Greetings, whoever-reads-this! I'm here in the Music Lab, seeing whatever kind of trouble I can stir up.
One thing that's got me a little bit riled up is the fact that there are no more Music Retailers here in Spiffld. I was needing a new Instrument Cable, formerly known as a guitar cord. Time was, you could get these needs met either at Walko's at 1120 S 2nd street, or at the House of Music at 3rd and North Grand. The closest thing we've got now are two Monster Pawn shops, one of which just happens to be at the site of the old House of Music. As it turned out, the store on South MacArthur had one of what I was looking for. Being pawn shops, they deal a lot more with instruments than accessories.
I remember going through this trying to find my favorite kind of guitar pick a few years back. I think they're called small teardrops. The Rock Shop used to carry them. After they closed, you couldn't find ém anywhere. I finally got online and found Sweetwater, who did have them- even in the color I wanted. They drove me a little nutty for awhile thereafter with all their follow-up calls and emails, but that's not the worst thing in the world..
So maybe they're now my go-to people for Instrument Cables as well as picks. Might just order up a bunch of them. For the moment, though, I do have one serviceable cord.
As a younger guy, I had the bad habit of hanging on to my cords even after they started to short out. For awhile in there, if someone heard a buzzing cord, they'd assume Sam was on the gig. That's a rep I had to get rid of as best I could.
As a so-called adult, I don't bring funky cords with me if I'm playing a gig, but I will hang onto them here in the Lab if I can get just a little more action out of them. Still working on that bad habit, I guess..
Actually, the demise of retail music came about with the birth of the online music store . Places like Musician's Friend and Sweetwater just eviscerated them- at least around here. I still tried to give the local merchants my business when I could- when it was feasible. But it was often a much better deal online.
So yeah, today I'm missing the old neighborhood music stores. Walko's and House of Music, and the Rock Shop, were also places for musicians to hang out. Many of us taught lessons there, so you'd be there all day waiting for your students to show up. And you'd always have at least one cancellation, so you'd have some spare time.
This is probably enough outa me for the time being. Thanks as ever for stopping in and reading. Happy Tuesday to you! Ich bin outa here. More later.
