News

The 2019 Montreal Audio Fest has opened at the Hotel Bonaventure across the street from the city's main railway station and even at the opening time of 11am, there was a long queue at the registration desk. The show, which runs until 8pm tonight, 10am–6pm Saturday, and 10am–5pm Sunday, has a theme celebrating both the Woodstock Festival's 50th anniversary and the 50 years since John Lennon's and Yoko Ono's infamous bed-in in Montreal and the Fab Four's last live concert. I will be covering the show live for Stereophile, along with Robert Schryer and Art Dudley. Stay tuned for our reports.

Friday March 8 at 6pm, Audio Element (117 E. Union St, Pasadena, CA 91103) is presenting the next in their 2019 Monthly Music Series—Ae LIVE! Friday and Saturday, March 8, 4–7pm, and March 9, 11am–4pm, Command Performance AV (115 Park Avenue, Suite 2, Falls Church, VA 22046) will host two Luxman events with special guest Jeff Sigmund, president of Luxman America. Friday March 8 and Saturday March 9, Musical Artisans (8335 N. Keeler Avenue, Skokie, IL 60076) will host their annual Winter Open House Event on to celebrate the return of CH Precision and introduction of Rockport Technologies to Chicago.

The news broke on Facebook yesterday that Mark Hollis had died, aged just 64. I was late to appreciate Hollis's work, including his extraordinary solo album from 1998 (above). But since Stephen Mejias turned me on to him, Mark Hollis's music, both solo and with the band Talk Talk, has been in heavy rotation. (You can find my review of Talk Talk's final album, Laughing Stock, here—scroll down the page.) Fellow fan, Michael Vamos of distributor Audio Skies, asked if he could share some thoughts.