David's Shop Blog 2013

Welcome to David's shop blog 2013 .... 2012 Blog 

Week Ending 11/May/2013
- RainSong Guitars Here In The UK ... Since we became the UK distributor for RainSong Graphite Guitars we've had loads of interest in them :) They're the World's first all-graphite acoustic guitar and  impervious to changes in heat and temperature, so they're great for giging musicians. We're doing the full RainSong Range including Black Ice, Classic, Studio, Concert, Shorty, Parlor and Hybrid series. It's great to be selling World class guitars and RainSong's exactly that!
- Seagulls In Morecambe ... There are now Seagulls back in Morecambe! Not the feathered type (althought there's loads of them), I'm talking the Seagull Guitars In Stock that Robert Godin's company makes in the Village of LaPatrie, Quebec, Canada. The concept for the Seagull guitar was to take the essential components of the best hand-crafted guitars such as solid tops and beautiful finishes and build these features into guitars that could be priced within the reach of working musicians. They're great! Call in and try them out :)
- Ian Dury Was A Class Act! ... Just saw Ian Dury on an old 1978 TOTP repeat doing 'What A Waste'. I remember seeing him for the first time and I was blown away! Ian's son Baxter's doing well for himself in music. Check out Baxter Dury's Preview Video For 'Happy Soup' which is out now!
- Brian May Sells Us A Guitar (By Accident) ... Saw the repeat of Peter Kay's 'Tour That Didn't Tour' on telly and at the end of the show he had a Brian May Red Special In Cherry so I tweeted @DrBrianMay to tell him, he favourited the tweet and we sold one on the back of it. I suppose that's what happens when you've got 100K plus followers :)
- Brill News For The Rudimental Boys ... Sent my congratulations Piers & Kesi when I heard 'Home' went straight in the album charts at Number 1 this week. Leeds Met will be so proud of them! :)
- Emile Sande Plays N1 ... It's great to see the Video Of Emeli Sande Playing Her Yamaha NU1. Emeli's a clever lass, she studied Medicine at the University of Glasgow and has an N1. Now that's what I call brains. When's she's sold a few more million albums, she could maybe up-gade it to the Yamaha N3?! Check out the NU1, N1, N2 and N3.
- Support Of The Arts :) ... It's great to see that Harriet Harman put a tweet up in support of the arts! She quoted a line ("Why cut arts spending? It makes money for the UK") out of Polly Toynbee's article in the Guardian entitled We Know Spending On The Arts Makes Big Money For Britain. So Why Cut It?.

Week Ending 4/May/2013
- Get Your Kids In To Music ... Just found a nice article on the Making Music website about how to get children in to classical music for parents.
- Happy 10th Birthday iTunes Music ... Congratulations to Apple on 25 billion (that's 25,000,000,000) songs downloaded. It's amazing that they're now selling 15,000 songs a minute on average!
- Ed Sheeran ... After 6 months on back order, the Little Martin LX1E electro acoustic guitar that Ed plays is back in to stock. It's been a long wait and we've lost loads of sales but they're here now :)
- Viva Forever's Closing ... Awful news for the cast and crew who'll lose their jobs. It's also sad for Jennifer Saunders too!
- Breedloves Galore ... We've just had over 30 Breedlove Guitars Delivered which we'll be offering at some prestty amazing prices. As well as the ever popular Atlas series, we've bought models from the Retro, Passport, Solo and Stage series. Oh yes, some hand made Korean Cascade models and actual USA models too :)
- RIP Jeff Hanneman ... Sad to hear Jeff (Slayer's guitarist) has passed away in Southern California. He inspired a generation of metal guitarists
- Visitor Newspaper has good taste! ... Big thanks to The Visitor for their piece about Promenade Music in this weeks newspaper :)

