Copper
They're Back!
We are thrilled to announce the return of Patti, Louie and Nipper! While we’ve been digging the artistic covers over the last several issues, readers have missed Copper’s mascots (named...
Dion: Blues With Friends
The first album I ever bought with my own money was Presenting Dion and the Belmonts (Laurie LLP 1002). In faded red ink from a rubber stamp, you can barely make out...
More Time with War: Lasting Impact
I am watching Midnight Blue on leased-access cable channel J. It is Saturday morning just past midnight and I am enjoying a shot of tequila in my apartment on 3rd Avenue in the...
A Love Supreme
Members of the San Diego Music and Audio Guild visit a fellow member in Encinitas for music and scotch. The Marten Coltrane Supreme 2 speakers from Sweden stand almost 6...
Songs of Praise from Unlikely Artists, Part Three
In Part One and Part Two of this series (Issues 112 and 113), I noted that throughout the history of American music, the influence of the Christian church has been...
The Strokes: Indie Rock from The Big Apple
Plenty of major groups have made their name in New York City, but not many are actually made up of New Yorkers. Four of The Strokes’ five members grew up...
Elusive Butterfly
That butterfly isn't giving up the sweet spot. From Audio, August 1959. Before smartphones, there were smart tape recorders. From Audio, August 1964. And the man from downstairs was right!...
A Stereo Journey
I was a kid about seven when I refused to speak. A neighbor was the sales manager for RCA in Philly and as such, would get some of the earliest...
Mendelssohn Piano and Violin Concertos
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847) was one of the great pianists and piano-music composers of his day. His parents sent him to first-rate music teachers in Berlin and Paris who...
Leland Sklar: The Bearded One
In the 1970s I was in a record shop in Hartford, Connecticut. I was a gigging (read, broke) musician. The great thing about record shops was you could go in,...
How Not To Fix Things (Especially Things That T...
There are few things more frustrating than having trusted an expert to fix something, only to have it returned more broken than it was to begin with! The wrong choice...
Me and the Dead: The Rocky Road To Unlimited De...
My first book, Twisted Business will be published in the first quarter of 2021 through RosettaBooks. It is a business book/memoir. In it I go into detail about my life and the...
Tales of an Audio Forum Administrator, Part Four
The final installment in Rudy’s behind-the-scenes series on what it’s like to be an audio forum administrator… “Why did you delete my post?” “Insulted me in this post.” “You...
Confessions of a Setup Man, Part Six: Sinister ...
What Goes Up, Must Come Down When I worked at The Absolute Sound as Harry Pearson’s setup man he had a strict rule: no shoes could be worn in his house. I...
Women Composers of Early Music
If you ask people to name a famous classical music composer they’ll probably say Bach, Beethoven, Brahms or Mozart – all men. If you ask people to name a famous...
Three Great Records and a "Good" One
Norah Jones – Pick Me Up Off the Floor Norah Jones surprised a lot of people when she first burst onto the scene in 2002, sweeping most of the Grammy awards with...
Why Collect?
Part 1: Adventures in Time Travel Last week I unboxed a new vinyl-cleaning machine, plugged it in, flipped the on/off switches a few times. I knew the basics of LP...