This is not about diversity, this is about a CHANGING OF THE GUARD!
The Grammys have been out of touch since day one. They missed the Beatles and they missed Led Zeppelin, hell, the New Artist award is considered the kiss of death. So if they got it so wrong for so long how did they get it so right this time? I DON'T KNOW!
This opacity leads to the question of ultimate winners to boot. Will Jay Z eclipse Kendrick for Album of the Year? Will Jay Z also beat out "Despacito" as Record of the Year? If so, we'll know the same Grammy organization exists, one wherein members vote upon name recognition as opposed to intrinsic value.
That's right, the Grammys are a joke. Anybody who believes in them is delusional. The wrong people win and even worse, now the winners don't even see a bump in consumption.
BUT THAT MAY CHANGE!
Amazing how a little dose of truth pays dividends.
I'm eager to see what kind of show they produce. Whether their usual smorgasbord of head-scratching duets or the nominees who gained attention. The truth is network television has lost touch with America. It's playing to everybody and therefore ultimately satisfying nobody. There's no truth, no essence, nothing you can truly relate to like on HBO or Netflix. They excised the classical performances, will they excise ROCK?
THEY SHOULD!
Look at the nominees for Best Rock Album. Most people have never heard Mastodon, the War On Drugs, possibly the most deserving, can't break out of their press niche, the Queens of the Stone Age have never gone broad and no one knows who Nothing More is. So maybe you get Metallica, since they've got the most name recognition in a backward category.
This is the end of the baby boomer hegemony. AND THEY DON'T LIKE IT!
The boomers thought they and their sound would triumph forever. But this turned out to be wrong. Oh, they'll go see old bands made up of one member and a bunch of youngsters, but they're not big new music consumers, otherwise these rock acts would be big names.
And they hang on to their files and CDs when everybody knows the action is in streaming.
And I won't say the hip-hop acts lack mainstream coverage, but they absolutely dominate streaming, which demonstrates consumption, as opposed to manipulated radio charts. The lunatics have taken over the asylum, AND IT FEELS SO GOOD!
If the Grammy show wanted to survive, they'd let it be dominated by hip-hop, swipe away the detritus of old and focus on the new, on the future, but the problem with the organization is it always looks back, and as Don Henley sang you can never look back. Which is why he is a legend and winners like the Starland Vocal Band have been forgotten. It's all about what you've got to say. AND THE RAPPERS SAY IT!
If you don't like Childish Gambino's "Redbone," you don't have ears.
Then again, it was influenced by Bootsy Collins's "I'd Rather Be With You," then again, Zeppelin and the rest of the blues-rockers wore their influences on their sleeves, even if they may not have acknowledged them.
And "Despacito" is a grand slam. From the video to the groove to Bieber, you cannot complain. It's a deserving winner.
So if you've been living in the past...
The world has just passed you by.
And speaking of passed by, the refusal to acknowledge the impact of country is reflective of the division in our society at large. It's made for crackers in red states, or at least the Grammys think so. Then again, the CMAs is always a better show than the Grammy telecast.
As for Ed Sheeran, America has now turned into the U.K. Where they build 'em up only to tear them down. So let me get this straight, if you evidence talent in multiple genres you're a loser?
Come on.
But not only is Sheeran a winner, but maybe even bigger is John Mayer, who gave up chasing hits and is still selling arenas solo and stadiums with the reconstituted Dead. Because he's learned the action is not on the hit parade, but in fans' hearts. This is what screwed up the popsters, they lived from hit to hit, there was little base.
But there's culture in hip-hop. Something completely absent from rock.
And we don't know whether these nominations were massaged by committees, and as was said above, we have no idea what the final vote will be, but one thing's for sure...
Overnight, the Grammys became relevant. The winners will get airtime in a world where it's hard to get traction, it will pay dividends.
As for those nominated in categories other than the top four, forget about it. They won't let most of you on the telecast and the truth is you may feel good about yourself but it ain't gonna impact your career. There are too many categories featuring music with little traction, never mind manipulated winners based on friends in the academy. If I was running it they'd eliminate all those superfluous awards. Because everybody needs to play with the big boys (and girls!) Either you make music with ubiquity and reach a large audience or you're irrelevant. Yup, that's the world we live in, one of winners and losers. Make your pop, jazz or rock album penetrate our consciousness, otherwise giving you an award is like giving a kid a soccer trophy for participation.
Piss you off?
I bet I did.
But you can't handle the truth.
And the Grammys just dropped a whole bunch of it on you this week.
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Friday, 1 December 2017
Thursday, 30 November 2017
Me At Stream
http://bit.ly/2Bpzx67
I don't need no stinkin' slides!
This was an Ignite talk, one of about a dozen at the Stream conference two weeks ago. I agreed to do it because that way people would know who I was. I've never used PowerPoint, which most people hate anyway, either the talk is good enough or it's not, either you're paying attention to what someone is saying or not, and even in the best of circumstances the slides are distracting.
Which is all to say I had none.
As for those numbers in the lower right hand corner of the screen, that's where the slides should go.
The recording is not great, you're gonna have to crank it to hear me.
And I do best when I'm responding to questions but here I'm letting it rip without preparation, about the history of the modern music business.
You can watch it.
Or not.
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I don't need no stinkin' slides!
This was an Ignite talk, one of about a dozen at the Stream conference two weeks ago. I agreed to do it because that way people would know who I was. I've never used PowerPoint, which most people hate anyway, either the talk is good enough or it's not, either you're paying attention to what someone is saying or not, and even in the best of circumstances the slides are distracting.
Which is all to say I had none.
As for those numbers in the lower right hand corner of the screen, that's where the slides should go.
The recording is not great, you're gonna have to crank it to hear me.
And I do best when I'm responding to questions but here I'm letting it rip without preparation, about the history of the modern music business.
You can watch it.
Or not.
--
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--
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The Infusion
I have pemphigus.
They believe it's foliaceus as opposed to vulgaris but we're waiting for the blood work to come back from the Mayo Clinic for a precise diagnosis, but they're both bad, my internist hasn't seen it in his decades of practice and it took four dermatologists to diagnose it.
Don't look it up. That's what the last dermatologist told me. She thought the spots were a drug interaction, but no, it's pemphigus.
And if you can't resist you'll see a picture of a body covered with red sores. The bottom line is the immune system goes haywire and the element that holds your skin together doesn't work so you get these blisters and they pop and you end up with what were first dime-sized red spots and then progressed to quarter-sized and now are silver dollar-sized if not larger. Yes, it's painful, you have no idea, I have to sleep in my clothes, otherwise my sores open up and glue me to the bed sheet, and it's also itchy, very.
So this all started in August. 2016. I got a red spot under my arm. I figured it was from the sling I was wearing as a result of my shoulder surgery. But then in October it spread to my nose. Which prompted the first dermatologist visit, a man who does house calls for household names. But nothing he did worked. He'd have me come back for free, to check on the spots, but every ointment he prescribed had no effect.
Then I went to Colorado and my skin went nuclear. I thought it was the long underwear, I was covered in red spots and the only thing that satiated me was an extremely hot shower, of a temperature no one takes. And I know you're not supposed to do that, but that's the amount of pain and itchiness I possessed.
So I trooped back to Beverly Hills and despite such obvious sores the bigwig's treatment had no effect so I stopped, I figured I was just a winter thing.
But then I was sitting in front of the house after midnight scratching so much that I decided to write about it, and a tsunami of responses came in. Mostly mumbo-jumbo. Why is it the educated class doesn't believe in science? That's right, the right-wingers and poor will go to the doctor, assuming they can afford one, but the left-wingers believe vaccinations incite autism and that a home remedy is better than anything a doctor can prescribe. I know I'm pissing you off. Hell, I had confirmation of my diagnosis and a good friend told me to get acupuncture. Huh? I'm on the verge of suicide and I'm gonna pass up a western solution nearly guaranteed to work?
But the good thing about writing about my skin problem is another bigwig skin doctor who is a subscriber tracked me down, he agreed to treat me for free, but when he heard the name of dermatologist number one, he was blown away that that guy couldn't fix it, he's a legend.
So we started with ointments and injections and ultimately a steroid on the nose and there was improvement, but no resolution. The biopsy on my chest showed nothing and when he wanted to do one on my nose, which would leave a scar, however little, I moved on. I can handle a scar on my nose if there's a solution, but so far there hadn't been one, and I didn't believe this test would show one either.
That was April and May.
In June, my internist suggested a third dermatologist. Who specializes in clinical trials and breakthrough products. The guy barely possessed a personality and gave my skin the most cursory look, but declared there was a drug that would cure me, Dupixent, you inject it every couple of weeks and in a matter of months you're cured. Hosannas! Manna from heaven! Eureka! A solution!
But Dupixent costs 35k and my insurer wouldn't approve it. I waited all summer, enduring three appeals, no dice. If only they saw my body! But then Regeneron, the manufacturer, said they'd give it to me for free, once all appeals were exhausted, even one to the government.
So I'm hanging in there. But the last week of August my skin was so bad I went back to this third doctor and showed it to him and he was not impressed. Gave me some cream for my eyes that didn't work. Did I tell you I haven't been able to wear my contacts for three weeks? I'm wearing my old Lennon specs from 1970, so if you see me...
So I'm waiting for the Dupixent.
But my skin is getting worse and worse.
So I go for my annual physical, and ignore those who say you don't need to, this guy diagnosed my cancer, and he said my skin was "very impressive," he suggested I go to an immunologist, so I made an appointment.
Meanwhile, I needed a colonoscopy, and this doctor gives you a ton of time, which you pay for, and the truth is there are two tiers of coverage in America and if you're rich you get the better one. And statistics prove the poor lag in life expectancy, because they don't get this level of treatment. And I'm not wealthy, but my health is the most important thing to me, so I'll sacrifice for it. And the first thing out of the gastroenterologist's mouth was, "What's up with your skin?"
I told him the saga I just told you and he gave me the choice of two new dermatologists in the Cedars family and ultimately said he believed it was caused by drugs.
And the internist said the same thing and so did my shrink, so my hematologist agreed to let me stop my Gleevec for a month, the drug that keeps my CML in check, even though he believed that a rash would have occurred much earlier in treatment, but he went along with the plan.
He was right.
He's the head of hematology at UCLA.
But now my shrink was freaking out, and the gastroenterologist told me dermatologist number four would call me but this did not happen and I didn't push it because I'd stopped the Gleevec but I called him and he gave me number four's name.
So I went to her two weeks ago.
She too thought it was a drug reaction. But then she asked me if I wanted another biopsy. So I asked her. And when she equivocated, I said "Let's do it."
That was the week when I had blood drawn three times in two days.
No, that was the week after, I'm getting ahead of myself.
So I'm in Ojai with my ringer off, writing about Coke, and I feel a buzz in my pocket. It was five on a Friday afternoon and the number had no name, but it did say "Beverly Hills," so I picked up.
It was her.
The biopsy result had come in.
I had pemphigus.
So Monday I go to the immunologist, who doesn't even charge me, because he's an eczema specialist and if it's pemphigus...in L.A. you see the appropriate person.
So I went for the Mayo Clinic blood test and then went to the hematologist. Who typed furiously and said little. Other than he'd spoken to dermatologist number four and she said to check for lymphoma.
HUH???
He said there was no test for that, and the odds were low, but you never know.
So I was reeling, I was numb, if you wonder why I didn't write for a few days, that was it.
But I had an appointment Monday, two days ago, with dermatologist number four to have my stitches from the biopsy removed.
She brought in another woman, both of these women are about forty, they studied under a professor at Johns Hopkins who's the guru on pemphigus and this other woman is the go-to person for pemphigus and they said I should have Rituxan. And then debated whether to also give me this other treatment, with a three letter acronym I can't remember. But they kept wavering whether to do it or not, it could have a ton of side effects, my kidney number is high and I've got CML. But if they gave me this treatment along with the Rituxan my skin would clear in two weeks. If I was just on the Rituxan alone, it would be 8-12! So I was not eager to let the three letter acronym go, but then they said it could be given at any time and I agreed, and also I've experienced some horrific side effects, someone has to, otherwise they wouldn't be in the literature.
So they pulled some strings and I went for the infusion of Rituxan today.
They give it in the chemo ward. Actually, it's mostly used for lymphoma. And it was in the office of the doctor who diagnosed my CML even though I passed him up for a specialist in leukemia, but the treatment room was huge, about fifteen stations, you know, those overpadded recliners, and the one thing that impressed me is they were so TOGETHER!!!
Unlike the facility where I got my back injections, which was so disorganized I almost bolted, not wanting to be another Joan Rivers, hell, the nurse poked me four times before she got a vein.
And I had to be there at 8. Which meant I had to wake up at 6:30, and if you know me that's extremely rare, and I got to this office on Doheny and you're never gonna believe it, they validated the parking, which no doctor in L.A. does, and I was there nearly all day, from 8-2:45.
That's right, nurse number one said it would take five to seven hours. Huh??? Can I sit in a chair that long?
Actually, you can roll your station to the bathroom, where I had an accident, and almost fell over on the way thereto, and they'll order you lunch, but first they give you steroids and Benadryl and that gives you...
Restless leg.
Which was freaking me out, I couldn't sit still in the chair!
But they said it would pass in an hour or so and it did.
And I brought a backpack full of reading material, newspapers and magazines, as well as my iPad and Kindle, but I was so fogged out I couldn't read, but I couldn't sleep either.
And they kept coming to talk to me. A nurse practitioner to go through every detail. A pharmacist. A nutritionist. A social worker. And then the doctor himself, who spent an hour with me, even though he wasn't really treating me.
There was one hiccup. They recited a litany of things I should watch out for. Fever, chills, a rash on my chest... They'd start infusing the Rituxan slowly and then amp it up. And when they got to 100, out of a possible 200, I started to get this sore throat and some mucous and I was willing to endure it but they wouldn't hear of it. They stopped the infusion, injected some Zantac and something else and we waited... For half an hour. And I'm restless, I wanted to get out of there at some point.
And after a third trip to the bathroom a nurse told me I only had 45 minutes left, which stunned me, since there was a bag still half full, but that's only saline and...
They let me drive, although the doctor was hesitant because of the effects of the Benadryl.
And I was optimistic all until a couple of hours back, lying on the bed, finishing up "Breaking Bad," you see I've got these sores on my butt and they're oozing and... When I get up, it's painful, because of all the sores on my body.
So I've got to have another infusion in two weeks. And then another in six months. They're pretty convinced it will work. It's an off-label use of Rituxan, which is expensive in itself, I can only wonder what the day in the ward cost me, or my insurance, you can just be wandering around and be hit by something, they don't know how I got it, but Ashkenazi Jews are prone to it and...
