It’s hard to believe – or maybe not – that we first heard about the pandemic a year ago. A year. No wonder many of us are feeling more stressed out than ever, and look at the losses we’ve suffered. I recently found out that a few family members and friends have tested positive and it scares me. But a healing thought popped into my head as I was lying awake in bed the other night: keep your eye on the prize.
When my wife was going through two difficult pregnancies, it was one of the toughest things we’ve ever dealt with. She was on bed rest for weeks. But her OB-GYN kept telling us, keep your eye on the prize. Meaning, thinking about the joy of finally having children would get us through the most difficult times of feeling like there would be no end to the uncertain waiting. The doc was right. Twice. Now, as the prospect of getting back to the "prize" – an end to the pandemic – is within closer reach, it’s my mantra once again.
In this issue: Don Kaplan offers 21 of his favorite recordings to kick off 2021. Wayne Robins considers the making of Taylor Swift’s folklore. J.I. Agnew looks for a vintage piano. John Seetoo takes us on a virtual tour of the legendary Abbey Road Studios. B. Jan Montana experiments with unconventional speaker placement. Roy Hall goes to school. I interview EveAnna Dauray Manley of Manley Laboratories. Larry Schenbeck listens to serenades. Ken Sander wrestles with rock and roll.
Rich Isaacs gets a once in a lifetime chance to live with a $90,000 pair of speakers. Anne E. Johnson rocks it with the Beastie Boys and Herbie Hancock. Ray Chelstowski interviews flexi disc mega-collector Michael Cumella. Cliff Chenfeld turns us on to some contemporary women artists. Tom Gibbs goes crate digging and finds music from Henry Mancini, Roger Waters and New Order. Our audio/visual department lines up, finds half-price hi-fi, gets interrupted and basks in glorious symmetry.
