Forbidden fruit

I am delighted when taboos and rituals are challenged and good things still happen.

Remember how much more enjoyable playing music became when we no longer had to demagnetize or paint green edges on CDs? Or weigh down the tops of our equipment with VPI Bricks? Or paint the tip of our stylus with Last? Or zap our vinyl with a Zerostat?

We were told not to eat the forbidden fruit of simple system enjoyment without first running through the essential rituals and routines.

Did those rituals work? In many cases, they sure seem to, but over time, they became so tiresome that I moved on.

Sometimes it's better to eat the fruit of simple musical enjoyment and let the quality of your equipment do the work.