Without health insurance I wouldn't be going to all these doctors, even though I'm paying on top. And I think of all the people who just hunker down and ignore pain, like that guy I had dinner with last week who waited nine months and his kidney cancer spread so removing the organ was not enough and...
Hell, I'm not gonna lecture you. You seemingly can't change anybody's mind these days. No one believes in facts. And few have the perseverance to see four doctors for the same thing.
But it saved me.
I hope.
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They believe it's foliaceus as opposed to vulgaris but we're waiting for the blood work to come back from the Mayo Clinic for a precise diagnosis, but they're both bad, my internist hasn't seen it in his decades of practice and it took four dermatologists to diagnose it.
Don't look it up. That's what the last dermatologist told me. She thought the spots were a drug interaction, but no, it's pemphigus.
And if you can't resist you'll see a picture of a body covered with red sores. The bottom line is the immune system goes haywire and the element that holds your skin together doesn't work so you get these blisters and they pop and you end up with what were first dime-sized red spots and then progressed to quarter-sized and now are silver dollar-sized if not larger. Yes, it's painful, you have no idea, I have to sleep in my clothes, otherwise my sores open up and glue me to the bed sheet, and it's also itchy, very.
So this all started in August. 2016. I got a red spot under my arm. I figured it was from the sling I was wearing as a result of my shoulder surgery. But then in October it spread to my nose. Which prompted the first dermatologist visit, a man who does house calls for household names. But nothing he did worked. He'd have me come back for free, to check on the spots, but every ointment he prescribed had no effect.
Then I went to Colorado and my skin went nuclear. I thought it was the long underwear, I was covered in red spots and the only thing that satiated me was an extremely hot shower, of a temperature no one takes. And I know you're not supposed to do that, but that's the amount of pain and itchiness I possessed.
So I trooped back to Beverly Hills and despite such obvious sores the bigwig's treatment had no effect so I stopped, I figured I was just a winter thing.
But then I was sitting in front of the house after midnight scratching so much that I decided to write about it, and a tsunami of responses came in. Mostly mumbo-jumbo. Why is it the educated class doesn't believe in science? That's right, the right-wingers and poor will go to the doctor, assuming they can afford one, but the left-wingers believe vaccinations incite autism and that a home remedy is better than anything a doctor can prescribe. I know I'm pissing you off. Hell, I had confirmation of my diagnosis and a good friend told me to get acupuncture. Huh? I'm on the verge of suicide and I'm gonna pass up a western solution nearly guaranteed to work?
But the good thing about writing about my skin problem is another bigwig skin doctor who is a subscriber tracked me down, he agreed to treat me for free, but when he heard the name of dermatologist number one, he was blown away that that guy couldn't fix it, he's a legend.
So we started with ointments and injections and ultimately a steroid on the nose and there was improvement, but no resolution. The biopsy on my chest showed nothing and when he wanted to do one on my nose, which would leave a scar, however little, I moved on. I can handle a scar on my nose if there's a solution, but so far there hadn't been one, and I didn't believe this test would show one either.
That was April and May.
In June, my internist suggested a third dermatologist. Who specializes in clinical trials and breakthrough products. The guy barely possessed a personality and gave my skin the most cursory look, but declared there was a drug that would cure me, Dupixent, you inject it every couple of weeks and in a matter of months you're cured. Hosannas! Manna from heaven! Eureka! A solution!
But Dupixent costs 35k and my insurer wouldn't approve it. I waited all summer, enduring three appeals, no dice. If only they saw my body! But then Regeneron, the manufacturer, said they'd give it to me for free, once all appeals were exhausted, even one to the government.
So I'm hanging in there. But the last week of August my skin was so bad I went back to this third doctor and showed it to him and he was not impressed. Gave me some cream for my eyes that didn't work. Did I tell you I haven't been able to wear my contacts for three weeks? I'm wearing my old Lennon specs from 1970, so if you see me...
So I'm waiting for the Dupixent.
But my skin is getting worse and worse.
So I go for my annual physical, and ignore those who say you don't need to, this guy diagnosed my cancer, and he said my skin was "very impressive," he suggested I go to an immunologist, so I made an appointment.
Meanwhile, I needed a colonoscopy, and this doctor gives you a ton of time, which you pay for, and the truth is there are two tiers of coverage in America and if you're rich you get the better one. And statistics prove the poor lag in life expectancy, because they don't get this level of treatment. And I'm not wealthy, but my health is the most important thing to me, so I'll sacrifice for it. And the first thing out of the gastroenterologist's mouth was, "What's up with your skin?"
I told him the saga I just told you and he gave me the choice of two new dermatologists in the Cedars family and ultimately said he believed it was caused by drugs.
And the internist said the same thing and so did my shrink, so my hematologist agreed to let me stop my Gleevec for a month, the drug that keeps my CML in check, even though he believed that a rash would have occurred much earlier in treatment, but he went along with the plan.
He was right.
He's the head of hematology at UCLA.
But now my shrink was freaking out, and the gastroenterologist told me dermatologist number four would call me but this did not happen and I didn't push it because I'd stopped the Gleevec but I called him and he gave me number four's name.
So I went to her two weeks ago.
She too thought it was a drug reaction. But then she asked me if I wanted another biopsy. So I asked her. And when she equivocated, I said "Let's do it."
That was the week when I had blood drawn three times in two days.
No, that was the week after, I'm getting ahead of myself.
So I'm in Ojai with my ringer off, writing about Coke, and I feel a buzz in my pocket. It was five on a Friday afternoon and the number had no name, but it did say "Beverly Hills," so I picked up.
It was her.
The biopsy result had come in.
I had pemphigus.
So Monday I go to the immunologist, who doesn't even charge me, because he's an eczema specialist and if it's pemphigus...in L.A. you see the appropriate person.
So I went for the Mayo Clinic blood test and then went to the hematologist. Who typed furiously and said little. Other than he'd spoken to dermatologist number four and she said to check for lymphoma.
HUH???
He said there was no test for that, and the odds were low, but you never know.
So I was reeling, I was numb, if you wonder why I didn't write for a few days, that was it.
But I had an appointment Monday, two days ago, with dermatologist number four to have my stitches from the biopsy removed.
She brought in another woman, both of these women are about forty, they studied under a professor at Johns Hopkins who's the guru on pemphigus and this other woman is the go-to person for pemphigus and they said I should have Rituxan. And then debated whether to also give me this other treatment, with a three letter acronym I can't remember. But they kept wavering whether to do it or not, it could have a ton of side effects, my kidney number is high and I've got CML. But if they gave me this treatment along with the Rituxan my skin would clear in two weeks. If I was just on the Rituxan alone, it would be 8-12! So I was not eager to let the three letter acronym go, but then they said it could be given at any time and I agreed, and also I've experienced some horrific side effects, someone has to, otherwise they wouldn't be in the literature.
So they pulled some strings and I went for the infusion of Rituxan today.
They give it in the chemo ward. Actually, it's mostly used for lymphoma. And it was in the office of the doctor who diagnosed my CML even though I passed him up for a specialist in leukemia, but the treatment room was huge, about fifteen stations, you know, those overpadded recliners, and the one thing that impressed me is they were so TOGETHER!!!
Unlike the facility where I got my back injections, which was so disorganized I almost bolted, not wanting to be another Joan Rivers, hell, the nurse poked me four times before she got a vein.
And I had to be there at 8. Which meant I had to wake up at 6:30, and if you know me that's extremely rare, and I got to this office on Doheny and you're never gonna believe it, they validated the parking, which no doctor in L.A. does, and I was there nearly all day, from 8-2:45.
That's right, nurse number one said it would take five to seven hours. Huh??? Can I sit in a chair that long?
Actually, you can roll your station to the bathroom, where I had an accident, and almost fell over on the way thereto, and they'll order you lunch, but first they give you steroids and Benadryl and that gives you...
Restless leg.
Which was freaking me out, I couldn't sit still in the chair!
But they said it would pass in an hour or so and it did.
And I brought a backpack full of reading material, newspapers and magazines, as well as my iPad and Kindle, but I was so fogged out I couldn't read, but I couldn't sleep either.
And they kept coming to talk to me. A nurse practitioner to go through every detail. A pharmacist. A nutritionist. A social worker. And then the doctor himself, who spent an hour with me, even though he wasn't really treating me.
There was one hiccup. They recited a litany of things I should watch out for. Fever, chills, a rash on my chest... They'd start infusing the Rituxan slowly and then amp it up. And when they got to 100, out of a possible 200, I started to get this sore throat and some mucous and I was willing to endure it but they wouldn't hear of it. They stopped the infusion, injected some Zantac and something else and we waited... For half an hour. And I'm restless, I wanted to get out of there at some point.
And after a third trip to the bathroom a nurse told me I only had 45 minutes left, which stunned me, since there was a bag still half full, but that's only saline and...
They let me drive, although the doctor was hesitant because of the effects of the Benadryl.
And I was optimistic all until a couple of hours back, lying on the bed, finishing up "Breaking Bad," you see I've got these sores on my butt and they're oozing and... When I get up, it's painful, because of all the sores on my body.
So I've got to have another infusion in two weeks. And then another in six months. They're pretty convinced it will work. It's an off-label use of Rituxan, which is expensive in itself, I can only wonder what the day in the ward cost me, or my insurance, you can just be wandering around and be hit by something, they don't know how I got it, but Ashkenazi Jews are prone to it and...
Without health insurance I wouldn't be going to all these doctors, even though I'm paying on top. And I think of all the people who just hunker down and ignore pain, like that guy I had dinner with last week who waited nine months and his kidney cancer spread so removing the organ was not enough and...
Hell, I'm not gonna lecture you. You seemingly can't change anybody's mind these days. No one believes in facts. And few have the perseverance to see four doctors for the same thing.
But it saved me.
I hope.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
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Tuesday, 28 November 2017
My Podcast
That's right, now I've got one too.
For those playing the home game, you should be aware that this is the second time around for me. About ten years ago, when people could relate the term podcast to the long-forgotten iPod, when Steve Jobs was alive and Apple dominated the music world, I had a podcast with Rhino Records wherein I analyzed tracks and covered the oeuvre of artists.
That hit a wall.
Maybe because its supporter, David Dorn, moved on to greener pastures, i.e. Apple itself, and the podcast format spun its wheels and seemed to be going nowhere.
Until radio consolidation and LTE and the on demand culture suddenly made podcasts surge.
The turning point was "Serial," the NPR podcast about a convicted murderer who maybe shouldn't have been, convicted, that is. That's when those not paying attention were finally clued in, that this new longform concept was strangely intimate and riveting, a world where you could go deep when everything else seemed to be hit and run. You put on the headphones and enter a world seemingly disconnected from everyday life, but is somehow more real than regular existence.
I've been hooked.
Let's see, have you listened to Esther Perel analyze relationships? Via a real therapy session? You should, she's the go-to expert these days, with the CV to demonstrate authority. And if you're an anti-Trumper, you've got to pull up NPR's "Embedded," where they're now going deep on the players in the Trump saga, Trump himself, Kushner...you'll learn stuff you never knew, in a world where you think everything's being served up on a platter. And speaking of NPR, I'm addicted to "How I Built This," was just listening to Ben & Jerry tell their story, although they did not admit that the distribution squeeze cost them their company. And the "Axe Files" and Bill Simmons... Simmons had Costas on and it was riveting, even though Bill interrupted too much at first, we wanted to hear Bob, but to hear Costas cover his late night show, his opportunity to go on after Letterman on CBS, the change in the culture...in a dumbed-down world it's great to hear smart people pontificate. And the episode with Chuck Klosterman...we don't think in the music business, we just count the dollars, but when Simmons wondered why there was no nostalgia for the aughts, Chuck said that the rock acts of that era were just derivative of what had come before, they didn't push the envelope at all, and I said voila! You feel so lonely in this world, then you find out someone feels exactly like you.
And for every good podcast, there are ten bad ones. Actually, many more, but who's counting.
So when TuneIn approached me...
Actually, they were not the first. Never underestimate the power of a great performance, I killed on the Recode podcast so a YouTube magnate tracked me down to do a podcast, but he had no experience, but he had youth and hunger, and I was gonna make a deal but then a radio chain piped up and we were at paper when TuneIn came to the table, and my conversation with John Donham, their CEO, closed me. Because he understood the process. He said he expected it to get better, to start off walking and then start to run.
And that's how a new venture always works.
I know, I know, you expect your tech products to hit the ground running fully realized, but when it comes to people and their products, there's development, and they're never perfect.
So right now I'm utilizing the classic format, i.e. interview. But we're gonna stretch out from that. Although certain doors are closed because of music rights, publishers want to get paid for everything, but Joe Walsh did agree to let me use "Meadows," Saturday night he told me to use what I wanted, and to tell you the truth, his big riffs fit perfectly. I was thinking of "County Fair," which is so meaningful, just the sound, but it's a bit too slow, then again there's "Welcome To The Club," but anyway I used "Meadows.
And the podcast is gonna come out every Tuesday.
AND TODAY'S THE DAY!
The first episode is me being interviewed by my old friend John Boyle, Chief Growth Officer of Insomniac. Actually, at first I'm interviewing him, and I learned stuff I didn't know. That's one of my goals, to excavate the backstory, find out who these people are.
And then Boyle interviews me. So, if you want to know more about where I came from and who I am, this is the episode for you!
In subsequent weeks there will be more people, but I'll save their identities for then.
For now...
If you're podcast veteran, you know the drill.
If you're a newbie, I'm gonna list four links that will allow you to listen.
As for TuneIn itself, there's an app, you can listen for free to radio stations all over the world, and the company is VC funded and has lots of revenue and people either know it or they don't. But now you do. You can pay monthly and get the NFL and MLB, but it's free to listen to my podcast, just download the app.
Or just go to your Podcast app on your iPhone and search on "Lefsetz," or just click on one of the links below.
This is an adventure. This is just the beginning. Come along for the ride and see where I go.
Thanks!
Bob
_____
TuneIn - http://tun.in/tidZmB
iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-explicit/id1316200737
Google Play - https://play.google.com/music/m/Ijrpbkgbdxmjxc3netk434lpsv4?t=The_Bob_Lefsetz_Podcast
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=52307670&autoplay=1
For those playing the home game, you should be aware that this is the second time around for me. About ten years ago, when people could relate the term podcast to the long-forgotten iPod, when Steve Jobs was alive and Apple dominated the music world, I had a podcast with Rhino Records wherein I analyzed tracks and covered the oeuvre of artists.
That hit a wall.
Maybe because its supporter, David Dorn, moved on to greener pastures, i.e. Apple itself, and the podcast format spun its wheels and seemed to be going nowhere.
Until radio consolidation and LTE and the on demand culture suddenly made podcasts surge.
