The Musical Instrument Museum: A National Treasure

Jeff Weiner has been a volunteer museum guide/docent at Phoenix, Arizona’s Musical Instrument Museum for the last five years. Some of the content of this article has been adapted from...

High Fi

Octave Records Releases Nightmares by Country/A...

Octave Records has released Nightmares by country/Americana/rock band Gasoline Lollipops, a record that weaves roots music influences, intimate confessional songwriting and the raw power of rock and roll into a deeply moving...

Around the World In 80 Lathes, Part 18

When it comes to the preservation of vintage technology, the demographics show a significant age bias. It is a rapidly aging population that is primarily interested in such things, as...

Resolute

Pet Sounds: My Dogs Explained by Album Titles

Emma is ready for her close-up.   “There is no you,” Trent Reznor sang. “There is only me.” Trent is a self-absorbed individual who intuitively understood our first dog, Emma....

Pilgrimage to Sturgis, Part 26

  After a delightful breakfast, Evelyn had to rush off to work. As we parted, she urged me to spend some time visiting the Minneapolis Institute of Art on Third...

Talking With Larry Jaffee of Making Vinyl, Part...

Copper contributor Larry Jaffee is the co-founder of Making Vinyl, an industry organization dedicated to fostering cooperation among those in the record-manufacturing industry. Larry is also the author of Record Store Day: The...

Back to My Reel-to-Reel Roots, Part 20: (Not) L...

At the risk of courting lawsuits from retired octogenarians, I find myself unable to resist attacking the easiest of targets: record labels. To be more precise, the major labels circa...

Listening With Dog's Ears

Written by Frank Doris They don’t make ’em like this anymore: an early Garrard AT6 turntable (thanks Ken Kessler for identifying this model).   Another view of the AT6. Photos...

The Evolution of In-Ear Monitors

They have become ubiquitous on concert stages from clubs and churches to theaters and stadiums. They have become so popular that some people prefer them over conventional headphones, and they...

Women Who Rock: Some of My Favorites

There is a common misconception that men dominate the rock scene. It’s not true. Women have long co-dominated the rock scene. The real issue is that they simply aren’t properly...

The Harlequins: A Cincinnati Band Has Plenty to...

In 1984, On July 4th weekend, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band made their second stop on the “Born in the U.S.A.” tour. It had begun with three dates...

Play it Again, Steinway: the Spirio Player Piano

A few months back, I was hanging out with Ed Gilmore at Gilmore’s Sound Advice auditioning the Steinway Lyngdorf Model D, a digital all-in-one system with powered speakers and a central processor to accommodate...

More CES History, and Technomania

In my early years of attending CES in the 1990s, I would take the redeye home from Las Vegas. That would prevent the loss of a full day flying back...

Vinyl and the World’s Best Stereo System

Many of us prefer to listen to vinyl over other formats because it produces that je ne sais quoi, a mysteriously gripping and engaging effect which, for many listeners, seems...

Grupo Rebolú's Afro-Colombian Breakthrough

Mi Herencia (My Heritage) Broadens Latin Roots Music You may have an earlier example, but for me, ever since Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo teamed up with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie on “Manteca”...

The A&M Records Story, Part Six: The 1980s ...

The transition from the 1980s to the 1990s would be a bittersweet moment. In 1989, Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss sold A&M Records, the largest independent record label ever, to...

Where To Buy (High-Quality) Classical Downloads

With the recent resurgence of interest in vinyl, we are seeing the slow return of dedicated record stores. But let’s be honest: it’s still very much a niche market and...

Big Sky

The Manhattan skyline, July 4, 2022, taken from Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It’s always an impressive sight, and the sky complementing it was particularly spectacular on this evening.

Kitty Wells: Queen of Country Music

Before there was Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, there was Kitty Wells. The singer was the first woman to become a major star in country music, and only the third...

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater: Glo...

Music history textbooks usually bring up Giovanni Battista Pergolesi in the context of his contributions to comic opera, which influenced Mozart. But his religious works, particularly his setting of the Stabat...