Copper

Any Way You Want It

Arite…let’s get it out of the way, shall we? Journey is friggin’ AWESOME! That’s where we are going to start with this session of Hand Picked. If you think differently, then it says more about you than it does about Journey. They became one of the biggest Hit Machines in all of music. Their Greatest Hits has spent over 500 weeks on the album charts. They continue to sell out arenas and fill them with the sugary, poptastic, hookiness that the crowd sings at the TOP of their lungs, night after night, years after... Read more...

From -6 to 86 and Back Again

Welcome to Copper #79! This issue features my walkaround of the first-ever Florida Audio Expo . The turn-out was impressive, and both attendees and exhibitors were happy. I left Denver airport at -6 and frozen fuel... Read more...

Did the Grammys Ever Matter?

Somewhere in the hazy past, I wrote that nostalgia ain’t what it used to be. The cynical part of me thinks that the rosy glow with which we surround many of our memories may be akin to the miasma that rises from a fetid swamp. How’s that for a romantic view? And yet, and yet: when I conceived of the title of this piece, it was out of a sense that the Grammys have always been a self-righteous popularity contest amongst the lacquered and overdressed, and that music has had... Read more...

New Old Stock

Newbies to the audio world encounter a lot of puzzling terminology, some of which seems oxymoronic. One such term that took me a while to understand is NOS—New Old Stock. If you parse the phrase out in segments, it actually makes sense…at least, more sense than “jumbo shrimp” or “military intelligence”. Okay: think of “new” as meaning “unused”, not, “just made”. “Old stock” is pretty much self-evident; think of a general store that’s gone out of business after 100 years. Odds are, there will be merchandise that’s been on the... Read more...

Issue 79

Fall

June Millington, Part 1

Before the Runaways, before the Go-Go’s, before the Bangles – there was Fanny. David Bowie was quoted in a 1999 Rolling Stone interview about Fanny: “They’re as important as anyone who’s ever... Read more...

The Florida Audio Expo

I lived on the Gulf coast of Florida for 15 years, and even worked for an audio manufacturer there—VAC, in Sarasota. In spite of that—or perhaps because of that—when I... Read more...

Red Hot Chili Peppers

A bass player named Flea is the group’s most stable member. But, despite all their drug-related traumas and personnel turnover, Red Hot Chili Peppers endure, still heating up the airwaves with their distinctive take on funk music. They started in the early ’80s in L.A., calling themselves Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem (and you thought their current name was long!) – Anthony Kiedis singing, Flea (born Michael Balzary) on bass, drummer Jack Irons, and guitarist Hillel Slovak. Slovak was a question mark from the get-go. By... Read more...

Hong Kong

On my many visits to China, I always make a point of going through or leaving from Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a western sea of tranquility amongst the tumult of China. It is also a place where English is ubiquitously spoken. Aberdeen. I have a friend who used to be the manager of the Aberdeen Marina Club in Hong Kong Island. The Aberdeen Marina Club, the foremost private club in Hong Kong, caters to the very rich and very famous. Membership is by recommendation only and if you are... Read more...

I Hate...(Fill in the Blank)

When I’m introduced as Jay Jay French of Twisted Sister at parties or social events, the first question I’m asked is, “So what music are you listening to these days?” The questioner is usually in the age range of 40-60. Before I answer, I usually ask, “Well, what do you listen to?” The typical response is, “I’m still into 80’s metal.” I then ask, “Do you like current music, like hip hop?” I usually receive one of the following responses: “I hate Hip Hop; it’s all garbage and it all... Read more...

Purcell’s King Arthur

Merlin waves his Wand; the Scene changes, and discovers the British Ocean in a Storm, AEolus in a Cloud above: Four Winds hanging, &c. . . . AEolus ascends, and the four Winds fly off. The Scene opens, and discovers a calm Sea, to the end of the House [i.e., stage]. An Island arises, to a soft Tune; Britannia seated in the Island, with Fishermen at her Feet, &c. The Tune changes, the Fishermen come ashore, and Dance a while; After which, Pan and a Nereide come on the Stage, and sing . . . The Scene opens above, and discovers... Read more...

Audiophile Science

There is one consistent misconception that non-scientists have about science, and that is the Albert Einstein problem – the idea that major scientific problems can be solved by a lone genius who sweeps away decades of dead-end sawdust and comes up with a miraculous total solution. That stuff only ever happens in the movies, and even then the genius scientist either uses his new invention to take over the world, or becomes indentured in the service of a mad megalomaniac with the same idea. I don’t recall off-hand a movie... Read more...

Don't Call Them Q-Tips

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