Sadly this is not April 1st, and this is not a joke. The Banning CA facility housing Apollo/Transco lacquer manufacturing burned today and is apparently a total loss. More than 80 firefighters fought the dangerous chemical-laden fire. I haven't had a chance to get into the story details but hopefully no one was seriously injured in the blaze.
Vienna, February 04, 2020 – The Vinyl Alliance a new industry organization dedicated to promoting awareness of vinyl records and composed of manufacturers, dealers, record companies and other interested parties announce that during their Founders Meeting in New York City on 22 January 2020 the new Executive Board members were elected:
Welsh multi-instrumentalist Gwenifer Raymond makes her London debut February 19th at Shacklewell Arms. If you live nearby or are in the mood to travel, thanks to the show promoter, analogPlanet is giving away two tickets.
SkyFi Audio, located in Glen Rock, New Jersey invites you to the grand opening of their new showroom Thursday February 27th from 5PM-8PM. The address is 479 South Broad Street. So if you are in Northern, New Jersey, it's close by! Please be sure to RSVP. I'll surely be there. Hope to see you.
Multi-talented saxophonist Charles Lloyd celebrated his 80th birthday last March at Santa Barbara's Lobero Theater in concert with musical friends including guitarist Juian Lage, pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Reuben Rogers, and dummer Eric Harland plus special guests Booker T. Jones and bassist and Blue Note President Don Was joining in halfway through the show. Lloyd's new album 8 Kindrid Spirits (Live From The Lobero) documents the show in a limited edition Blue Note Records box that includes the full performance on 3 LPs, 2 CDs and a DVD along with a 96 page hardcover book and 2 photo prints. There will also be a standard LP/DVD, DC/DVD edition containing just the first set.
Unless you are official press, you are not invited to the XVX noon press preview lunch Friday January 17th, but feel free to reserve a seat during one of the hourly "Happy Hour Listening Sessions" from 4PM through 8PM at Innovative Audio by rsvp-ing before limited space is all booked. The website says 5PM-9PM....so better check with Innovative!
Neil Innes, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band co-founder, Rutles member and writer of all of that group's hilarious Beatles parodies and Monty Python member/contributor died suddenly and unexpectedly Sunday night, December 29th. According to his family, he'd not been sick and the cause of his passing has of yet not been determined.
The previous in-store event at Audio Advisors in West Palm Beach where I spun records in one room while in another, Wilson Audio Specialties' Peter McGrath demoed the WAMM Master Chronosonic Loudpseakers and Mat Weisfeld introduced the new VPI Avenger Direct Drive Turntable went so well, the store asked me back to do a turntable set-up seminar and I could not refuse.
Roger Modjeski passed away December 11th 2019 at age 68 after a year long battle with cancer. He was a brilliant audio engineer who, after working at IBM and teaching at Stanford, joined Harold Beveridge in Santa Barbara, CA where he worked on that designer's electrostatic loudspeakers before becoming a reluctant manufacturer whose no-nonsense products have stood the test of time. He favored teaching and mentoring to manufacturing but managed to do both very well.
Legendary loudspeaker designer Andrew Jones (KEF, Infinity, TAD/Pioneer and now ELAC) received the Founders Award from The Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society December 8th at the organization's annual Gala. AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer was again asked to "roast" and introduce the recipient.
Blue Note Records just announced the 2020 continuation of the acclaimed Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series. "Tone Poet" Joe Harley (so named by jazz great Charles Lloyd) produces the series, originally launched in 2019 to honor the label's 80th anniversary. The all-analog 180g series mastered directly from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and pressed at Camarillo, CA-based RTI features deluxe Stoughton Printing "Old Style" Gatefold Tip-On Jackets.
SME will exit the tonearm retail and OEM business with immediate effect shifting our focus on our core turntable and tonearm combination business. The decision to leave the tonearm business was not taken lightly, especially as we have played a key role in the design and development of the world’s best tonearms. The growth of our turntable business and commitment to higher production levels means that we cannot continue both streams.
"What happens in Memphis stays in Memphis"—at least until you get these home (unless you live in Memphis!) might be Craft Recordings' slogan for this all-analog pair of Big Star reissues, probably the first all-analog reissues of these two ignored when first released but now highly regarded early '70s albums since Classic Records released them in 2009 AAA on Clarity vinyl.
Newvelle’s Season Five Box is ready, but sorry, we’re behind so here’s coverage of Season Four’s box just in time for the subscription-based label’s Black Friday Record Store Day “open box” specials.
First the specials: eleven individual albums from the label’s first four years, including two from Season Four’s box, will be available exclusively from Wednesday, November 27th to Monday December 2nd, on the Newvelle website. There are albums from familiar names like the late Don Friedman and Ben Allison and others as well including from season four, Billy Lester’s From Scratch and Kenny Werner’s Church on Mars.
In addition, the label is offering during this Wednesday-Monday Black Friday RSD promotion, free shipping when you purchase the
full Season Four box set.