Week Ending 27/Apr/2013
- Harrison On Arte TV ... My son Harrison played with Beats & Pieces Big Band for the Saturday gig at Jazzahead in Bremen, Germany :) Watch Harrison on the Jazzahead link. The gig was filmed by Arte.
- Big Band Supertramp ... Had John Helliwell in the shop today. For anyone who doesn't know, John's the sax player in the band Supertramp. He's doing a gig with the RNCM big band on June 29 at The RNCM in Manchester. Can't wait to hear it.
- Pop Master Quiz ... The Pop Master question on Radio 2 today was who performed the track Sexiest Man in Jamaica in 2002. The track is from our little label and was performed by Mint Royale featuring Prince Buster. Wonder how many got it right? Thinking about it, it's the first time I've made money out a quiz! #Royalties
- RIP Richie Havens ... Sorry to hear Richie Havens has passed away. He opened Woodstock in 1969. There's a nice piece about him on the BBC Website.
- Female Condustors, Jump For Joy! ... Congratulations to Marin Alsop. She'll be the first female conductor of Last Night of the Proms in its 118 year history! My grandmother was a horn player and always moaned about the equality in classical orchestras. My nan Daisy would have loved this news about Marin! Full details of the 2013 BBC Proms are now available on BBC Proms Website.

Week Ending 20/Apr/2013
- Boston Bomb ... Hope Berklee College staff, students and all the people of Boston are ok .
- Sir Colin Davis ... Sad to hear Sir Colin Davis' passed away. He was the longest serving principal conductor in the London Symphony Orchestra's history & their president.
- Hollywood Again for Mint Royale ... Our Mr Claxton (AKA Mint Royale) is doing exciting things with a Hollywood star on Skype today. Hope the Hollywood knows that Neil had a cameo role in the movie Serendipity with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale.
- Karaoke Discs ... Check out www.KaraokeDisc.co.uk our new karaoke and backing track custom burn and download service. I'm so pleased with it! :)
- Check This Out violinists! ... 20 Stradivarius' will be on show at Ashmolean Museum in Oxford from June 13 to August 11. I'm going!
- Sync Market ... Interesting piece on the PRS for Music's M magazine website about syncs called More bucks for the bang: Generating an income beyond record sales which was a session at the London Electronic Music Event. Graham Luckhurst reckons sync fees have dropped 90% over the last 3 years. They've dropped, but not by 90%!

Week Ending 13/Apr/2013
- Latest Stock Just In ... Our Richard's been busy getting all the new stock on to the website. Check out all the New Stock Just Arrived.
- Superclub Sankeys To Shut ... The Manchester Evening News' Eulogy To Sankeys, "the North West's very own dance mecca for the post-Hacienda generation" lol. It's sad to hear it's closing next month after nearly twenty years. Our Hotwires install business put the PA system in there before we took it over and we had our first Faith & Hope Records office there too. Happy days.
- Not Today The Movie ... Hope everything goes well for John Schneider and the team who have been involved with the movie Not Today. Everyone at Faith & Hope Records is proud to be associated with it :)
- Pinterest ... Be sure to check out the new Promenade Music's Pinterest, give us a like and and a follow ;)
- The Yardbirds ... Had the very lovely Top Topham in the shop today. He was the guitarist with The Yardbirds before a young Mr Eric Clapton replaced him. Should have got a pic of him!

Week Ending 6/Apr/2013
- Good luck H ... My son Harrison's playing the Lowther Pavilion Theatre at Lytham tonight for The Bert Kaempfert Gala Concert Tour. Think there's about 20 dates on the tour. Sure I'll catch one of them.
- RainSong Guitars ... Twelve RainSong All Graphite Electro Acoustic Guitars Have Just Arrived in the shop from the USA! It's like Christmas here!
- Roland Connect ... We've put a news story up about the new Roland FP80, FP50, BK9, FR8X, FR8XB and Boss RC505. Check it out :)
- Roland FR8X ... Accordionist, look what Roland's launched today! The Roland FR8X Piano Accordion & FR8XB Button Accordion :)
- Happy Birthday Mobile Phones ... 40 years ago today, Motorola's Martin Cooper made the first ever mobile phone call. Love the fact that he called their competitor AT&T on it.
- Roland's New President ... Roland's appointed Jun-ichi Miki as it's new president. He's worked at Roland for over 35 years as engineer, designer & developer. I think it's a good move!
- Buy An Instrument Today! ... Could savers in the UK loose money like the Bank of Cyprus' big depositors could lose up to 60%?! I bet the Cypriots thought it could never happen! Just buy a new musical instrument while your money's still there and enjoy it!