The turning point was "Serial," the NPR podcast about a convicted murderer who maybe shouldn't have been, convicted, that is. That's when those not paying attention were finally clued in, that this new longform concept was strangely intimate and riveting, a world where you could go deep when everything else seemed to be hit and run. You put on the headphones and enter a world seemingly disconnected from everyday life, but is somehow more real than regular existence.
I've been hooked.
Let's see, have you listened to Esther Perel analyze relationships? Via a real therapy session? You should, she's the go-to expert these days, with the CV to demonstrate authority. And if you're an anti-Trumper, you've got to pull up NPR's "Embedded," where they're now going deep on the players in the Trump saga, Trump himself, Kushner...you'll learn stuff you never knew, in a world where you think everything's being served up on a platter. And speaking of NPR, I'm addicted to "How I Built This," was just listening to Ben & Jerry tell their story, although they did not admit that the distribution squeeze cost them their company. And the "Axe Files" and Bill Simmons... Simmons had Costas on and it was riveting, even though Bill interrupted too much at first, we wanted to hear Bob, but to hear Costas cover his late night show, his opportunity to go on after Letterman on CBS, the change in the culture...in a dumbed-down world it's great to hear smart people pontificate. And the episode with Chuck Klosterman...we don't think in the music business, we just count the dollars, but when Simmons wondered why there was no nostalgia for the aughts, Chuck said that the rock acts of that era were just derivative of what had come before, they didn't push the envelope at all, and I said voila! You feel so lonely in this world, then you find out someone feels exactly like you.
And for every good podcast, there are ten bad ones. Actually, many more, but who's counting.
So when TuneIn approached me...
Actually, they were not the first. Never underestimate the power of a great performance, I killed on the Recode podcast so a YouTube magnate tracked me down to do a podcast, but he had no experience, but he had youth and hunger, and I was gonna make a deal but then a radio chain piped up and we were at paper when TuneIn came to the table, and my conversation with John Donham, their CEO, closed me. Because he understood the process. He said he expected it to get better, to start off walking and then start to run.
And that's how a new venture always works.
I know, I know, you expect your tech products to hit the ground running fully realized, but when it comes to people and their products, there's development, and they're never perfect.
So right now I'm utilizing the classic format, i.e. interview. But we're gonna stretch out from that. Although certain doors are closed because of music rights, publishers want to get paid for everything, but Joe Walsh did agree to let me use "Meadows," Saturday night he told me to use what I wanted, and to tell you the truth, his big riffs fit perfectly. I was thinking of "County Fair," which is so meaningful, just the sound, but it's a bit too slow, then again there's "Welcome To The Club," but anyway I used "Meadows.
And the podcast is gonna come out every Tuesday.
AND TODAY'S THE DAY!
The first episode is me being interviewed by my old friend John Boyle, Chief Growth Officer of Insomniac. Actually, at first I'm interviewing him, and I learned stuff I didn't know. That's one of my goals, to excavate the backstory, find out who these people are.
And then Boyle interviews me. So, if you want to know more about where I came from and who I am, this is the episode for you!
In subsequent weeks there will be more people, but I'll save their identities for then.
For now...
If you're podcast veteran, you know the drill.
If you're a newbie, I'm gonna list four links that will allow you to listen.
As for TuneIn itself, there's an app, you can listen for free to radio stations all over the world, and the company is VC funded and has lots of revenue and people either know it or they don't. But now you do. You can pay monthly and get the NFL and MLB, but it's free to listen to my podcast, just download the app.
Or just go to your Podcast app on your iPhone and search on "Lefsetz," or just click on one of the links below.
This is an adventure. This is just the beginning. Come along for the ride and see where I go.
Thanks!
Bob
_____
TuneIn - http://tun.in/tidZmB
iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-explicit/id1316200737
Google Play - https://play.google.com/music/m/Ijrpbkgbdxmjxc3netk434lpsv4?t=The_Bob_Lefsetz_Podcast
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=52307670&autoplay=1
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
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If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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After The Gold Rush On Vinyl
It was the first record I bought in college.
I'm listening to that copy now.
When Crosby, Stills & Nash broke we all bought Buffalo Springfield's "Retrospective," we all wanted more.
And when "Deja Vu" was released some of us bought "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere," but at the time you did not hear "Cinnamon Girl" on the radio, it was not yet the staple it was destined to be, but my favorite song on the LP was "Down By The River," which I learned to play on the guitar and did so at the camp I worked at that summer. It's always funny when people start singing a song they've never heard the recording of based on your rendition thereof. At the time I did not own Neil's debut. It was a different era, you could not own all the music you wanted, and that you did possess you played over and over again, and knew it by heart, but at this late date Neil's debut is my favorite, with "The Emperor Of Wyoming," "The Loner," "I've Been Waiting For You" (for such a LONG time!), and "The Last Trip To Tulsa," do today's kids, the latent Neil Young fans, know that almost ten minute number, I don't think so.
So I'm at college. Feeling out of place and free and connected all at the same time. There are very few times when you're thrown in with complete unknowns, like a rolling stone, and this was one of them, and my records kept me comfortable, but I was no longer in the land of E.J. Korvette, there were no discount shops in Vermont, but I needed "After The Gold Rush" so badly I paid nearly full price, only a dollar off, and brought it back to my dorm room at Hepburn Hall and broke the shrinkwrap. That confirmed the process, you'd paid your money, now you owned it, and you could see what was inside. Which was a picture of Neil Young on a couch surrounded by guitars. It's hard to convey how cool rock stars were. They were not pop stars, but a new breed, who marched to the beat of their own drummer, who lived outside of the laws of the universe, we wanted to be them, we just wanted to hang with them.
And then there was the inner sleeve. At this point, 1970, you had to be a superstar to get your own. Otherwise you just got the generic label one. The one containing the Neil Young vinyl lists the artists of Warner/Reprise on one side, and the Loss Leaders on the other. Let's see, Warner had Sacha Distel, I don't even know who that is or was, and Jimmy Durante as well as Liberace, the San Sebastian Strings, Glenn Yarbrough and Black Sabbath, the Grateful Dead and Van Morrison. Reprise had Jim Kweskin as well as Jacques Brel, but also Joni Mitchell and the Mothers of Invention and Jethro Tull, actually there were more acts on Reprise than Warner, whereas the last time I checked the only act left on Reprise was Neil Young himself, and of course Frank Sinatra. As for the Loss Leaders they were double album samplers for two bucks. I ended up getting all of them, because I was always turned on to acts, they contained hits by acts whose albums I wouldn't purchase, and they ultimately made you feel like an insider during an era when music was still scarce and you wanted to know, as opposed to the overbearing overload we've got today.
ut also included in the pocket of the gatefold cover, which was becoming de rigueur, was a foldout lyric sheet, back when few LPs included these, the words, whether it be a financial consideration or fear of the artists of being revealed to be nitwits. But this insert stated Neil Young was serious, he was laying it all on the line, what he was doing was important.
So I dropped the needle.
That's the revelation of hooking up my new turntable. Some records will stone you and others you want to take off immediately. Maybe it's got something to do with the speakers I'm using, Thiel SCS4s, which are far from cheap and are super-accurate, but lack that big 12" woofer of my JBLs to pound out the rock. We wanted to feel our music. But when the music is quieter, acoustic you almost can't believe the immediacy and the warmth.
What struck me was J.D. Souther's "Black Rose." It was kinda like hip-hop today, you want to hear the tracks of the whole posse. Those who played, those who wrote. Only in this case most of these albums went unheard, they were for you only. I've got to put "Black Rose" back on.
This is the LP with J.D.'s renditions of his Ronstadt smashes "Faithless Love," "Simple Man, Simple Dream" and "Silver Blue." But my favorite cut on the album is "Your Turn Now." "The night can make a promise of love, or it can make you a fool." And one of the things that bonded me with F. was she owned this album too. When you went to someone's apartment and saw they had the same semi-obscure LP as you you felt connected, you bonded. And I play "Your Turn Now" all the time, and I liked hearing the depth, the space of the vinyl version, but I was not prepared for what followed it, first "Faithless Love," then "Baby Come Home."
"Faithless love
Like a river flows"
When J.D. sings the words they're melancholy, like he's been through it and has ended up on the losing end.
And there are those insightful lyrics:
"And every new love
Never turns out like it seems"
Why is that? Someone from afar seems simpatico, then you get close and realize what you had before was far superior, even though you've been dissing the person incessantly.
But then came the piece-de-resistance, "Baby Come Home." The funny thing is you can know songs by heart but it's not until a life event transpires that they reveal their true meaning. When you broke up with someone, at least in the pre-internet era, you soothed yourself by playing your records, they were your friends, they kept you warm.
"...If you could trust me
Try to believe me
Listen to me when I say
When I say that love
Is a burning fire
And it will not fade away"
Is this true? I'm not sure, but I think so. You can break up with them, not see them for forty years, but you still share something, there's a thread between you, even if it's unspoken, you run into them and they start reminiscing and you can't get back together, but it's kinda like "Same Old Lang Syne."
"But deep in the night
When nearly nothing's going right"
When you can't sleep, when you keep listening to these records over and over again, you can't stop thinking of them, all you can do is pray that they come back. And now you're old enough to know you can't call, you can't make contact. And if you wait long enough they always call you, maybe you even get together, but you can't rekindle the magic, too much time has passed by, you've built a new life, you cannot go backwards.
But I was talking about "After The Gold Rush."
But that was how it was back then. The side ended, you flipped the record over and when that was done you put on a new LP, depending upon your mood, and once you put it on you rarely took it off, you let it play through.
And my favorite song on "After The Gold Rush" is "Don't Let It Bring You Down" and I never really liked the second side opener, the Don Gibson cover, "Oh Lonesome Me." But listening to it now I'm envisioning a bar with a small stage and few in attendance and Neil Young pouring out his heart, that's the way music used to be made, not in your face, but off the radar, you were peeking at it through the hole in your speaker. Sound quality does make a difference, one of the reasons hip-hop rules is it sounds good on the newfangled equipment, earbuds reproducing squashed electronic files.
Whereas there was a warmth to "Don't Let It Bring You Down." A story told from person to person.
And then after "Birds," the scorcher, "When You Dance I Can Really Love."
This was back before I'd had a serious relationship, when I was living at a college where almost nobody had a relationship, but we all wanted one so bad.
And over the ensuing months, "After The Gold Rush" became popular on campus. But I was first, but there's no gold star for that, especially now, in the age of clutter.
And my roommate and I played along to "Till The Morning Comes," he on trombone, me on guitar.
And I love the other short cut, "Cripple Creek Ferry."
And now the legendary cut is "Southern Man," but this was four years before Ronnie Van Zant sang that southern man didn't need Neil Young around.
And what I'm saying is our memories are tied up in these songs. And hearing them on the radio is one thing, playing the MP3 or the stream is another, but the religious ritual of playing the vinyl is transcendent.
It's difficult. I don't recommend it. And most people don't have their original records, they sold them when CDs came around, supposedly they were superseded. And to tell you the truth, they have been. But I built my collection LP by LP, I paid for each one, they're a representation of my life. And when I finger through them it's like Albert Brooks going through his Rolodex in "Modern Love." I love my records. They're the only thing that have stood by me as time has gone by, they've outlasted girlfriends, family members, everything changes but they don't. It's akin to venturing into a time capsule, going back to where you once were. And the truth is you can never really go back, thank you Don Henley, but when you visit the building blocks of your identity you feel complete.
That's what original vinyl with first rate reproduction delivers.
Humanity.
I'm listening to that copy now.
When Crosby, Stills & Nash broke we all bought Buffalo Springfield's "Retrospective," we all wanted more.
And when "Deja Vu" was released some of us bought "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere," but at the time you did not hear "Cinnamon Girl" on the radio, it was not yet the staple it was destined to be, but my favorite song on the LP was "Down By The River," which I learned to play on the guitar and did so at the camp I worked at that summer. It's always funny when people start singing a song they've never heard the recording of based on your rendition thereof. At the time I did not own Neil's debut. It was a different era, you could not own all the music you wanted, and that you did possess you played over and over again, and knew it by heart, but at this late date Neil's debut is my favorite, with "The Emperor Of Wyoming," "The Loner," "I've Been Waiting For You" (for such a LONG time!), and "The Last Trip To Tulsa," do today's kids, the latent Neil Young fans, know that almost ten minute number, I don't think so.
So I'm at college. Feeling out of place and free and connected all at the same time. There are very few times when you're thrown in with complete unknowns, like a rolling stone, and this was one of them, and my records kept me comfortable, but I was no longer in the land of E.J. Korvette, there were no discount shops in Vermont, but I needed "After The Gold Rush" so badly I paid nearly full price, only a dollar off, and brought it back to my dorm room at Hepburn Hall and broke the shrinkwrap. That confirmed the process, you'd paid your money, now you owned it, and you could see what was inside. Which was a picture of Neil Young on a couch surrounded by guitars. It's hard to convey how cool rock stars were. They were not pop stars, but a new breed, who marched to the beat of their own drummer, who lived outside of the laws of the universe, we wanted to be them, we just wanted to hang with them.
And then there was the inner sleeve. At this point, 1970, you had to be a superstar to get your own. Otherwise you just got the generic label one. The one containing the Neil Young vinyl lists the artists of Warner/Reprise on one side, and the Loss Leaders on the other. Let's see, Warner had Sacha Distel, I don't even know who that is or was, and Jimmy Durante as well as Liberace, the San Sebastian Strings, Glenn Yarbrough and Black Sabbath, the Grateful Dead and Van Morrison. Reprise had Jim Kweskin as well as Jacques Brel, but also Joni Mitchell and the Mothers of Invention and Jethro Tull, actually there were more acts on Reprise than Warner, whereas the last time I checked the only act left on Reprise was Neil Young himself, and of course Frank Sinatra. As for the Loss Leaders they were double album samplers for two bucks. I ended up getting all of them, because I was always turned on to acts, they contained hits by acts whose albums I wouldn't purchase, and they ultimately made you feel like an insider during an era when music was still scarce and you wanted to know, as opposed to the overbearing overload we've got today.
ut also included in the pocket of the gatefold cover, which was becoming de rigueur, was a foldout lyric sheet, back when few LPs included these, the words, whether it be a financial consideration or fear of the artists of being revealed to be nitwits. But this insert stated Neil Young was serious, he was laying it all on the line, what he was doing was important.
So I dropped the needle.
That's the revelation of hooking up my new turntable. Some records will stone you and others you want to take off immediately. Maybe it's got something to do with the speakers I'm using, Thiel SCS4s, which are far from cheap and are super-accurate, but lack that big 12" woofer of my JBLs to pound out the rock. We wanted to feel our music. But when the music is quieter, acoustic you almost can't believe the immediacy and the warmth.
What struck me was J.D. Souther's "Black Rose." It was kinda like hip-hop today, you want to hear the tracks of the whole posse. Those who played, those who wrote. Only in this case most of these albums went unheard, they were for you only. I've got to put "Black Rose" back on.
