This was just the audio portion. Terry's home is the secret Studio 4 for those wishing to go even more upscale and Peggy's art gallery and the café section are further incentives to visit this establishment. Hats off to the Humphries for living their dream 'out loud'. If NZ wasn't so far away, I'd hop on a plane in a heartbeat to visit them.


By now you might wonder just what was so depressing about this show. As we'll see in the alphabetical coverage, it certainly wasn't for lack of glitz and glamor. All that was there and in no short supply either. It was the element of why we bother with all these toys that seemed neglected. Granted, perception is intimately linked to personal mood. Others might well have walked away inspired and energized. Those I talked to shared my sentiments however and noted the same decline of inner substance compared to last year. After all, audio is just a means to an end. Without the end, the means become superfluous. Because that's how these show reporters felt (perhaps we're just getting old and cranky), a massive dose of musical vitamins was needed. And Marja & Henk just knew where.

You might think Saturn as in, mondo media conglomerate. I did. And it's true, Saturn sells a lot of CDs. But Henk's browsing through a local paper spotted something infinitely better - the Ludwig Beck Kaufhaus with its floors of men's and women's clothing. You'd never know that its top floor houses what bills itself as Europe's biggest music store. After our visit, I'm a believer. Not only that, you can listen to every single CD and LP at your own headphone leisure. Forget 10-second MP3-quality track bytes like in our local FNAC. Here we're talking beginning to end without hassles. Righteous!


I discovered some real gems including a few older Maria del Mar Bonet CDs, the final Bratsch record to complete my collection of them, Erol Parlak's Baglama Quintett (five Turkish lutes together are something else), Luis Delgado's As-Sirr, Joscho Stefan's Swing News, some Balkan instrumentals compliments of accordionist Martin Lubenov, a Miguel Poveda Flamenco song number over symphonic orchestra and a number of Quadro Nuevo releases - plus a Mulo Francel/Evelyin Huber duo between sax and harp called Tango Lyrico.


Last but not least, the Hotel Leopold once again provided our accommodations specifically because it's very comfortable, has a lovely open-air court yard and is within a foot walk of the Shanai Indian restaurant whose Mahamud Rasil and staff don't just cook brilliantly but are exceptionally hospitable and friendly.
There was a little outboard show at the Fleming Hotel which I didn't visit on principle (if you want press attendance, you should support the main event which brings the audio visitors into town in the first place) and Ensemble had taken out a lone room in the Kempinski Hotel. That one I stumbled across unexpectedly while picking up friends but for the same reason as the Fleming exhibitors, our alphabetical reportage won't cover their room.