So anyway.....It's Monday, and I've got nuthin' to do (of course I mean nuthin' INTERESTING to do). Think I'll head over to Encore Music, sit around and have a listen (and maybe participate a bit) with the old rockers who I know will be there. Most of them have played with some huge names at different times (this IS Toronto after all, and it's got a good rep. for turning out rockers, jazzers and folkers who really know their stuff)

One old picker will tell stories about workin' with Alice Cooper, and of course that guy who toured North America with Jethro Tull has some WONDERFUL stuff to remember. A few of 'em will talk about the Toronto club scene in the sixties and seventies, before it went bust (Karaoke and amateur bands who'd work for peanuts did it in)

I LOVE these guys! They're all in their fifties and sixties.....have big stomaches and grey ponytails, most, finally got married to cute girls half their age that they met through the music, and now have a couple of kids approaching teenagehood. Some still work in music and even play in "Tribute Bands" to make a living. Many of them do NUTHIN' 'cause they aren't really trained for anything but rock and roll, and rock is for youngsters...unless yer a worldclass star like Mick or Keith.

Behind the counter, Dave Duval sits. I barely know him, and yet I feel I know a tremendous amount ABOUT him. In a business that has it's share of cut-throats, you wouldn't believe how highly Dave is spoken of. He listens, jokes, and generally appears to enjoy himself whether we buy anything or not.

Encore is a "Pro shop", which means that his clientele (for the most part) are, or have been professional musicians and can recognise a pre or post CBS Strat from fifty yards away. They know what prices SHOULD be and rarely haggle, 'cause Dave's also a fine musician, and prices the instruments fairly.

Now sometimes a musician comes in who has to sell an instrument on consignment QUICKLY (landlords have to paid), so a real deal can be found now and then. All of us who hang out there have had to sell or pawn instruments at one time in our lives, so we can relate.....but....we'll still grab that Fender mandolin that's up on the wall for only a hundred bucks! There's a certain "Musicians' law of the jungle that applies.

Heck....that just Encore! If this thread has legs, I'll tell ya about the 12th Fret (which Jeri mentioned), Songbird, Capsule Music, Steve's, Long and McQuade, and.....oh shit, we've got a LOT of 'em here.

Rick