For a few weeks each year in the high summer of Minnesota, the corn sold from rickety roadside stands is so sweet and tender it is best eaten unadorned. For the wise and lucky nibbler willing to forgo condiments, the rewards of eating these naked kernels are the pure taste of Midwestern soil and sun transformed into a juicy, golden confection. I've begun to wonder if the yearly encounter with this magnificent and ephemeral sweet corn reminds Midwesterners of the joys of simplicity and plainness. Though my hypothesis is a stretch, it sure would explain a great deal about the Midwestern mentality. Perhaps Midwesterners subtly learn from this corn that if we get too fancy or try too hard, we can often screw up what nature has already made perfect. Conversely, we learn that no amount of fancy accoutrements will make a bad ear of bland, mealy corn come alive in the mouth.

KEF: 50 Years of Innovation in Sound
By Ken Kessler and Dr. Andrew Watson. GP Acoustics International Limited, 2011. $89.99. Hardcover, 12" by 12" by 0.9", 216 pp. ISBN 978-988-15427-4-8. Available from selected KEF dealers and Amazon.com.

Ken Kessler's latest "coffee-tabler" (my favorite publishing-industry insider neologism) celebrates the 50th anniversary of the founding of KEF Electronics by documenting the history of the venerable loudspeaker manufacturer. While the book doesn't quite start with a bang, it does start with an evocative vignette. The year was 1979, the place the ballroom of Buckingham Palace. Her Majesty the Queen, about to present KEF's founder, Raymond Cooke, with the medal representing his having been made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), inquired, perhaps formulaically, "This is for loudspeakers?"

Saturday, February 11, 11am–4pm: Audio High (165 Moffett Boulevard, Mountain View, CA) will host a vinyl sale to benefit the Friends of Palo Alto Library. Hundreds of vinyl LPs ranging from rock to jazz to classical to “just plain weird” will be available, with prices starting at $2.00. An original pressing of Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue will be offered.

Saturday, March 17, 1–6pm: Fidelis AV (14 E. Broadway, Derry, New Hampshire) will host an open house to introduce loudspeakers from Stenheim and Zellaton and turntables Holborne. Gideon Schwartz of Audioarts, US importer for the brands, and Walter Swanbon of Fidelis AV will be on hand to answer questions. Refreshments will be served. For more info, e-mail info@fidelisav.com or call (603) 437-4769.

Sunday, March 11, Time TBA: Classic Album Sundays, Colleen Murphy’s popular UK event, makes its US debut at the new Bellwether venue (594 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn).

With Classic Album Sundays, Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy shares her passions for great music and high-quality sound, inviting guests to listen to an entire record, from beginning to end, on vinyl.

Saturday, March 3, 3–9pm: The Audio Doctor (112 Sherman Place, Jersey City, NJ) will host an evening of music featuring amplification and sources from Unison Research. Three systems will be utilized, and there will be three separate showings: 3pm, 6pm, and 8:30pm.

Gear will include Unison’s S6 integrated amplifier, Primo amplifier and CD player/DAC, and Unico 50 CDE CD player/DAC; loudspeakers will include models from KEF and Dali. Dave Lalin of the Audio Doctor and Colleen Cardas of Colleen Cardas Imports will be on hand to present the systems.

Space is limited; RSVP with the time slot that works best for you. For more info, e-mail sales@audiodoctor.com, call (877) 428-2873, or visit the Audio Doctor.

Friday, February 17, 5–9pm: David Michael Audio (4341 Delemere Court, Royal Oak, MI) will host an Evening of Turntables and Vinyl featuring outstanding new pressings from ORG. In addition, all ORG releases will be available for purchase. Space is limited. For more info, e-mail info@davidmichaelaudio.com, call (586) 244-8479, or visit David Michael Audio.

Jeff Joseph of Joseph Audio introduced me to this beautiful cassette deck; I spotted the pic at BeoPhile.com.

From the Mouth of the Sun's "Sitting In a Roofless Room," from the new album Woven Tide, released by Experimedia.