This is the LP with J.D.'s renditions of his Ronstadt smashes "Faithless Love," "Simple Man, Simple Dream" and "Silver Blue." But my favorite cut on the album is "Your Turn Now." "The night can make a promise of love, or it can make you a fool." And one of the things that bonded me with F. was she owned this album too. When you went to someone's apartment and saw they had the same semi-obscure LP as you you felt connected, you bonded. And I play "Your Turn Now" all the time, and I liked hearing the depth, the space of the vinyl version, but I was not prepared for what followed it, first "Faithless Love," then "Baby Come Home."
"Faithless love
Like a river flows"
When J.D. sings the words they're melancholy, like he's been through it and has ended up on the losing end.
And there are those insightful lyrics:
"And every new love
Never turns out like it seems"
Why is that? Someone from afar seems simpatico, then you get close and realize what you had before was far superior, even though you've been dissing the person incessantly.
But then came the piece-de-resistance, "Baby Come Home." The funny thing is you can know songs by heart but it's not until a life event transpires that they reveal their true meaning. When you broke up with someone, at least in the pre-internet era, you soothed yourself by playing your records, they were your friends, they kept you warm.
"...If you could trust me
Try to believe me
Listen to me when I say
When I say that love
Is a burning fire
And it will not fade away"
Is this true? I'm not sure, but I think so. You can break up with them, not see them for forty years, but you still share something, there's a thread between you, even if it's unspoken, you run into them and they start reminiscing and you can't get back together, but it's kinda like "Same Old Lang Syne."
"But deep in the night
When nearly nothing's going right"
When you can't sleep, when you keep listening to these records over and over again, you can't stop thinking of them, all you can do is pray that they come back. And now you're old enough to know you can't call, you can't make contact. And if you wait long enough they always call you, maybe you even get together, but you can't rekindle the magic, too much time has passed by, you've built a new life, you cannot go backwards.
But I was talking about "After The Gold Rush."
But that was how it was back then. The side ended, you flipped the record over and when that was done you put on a new LP, depending upon your mood, and once you put it on you rarely took it off, you let it play through.
And my favorite song on "After The Gold Rush" is "Don't Let It Bring You Down" and I never really liked the second side opener, the Don Gibson cover, "Oh Lonesome Me." But listening to it now I'm envisioning a bar with a small stage and few in attendance and Neil Young pouring out his heart, that's the way music used to be made, not in your face, but off the radar, you were peeking at it through the hole in your speaker. Sound quality does make a difference, one of the reasons hip-hop rules is it sounds good on the newfangled equipment, earbuds reproducing squashed electronic files.
Whereas there was a warmth to "Don't Let It Bring You Down." A story told from person to person.
And then after "Birds," the scorcher, "When You Dance I Can Really Love."
This was back before I'd had a serious relationship, when I was living at a college where almost nobody had a relationship, but we all wanted one so bad.
And over the ensuing months, "After The Gold Rush" became popular on campus. But I was first, but there's no gold star for that, especially now, in the age of clutter.
And my roommate and I played along to "Till The Morning Comes," he on trombone, me on guitar.
And I love the other short cut, "Cripple Creek Ferry."
And now the legendary cut is "Southern Man," but this was four years before Ronnie Van Zant sang that southern man didn't need Neil Young around.
And what I'm saying is our memories are tied up in these songs. And hearing them on the radio is one thing, playing the MP3 or the stream is another, but the religious ritual of playing the vinyl is transcendent.
It's difficult. I don't recommend it. And most people don't have their original records, they sold them when CDs came around, supposedly they were superseded. And to tell you the truth, they have been. But I built my collection LP by LP, I paid for each one, they're a representation of my life. And when I finger through them it's like Albert Brooks going through his Rolodex in "Modern Love." I love my records. They're the only thing that have stood by me as time has gone by, they've outlasted girlfriends, family members, everything changes but they don't. It's akin to venturing into a time capsule, going back to where you once were. And the truth is you can never really go back, thank you Don Henley, but when you visit the building blocks of your identity you feel complete.
That's what original vinyl with first rate reproduction delivers.
Humanity.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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Monday, 27 November 2017
Re-Joe Walsh's 70th Birthday Party
Starfucker.
Sorry this is an ego piece.
You are better than this.
Who the fuck cares, really?
Larry LeBlanc
______________________________________
Oh Bob! Most of us aren't members like YOU are, buddy!
But that undying love for the music, the notes, the bands, and the STORIES is still flaming higher than ever.
Thanks so much for sharing that story about Joe's birthday party!
Practically made me feel like I was right there.
And even though I wasn't, I was still tingling with excitement for you and Felice about what you were seeing, hearing, doing...
Wow! It's gonna be a great day! Crankin' up "Tend My Garden" from Barnstorm already this morning and my wife is diggin' it with me!
Thanks - Mornin' Milkman's Coming!
NELSON DUFFLE in D.C.
___________________________________
These songs are the soundtrack of my youth. Indelibly burned into my LIFE!
Thank you for taking us there tonight.
Jeff Oster
___________________________________
Brilliant and wonderful story, Bob. What a night! Thanks for taking me there with you.
Tony D'Amelio
___________________________________
Hi Monsieur Lefsetz,
First time I write, long time I read you
Thanks for sharing this birthday party feelings
xxx
Jean-Michel Reusser
Taktic Music
145 Boulevard Magenta
75010 Paris
___________________________________
Sounds like a great party.
But hey Bob,
you're becoming too much a fan boy.
yes we're all oder, yes we all reminisce,
but Bob, lower the drool factor.
Joe Vitka
___________________________________
Wish I could have been there, Bob.
Joe Walsh's influence along with the James Gang was immense. Going to Carnegie Mellon in '73, playing all the Barnstorm songs one state over made me feel closer to Mecca. The lyrics were like poetry to my soul. I wrote them as love notes to my then forbidden girlfriend.
I played all those songs all the time on guitar in my Pittsburgh band. I could duplicate the Talk Box without the box and hose. I played slide with my finger.
Anything to sound like Joe.
When I did Beatlemania in Cleveland in 1980 just before the Carter debates, Jim Fox sat in with us at sound check snd we did " Walk Away." The last time I saw Jimmy play was at the Fillmore and the James Gang did Zeppelin's "Good Times Bad Times" as an instrumental. Fox's style making it his own.
Seeing Joe at CW Post on Long Island, introducing the "horn section" to the audience before doing "Welcome to The Club." The one section being bicycle horns and such mounted on the mic stands and Joe Vitale's cymbal stands.
"Standing on the runway waiting for the plane. There goes everything you own..."
(Horn Section)
A Ringo tour in the late 80's -- early 90's lands Joe at NYCs China Club below the Beacon Theater.
And my Beatles band is playing. Joe comes up and says "Can I sit in?"
"Sure, what Beatles song do you w ant play, Joe?"
"Funk 49!!" And away we went. I knew every note to Dale Peters bass part and I was in heaven.
Then Joe launches into "Hey Bulldog" and its beyond words. He nails the solo, we swing back to the chorus snd coming out it we hear "One More Time!!" and its back to the Solo...2 more times!
Years before, I record at Criteria with a band I was reproducing and I feel the Szymzyck/Walsh connection.
And a few years ago in Hollywood, a nice young man with his band tells me his name is Michael Szymzyck. I say "As in..?"
"That's my dad." I say tell him I say thank you. And a few weeks later, he comes back with a signed CD of Yer Album and says "Dad says Your Welcome!"
Joe Walsh, Happy 70th. Would love to play with you any time.
Thanks Bob. You made me feel like I was there.
Mitch Weissman
Sam Ash Hollywood
___________________________________
A few weeks ago I subscribed to your newsletter, because I wanted to try to make the content that is over-flowing my inbox on a daily a little more meaningful and diverse. And oh boy, am I glad I did!
This year has been a mess - for me, for humanity, for nature. Exciting, but a mess.
Especially recently I have felt very disconnected from myself and my surroundings and kept losing faith in my quest of living a life that I chose to give meaning to - whatever that may end up looking like.
As much as I despise this expression: Reading your emails literally makes my day at the moment.
God, it's so relatable (even for such a little baby like me), and educational without being overly-annoying and it just reminds me that we are all the same, we all go through a lot of shit and experience little things that may end up evolving into huge turning points, or memories.
Your emails warm my heart, challenge my way of thinking, leave me inspired and a little more grounded than before.
Thank you for sharing content in such an unapologetic, raw and just simply authentic manner. Even though you must of course put a lot of work into those mails, it just seems less curated than most work out there. Which is refreshing! Sometimes we gotta plan less, do more; our feelings and thoughts will automatically influence our being and doing anyway.
All the best! And a huge thank you!
Anna El-Fallah
___________________________________
I watched 4 hours of Beatles documentary last night on PBS where it became clear that without RINGO there would be no Beatles.
When he stepped in and started playing with John, Paul and George, they suddenly had a sound that would inspire some of the most ground breaking popular song writing, musical modulations and unique unification of accessible and abstract, that it changed the world.
Litterally. It is true. Study the music. The muse is always the essence. And RINGO does not get enough credit. There is a reason they were called The BEATles.
Paul Koidis
___________________________________
Are you kidding me? I was reading this and it sounds like a dream where you are walking around in a party with everyone you ever admired.
You and I are almost certainly around the same age - I was born on June 7, 1951 - and you often write about things from your younger days that resonate deeply with me. I remember listening to the James Gang albums - Yer Album, Rides Again, Thirds, all released within a period of 2 years - and seeing them at Cole Field House at U of Maryland where my girlfriend was in 1970 - 74. Joe Walsh was miraculous - even with the crappy sound systems of the day.
And then, he joined the Eagles. I was an early adopter of the Eagles - saw them in Asbury Park when they were still a quartet in 1972 - and also a huge Jackson Browne fan - saw him at the Filmore East on Christmas eve 1970, warming up Laura Nyro. But Joe Walsh with the Eagles? How does that ever work? And then the Eagles broke up in 1980 and Joe was back out on his own. He came to the Stone Pony during that period but was not at his best then. But then he cleaned up and has been a wonder ever since. He's been great on the Sirius Eagles channel.
You may be "half in, half out" but you have earned it and you make the most of it and graciously share it with the rest of us mortals.
Forever grateful,
Dave Murphy
___________________________________
Walsh is an idiot. He deserves no promotion. Little boy Trumpette
Pinhey
___________________________________
A really good read, I felt as if I was a fly on the wall. Thanks Bob, you deserve the recognition.
alan segal, san diego.
___________________________________
This is so awesome :)
Melissa Evans
___________________________________
Hey Bob,
This is an amazing piece!
Happy Thanksgiving from one Fairfield County CT dude to another!
James Lucente
___________________________________
"Indian Summer" is one of my favorite songs of all-time. Just takes you back to a time and place. Magic.
Zippychimp
___________________________________
Nice one on Joe at 70. One thing more ---- Joe's Smoker You Drink and So What still hold up today as two of the greatest desert island discs ever, musically and sonically perfect.
Don Adkins
___________________________________
In the late 90s, before the bubble burst and tech crashed, I picked up Joe at the Las Vegas airport to play a corporate gig at the now shuttered Beach nightclub. He wasn't touring – just threw together a band as a favor for an old friend. There were maybe four of us in the venue as he ripped through sound check; nailing pieces of every Walsh/James Gang/Eagles song you grew up listening to. Much like you – only feet away – the hair on my neck stood up. He graciously endured the corporate meet & greet, then blew the roof off the place to an amazed crowd of drunk computer geeks.
To this day, when I encounter old Comdex attendees, conversation invariably turns quickly to "JOE WALSH AT THE BEACH." He was pure legend.
David Prohaska
PS
Was Smokey at the birthday party? He's got all the stories. Belushi on down…
(Note: he was)
___________________________________
.....WOWW!!!!!!!!!
Tommy Allen
___________________________________
Undeniably. One. Of. Your. Best.
Caroline Lindsey
Nashville, TN
(Aka - member of the Club)
___________________________________
Bob, I loved this piece. It brought me back to my own music of my life. Not real rock n' roll, but doo-wopp.
Simple, soulful, but always memorable. See you soon. Tom Battista
___________________________________
Man, that sounds like a great party. But I only got jealous that you were there and I wasn't - not when you mentioned Ringo or Tom Hanks or the sound system- when you mentioned Sarah Buxton. I met her and fell in love, like everyone, when she floated into Nashville before Nashville was cool, a 21 yer old who had the sold out exit/in wrapped around her finger. She was a rock star everywhere she went, and forever. "Stupid Boy" is a classic that she wrote with another sweetheart and genius, Dave Berg, and Deanna Bryant, but if there was any justice in the universe, any hope that the music business always go it right, let cream rise to the top, we'd all know Sarah Buxton well.
Rob Giles
___________________________________
Tom Hanks, Jackson Browne, Ringo, Jeff Lynne - sounds like a nice crowd. Hope that schmuck Gene Simmons wasn't there.
Tom Quinn
___________________________________
Fantastic. Just moved to Westport, still in awe of all the acts that came through here. Love your stuff.
Michael Shafrir
___________________________________
I sit here as the snow falls in the woods of eastern Maine. My family is with me and we're listening to the first Winter Solstice and talking -- and then I read your post about Joe's 70th and I start smiling and getting teary-eyed. You're living it for all of us, Bob. Thanks so much for telling us about it and letting us along on the ride. I'm with you all the way, man.
And, Happy Birthday, Joe!
Kevin Ritchie
___________________________________
Thanks for the share Bob. Have always loved Joe. I'm 58 now and the first rock show I ever saw was The James Gang at The Ohio State Fair back in 1971. Never tire of his work.
Jeff Walker
___________________________________
Oh what a great night. For a great guy. A guy who should be dead but soldiered on and as a result a second life with The Eagles. Amazing player. As you say, every note. So happy for you to have this experience. What a room. BTW you are definitely in the club. Challenges your honesty, but that's why they love you. We do too.
Peter van Roden
___________________________________
What a night… I created No Name along with Sean Parker and Olivia Wilde. Its been a special place that has quietly been hosting some of the most important happenings in Los Angeles over the last four years. We intended to build and facilitate an environment that would be for those who would appreciate it. Not a "hot spot" that flared up bright in LA sky for a year then faded away into the heap of countless other places that have come and gone over the years. Parallels can be drawn between whats happened in the music business… Sean and I had a vision from the start to not have to build around maximizing profitability in the space over the vibe. The vibe needed to be held paramount and thats what enables us to have nights like last night. We don't offer this space to be rented out for just anything. There needs to be a cultural or charitable presence attached. Something that helps sustain a standard. Like I said, for those who appreciate that this kind of place exists. Most nights its just a real cool place to have a delicious dinner. A different lay out of course then what you experienced with all the round tables filling up the place. We created our own rules, our own standards and for the last four years we've been supported by our Community and creatives from all over the world.
