported Living Center gig right from the start. During sound check there were no monitors. I did what you are supposed to do when you can't hear yourself in the monitors. I yelled louder and suddenly they worked. Then when Mike was setting up his amp and switching it on there was a bunch of static that would not go away. Mike is one of those guys that always sounds like Mike no matter what amp or guitar he plays. He has this great sweet singing bluesy sustain so we just ran him direct to the P.A. and had a usable sound. Then about an hour into the gig the monitor right in from of me belches out the magic smoke. Here is what the magic smoke looked like. 

I have noticed that any musical item that has an on/off switch, tubes, transistors, speakers, wires and other things which I may not have ever heard of but know they are in there and required to produce the kind of racket you get when an electrical instrument is plugged in contains magic smoke. I know this smoke is magic because as long as it stays out of sight everything is fine. Once the magic smoke is seen getting out the item it can no longer produce the racket.

Now there are household appliances, like say a toaster, that contain a type of magic smoke. I have known them to produce this smoke on occasion. It's not the same thing because while it puts your butter and jelly on the sidelines until you can visit Target for a replacement toaster there is just a different kind of magic smoke in a cranked Fender amp that can produce a sound that makes your pants legs flap. It's a different experience from browning bread. 

I don't know how they get the magic smoke in there.