Bill,
I wish I had some wisdom to share here. Professor Hufker's take was interesting. Personally, I'm looking in 3 directions; the only music related one is to put a live band together and get out on the highway and return to unmediated musical experience.
I've observed a phenomenon that surprises me. There's an interesting piece in the Atlantic this past month on how internets porn has affected us. Not being a huge consumer of it - I like nekkid chicks, but beyond that I'm pretty vanilla - I wasn't aware of how much amateur has become the thing. It says that even well-worn-in pros are now affecting the style of and look of homemade. Now personally, I like pretty girls and good lighting. This seems to me of a piece with reality TV and the "Idol" phenom, both of which are pretty scripted. And it makes me wonder (cue 12-string):
Has home recording really affected how the general public wants music to sound? Is laptop recording and cheap Chinese mics now THE sound? I had an extraordinary 6 months of discovery in trying to lease out my gear. One of the things I found was that what I consider minimally acceptable sound is now pretty exotic. Our co-host here, Ross, said to me that I represent something that's going away. Being isolated in my little hilltop manse, I had no idea how radically things have changed.
When I was first getting into all this, back in the Pleistocene Era, there was a TV commercial proclaiming "You can be a star, no matter who you are." Even as a kid, I could tell that this wasn't a good thing. But I don't think this is something I can participate in, at least in LA, whee everyone who isn't a star wants to be one. I like what Barry has done with it, but I live in a company town, where the companies are abandoning the town. In some respects we're the Flint of music. So I was very surprised to hear Jack Douglas' son tell me that compared to NYC, this is now where the industry is.
And I acknowledge that I see people even slightly younger than me who are far more positive about things, who see the world differently than I do and who's expectations are different than mine. And I admire them for it.
But music live is still the real thing. I liked recording better because I could hear everyone better, but you takes what you can gets.