We never gave the place a name. The Community started to call it No Name. It stuck, a place for the people, named by the people.
A nice anecdote is that Dhani Harrison and David Zoneshine introduced No Name to Dhani's wonderful mother Olivia. Olivia then set up a dinner one night that included Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo, Dave Grohl and Joe Walsh. Along with Nancy, Barbara, Jordyn and Marjorie of course. They ate upstairs on a night where Bob Weir was eating downstairs with his manager Bernie and a few others. I let Bernie know about the quadruple date happening just above their heads and we conspired to reunite Bob with his old friends. I believe I was told that he hadn't seen Paul and Ringo in over 30 years. I won't soon forget the look on Paul's face when he saw Bob. It was one of pure admiration. A special moment indeed.
Come back sometime and I'll share with you some more stories…
Bryan Ling
___________________________________
Goosebumps Bob. Well said, again...
Steve Anderko
___________________________________
What a party, kudos for vaulting the velvet rope.
R&R Hall of Fame, eat your heart out!
Best,
Darryl Mattison
___________________________________
Beautiful piece. I'm from Wichita, KS, where Joe spent some time, and I heard him at the State Fair in the early 80's. Life changing.
Michael Barker
___________________________________
So in late 1973 I got (probably begged for) an assignment to interview Daltrey and Townshend for Penthouse for their front-of-the-book section about music, books, film, etc. From John Gabree, who was their freelance music coverage coordinator. He never did pay me the $200 he promised me for the article; they gave him a flat fee per month to fill the music pages, so it was "his money" at that point. Anyway, I digress. I go to Atlanta to do the interviews and see the show; been a diehard fan since first hearing the UK release of the "My Generation" album, bought everything since, seen them many times in NYC. Oh right, I'm 20 years old. Not old enough to buy Penthouse in Georgia. I meet up with a long distance friend from San Diego, Cameron Crowe, who's even younger than me and in Atlanta to interview Roger and Pete for Playboy, which he is way too young to buy in Georgia. I'm banging on the hotel room door of the suite in which my Pete Townshend interview is scheduled to take place. I can hear loud music in there. My knocking is not nearly loud enough. I wait til the song ends, and band loudly again. A guy opens the door and I introduce myself, and he brings me in to meet Pete. Pete introduces me to his friend, musician Steve Baron (cue Discogs search, Wikipedia won't help; I think he was a fellow follower of Meher Baba and recorded for Tetragrammatron). And apologizes for blasting the music so loud, but it's a Joe Walsh album, and he felt the need to immerse himself in the sound of Joe's guitar-playing. I nod in understanding, knowing Joe's work from the James Gang of course, but thinking "this is PETE TOWNSHEND and he's immersing himself in Joe Walsh?" Learn something new every day.
FYI, I later rented my cassette tapes of both interviews to Steve Demorest at Circus, from which he fashioned a story, since he hadn't been able to get his own interview at the time.
Toby Mamis
___________________________________
Re: Toto
Tell Luke half of those streams are from me and my guitar wanking friends who discovered that the Spotify version of Rosanna has about 15-20 more seconds than the others of his exquisite guitar ejaculation at the end of the song before it fades out!
Would love to hear that master tape of just letting that little jam roll without the fadeout!
Peace and Love,
Dan Millen
___________________________________
That was awesome. Sounds like a night to remember. Thanks for sharing it.
Stuart Gunter
___________________________________
Awesome Bob. Thanks for bringing us into the room.
Your 10,000+ got you there.
Peter Buffett
___________________________________
Great piece. What a party, you made me feel like I was there. You are one lucky SOB so quit ranting about your jealousy of those with great wealth who fly private. Seems to me that YOU are a great deal richer.
Frank A. Gagliano
___________________________________
I doubt even Stewart remembers this-
Animal Logic was about to go into the studio to record our first album (late 1988). Andy Summers had dropped out saying he didn't want to be in a "pop" band. Someone called Joe Walsh (don't know who) and Joe's response was "I've been waiting my whole life for this call." Sunset Sound is booked and Stewart, Stanley and I are there but no Joe. He's AWOL. I'm guessing it was not a particularly good period in his life. I had been in a roots-y cover band (Debbie and the Dynamics!) with a great guitar player named Michael Thompson and thought he would be great. He rushed over to the studio, played a magnificent solo on "Spy in the House of Love" and continued to work with Animal Logic. Life is strange…
Cheers,
Deborah Holland
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awesome
Jonathan Auerbach
___________________________________
Loved this !
Marina Meade
___________________________________
The party sounds amazing. Wish I was there. I love Joe Walsh.
What few people know is that I was there and left to deal with the aftermath when Joe did the infamous hotel room in Chicago that sparked the lines, "I live in hotels tear out the walls, I have accountants pay for it all." It's a great story. Joe did end up paying for it all.
I then also got to work the record "Life's Been Good" which is so much bigger than the number #12 it achieved on Billboard's, Hot 100. I'll take #12 records like that all day.
Burt Stein
___________________________________
Extremely interesting piece Bob. You should write more on this overall subject ( or rather subjects)
Richard Rosenberg
___________________________________
Now that is some amazing club to be a part of. Rock On!!
Marc LaFrance
___________________________________
Awesome.
Michael A. Becker
___________________________________
Barnstorn was heavy. Transformational!
shalaman1
___________________________________
You are more inside than many insiders. Don't wait any longer to KNOW IT.
David Reilly
___________________________________
I don't think I'm a "member."
Pretty sure I would've been "denied admission" to that party. But I managed to weasel my way into several "after show" parties back in the 70s when it was easy to do and nobody worried about getting shot.
Rides Again was the first JG album I bought. Still have it. Still play it albeit not on a 1400 dollar turntable. But I have my vintage stuff and I'm satisfied. Funk 49 of course! But Tend My Garden made the record for me. There are no "throwaways" on that album. Sounds so fresh on vinyl. One of the best rock records ever imho.
Glad you enjoyed the party!
William Nelson
___________________________________
Sounds like it was blast. Joe is part of the tapestry of my life, which has been good to me so far. We don't live in the city and didn't get invited. Glad you are part of the in crowd. You deserve it and thanks for representing those of us who left Hell-A.
Kenny Lee Lewis
___________________________________
Another home run. You're on fire.
Harold Love
___________________________________
Good on 'ya Bob! Oh what a night. Too cool for school.
Ken Stewart
___________________________________
great post Bob.
think I saw Joe on the PCH on a motorcycle 10 or so days ago.. ?!
Evan Harrison
___________________________________
I must be following you at least 15 years. You are now becoming a really really great writer Bob
Whether, this was politics, commerce, love or science, I get hair boners reading what this writer has written. That's writing at its best. The way you wrote about Joe Walsh, I was literally there. You put me in that room. I too saw him play 10 feet in front of me ( in my head) because of your writing. You have suffered for your art. Thank God your time has finally come. It's not 10,000 hours. It's more like 50,000. You've served a tough apprenticeship. You are now a journeyman. It's great to see you finally get your cred.
colm
___________________________________
"...some have lines in their face, and others retain their youthful good looks."
Juviderm, Botox, and Just for Men ;-)
Michael Laskow
___________________________________
My late brother, Domenic Troiano (1946-2005) and singer Roy Kenner replaced Joe Walsh when he had decided to leave the James Gang in 1972. Domenic was already a seasoned veteran guitarist in Canada having played for Ronnie Hawkins, the Mandala, Bush and The Guess Who after the James Gang stint.
Let me tell you the back story---I was 5 years younger than Domenic and in the early 70's I was a James Gang fan having seen them in Toronto gigs on Halloween night and also New Year's Eve. Bush (ABC Dunhill) broke up in 1971. My bro was struggling to make ends meet in LA when he received calls from the Belkin brothers and from Jimmy Fox and Dale Peters about their interest in hiring him to replace Joe. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go in that direction but when he told me about the offer I was stunned. Of course I told him to please accept this great opportunity as I was already a fan of the band and it was financially a no brainer considering his situation. He went on to join the band and enjoyed two successful years with them. In 1974 he joined Burton Cummings and the Guess Who, followed by a solo career and finally production work and scoring TV shows and movies.
Cheers,
Frank E. Troiano
___________________________________
Bob, been reading your mails for a few yrs, always entertaining-thanks for sharing, sounds like the party of the decade!
Brad Ryan
___________________________________
I saw Joe Walsh and Tom Petty for the first time in Nashville last April. I will forever be grateful to my daughter for taking me. Joe was mesmerizing,the whole night surreal.
Maybe I'll get to see Joe again one day, sadly not Tom
Lisa Gregory
___________________________________
So what.
Fred Ansis
___________________________________
Perfect..
James Craik
___________________________________
Loved this piece! Not only because I'm a little bit vicariously star-struck, but because you have always had a way of capturing how special music is in your heart that gives me goosebumps.
Between this and your new turntable, those Walsh tracks might as well be hits on the charts today!
Cheers,
Nick Benko from Guelph, Ontario
___________________________________
Love this post. Replying because you mentioned Sarah Buxton.
Several years ago, I saw her perform at 3rd & Lindsley in Nashville. I was knocked out by her songs and between-song banter/stories. Such a cool person.
But to be honest, I actually went to see the act that performed after Sarah's set because her husband, Tom Bukovac, was playing in that later set. Bukovac is a session musician in Nashville and is just an amazing player – totally original, never overplays, always complements the song, etc. A cool person also.
I didn't realize it until I read your post about Joe Walsh that Bukovac played guitar in Walsh's band during this year's tour. Would've loved to see that.
Craig Dees
Murfreesboro, Tennessee
P.S. I saw Joe with the James Gang back in the Fall of 1971. Played at the old gym at Middle Tennessee State University. As for the James Gang catalog, while I love "Funk #49" and "Walk Away" and "Woman," I've always been most taken with "Midnight Man." Especially that verse the lady sings. Gives me goose bumps every time I hear it.
___________________________________
This is great and I love your newsletter! You should check out this related studio recording from Cleveland, Ohio circa Spring of 1967 titled The Schwartz Fox Blues Crusade: Sunday Morning Revival. As we know Glenn Schwartz was later replaced in James Gang by his former guitar pupil Joe Walsh.
Drummer Jim Fox recounts "I was in the process of forming a band of my own, and we called it The James Gang. We were maybe three or four months into it, still finding ourselves, you know? By that time we had found Glenn Schwartz…[this blues recording] was 100% spontaneous. We didn't even have one single song going in..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QYjpHNwHJk
Nine studio tracks of pure post-teen garage rock blues are accompanied by extensive liners and and never before published photos. But also on this record we have Mr. Stress himself, aka Bill Miller on harp (as in the guy that gets name checked in the Pretenders song "Precious" where Hynde's snipes "Now Howard the Duck and Mr. Stress both stayed").
In fact up in that link you can find ALL the Platters du Cuyahoga, Series 1 & 2 releases so far if you poke around a bit.
All the best,
Ilka Erren Pardiñas
___________________________________
Cool Bob...
This is what we love about you.. this is fun!
Keep pinching yourself... that IS life! Keep living it and we'll read.
Winifred
___________________________________
This is SO Right On!
Morley Bartnof
___________________________________
Thanks Bob - you captured it perfectly as usual.
A wonderful party full of old friends - and a truly amazing gig! What cannot be over-emphasized is just how brilliantly well everyone played. This was no pale re-creation of the hits - this was the hits sounding better than ever! Joe W and Joe V and Kenny and Luke were amazing - and Ringo showed yet again why he is one of the very best and most influential drummers in Rock and Roll history. Being only a few feet away from Joe's amp as he begins the lick from Rocky Mountain High or from Ringo's kit when he starts the groove for "I Wanna Be Your Man" was a visceral thrill for us all - and both playing with supreme confidence and at the peak of their powers
We are indeed very lucky to pretty much all know each other and to all have been part of so many legendary stories and so much great music. There were a thousand unmade documentaries in that room last night and each of them unique and fascinating. Trust me Bob, you are "inside" and everyone is thrilled to have you there - you capture the music and the people so well; with the expressiveness of a writer, the enthusiasm of a fan and the joy of a friend.
Peter Asher CBE
___________________________________
The Rocky Mountain Way is better than the way we had
Tom O'Flynn
Sorry this is an ego piece.
You are better than this.
Who the fuck cares, really?
Larry LeBlanc
______________________________________
Oh Bob! Most of us aren't members like YOU are, buddy!
But that undying love for the music, the notes, the bands, and the STORIES is still flaming higher than ever.
Thanks so much for sharing that story about Joe's birthday party!
Practically made me feel like I was right there.
And even though I wasn't, I was still tingling with excitement for you and Felice about what you were seeing, hearing, doing...
Wow! It's gonna be a great day! Crankin' up "Tend My Garden" from Barnstorm already this morning and my wife is diggin' it with me!
Thanks - Mornin' Milkman's Coming!
NELSON DUFFLE in D.C.
___________________________________
These songs are the soundtrack of my youth. Indelibly burned into my LIFE!
Thank you for taking us there tonight.
Jeff Oster
___________________________________
Brilliant and wonderful story, Bob. What a night! Thanks for taking me there with you.
Tony D'Amelio
___________________________________
Hi Monsieur Lefsetz,
First time I write, long time I read you
Thanks for sharing this birthday party feelings
xxx
Jean-Michel Reusser
Taktic Music
145 Boulevard Magenta
75010 Paris
___________________________________
Sounds like a great party.
But hey Bob,
you're becoming too much a fan boy.
yes we're all oder, yes we all reminisce,
but Bob, lower the drool factor.
Joe Vitka
___________________________________
Wish I could have been there, Bob.
Joe Walsh's influence along with the James Gang was immense. Going to Carnegie Mellon in '73, playing all the Barnstorm songs one state over made me feel closer to Mecca. The lyrics were like poetry to my soul. I wrote them as love notes to my then forbidden girlfriend.
I played all those songs all the time on guitar in my Pittsburgh band. I could duplicate the Talk Box without the box and hose. I played slide with my finger.
Anything to sound like Joe.
When I did Beatlemania in Cleveland in 1980 just before the Carter debates, Jim Fox sat in with us at sound check snd we did " Walk Away." The last time I saw Jimmy play was at the Fillmore and the James Gang did Zeppelin's "Good Times Bad Times" as an instrumental. Fox's style making it his own.
Seeing Joe at CW Post on Long Island, introducing the "horn section" to the audience before doing "Welcome to The Club." The one section being bicycle horns and such mounted on the mic stands and Joe Vitale's cymbal stands.
"Standing on the runway waiting for the plane. There goes everything you own..."
(Horn Section)
A Ringo tour in the late 80's -- early 90's lands Joe at NYCs China Club below the Beacon Theater.