Week Ending 30/Mar/2013
- RIP Phil Ramone ... Very sad to hear that Phil Ramone who in my opinion is one of the World's greatest producers (and a child prodigy violinist who studied at Juilliard) has passed away aged 79. He is one producer that I'd have loved to have worked with as a young player. Over the years, he worked with Burt Bacharach, Ray Charles, Karen Carpenter, Chicago, Natalie Cole, Bob Dylan, Gloria Estefan, Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Elton John, Quincy Jones, Madonna, Barry Manilow, Paul McCartney, George Michael, Liza Minnelli, Olivia Newton-John, Luciano Pavarotti André Previn, Paul Simon, Frank Sinatra, Rod Stewart, James Taylor, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder to name but a few!!!
- Mike Brewer ... Saw on Classical Music Magazine's Website About Mike Brewer (former director of music at Chetham’s School of Music and director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain) has been sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. What a truly chocking case!
- Harrison & Freddie ... Aww, Wonder when my grandson Freddie's First Gig is? His dad's got him practicing hard!
- Worst Gadgets ... Have you seen the Independent On Sunday's 10 Worst Gadgets of Recent Times? I think the Betamax, DAT & MiniDisc were awesome!
- Sad news about Derek Watkins ..... I was very sad to hear about the passing of trumpet player Derek Watkins. When I played in NYJO and then became a young pro, I always wated to be the Derek Watkins of the bass trombone! To be honest, it was a dream to occasionally be sat in the same band as him, but he was a totally different league, a league I would never achieve! To me, Derek was a superstar of brass playing! He played with everyone from jazzers like Maynard Ferguson, Benny Goodman, Ted Heath, Frank Sinatra and Count Basie to entertainment greats like James Last, Barbra Streisand, The Beatles and Elton John. He did classical gigs with the Henry Mancini, Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, the LSO, the Royal Phil and was 'the' man for playing on film soundtracks. You can hear him on Batman, Mission Impossible, Superman, Chicago and every James Bond film (yes! every single one!). Take a listen to him in Goldfinger, he was only nineteen at the time and have a look at his Disography page. He was a true gent! There'll be a lot of old pros, young players of the 80's (Nigel Hitchcock, Mike Lovatt, Mark Nightingale, etc) and students who he taught at the Royal Academy who'll be thinking of him, his wife Wendy and their family today. Here are a couple of youtube clips that Derek is featured in like My Way with the James Last Orchestra and We've Only Just Begun with a band I did a few gigs with, so happy memories there for me. There were some great players in the band and it always had a great rhytmn section like Don Innes on piano, Neil Cameron on bass and the brilliant Harold Fisher on drums. Hey, watch Don Lusher and Harold, when he was only twenty one, playing in Johnny Harris Orchestra's version of Downtown. There'll never be gigs like that again! RIP Derek

