<I>The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia</I>? Now in its second revised and updated printing? Does any one person, even a momentous artist who now seems determined to die on the stage (to steal a quote from the great <I>Midnight Cowboy</I>) really need or deserve their own encyclopedia?
Back in March 1998, Revel's Ultima Salon1 floorstanding loudspeaker generated quite a stir at <I>Stereophile</I> (<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/96">Vol.22 No.3</A>). Our reviewers were impressed by its seven designed-from-scratch drive-units, its ultramodern enclosure with curved rosewood side panels, exposed front tweeter and midrange, rear-facing reflex port and tweeter, and a flying grille over the mid-woofer and woofers. In the December issue (Vol.22 No.12), the Ultima Salon1 ($16,000/pair) was named <I>Stereophile</I>'s "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/features/178/index1.html">Joint Speaker of 1999</A>" for its "big bass, timbral accuracy, low distortion, dynamics, lack of compression, and best fit'n'finish."
Oh, <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/060308criteria/">I forgot to mention</a>: For really dirty records, like those that have been through my many unfortunate basement floods or those that I've picked up from the flea market on 17th Street, I've developed a two-part cleaning process.
At Waterstone's website, <A HREF="http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/navigate.do?pPageID=1575">Neil Gaiman interviews Terry Pratchett</A>. If that isn't enough to whet your interest, the interview is accompanied by excellent Paul Kidby illustrations.
<i>Me, holding a very big tube, at Nori Komuro's place in Brooklyn. To my right, Komuro's prototype VT-52 sits quietly. Photo by Michael Lavorgna.</i>
There are an increasing number of articles on the Web regarding cables/speaker wire and their sonic properties. Combine this with some "blind" listening sessions (like the one substituting a coat hanger) and any sensible person has reason to pause. Do you find yourself more dubious about manufacturers' performance claims? Has this affected your spending habits?
As I write, it is garage-sale season here again in Santa Fe, and a recent sign near my home advertised "Over 3000 LPs, good condition, low prices." To my surprise, the seller wasn't a yuppie enamored of his new CD player but a true collector discarding the duplicates and dogs from his collection. 30 minutes later, many LPs heavier—including a mint Flanders & Swan <I>At the Drop of a Hat</I> (footnote 1)—and not too many dollars lighter, I returned to a great night's listening courtesy of the black vinyl disc.
When I visited The Louis Armstrong Archives a few years ago to visit archivist Michael Cogswell, Cogswell escorted me back into the stacks to show me Armstrong's collection of 650 open-reel tapes, almost all of which sported collages assembled by the great trumpeter. More than touching his trumpet, I felt a direct connection to Armstrong viewing (and hearing) his mix tapes—Satchmo was one of us!
On June 11, <I>Recording Industry vs the People</I>, Ray Beckerman's popular blogspot site covering the recording industry's ongoing series of litigations, revealed that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) had voluntarily and "without prejudice" filed a motion on May 27 to dismiss its ongoing complaint, <I>Warner v Cassin</I>, which maintained that posting files to a peer-to-peer network was distribution of those files, whether or not actual distribution occurred. This is known in copyright law as "making available."
It has been an action packed week on the judicial copyright battlefield. One June 11, a <A HREF="http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/umg_v_augusto/LA07CV03106SJO-O.pdf">f… district court upheld</A> the <A HREF="http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2007/08/first-sale-why-it-matters-why-were… sale doctrine</A> , ruling in <I>UMG v Troy Augusto</I> that sales of promotional CDs did not constitute a copyright violation.