And my Beatles band is playing. Joe comes up and says "Can I sit in?"
"Sure, what Beatles song do you w ant play, Joe?"
"Funk 49!!" And away we went. I knew every note to Dale Peters bass part and I was in heaven.
Then Joe launches into "Hey Bulldog" and its beyond words. He nails the solo, we swing back to the chorus snd coming out it we hear "One More Time!!" and its back to the Solo...2 more times!
Years before, I record at Criteria with a band I was reproducing and I feel the Szymzyck/Walsh connection.
And a few years ago in Hollywood, a nice young man with his band tells me his name is Michael Szymzyck. I say "As in..?"
"That's my dad." I say tell him I say thank you. And a few weeks later, he comes back with a signed CD of Yer Album and says "Dad says Your Welcome!"
Joe Walsh, Happy 70th. Would love to play with you any time.
Thanks Bob. You made me feel like I was there.
Mitch Weissman
Sam Ash Hollywood
___________________________________
A few weeks ago I subscribed to your newsletter, because I wanted to try to make the content that is over-flowing my inbox on a daily a little more meaningful and diverse. And oh boy, am I glad I did!
This year has been a mess - for me, for humanity, for nature. Exciting, but a mess.
Especially recently I have felt very disconnected from myself and my surroundings and kept losing faith in my quest of living a life that I chose to give meaning to - whatever that may end up looking like.
As much as I despise this expression: Reading your emails literally makes my day at the moment.
God, it's so relatable (even for such a little baby like me), and educational without being overly-annoying and it just reminds me that we are all the same, we all go through a lot of shit and experience little things that may end up evolving into huge turning points, or memories.
Your emails warm my heart, challenge my way of thinking, leave me inspired and a little more grounded than before.
Thank you for sharing content in such an unapologetic, raw and just simply authentic manner. Even though you must of course put a lot of work into those mails, it just seems less curated than most work out there. Which is refreshing! Sometimes we gotta plan less, do more; our feelings and thoughts will automatically influence our being and doing anyway.
All the best! And a huge thank you!
Anna El-Fallah
___________________________________
I watched 4 hours of Beatles documentary last night on PBS where it became clear that without RINGO there would be no Beatles.
When he stepped in and started playing with John, Paul and George, they suddenly had a sound that would inspire some of the most ground breaking popular song writing, musical modulations and unique unification of accessible and abstract, that it changed the world.
Litterally. It is true. Study the music. The muse is always the essence. And RINGO does not get enough credit. There is a reason they were called The BEATles.
Paul Koidis
___________________________________
Are you kidding me? I was reading this and it sounds like a dream where you are walking around in a party with everyone you ever admired.
You and I are almost certainly around the same age - I was born on June 7, 1951 - and you often write about things from your younger days that resonate deeply with me. I remember listening to the James Gang albums - Yer Album, Rides Again, Thirds, all released within a period of 2 years - and seeing them at Cole Field House at U of Maryland where my girlfriend was in 1970 - 74. Joe Walsh was miraculous - even with the crappy sound systems of the day.
And then, he joined the Eagles. I was an early adopter of the Eagles - saw them in Asbury Park when they were still a quartet in 1972 - and also a huge Jackson Browne fan - saw him at the Filmore East on Christmas eve 1970, warming up Laura Nyro. But Joe Walsh with the Eagles? How does that ever work? And then the Eagles broke up in 1980 and Joe was back out on his own. He came to the Stone Pony during that period but was not at his best then. But then he cleaned up and has been a wonder ever since. He's been great on the Sirius Eagles channel.
You may be "half in, half out" but you have earned it and you make the most of it and graciously share it with the rest of us mortals.
Forever grateful,
Dave Murphy
___________________________________
Walsh is an idiot. He deserves no promotion. Little boy Trumpette
Pinhey
___________________________________
A really good read, I felt as if I was a fly on the wall. Thanks Bob, you deserve the recognition.
alan segal, san diego.
___________________________________
This is so awesome :)
Melissa Evans
___________________________________
Hey Bob,
This is an amazing piece!
Happy Thanksgiving from one Fairfield County CT dude to another!
James Lucente
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"Indian Summer" is one of my favorite songs of all-time. Just takes you back to a time and place. Magic.
Zippychimp
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Nice one on Joe at 70. One thing more ---- Joe's Smoker You Drink and So What still hold up today as two of the greatest desert island discs ever, musically and sonically perfect.
Don Adkins
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In the late 90s, before the bubble burst and tech crashed, I picked up Joe at the Las Vegas airport to play a corporate gig at the now shuttered Beach nightclub. He wasn't touring – just threw together a band as a favor for an old friend. There were maybe four of us in the venue as he ripped through sound check; nailing pieces of every Walsh/James Gang/Eagles song you grew up listening to. Much like you – only feet away – the hair on my neck stood up. He graciously endured the corporate meet & greet, then blew the roof off the place to an amazed crowd of drunk computer geeks.
To this day, when I encounter old Comdex attendees, conversation invariably turns quickly to "JOE WALSH AT THE BEACH." He was pure legend.
David Prohaska
PS
Was Smokey at the birthday party? He's got all the stories. Belushi on down…
(Note: he was)
___________________________________
.....WOWW!!!!!!!!!
Tommy Allen
___________________________________
Undeniably. One. Of. Your. Best.
Caroline Lindsey
Nashville, TN
(Aka - member of the Club)
___________________________________
Bob, I loved this piece. It brought me back to my own music of my life. Not real rock n' roll, but doo-wopp.
Simple, soulful, but always memorable. See you soon. Tom Battista
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Man, that sounds like a great party. But I only got jealous that you were there and I wasn't - not when you mentioned Ringo or Tom Hanks or the sound system- when you mentioned Sarah Buxton. I met her and fell in love, like everyone, when she floated into Nashville before Nashville was cool, a 21 yer old who had the sold out exit/in wrapped around her finger. She was a rock star everywhere she went, and forever. "Stupid Boy" is a classic that she wrote with another sweetheart and genius, Dave Berg, and Deanna Bryant, but if there was any justice in the universe, any hope that the music business always go it right, let cream rise to the top, we'd all know Sarah Buxton well.
Rob Giles
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Tom Hanks, Jackson Browne, Ringo, Jeff Lynne - sounds like a nice crowd. Hope that schmuck Gene Simmons wasn't there.
Tom Quinn
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Fantastic. Just moved to Westport, still in awe of all the acts that came through here. Love your stuff.
Michael Shafrir
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I sit here as the snow falls in the woods of eastern Maine. My family is with me and we're listening to the first Winter Solstice and talking -- and then I read your post about Joe's 70th and I start smiling and getting teary-eyed. You're living it for all of us, Bob. Thanks so much for telling us about it and letting us along on the ride. I'm with you all the way, man.
And, Happy Birthday, Joe!
Kevin Ritchie
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Thanks for the share Bob. Have always loved Joe. I'm 58 now and the first rock show I ever saw was The James Gang at The Ohio State Fair back in 1971. Never tire of his work.
Jeff Walker
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Oh what a great night. For a great guy. A guy who should be dead but soldiered on and as a result a second life with The Eagles. Amazing player. As you say, every note. So happy for you to have this experience. What a room. BTW you are definitely in the club. Challenges your honesty, but that's why they love you. We do too.
Peter van Roden
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What a night… I created No Name along with Sean Parker and Olivia Wilde. Its been a special place that has quietly been hosting some of the most important happenings in Los Angeles over the last four years. We intended to build and facilitate an environment that would be for those who would appreciate it. Not a "hot spot" that flared up bright in LA sky for a year then faded away into the heap of countless other places that have come and gone over the years. Parallels can be drawn between whats happened in the music business… Sean and I had a vision from the start to not have to build around maximizing profitability in the space over the vibe. The vibe needed to be held paramount and thats what enables us to have nights like last night. We don't offer this space to be rented out for just anything. There needs to be a cultural or charitable presence attached. Something that helps sustain a standard. Like I said, for those who appreciate that this kind of place exists. Most nights its just a real cool place to have a delicious dinner. A different lay out of course then what you experienced with all the round tables filling up the place. We created our own rules, our own standards and for the last four years we've been supported by our Community and creatives from all over the world.
We never gave the place a name. The Community started to call it No Name. It stuck, a place for the people, named by the people.
A nice anecdote is that Dhani Harrison and David Zoneshine introduced No Name to Dhani's wonderful mother Olivia. Olivia then set up a dinner one night that included Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo, Dave Grohl and Joe Walsh. Along with Nancy, Barbara, Jordyn and Marjorie of course. They ate upstairs on a night where Bob Weir was eating downstairs with his manager Bernie and a few others. I let Bernie know about the quadruple date happening just above their heads and we conspired to reunite Bob with his old friends. I believe I was told that he hadn't seen Paul and Ringo in over 30 years. I won't soon forget the look on Paul's face when he saw Bob. It was one of pure admiration. A special moment indeed.
Come back sometime and I'll share with you some more stories…
Bryan Ling
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Goosebumps Bob. Well said, again...
Steve Anderko
___________________________________
What a party, kudos for vaulting the velvet rope.
R&R Hall of Fame, eat your heart out!
Best,
Darryl Mattison
___________________________________
Beautiful piece. I'm from Wichita, KS, where Joe spent some time, and I heard him at the State Fair in the early 80's. Life changing.
Michael Barker
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So in late 1973 I got (probably begged for) an assignment to interview Daltrey and Townshend for Penthouse for their front-of-the-book section about music, books, film, etc. From John Gabree, who was their freelance music coverage coordinator. He never did pay me the $200 he promised me for the article; they gave him a flat fee per month to fill the music pages, so it was "his money" at that point. Anyway, I digress. I go to Atlanta to do the interviews and see the show; been a diehard fan since first hearing the UK release of the "My Generation" album, bought everything since, seen them many times in NYC. Oh right, I'm 20 years old. Not old enough to buy Penthouse in Georgia. I meet up with a long distance friend from San Diego, Cameron Crowe, who's even younger than me and in Atlanta to interview Roger and Pete for Playboy, which he is way too young to buy in Georgia. I'm banging on the hotel room door of the suite in which my Pete Townshend interview is scheduled to take place. I can hear loud music in there. My knocking is not nearly loud enough. I wait til the song ends, and band loudly again. A guy opens the door and I introduce myself, and he brings me in to meet Pete. Pete introduces me to his friend, musician Steve Baron (cue Discogs search, Wikipedia won't help; I think he was a fellow follower of Meher Baba and recorded for Tetragrammatron). And apologizes for blasting the music so loud, but it's a Joe Walsh album, and he felt the need to immerse himself in the sound of Joe's guitar-playing. I nod in understanding, knowing Joe's work from the James Gang of course, but thinking "this is PETE TOWNSHEND and he's immersing himself in Joe Walsh?" Learn something new every day.
FYI, I later rented my cassette tapes of both interviews to Steve Demorest at Circus, from which he fashioned a story, since he hadn't been able to get his own interview at the time.
Toby Mamis
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Re: Toto
Tell Luke half of those streams are from me and my guitar wanking friends who discovered that the Spotify version of Rosanna has about 15-20 more seconds than the others of his exquisite guitar ejaculation at the end of the song before it fades out!
Would love to hear that master tape of just letting that little jam roll without the fadeout!
Peace and Love,
Dan Millen
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That was awesome. Sounds like a night to remember. Thanks for sharing it.
Stuart Gunter
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Awesome Bob. Thanks for bringing us into the room.
Your 10,000+ got you there.
Peter Buffett
___________________________________
Great piece. What a party, you made me feel like I was there. You are one lucky SOB so quit ranting about your jealousy of those with great wealth who fly private. Seems to me that YOU are a great deal richer.
Frank A. Gagliano
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I doubt even Stewart remembers this-
Animal Logic was about to go into the studio to record our first album (late 1988). Andy Summers had dropped out saying he didn't want to be in a "pop" band. Someone called Joe Walsh (don't know who) and Joe's response was "I've been waiting my whole life for this call." Sunset Sound is booked and Stewart, Stanley and I are there but no Joe. He's AWOL. I'm guessing it was not a particularly good period in his life. I had been in a roots-y cover band (Debbie and the Dynamics!) with a great guitar player named Michael Thompson and thought he would be great. He rushed over to the studio, played a magnificent solo on "Spy in the House of Love" and continued to work with Animal Logic. Life is strange…
Cheers,
Deborah Holland
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awesome
Jonathan Auerbach
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Loved this !
Marina Meade
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The party sounds amazing. Wish I was there. I love Joe Walsh.
What few people know is that I was there and left to deal with the aftermath when Joe did the infamous hotel room in Chicago that sparked the lines, "I live in hotels tear out the walls, I have accountants pay for it all." It's a great story. Joe did end up paying for it all.
I then also got to work the record "Life's Been Good" which is so much bigger than the number #12 it achieved on Billboard's, Hot 100. I'll take #12 records like that all day.
Burt Stein
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Extremely interesting piece Bob. You should write more on this overall subject ( or rather subjects)
Richard Rosenberg
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Now that is some amazing club to be a part of. Rock On!!
Marc LaFrance
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Awesome.
Michael A. Becker
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Barnstorn was heavy. Transformational!
shalaman1
___________________________________
You are more inside than many insiders. Don't wait any longer to KNOW IT.
David Reilly
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I don't think I'm a "member."
Pretty sure I would've been "denied admission" to that party. But I managed to weasel my way into several "after show" parties back in the 70s when it was easy to do and nobody worried about getting shot.
Rides Again was the first JG album I bought. Still have it. Still play it albeit not on a 1400 dollar turntable. But I have my vintage stuff and I'm satisfied. Funk 49 of course! But Tend My Garden made the record for me. There are no "throwaways" on that album. Sounds so fresh on vinyl. One of the best rock records ever imho.
Glad you enjoyed the party!
William Nelson
___________________________________
Sounds like it was blast. Joe is part of the tapestry of my life, which has been good to me so far. We don't live in the city and didn't get invited. Glad you are part of the in crowd. You deserve it and thanks for representing those of us who left Hell-A.
Kenny Lee Lewis
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Another home run. You're on fire.
Harold Love
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Good on 'ya Bob! Oh what a night. Too cool for school.
Ken Stewart
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great post Bob.
think I saw Joe on the PCH on a motorcycle 10 or so days ago.. ?!
Evan Harrison
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I must be following you at least 15 years. You are now becoming a really really great writer Bob
Whether, this was politics, commerce, love or science, I get hair boners reading what this writer has written. That's writing at its best. The way you wrote about Joe Walsh, I was literally there. You put me in that room. I too saw him play 10 feet in front of me ( in my head) because of your writing. You have suffered for your art. Thank God your time has finally come. It's not 10,000 hours. It's more like 50,000. You've served a tough apprenticeship. You are now a journeyman. It's great to see you finally get your cred.
colm
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"...some have lines in their face, and others retain their youthful good looks."