Week Ending 23/Mar/2013
- Martin Hannett Memories ..... Saw the Shane Meadows' Stone Roses documentary 'Made of Stone' has got a confirmed late spring / early summer release date and it took me back to 1985 and my memories of Martin Hannett Tony Wilson, Lindsay Reade, Strawberry Studios etc. So I've decided to just sit and typed away about my Martin Hannett Memories
- Dr Lennox ..... Think it's awesome that Annie Lennox is to receive an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music. Annie's a superb musician, ex Royal Academy don't you know, and will pick up her doctorate at the same time as Willie Nelson and Carole King get theres. Past recipients include Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin, Quincy Jones, Chaka Khan and my dear friend Leon Huff.
- Online Sheet Music ..... It's going to be a big month for our PrintedMusicShop.net on-line website site. Big thanks to all the Brit Awards Nominees & Les Miserables for some big sales. Dr Who's 50th has helped too believe it or not!
- Beats & Pieces Big Band Nomination ..... Delighted to hear that the band my son plays in Beats & Pieces have been Nominated for Best Ensemble in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2013. Beats & Pieces have had a wondeful couple of years Selling Out Ronnie Scott's which got them a 5* Review In The Guardian by the Guardian's main jazz critic John Fordham and winning European Young Jazz Artist Award and Jazz FM Best Newcomer. The were also Nominated as Best Big Band in the British Jazz Awards 2012 last year and have headlined several Jazz Festivals including London Jazz Festival.
- Lancaster Parking ..... Never thought I'd say this but Lancaster City Council should listen to Eric Pickles' 10 Minutes Free Parking Idea. When you think,  Lancaster's dying! Where are all the stall holders that moved out of Lancaster Market when it closed? There's still all those empty shops too! I couldn't believe it when I heard that parking's going up there! Are they mad? If I had a shop there, I'd be moving out!
- Heysham M6 Link ..... At last! The £123mil Heysham M6 link road has been approved by the government. It'll help both our local economy and congestion in Lancaster. When built in 2015, it will take customers less than 5 minutes from the M6 to our front door! How good will that be! :) If you're interestd in seeing the route, watch this Heysham - M6 Link - Animated Fly Through Video. Watch from 6.20 minutes when you're leaving the M6 at J34 and watch till 10.00 minutes when you're at the L&M College / Mc Donalds roudabout. The road's expected to be completed by December 2015 so I'm sure we'll be all using it by 2018.
- Virgin EMI ..... Aww, Justin Bieber and Sir Elton John are being brought together as part of the newly-launched label Virgin EMI Records. Aww, this has got to be a match made in heaven!
- DRL Guitars ..... We've just taken on DRL Guitars :) We have in stock the DRL Thinline Electro Acoustic Guitar with European Spruce AAA grade top, mahogany hollow chambered body, factory fitted LR Baggs pick-Up and hard case. I'm pretty sure Chet Atkins would have liked this model! We've also take delivery of their DRL OO8 8 string Electro Acoustic Guitar with factory fitted fishman blend pick-Up and hard case. It's strung E,A,DD,GG,B,E. Joe White designed the an original 8 string for his singer songwriter client Lisbee Stainton, and agreed to licence the design to Mark the owner of DRL. US singer songwriter and Grammy award winner Mary Chapin Carpenter played and called it "Beautiful". Both guitars are made for Mark by the Ayers factory in Vietnam, who are hand builders. Call and have a play :)
- Promenade Concert Orchestra ..... My daughter Jess is playing at Morecambe's Platform today [Sunday] in Howard Rogerson's Promenade Concert Orchestra and my son Harrison is playing at The Sage in Gateshead with The Northern Sinfonia. I'm so torn!

Week Ending 16/Mar/2013
- Yang's Lakewood ..... Our customer Yang came to collect his new Lakewood Custom Signature Guitar today [Saturday]. We got Martin at Lakewood in Germany to build it for him and it's one of the most beautiful guitars I've ever seen :) 
- Terry Lightfoot ..... Sad to hear that Jazzer Terry Lightfoot's passed away. I did a few gigs with Terry & Don Lusher in the mid 80's. They were both true gents!
- Ennio Morricone ..... Saw this quote on the Hollywood Reporter. “I wouldn’t like to work with him again, on anything” says Ennio Morricone Obout Working With Quentin Tarantino. Ouch! I feel sorry for Mr Tarantino! I wouldn't like anyone to say that about working with me.
- The Pope Needs A Viscount ..... Saw that Pope Francis wants a "poor Church for the poor". Well the first thing he should ban are those big money £100K pipe organ restorations! I've written to the vatican to offer them a contract price to supply all the RC churches here in the UK with Italian made Viscount Organs. They are very popular here in the UK and the last Pope sees The Tremendous Value Of The Organ As A Liturgical Instrument. No joke, Pope Benedict XVI's vatican staff requested a Viscount for the Pope's visit to Cofton Park Birmingham for the service to celebrate the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman in 2010.
- Importing Guitars From The USA ..... Oh dear! For the first ever, I have written a page because where I can have a bit of a rant. It's a long story, but it's all about a Guy Who Imported A Guitar From America And It Cost Him More Than He Thought. Have a read! 
- Kawai CA15 & VPC1 ..... Just had a good chat with Joe from Kawai and they have some exciting new products coming out like the Kawai CA15 and Kawai VPC1. In many ways, the VPC1 is what computer based musicians and producers have been waiting for I think that finally, the search is over! A virtual piano controller from a real piano company. Don't often say this but I'm excited!

