Needle Needed

I received a gift at Christmas time, the best sort which for me should always consist of a nice stack of records. Or at least music to listen to in one form or another. In the stack I got Chick Corea, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Emerson Lake and Palmer, some really great finds made by my dad who was out on a pre Christmas record scouting errand when he came across these. Check out "The Monk Institute" in the link above.

    

I'm quite excited to listen to them, but do not yet have the proper needle on my record player. It worked for a short while and then died a slow painful death and now needs repairing. I think all tried and true record players need repairing at one point or another. More often than not it seems.

     

I've been furthering some guitar study with this book here "Flamenco Guitar Method Book 1" Great cd to go along with it to help with exercises, and there are very good, and detailed descriptions. I'm almost done with the first lesson, my fingers are really feeling the strain of learning new things, and I don't want to over do it. There is also a long list in the back of the book running off names of some influential flamenco musicians through the ages that I have to look up in the next day or so. 

   I'm feeling the fruits of the flamenco labor though! I'm experiencing some new bursts of creative energy in a totally different style. Thats the most enjoyable thing in playing guitar for me!