Juviderm, Botox, and Just for Men ;-)
Michael Laskow
___________________________________
My late brother, Domenic Troiano (1946-2005) and singer Roy Kenner replaced Joe Walsh when he had decided to leave the James Gang in 1972. Domenic was already a seasoned veteran guitarist in Canada having played for Ronnie Hawkins, the Mandala, Bush and The Guess Who after the James Gang stint.
Let me tell you the back story---I was 5 years younger than Domenic and in the early 70's I was a James Gang fan having seen them in Toronto gigs on Halloween night and also New Year's Eve. Bush (ABC Dunhill) broke up in 1971. My bro was struggling to make ends meet in LA when he received calls from the Belkin brothers and from Jimmy Fox and Dale Peters about their interest in hiring him to replace Joe. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go in that direction but when he told me about the offer I was stunned. Of course I told him to please accept this great opportunity as I was already a fan of the band and it was financially a no brainer considering his situation. He went on to join the band and enjoyed two successful years with them. In 1974 he joined Burton Cummings and the Guess Who, followed by a solo career and finally production work and scoring TV shows and movies.
Cheers,
Frank E. Troiano
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Bob, been reading your mails for a few yrs, always entertaining-thanks for sharing, sounds like the party of the decade!
Brad Ryan
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I saw Joe Walsh and Tom Petty for the first time in Nashville last April. I will forever be grateful to my daughter for taking me. Joe was mesmerizing,the whole night surreal.
Maybe I'll get to see Joe again one day, sadly not Tom
Lisa Gregory
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So what.
Fred Ansis
___________________________________
Perfect..
James Craik
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Loved this piece! Not only because I'm a little bit vicariously star-struck, but because you have always had a way of capturing how special music is in your heart that gives me goosebumps.
Between this and your new turntable, those Walsh tracks might as well be hits on the charts today!
Cheers,
Nick Benko from Guelph, Ontario
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Love this post. Replying because you mentioned Sarah Buxton.
Several years ago, I saw her perform at 3rd & Lindsley in Nashville. I was knocked out by her songs and between-song banter/stories. Such a cool person.
But to be honest, I actually went to see the act that performed after Sarah's set because her husband, Tom Bukovac, was playing in that later set. Bukovac is a session musician in Nashville and is just an amazing player – totally original, never overplays, always complements the song, etc. A cool person also.
I didn't realize it until I read your post about Joe Walsh that Bukovac played guitar in Walsh's band during this year's tour. Would've loved to see that.
Craig Dees
Murfreesboro, Tennessee
P.S. I saw Joe with the James Gang back in the Fall of 1971. Played at the old gym at Middle Tennessee State University. As for the James Gang catalog, while I love "Funk #49" and "Walk Away" and "Woman," I've always been most taken with "Midnight Man." Especially that verse the lady sings. Gives me goose bumps every time I hear it.
___________________________________
This is great and I love your newsletter! You should check out this related studio recording from Cleveland, Ohio circa Spring of 1967 titled The Schwartz Fox Blues Crusade: Sunday Morning Revival. As we know Glenn Schwartz was later replaced in James Gang by his former guitar pupil Joe Walsh.
Drummer Jim Fox recounts "I was in the process of forming a band of my own, and we called it The James Gang. We were maybe three or four months into it, still finding ourselves, you know? By that time we had found Glenn Schwartz…[this blues recording] was 100% spontaneous. We didn't even have one single song going in..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QYjpHNwHJk
Nine studio tracks of pure post-teen garage rock blues are accompanied by extensive liners and and never before published photos. But also on this record we have Mr. Stress himself, aka Bill Miller on harp (as in the guy that gets name checked in the Pretenders song "Precious" where Hynde's snipes "Now Howard the Duck and Mr. Stress both stayed").
In fact up in that link you can find ALL the Platters du Cuyahoga, Series 1 & 2 releases so far if you poke around a bit.
All the best,
Ilka Erren Pardiñas
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Cool Bob...
This is what we love about you.. this is fun!
Keep pinching yourself... that IS life! Keep living it and we'll read.
Winifred
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This is SO Right On!
Morley Bartnof
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Thanks Bob - you captured it perfectly as usual.
A wonderful party full of old friends - and a truly amazing gig! What cannot be over-emphasized is just how brilliantly well everyone played. This was no pale re-creation of the hits - this was the hits sounding better than ever! Joe W and Joe V and Kenny and Luke were amazing - and Ringo showed yet again why he is one of the very best and most influential drummers in Rock and Roll history. Being only a few feet away from Joe's amp as he begins the lick from Rocky Mountain High or from Ringo's kit when he starts the groove for "I Wanna Be Your Man" was a visceral thrill for us all - and both playing with supreme confidence and at the peak of their powers
We are indeed very lucky to pretty much all know each other and to all have been part of so many legendary stories and so much great music. There were a thousand unmade documentaries in that room last night and each of them unique and fascinating. Trust me Bob, you are "inside" and everyone is thrilled to have you there - you capture the music and the people so well; with the expressiveness of a writer, the enthusiasm of a fan and the joy of a friend.
Peter Asher CBE
___________________________________
The Rocky Mountain Way is better than the way we had
Tom O'Flynn
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Re-EAT B-Sharp Turntable
Hello Bob,
It's been at least two decades and a half since I put needle to the grooves. My musical listening format changed right along with my recording format. It just happened, like a quiet alien invasion as starting with my neighbor next door and outword, we all changed to the new digital technology and couldn't wait to show off to each other how cutting edge State of the art we were.
It wasn't until we (The Persuasions), recorded our album with Barenaked Ladies, released this year, that we had to reach backward for something to play our test pressing of the double vinyl album set. So, on a borrowed portable turntable and one speaker cabinet to listen on, we all gathered round in the living room and "listened." The sound of the needle hitting the groove slammed us all back to yesteryear when listening to music was a ritual experience only those from a certain generation could truly understand.
For us, unwrapping the records, plugging in all the gear and lifting that turntable handle, trying not to scratch the record, filled the air with anticipation of hearing for the first time the collected sum of our labor of love, all those weeks of preparation, the recording studio and the echos of shared laughter and artistry with Barenaked Ladies, captured forever on vinyl.
The circle of life was complete. All our decades of recording and performing lives and the journey was coming at us through that one speaker. We were young again, Just a bunch of friends in a room playing that record we had just rush down to the local mom and pop record store to pick up and back home as fast as we could run, to "hear" and inhale every beat, word and riff. This time it was our record on a format we thought we would never hear, much less be the artist that would deliver this gift to ourselves from our past and future present. Attached is a picture capturing that moment.
Thanks Bob, for taking the time to read this.
Dave Revels
___________________________________
I'm glad you like your vinyl. I'm also glad you used the "archaic" word, because it is. It's technology that pre-dates the introduction of home electricity for God's sake, and I swing back and forth between laughing and crying that people still swear by it.
Not to put down anyone who does like the sound of vinyl - to each their own - but let's not confuse it with accuracy. I look at it as a nostalgic audio patina like an Instagram filter. The thick layer of harmonic distortion, frequency & transient response degradation, and inevitable bass roll off may be pleasing to some, but it changes the sound dramatically.
Ask anyone who made records for a living back in the day when vinyl was the main music carrier. Especially anyone who worked at a studio with a mastering facility. Mixing a record, cutting it (without adding more eq or compression), then bringing it into the control room and A-B ing it to the master was an eye and ear popping experience. All it did was confuse and discourage the crap out of me.
Decent quality digital sounds so much more like the original than the best vinyl/turntable that it's not even close.
Better? Worse? That's all subjective and and personal. I don't miss it. Except for fondling covers and reading liner notes.
Best
Michael McCarty
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The million dollar question is... can you hear the difference between your old Panasonic and the B-Sharp? Have you tried doing an A/B blind hearing test?
But then again, you would be getting into "stereophile" territory, where old fuckers only talk about the sound and not the music, and it's all a competition to see who has a bigger wallet.
Glad you're not doing that and enjoying the music.
Diego Miranda
P.S. Also... are you into tape?
If not yet, sell that turntable, and with the money get yourself a RT-707 and some original quarter inch tapes spinning at 7 1/2 ips... after listening to God Only Knows like that you'll never go back.
___________________________________
Hey Bob,
Micah is a good friend and a good man, and it sounds like he hooked you up
just right. I remember setting up my new high-end Pro-Ject PerspeX
turntable for the first time, about 8 years ago. After a few hours of
meticulous construction/precision, I finally put the tres-expensive
Blackbird cartridge/needle down on Side 1 of The Tragically Hip's We Are
the Same LP, and vrrrrrreeep! -- the needle went all the way across the
side in about 2 seconds. Oy! Mr. Genius over here clearly hadn't gotten
the anti-skating balance set properly. Good thing I had a backup copy of
that LP, just in case...
My 'table has long since been set properly and duly used to revisit both
classics reborn on 180-gram wax in addition to many new,
wonderful-sounding discoveries along the way... bottom line: viva la
analog!!
Best,
Mike Mettler
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hi bob,
i'll keep this short.
i'll bet the sound that your find glorious is in the ortofon cartridge.
i've got two. one in mono (best way to listen to mono pressings)
and one in stereo.
the ortofon cartridges are glorious.
may i suggest getting a mono cartridge for your spare panasonic turntable?
you'll be glad you did.
all of the records you mentioned were recorded/
mixed on tape, and mastered for vinyl.
(that's a sonically beautiful thang.)
your friend.
marvin etzioni
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Bob..
Perhaps you may recall, utilizing the tone-arm lifter os called: CUEING
... Me too now insearch of relacing some components n my DUAL 1229Q .. very wealthy friend sends me to his audiophile guru in Santa Monica..spend afternoon w him listening...'twas wunnerful .. went from $750K system down incrementally down to $6K all in
..... 1. Difference at each stop on way down pound for pound negligable a/k/a not worth
..... 2. Mentioned to boutique audio guru that i can go pro audio mixed w some home audio via line signal matching .. very reasonable price..and will be recording studio quality!!
...... 3. Per turntable .. Ferget 16rpm..but many folks are actually 78rpm appreciative these days ..so 33..45 & 78rpm's the best way to go..BUT .. PITCH CONTROL of at least 8% is a must !! .. Any real musician or true enthusiast civilian will attest to the PITCH CONTROL FEATURE ...
... it was the Pitch Control Feature that un-cozmixed the guru
Still in search of that current 2017 technology turntable w those certain throwback features..if ya know please pass info this a way..?
Thx
Don Allen
Tony Clifton's drummer
___________________________________
Did you notice these cool ones in the George Michael Doc?
https://twitter.com/stoneaudio/status/920608926579773440
It made me want to buy one. I was a fan. So I had to watch. It's not great. Wanted more. But satiated the fan in me.
In action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-92ruWPTVQo
Jason Hirschhorn
___________________________________
Pacific Stereo!! I bought everything there!
Tom Hedtke
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Nice to see you finally changed your stance on vinyl As you can now see/hear it's more than
just a fad.....It's about sound quality and always has been!
herm181
___________________________________
One word: eBay.
Martin Rowell
___________________________________
If you have any of the early Kinks in your collection ("Tired of Waiting", etc.), those mixes still stand up on vinyl. It's amazing! Also, the Sinatra sessions with Neal Hefti.
Robert Bond
___________________________________
No - you're wrong! Streaming is the better than vinyl!!
I just wanted to chime in with some contrarian bullshit.
~Bobbo
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Exactly
Regan Fey
___________________________________
Glad you're enjoying your new 'table...the emotional impact is what it's all about. If you wanna make a couple of inexpensive changes that'll make the listening experience substantially more involving, I highly recommend swapping out the Ortofon—which is a perfectly decent cartridge—for an Audio Technica ML440b, which is a bonafide giant-killer. You'll never look back. I also recommend putting a better platter mat on there than the supplied felt one.
Happy to send links if you'd like.
Michael Howe
___________________________________
Did the same myself recently. Ain't it fun.
Enjoy.
David Claringbold
___________________________________
Zen and the Art of the Turntable....!
Vijay Thakur
___________________________________
I believe the Sl 1200 and Sl 1300 are Technics.
Patrick Herrington
___________________________________
Bob, Abraxas was one of the first albums I went back to on vinyl and it indeed sounds phenomenal. Enjoy!
Tom Moore
___________________________________
Wonderful piece.
Thanks!
Blaz Perus
___________________________________
It's hard to describe why I loved this one. The way you pulled me through the words. I was just not just reading, I was involved. A human wrote the email, and suddenly tens of thousands of readers were transported back to the past, smelling, feeling and hearing that magical vinyl that shaped so many of our lives. I would love to go there again. Thanks.
Dr. David Madow
Reisterstown, MD
___________________________________
We're from the same era, Bob! And I upgraded to old stuff some years ago. The turntable (though not getting a lot of use as most vinyl remains boxed up in my limited quarters) is a belt drive Thorens. I did a little work on it, and replaced the OEM tonearm with an SME and cartridge I can't recall right now. Exquisite device, the Thorens is, of course.
I still use my 40 year old JBL L-36s. I've replaced the foam, grill cloth, and binding posts, and they still sound great. Have not had to touch the electronics of the crossovers.
Always wanted Nakamichi, and acquired a TA-3A receiver. I cannot crank it to full volume, that would blow out the windows. The Who's "Who's Next" through it made it like it was meant to be heard. Nice at the time to not have any nearby neighbors! And my 12" single of Steely Dan's "Aja" never sound so in your face :)
Ever tried a Nakamichi CR-7 cassette? I don't care if the format is outdated, that thing makes cheap low bias tapes sound like CDs, imagine the good tape.
Harder to move around the full equipment than those today that just use an iPhone and Bluetooth speakers, but we knew how to rock, and still do.
Rock on, Bob.
Don
___________________________________
"Right now I'm playing Santana's 'Abraxas.' Carlos's guitar has got that richness we heard at the Fillmore, only this time it's in my home. That's what we used to do, save all our money so we could buy the best stereo to get closer to the music, when it wasn't just entertainment, but life itself."
Fred Catero
David Rubinson
___________________________________
Are you one of the old fogeys that your always stating live in the past? Or have you finally crossed over and realize when you really want to hear,feel, even smell the music, nothing compares to vinyl! Just bought a new turntable myself, one of the Regas. Very happy with it and set up was a breeze.
Have fun listening!
Terri Haram
___________________________________
If you want to really get blown away, see if they will trade your Ortofon Blue up to the Black. I have to listen to all my records again now that I can reach all the music hidden in those grooves.
Pinhey
___________________________________
Thanks for writing this Bob.
Many folk agree with you about the experience. I've worked in this field as long as you and what you are talking about is the immersion in the music. Yes, analog has a lot of warmth, though in most cases it is distortion (some of which we tend to like). What is special is the ritual of vinyl.