Week Ending 9/Mar/2013
- Morecambe Brass Band ..... Why me! I've said I'd go and support my local Morecambe Band at the Blackpool North West Brass Band Championships. It's mainly because my daughter Jess is playing for them in Section 1. I had no idea I'd be setting off at 6.30am in the morning when I agreed to take her!
- Red Rose Amateurs ..... Went to to see Red Rose Amateurs show 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' tonight at Lancaster's Grand Theatre. My daughter Jess was playing kit in the pit for the show and Alex Phillips who teachers at St Aubyns Academy of Music above the shop was the Musical Director. They did great! I was MD for Red Rose when I was 19 (years not stone) and loved every minute of it. Whilst at the theatre, I saw my old Red Rose Radio boss Vicki Oyston so it was a very nice evening with some very happy memories thrown in :) Although doing jingles seemed hard work at the time, they were happy days! Vicky's a really beautiful person with an amazing personality and spirit :) Every time I here Diana Krall sing the Jerome Kern / Dorothy Fields song Pick Yourself Up I think of her :) If you don't know the song, check it out and listen to the lyrics.
- Hitoshi Fukutome ..... Sent my congratulations today to Hitoshi Fukutome on becoming the new president of Yamaha Corporation of America. Now there's one smart switched on guy! And talking of smart guys, I'm still shocked that my mate Guy Perricone's resigned as ABRSM CEO. He's a lovely fella! I wish him well in the future.
- The Guys With Albert Lee ..... Aww, A nice pic of our Gary, Steve and Albert Lee out on the town. Albert's a true British guitar legend. In my opinion, one of the best in the World!

Week Ending 2/Mar/2013
- London Bass Guitar Show ..... Pics of our Strings & Accessory Stand and Hartke Bass Amplification Stand at the London Bass Guitar Show. It's been crazy! The boys have been mad busy :)
- John Bishop ..... Me, Steve and a few of us went to see John Bishop tonight at the Lancaster Grand Theatre. John bought a piano off us recently and all the talk today's been about whether he'll have been practicing and if he'd mention it in his act? Answer, not a sausage! He must have mentioned my mate Chesney Hawkes' name twenty times! I called Ches to see if he's on royalties?! Here's a nice Pic of Bish with his new baby (piano, not dog!)
- Recorded Music Sales Up ..... Good news at last! Recorded music sales have risen for the first time since 1999. Total revenues rose 0.3% with digital now making up over a third of sales. That means if some little toe rags hadn't burned down the Sony warehouse in the riots, we'd be probably doing well on physical at the moment!
- Harrison On Telly ..... My son Harrison is a cruise ship fixer for musicians (bit like an agent) and he fixed the band (with himself in it) for BBC2's Funny Business about 'Cruising Comedians'. Check out the Video and keep an eye out for him at the back on the bass :)
- Not Today The Movie ..... I've been very touched by a film that we've got our music on called 'Not Today' which is about human-trafficking in India. The film stars the likes of Cody Longo (of Hollywood Heights, CSI NY, Days of Our Lives, Make It or Break It, etc) and John Schneider (of The Dukes of Hazzard, Smallville, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, etc) but the story is so powerful! Have a watch of the trailer at www.nottodaythemovie.com/themovie

Week Ending 23/Feb/2013
- The Wonderful Keith Nichols  ..... Been to see and hear my mate and customer Keith Nichols play tonight. He's a fine pianist and he's a lecturer of Jazz History at the Royal Academy of Music so there's no messing! What an amazing Ragtime player he is. He was joined by another fine musician in Spats Langham who in my opinion is one of the best 1920’s New York Hot Jazz style guitarists in the World!
- Please Support More Music ...... As some of you might know, I'm on the board for the wonderful More Music, an education and music charity based in Morecambe. Anyway, I've been busy today getting Brian May to sign a guitar for me for a charity action where the money goes to More Music. Brian's a great fella and he's singing me a Brian May "Special" which is one of his signature series guitars. This model is an ex Guitarist magazine "Best Guitar of the Year" winner and theatre audiences around the World have rocked to the guitar's sound in performances in the Queen musical "We Will Rock You". Take a look at our Brian May Guitar Page
- Morecambe Day ..... Invited to a meeting about Morecambe Day by my old mate Greg Lambert at the Visitor Newspaper. It's going to be amazing this year! I'm excited already ;) 
  - Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is ..... Our Gary's been robbed! He was supposed to be on the BBC1 antiques show Put your money where your mouth is on Tuesday at 4.30pm looking at an Epiphone guitar. I set the recorder sat there and not our Gary in sight! Just to clarify! The show's called 'Put your money where your mouth is', not 'Put your money where your mouth is on Tuesday'.
- HMV ..... Sorry to hear HMV Lancaster will be closing in the next few months. They've sent so many people down to us in the past.
- NeilClaxton Becomes MintRoyale ..... Mr Neil Claxton, my lovely co founder of Faith & Hope Records, has canged his name on twitter to his artist name Mint Royale. I've told him to use capital M & R for MintRoyale as someone might just think he's called Roy! #MintRoyAle
- Fender ..... Who reckons our online Fender Guitar & Amp Price List is the most comprehensive one on the web?
- Dampp Chaser ..... Great to see our friends at Dampp Chaser have won the 2013 NC Family Business Of The Year Award. It's very well deserved! 
- Little Freddie ..... Had a brilliant day today (Sunday) with my son Harrison, Linzi and Freddie (my little grandson). Didn't want them to go home :(
- Sony In Real Estate ..... When Sony Sells Their 550 Madison New York City HQ for $1.1b they'll stand to make about $685m since buying it in 2002!

