Ryan says:

Apart from the harpsichord & upright piano, all the old studio gear has finally arrived at the new location. It'll be a couple of months before the studio is back up & running, however. Whenever I'm not making music, I find myself in 'music consumer whore' mode, either buying way too much gear or other people's music. Maybe that's the source of America's overspending problem: not enough people entering online 'write a novel in a month' competitions.
 
So I found myself at a local music gear store chain (name withheld), talking to two keyboard section employees, both probably in their mid-20's. I think the phrase 'making beats' popped up every sentence, and I couldn't tell in my out-of-touch-ness whether 'making beats' has in fact turned into an encompassing euphemism for 'writing songs' or 'jamming', or if kids are hoping to score some ultra-elusive gig literally programming rhythms for the Neptunes or Timbaland in a back room somewhere. 'Here Pharrell, I cranked out 64 new beats today'...
 
After briefly looking at the new Korg Electribes (with see-through tube-display), I pointed at the sexy Alesis Ion (priced $300 too high) and asked his general opinion. First words out of his mouth were 'welll, you can't make beats on it ...'. Hmmm, at least they weren't suckering in a single mom into buying an overpriced, crappy Strat for her 13-year old.
 
This all might be pointless rambling, but I'm not here to do a stock, vitriolic rant againts music store clerks. I dunno - it's nice & egalitarian that it's super easy for kids to get their hands on music gear these days, but it will still stand true that the best songs last the longest. Hopefully these kids are listening to Stuart Murdoch as well as Urban Dance Squad. (?)
 
So back to buying stuff: last night I flippantly grabbed a John Barry compilation, which unfortunately didn't have his theme to 'The Persuaders' on it, but is a nice mix nonetheless. Also, a Madonna acapella white label from Groove Distribution, probably the most intimidating, daunting record store I haunt. To be fair, they are more of a deep distribution center that's occasionally open to the public, so browsing isn't a high-priority of theirs. Best to just receive their new releases newsletter, order what looks good, go in, grab your goods & go. Then walk a block to Dusty Groove and take your time.
 
LMP news eventually on the way. No idea when.
 
happy holidays - Luke 2:8-14
Ryan