Advance Music

I feel as if I am slacking on the Vermont Music front! The fall brings so much music to Vermont and I find myself every fall at Higher Ground more than ever with the fabulous influx of music that comes our way. I think it's a mixture of students being back and the (hopeful) promise of snow that keeps people away from nightly excursions and keeping them close to the slopes. This makes fall a prime time to see live music, but much of the music I have see lately is not that of Vermont origin!

I have had a recent re-uniting with Advance Music however, that is certainly worth noting. Advance Music is Vermont's premier music store and as the ads on 102.7, The Album Station -www.musicheads.us- state, you've got to go inside to really see how vast this place is. I had my first experiences with Advance Music while searching for the sheet music to obscure wedding songs as the resident "wedding singer" for various friends. In my visits, I saw a posting once (that I did not see in Seven Days classifieds, another good place to look for musicians - wanted) looking for a female singer to add harmonies to an existing band. I responded and this was the band, Ekis, I sang with for a little over a year several years back. I also returned to Advance to inquire about and purchase my Shure 58 microphone, mike stand, and cords. I remember the service to be helpful and was quite satisfied with my own personal microphone, which still works, though seldom used.

And now, over the past month, I have found Advance Music once again to be extremely helpful as I was to be "the wedding singer" at my awesomely Phishy friend's wedding last week. Being my Phish friends, the chosen song for my pipes was Waste, the wedding song amongst many Phishheads over the past several years (many Phishheads are now at marrying age believe it or not). Waste is a song whose guitar chords are readily available on the internet, but not available in sheet music. I was able to find all the sheet music the bride and groom chose for the ceremony, a collection of classic and modern rock and was super pumped that it was available within a day or ordering, an Advance attribute which made the organist very happy. But, no Waste music for the organist meant no playing of the song Waste. As it so happens (and often is the case in Vermont), Advance Music owner, Mike Trombley (the cheery voice on the Album Station's ads) was also friends of the bride and groom and offered only a few days before the wedding to learn the guitar chords to Waste, in the key I was singing, and played the song at the ceremony so I could sing about wasting time with the love of your life for the rest of your life! Happy, happy ending to the "wedding singer" drama!!!

In chatting with Mike, I was able to easily see why he is so enthusiastic in his ads, which are some of the best ad copy this Vermont publicist has heard. Because they're true! Mike loves that store and without a doubt his actions echo the words that come across the air to fellow Vermonters. I also learned Mike plays guitar in long standing Vermont rock band, Quadra, who I have even seen play on past Lake Champlain boat cruises. How's that for Vermont connecting!

If you are a musician or if you are interested in music, stop by this Burlington, Vermont landmark of the music scene. It's fun just to watch musicians at play in their own personal wonderland. And, as holiday season approaches, if you are buying for a musician, geez - get 'em a gift certificate - they will be stoked, psyched, and most of all, thankful. www.advancemusicvt.com