Week Ending 16/Feb/2013
- Lancaster Uni Music ..... Everyone seems shocked that Lancaster Uni's Music Department's "in crisis". I'm not. We offered the uni's Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA) music dept financial support and they didn't even follow up on it!
- Happy Valentines Day?! ..... Oh no! Can't believe I've just heard the Baha Men's 'Who let the dogs out' track on radio! And today of all days!
- Ronald David Wood ..... There are loads of us David Wood fellas around. I even have two friends (Lancaster & Morecambe principal and another who none of you will know) called David Wood. We're pretty common really. Anyway, I'm trying to get another one of us up here to the shop. A certain Ronald David Wood, famous as a member of a beat band called The Rolling Stones! I want him to boost my sales and buy a GFI Pedal Steel Guitar from us! Come on Ronnie, you know you want to and we've even said we'll do free delivery and set up down at your Holland Park gaff!
- Yamaha CVP 600 Series ..... Check out our new Yamaha CVP-600 Clavinova Series Video at Promenade Music TV. The New CVP609, CVP605 & CVP601 Range is absolutely amazing!
- Frances Andrade RIP ..... Incredibly sad time for Frances Andrade's family & friends as well as all the good people at Chethams and RNCM. If you don't know what I'm on about, Read This [up-dated]

Week Ending 9/Feb/2013
- Well Done Steve Beeston ..... Just had an email from Phil at Line6 to say my mate Steve Beeston is the new Sales Manager for the UK. I'm so pleased for him, he's a brilliant guy!
- Rory Gallagher's Guitar ..... The 1992 Patrick Eggle Legend Guitar That Rory Gallagher Owned which was bought from us new had a bit of interest last year on the Rory Gallagher Forum and I've had a few questions about it today. There's talk on the forum that the guitar "was offered as a gift by the company" which is totally wrong! Patrick's company was paid by us for it. In fact, Rory didn't want a free guitar off them because if he didn't like it, he'd have felt obliged to play it so it was bought for him through us. I love these forums, lol, one post says "Neither Patrick nor David at Promenade can confirm whether Rory ever played this live". I don't know how they know this because no one's ever asked me! If you watch The Story Of Rory Gallagher video at 10.22 you will see Rory holding the actual guitar we sold.
- Yamaha CVP600 Series Expert ..... Our Steve's been doing a Yamaha CVP600 Series training today with Yamaha's Richard Ashby and Richard Bower. Here's a Pic of the three happy souls. Steve said he loves them! Not sure if he means the new pianos or the two Richards? Probably both.
- Harrods Piano Department ..... Just seen this article in the Telegraph about Harrods Shutting Their Piano Department After 118 Years. Sure it's partly because of our discount piano prices! We deliver loads of pianos to London.
- Benni Beard's A Genius ..... Had a meeting with the genius that is Benni Beard about all things SEO (getting better rankings on Google etc)! People say he has a brain the size of a small nation. Wrong! It's a BIG nation! Benni works at Fat Media and is engaged to our Keith's daughter Steph. I'm looking forward to their wedding do already :)
- Howard's Gone Digital With A C30 ..... It's nice to see that Howard Goodall is using his Roland C30 Digital Harpsichord on TV! I'm loving his 'Story Of Music' programme.
- Proud Dad! ..... So proud of my son Harrison and the rest of the Beats & Pieces Big Band boys on winning Jazz FM Best UK Newcomer At The Jazz FM Awards. Here's a Pic Of Their Award :)

