We’ve all heard, and some of us far more down to earth than Bono believe in and have talked about the “power of music”. When pressed, most of us think it’s a feel-good phrase in the face of a reality where in a dusty Western town street even the most skilful mariachi band would be no match for a red-hatted patriot and few toys he picked up from Walmart. Well, there’s a humble building in Basel where Gert Rhinestonehart keeps a Gallery of the Real Power of Music. These are some exhibits from it. Anticlockwise from top left A) Jack Bensten’s two guitars propelled him from Virginia to Jamaica escaping the ‘Nam draft. He thought he was heading North so it was a much longer trip than expected. He also used the guitars to charm good eating fish and turtles from the sea, and as a freshwater synthesis device. His playing was so sweet, the heavens would cry into the dinghy bailer as he played. B) The original American Gothic couple, kept somewhat young and very much alive to this day by nightly Bluegrass sessions. C) Kay Huntington is a Bowie incarnation that never made it out of the great chameleon’s closet. This is an image of her in it. The power of music, the Thin White Duke and a shit ton of coke kept her in there. Some say that’s a steep price to pay given some of the Duke’s fascist theatre moments, but they never heard Kay sing. D) This one’s an allegory from the PoM Museum Curator’s own life, with dozens of Web MD ailments and a bout of pancreatic cancer in the back, and music in the front, which cured all of it and no trips to the hospital. E) Music made Allan Sherman and his “mum” laugh, in times that were so bleak, both of them were considering perforating their eardrums and becoming insurance salespeople and F) Music built the Panama Canal (also the Pyramids and the first computer, among other things). All in all, sometimes a guitar is just a guitar.