Not much time....

Right, son very ill, hours and hours in hospital, trying to give drum lessons and play gigs, and find time for the rest of the family = tiring!
No time to do much of anything really, but on a course related subject, what is the benefit of this http://www.mtv.co.uk/events/ema/playlist/mtv-ema-winners-video-2012 - even i have heard of most of these artists but fucking hell its awful. Good pop music has always given a snapshot of society, so does this mean that pop music is getting worse and not fulfilling what i believe it has done previously or is it that society is getting worse.
Personally i feel that the split between integrity in a creative musical vision and the chance to make money has widened. So basically people are more willing to do as they are told to make money rather not. There are exceptions to this, but very few.

Buying gear

As a musician and drummer! i always have my eye open for a nice piece of equipment. I recently sold some studio equipment i no longer used, a couple of Focusrite compressors, to help fund the purchase of a new snare drum that was very cheap. I bought a 1968 Ajax Nu Sound kit a couple of months ago, 3 piece. Sounds and looks amazing. The matching snare drum was being sold by someone a couple of days ago, £100, couldn't afford it but i had to have it. It will complete the kit to its full 1968 glory and sound fantastic. How many other musicians do this? i feel the majority! But i'd love to know if there are some who get what they want, are happy with it and don't amass more gear.

Mercury Prize

Saw a bit on the news about the Mercury Prize winners, never heard of Alt J, but i liked what i heard, at least its interesting. Was quite surprised that the reporter went on to mention other acts that the mainstream won't have heard of but with the help of the Mercury Prize they may get some mainstream interest. One of these was Ben Howard, who even i have heard of and to be honest doesn't impress me. There are a huge number of acoustic guitar/songwriters out there now, and to me they have to pretty bloody special and i don't think Ben Howard is, but i had heard him. So how good is the prize in bringing the publics attention to abstract-ish artists. For me quite good, as i no longer buy music magazines, in hard copy or online so i suppose i'm out of the loop, preferring just to make some music and whack it online via a digital distribution company. Perhaps i should take more notice of trends............no sod that.