Week Ending 2/Feb/2013
- Guitar To Banjo ..... Great little video called Making The Jump, Guitar To Banjo for guitarists who want to learn about playing a bit of banjo from our friends at Deering Banjos.
- Is This A Joke?! ..... Coun Ron Sands thinks “Cafes for instance could give a free tea or coffee – the marginal costs of such an offer should be absorbable, I should have thought.” Oh Ron! That's how cafes make money! Selling tea and coffee! Lancaster City Council on Tuesday voted to raise one-hour parking prices district wide from £1.20 to £1.30. Is it time to pack up?!
- New Stock ..... Some great New Stock Just Arrived at Promenade Music :) Check it out!
- Question Time ..... Tonight's BBC1 Question Time's from Lancaster. I hope the city's town hall grand piano's not shown! It's in appalling condition! Lancaster City Council needs to check out our Piano Restoration page!
- Jesus Christ Superstar ..... Been to see QES School at Kirkby Lonsdale production of the rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar. It's brill! I think my daughter Jess might be going out with Jesus!
- Confused?! ..... Why does Tuesdays Visitor newspaper always get delivered on a Wednesday at home?! It's like getting the Sunday Times on a Monday. Feels Wrong!
- Kombo Kolombia ..... My thoughts are with the families of the 14 Mexican 'Kombo Kolombia' band and crew members who were kidnapped at a gig last week and killed.
- Well Done Martin Mills ..... Brilliant to see Beggars Group Chairman & IMPALA founder Martin Mills is to be honoured with a Billboard Industry Icon Award today :)
- Still Love You Monaco ..... Now here's an interesting fact about that lovely little Monaco place. 30 years ago, Monaco's orchestra had more people in it than it's army! Now that's how it should be!
- My New Little Grandson :) ..... Been to Bolton soon to see my new little grandson Freddie who was born this morning. He's my first and I'm soooooo excited! :)

Week Ending 26/Jan/2013
- 16 Kids And Counting ... By the way you good people and C4 watchers. I'd like to point out that not everyone in Morecambe has 16 kids!
- 83 Today ..... Aww, Happy Birthday mum xx
- New P155 Colours? .... Me and James from Yamaha are hoping for some new custom finishes at NAMM like a nice P155 Polished Orange Titian, Translucent Walnut And Teak and Flamed Lacquered Alaskan Pine Spruce.
  
Week Ending 19/Jan/2013
- SOS Morecambe..... Lancaster City Council, Please reduce business rates! All I can say to support this is HMV, Jessops, Comet, Game, JJB, Woolworths, Ethel Austin, Blacks Leisure, Barratts, MFI, Focus DIY etc Check out SOS Morecambe 
- HMV In Administration ..... London Stock Exchange announced 20 minutes ago that the HMV board are bringing the administrators in :( HMV's directors have been in a big meeting all evening. This is really serious stuff and not just because they owe me / Faith & Hope money. Although I'm not too happy about that as you can imagine! It's bad news for the HMV staff! There'll be a lot of mums and dads work for HMV who need to put shoes on their children's feet. Sadly HMV are really all we've got left for CD sales. I wish we could go back to the days when Roger Moorhouse and Andy Smith had 'Ear 'Ere Records in Lancaster! Sure something will survive at HMV, but I'm sure it won't be 200 plus shops and 4,000 plus staff! It will be really sad if such an iconic brand disappears.

Week Ending 12/Jan/2013
- From Blackpool? ..... One of the men who pled guilty to Hacking Sony Music to get unreleased material by Michael Jackson was from Blackpool?!
- Is Mr Claxton This Good? ..... In my opinion Neil Claxton aka Mint Royale is one of the greatest producers in the World! But, Is Neil Claxton As Good As This Guy? You decide.
- Berlin Phil's Rattled ..... Surprised Sir Simon Rattle's going to leave the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 2018. Thought he'd be there forever.
- What A Racket ..... 14,833 Drummers In India played together for 15 minutes to break the World record for the largest percussion ensemble.
 
Week Ending 5/Jan/2013
- Happy New Year ... Aww, Happy New Year folks. Hope you have a good one. We're open over the holidays from 10am till 4pm each day. Check the home page for daily opening times :)