2nd Chances. Almost 10 years ago I found myself at the Record Trading Center in Costa Mesa. I was doing my usual bit of rummaging through the used CD selections and trying to find some records at a time when they were being ushered out the door. While I was going through the used section bins I ran across the debut Release by Venice, titled "Venice". In retrospect I'm not sure why I didn't buy it. If I remember correctly, it was only $9 and at the time I knew that it was hard enough to come by then. I liked the band enough, after all I had been hearing Mark Lennon sing with Michael Ruff in LA and had heard some of their music via my friend Kevin Brusett... In any case, I left it in the bin and I haven't seen a copy of that CD since.

Now, usher in a new era of internet garage sale shopping... Two days ago I found the CD available from half.com from an independent vendor for the blow-out price of $1.95, throw in the $2 for shipping and it could be all mine. I don't think I've ever reached into my pocket for my credit card faster than I did to buy the CD. So, here we are on a Friday and it has just arrived - in excellent condition with all the artwork intact. The music is still as great as I remember and now I have the elusive first CD to add to my collection.

If any of you are interested, give them a listen or get some of their music. They've been compared to the Eagles more often than nought so if you dig the Eagles you'll enjoy Venice too.

Shameless Plug. For those of you out there who share my interest in the band Erasure, here's an FYI. Andy Bell has released a solo album. This new effort, "Electric Blue", can be yours via the normal on-line channels. As always I recommend Amazon, but the final choice is always yours.

Andy has gone in a different direction and while many detractors say that it doesn't sound like Erasure I would beg to differ. Not that I think its a re-hash of the obvious "Erasure sound" but this apple hasn't fallen that far away from the tree. It has some really good songs on it and I'm sure that most Erasure fans will appreciate the album as a whole.