Mike Kay 1923–2012
Michael Kakadelis, known professionally as Mike Kay, the New York retailer who owned and ran Lyric for 45 years, died on Saturday, July 14 at age 89.
Miles Davis' Kind of Blue Gets the Web Treatment
The internet has been a boon to music lovers, who now can research almost any piece of music or artist, or shop for obscure discs and memorabilia from a plethora of sources. In an interesting twist on the additional material idea, Sony">http://www.sonymusic.com">Sony Music has been making supplemental content for selected CD releases available on a special website.
Millennia Offers Online Tutorial on Orchestral Recording
One of the best-sounding recordings I've heard in the last few years is Handel's Messiah performed by Jeffrey Thomas and the American Bach Soloists (Delos DE-3360 CD). The sound is spectacularly natural, with realistic dynamics and a wonderful sense of space. If you haven't heard it, I recommend it highly—but Millennia">http://www.mil-media.com/homepage.shtml">Millennia Music & Media Systems is now offering you a chance to experience the recording on a completely different level.
Milwaukee Symphony Goes Binaural
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, which last June became one of the first orchestras in the US to launch its">http://www.stereophile.com/news/101005milwaukee">its own e-label, has now become the first orchestra to offer download-only">http://www.milwaukeesymphony.org/symphonystore/othermerchandise.asp">do… binaural recordings. The binaural process, whose benefits are most apparent to those who listen through headphones, is based on the concept that the best way to reproduce the concert experience is to make sure that the recorded sounds that go into the listener's ears are as close as possible to what would be heard during an actual concert.
Milwaukee Symphony's Digital Brew
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra announced the launch of its new e-label, MSO Classics, on October 4. In a worldwide digital distribution deal with IODA, the Independent Online Distribution Alliance, the symphony will draw on its archive of over 300 live performances recorded between 1970 and 2005 for airing on its nationally disseminated radio broadcasts.
Mind of MOG
Billing itself as a "personalized gateway for music discovery," MOGhttp://www.mog.com">MOG; (a port manteau combination of "music" and "blog") has come out of beta testing and announced "the launch of your favorite new way to waste time on the Internet," MOG 2.0. Since my email tagline is "Waste more time: Read my blog,"">http://blog.stereophile.com/wesphillips/">blog," John Atkinson reckoned that I was the logical reporter for this new development.
MiniDisc Makes Headway
Four years after its first unsuccessful foray into the American consumer marketplace, Sony's">http://www.sel.cony.com/">Sony's MiniDisc appears finally to be winning serious numbers of converts. Several large-scale retailers, including Best Buy, Circuit City, Service Merchandise, and (soon) Sears department stores, have dedicated MiniDisc displays, with home recorders, portable players, and blank discs available individually or as a package deal. The displays were built with Sony's support, according to Mike Viken, senior VP for Sony's personal audio/video marketing division.
Minnesota Orchestra Streams Concerts on Demand
The Minnesota Orchestra has become one of the first symphony orchestras in the US to archive selected broadcasts for online streamed listening on demand. Through an arrangement with Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), which has broadcast virtually every Minnesota Orchestra concert since 1974, the performances are now available for up to a year's time at www.mpr.org/minnesotaorchestrahttp://www.mpr.org/minnesotaorchestra">www.mpr.org/minnesotaorchestra;.
Miracle At Merkin
On Saturday, February 10, collaborative improvisation band Attention Screen gave its debut at Manhattan's Merkin Hall at Kaufmann Center to a packed house. The event was recorded by John Atkinson for release in May as a Stereophile CD, possibly followed by a limited-edition DVD-A.
Mission in Management Buyout
It's been no secret that leading British speaker brand Mission was up for sale—the situation had been spelled out last fall in the Annual Report of parent company NXT plc. NXT is busy pioneering its new flat-panel speaker technology, and shareholder interests were clearly not being well served by "carrying" for any length of time a box-speaker brand whose recent financial reports had been mostly in the red.