Having to place the disc properly, and in your case to clamp it down more or less demands your attention. It's not as easy to change records or tracks so you listen. Today, far too many do not listen, and it is all background noise which is why so many accept the highly compressed sound both of mp3 files and the compression placed in the studio to make it loud in the hope it will break through in your car or on the go.
The magic of vinyl is not so much the medium, but the fact that the ritual places the music in the spotlight. If you've gone through the trouble of setting the turntable up, then you will sit and listen often in the correct position to get that sound. Instead of placing a cheap powered speaker up and walking away while it plays in the background you are engaged with the music, lovely.
Now I would always rather have music than not, so I have no issue with these portable speakers. In fact, I am one of the first to make these Bluetooth speakers or iPod dock units. Today more people are hearing music in some way for more time and in more places than ever. That's a good thing. However, what you are talking about is diving into it, and hearing it for real with your attention. Just like love isn't it.
all the best
Robert Heiblim
___________________________________
Wow blast from the past. I sold stereo equipment during prep school and college vacations. Owned both those JBLs and that turntable. The cartridge was always the critical element and the good ones were $200-$300 and worth every penny. Remember the Dishwasher and the "ionized water " that came with it to clean the record.
Steven B. Frankel
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I enjoy your Letter - an eagerly anticipated read that often adds perspective, educates or challenges assumptions. However, like everything in our lives today, the words often have a digital tenor - ones and zeros - ups and downs - an impressive rounding of synthetic edges. It is all good.
What striking beauty in your piece today on analogue music. The joy of participating in building the system / participating in the process. Not just the music, your writing went analogue too. It resonates in true frequency. No edges, only genuine smooth transitions.
Zippo chance that I will stop being "ok google", or be buying a two grand turntable, but deeply appreciate you taking me back to a cherished place in time.
Building the stereo system was paramount. Reality, the need to pay dorm fees, meant the equipment took a penultimate position and in time was sold for parts to pay the bills. Thirty years later, I suppose the degrees have finally paid for themselves....
Not the good old days, but rather the other good days.
Peter Campbell
Toronto
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You won't regret spending https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-AT440MLB-Phonograph-Cartridge/dp/B00OQUJ1QO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511619991&sr=8-1&keywords=at440. Unbelievably great.
Some mat suggestions:
http://www.hifigem.com/rcc-record-mat.html
https://tinyurl.com/y7fx5qhy
http://herbiesaudiolab.net/ttmat.htm
https://www.needledoctor.com/Origin-Live-Record-Platter-Mat
-Michael Howe
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A Turntable at this price should have been purchased from a reputable Audio retailer; the price should have included set-up for you. Setting-up a turntable is an art-form and its handled by a trained technician employed by the retailer. Anything less--you got ripped-off.
Frank DeFonda
Fayetteville, NY
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Hi Bob, congratulations on the table! It really does sound better. Funny thing I just upgraded my Ortofon Blue to the Black. I was feeling guilty about spending the money until I read your piece. Thank you. You will really like the Blue. I did but, I got the bug and had to upgrade. Be careful it's easy to catch! Now you'll be scouring used record stores! That bug is an addiction! Have fun Russ Wilson
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As an audiophile and lover of music, I was so happy to embrace the arrival of CD's. The house shaking dynamic range with no more clicks & pops with a medium that could last forever and never experience wear. While I embraced vinyl (had 300 records, all sleeved/protected), I had and still have a love affair with the CD. It's funny to me when I see these twenty-somethings now loving the retro-cool of vinyl, showing up to art events with 35mm film cameras and bringing Polaroid film cameras to parties. I'll continue to enjoy my CD's (still love the quality, especially in the world of MP3's). But... I do find the idea of getting a nice Projekt turntable with an Ortofon cartridge to be tempting, you have me pondering this one, especially for some of the precious vinyl I still own that never made its way onto CD.
Don Adkins
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Bob your gonna get a lot of email, with all us vinyl geeks sharing our experiences.
I'm actually listening to David Bowie Young Americans on a Dual 1209. A fellow audio enthusiast, who I only met online through a Dual 1219 he was selling, lent me this 1209 to see if I would like an idler wheel turntable. First time I met him in person was when he gave me the Dual to try, no deposit, just trust among fellow fanatics. This would only happen in Halifax, NS or other small cities. I'm running a Sansui AU-7900 amp 80 wpc, Luxman CD player and preamp, Akai cassette deck, Technics SL 23 and Thorens TD 320 turntable. It's a fun and rewarding obsession, lol!!
EAT B-Sharp that is a nice TT!!
Doug Gillis
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Aren't you making the point that Neil Young was trying to make by advancing Pono?
Firstname Lastname
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Exhausting but beautiful. But...no thanks.
Michael A. Becker
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Bob!
After all you've said about vinyl and how we're all idiots to still be touting the pros of records and turntables...
Glad you stuck it out. A fantastic table without any of the hassle you describe ( but worth every bit of hassle, well, because!) is the Orbit Plus from U-Turn Audio. Great, fully manual table that literally is plug and play. You can get with pre-amp or without. And it won't set you back $1600 and plays just as fine.
The kids in Woburn, MA (sorta your old stomping grounds) know what's up.
Happy Thanksgiving. Keep up the good fight in all its forms.
Billy Fields
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You've got an amazing memory for detail, yikes. I sure wish I had hung on to my MacIntosh tube amp.
John Brodey
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For me, the nice thing about going back to vinyl is that it takes away the ease of skipping through a track. And for me, sometimes when I'm forced to listen I find that a track that doesn't grab me in the first 10 seconds might after the first 30 or 45.
The old vinyl sounds great, for sure, but new works like Supernova and Ouroboros by Ray Lamontagne, and Way Out West (by Marty Stuart) some awesome as well
Jim Blaney
Nashville
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Finally! A vinyl post from you with a little positivity thrown in!
So what if it's a niche, a hobby, a pain in the ass to set up. But when it's done,
it's fun and done right, it sounds fantastic.
For me the biggest draw is that the analog recorded stuff of yesteryear
was mastered from the original tapes by the mastering gods of the universe.
Who knows where the digital files of today come from? Did they have the master?
Did they brickwall the recording? Did anybody even care?
But back in the day, with Robert Ludwig and Doug Sax and others
at the helm, you can't go wrong with some of the originals. Nothing like a
Porky Prime Cut to make the needle dance in the grooves!
And when I went to visit my 24 year old daughter recently, she was listening to The Band's
second album…on vinyl! I had given her a copy a while ago but never knew she listened to it.
And what can be wrong with that?
Good luck spinnin' Bob.
Paul Bizzigotti
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Got one of those big honking black Sansui amps with the JBL 100s for high school graduation present in 1971. Was in stereo heaven for nearly 30 years before that equipment gave out. Nothing's sounded as good since.
Cameron Dilley
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What a great article!
Glad to see that you're enjoying vinyl again; I'm 42 and have literally been collecting since I was a little kid scouring flea markets and used record stores with whatever allowance money I could conjure up. While I bought CD's over the years (but almost always grabbed vinyl when available, even in the dark days of the 90s), and stream a lot of new stuff these days, I never disconnected from vinyl as in my experience it has always been the way to be most focused on listening and, when a record is pressed well (and this almost always means from analog tapes), it has a depth and complexity that always helps for the enjoyment of the music.
Are you hip to the vacuum cleaning systems for vinyl? These things not only cut back on surface noise but get rid of those annoying skips that get caused by an unruly spec of dust or grime that gets stuck in the grooves and is often undetectable to the eye. As a musician who helps pay the bills by also being a record dealer, these cleaners are fantastic for avoiding problems that cause people to return records for skips and surface noise, too. Most folks are amazed at how quiet vinyl can be after a deep cleaning. Of course some vinyl itself is just noisy by its composition, but it's truly amazing how little surface noise a clean record can have. I even clean new pressings, as it can get rid of microscopic shavings from the pressing process that also can cause surface noise.
VPI tends to be the most favored standard; they aren't cheap, but they are built like a tank and do the job very well. For more budget minded folks, a similar system is available from Okki Nokki, and a manual system by Record Doctor works quite well.
Derek See
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I am a boomer who is trying to rebuild my vinyl collection. Unfortunately I can't drop that kind of coin on a turntable and to be honest my ears still haven't recovered from third row at a Nugent concert in 74 and I'm not sure I could appreciate the full nuance of a high end system.
Now I take advantage of Spotify and I have it hooked up to my Alexis and stream it through a Bose wireless unit and it's convenience is awesome. I use it for playlists, party's and to discover new artists. (Check out John Moreland if you haven't already. He is the real deal) But vinyl, that is meditation for me. To go pick out that record that fits my mood, cue it up on the platter and and sit back and absorb the music start to finish. I don't multi-task or read or scan my Facebook. I listen to the music that the artist has produced and that's it.
Like you I have been having a great time rediscovering the classics that I love, but I am also checking out some of the new music that is making it's way to vinyl. Ray Lamontagne's "Ouroboros" is great on vinyl.
The hipsters are missing the point. It's not the possession of the flat piece of vinyl that is important, it's the feeling in your heart, the tingle down the back of your neck or the way your head explodes that comes from listening to that special piece of music that's important.
Build your gear up, buy the vinyl that moves you and PLAY IT.
Regards,
John Ferguson
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Dual CS 5000 and an Ortofon OM 40 Gold. Bought it with all Yamaha components and some still-amazing Polk SDA SRS 2.3s (big speakers = big sound!) in 1988, when I came into a bit of money. Still play it occasionally, and my friends who poo-poo it wind up sitting cross-legged on the floor, reading record liners. Great fun, and great sound. Thanks for keeping audio alive!
Chris Beytes
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You'll get a million of similar emails now, but you should hear Lucinda Williams' "Car Wheels" 180 gram re-release. Oh. My. Gawd....
Young Hutchinson
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The Eico HF-81 from 1961 is one of the greatest tube amps ever made because of the transformers and tube arrangement. You can get em on EBay for about $500 but you'll need a pro to up the capacitors and restore it for another $400-500. Once done, you will hear sound phrasing and subtleties you never heard before with your turntable.
John Rhode
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Wow, a new B-Sharp! Such a long way from that vintage portable record player with the penny taped to the tonearm. ;)
G. Robey
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Great descriptions of sound, anticipation, frustration, passion, and fulfillment. Thanks.
Harold Love
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Great assembly story. I applaud you for your patience. I would have thrown mine across the room ...
Not all USB platters sound horrible though. The Audio-Technica AT-LP120-USB is a remarkably good sounding unit at an affordable price. I wouldn't have believed it until I heard it with my own ears ...
Michael Roe
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My son got me Southern Blood on vinyl.
We're not southern, but the ABB is in our blood, and some of the inner
circle is in our address book. This was a special gift.
Went to the turntable on the PA system and it was dead.
Wouldn't even turn on. But it was a Fisher, inherited from my mom, never
liked it anyway.
So I went to the stereo system and put it on my nice linear tracking
turntable. Turned on the receiver and got blasted with static, volume
control had no effect, nor did any other function. Well ok, it's 25 years old, I guess it was its time.
But hey, I can still plug the linear table into the PA, so I crawl
behind the wall unit, disconnect it, and schlep it over to the PA, plug it in - no static - and hit Play. The unit moves about 1/4", bounces back to starting position, and stays there.
Now I realize that this is simply revenge for neglecting these devices
while my phone and computers get all the love.
But I'm a musician first and an audiophile second, and I have better
things to do with $1595. Amazon Prime finds me a 100W/channel amp that plays all formats of SD chips and does Bluetooth, with a little EQ, for $65, that was half the size of the old unit, and I didn't miss the three VCR inputs a bit. That put the stereo back in business. And then, for less than $100, I got an Audio Technica turntable with a USB output. Finally,
I can put the best of my 1200 albums onto hard drives and enjoy them
from anywhere. I guarantee you that at least a couple hundred of 'em aren't available
on Spotify.
And I can always put on the ol' Koss headphones and listen directly from
the vinyl if I'm in the mood to study.
Best,
Darryl Mattison
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There's a great deal to be said for vinyl. I've hung on to most of my 3,000+ LP collection, and they sound great on my system. I bought a Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Linn's superb Ittok arm 20+ years ago, used. I've upgraded the power supply and had a succession of very good cartridges in it. It sounds as good as LP can through my system (McIntosh preamp, Krell amps and B&W floorstanding speakers).
There's just one caveat: getting really good sound out of vinyl is, and will always be dependent on how well it was recorded in the first place, as well as the condition of the vinyl. Is it warp-free? Has it been cleaned recently? (A good LP cleaning machine can work wonders on well-loved discs.) Was the source material well-recorded in the first place?
There are great CDs and lousy LPs. Your mileage may vary, as they say. Yes, LPs are great fun, but remember: it's all just pretend. There is no orchestra (or jazz combo, or acoustic band, or whatever) in your living room. It's all just pretend. Spin, baby, spin!
David Basskin
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EAT. Nice Stuff. I never gave up on vinyl and have the turntable (and tonearm) to prove it. So I guess I'm one of those audiophile dudes. I have to disagree with you about the youngsters. They buy vinyl AND turntables. They will never give up their earbuds but they now know what good sounding reproduction is.
For me, vinyl just sounds better and is less fatiguing to listen to.
Remember this, the highest sampling rate you can get is . . . analogue.
Mitchell Manasse
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welcome back to vinyl, Bob..
we've been waiting for you..
Jimi Lalumia
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When the LOVE Turntable comes out next year it will have great sound and completely tame the hassle out of setting up and using a turntable. It's portable, and it can be controlled by an App on your phone so you never have to lift the needle to change tracks - it can skip tracks using the app with complete accuracy. Will
Connect to Sonos and be Alexa enabled too. The first turntable for the 21st century.
http://loveturntable.com/
Fred Goldring
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I loved my college stereo. Sansui 505 receiver, Aiwa cassette deck, Technics direct drive semi-auto tt plus all the other devices-compander, graphic eq… all plugged into first Advents and then Klipsch bookshelves. The lights were mesmerizing and the music was WOW. The tt and cassette deck was stolen to be replaced but not really. The Sansui kept chugging for 20 more years!. Thanks for the memories-Doc Blues
Mark Gresser
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Had a Vietnam vet roommate in the late 60's who couldn't wait for his Japan-purchased Scott/TEAC system to glitch so he could joyfully take it all apart and troubleshoot.
Stack them Advents!
dennis brent
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I'm coming over with my Alone Together album!
Chris Mancini
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Something from this piece stood out to me: "But if something's recorded analog and reproduced analog, there's a special sound and... Forget the digital recordings transferred to vinyl. Best if the original is analog, i.e. tape."
I couldn't agree more. But, these days it might be "buyer beware" for artists now seeking to release records in the format known as AAA. An artist seeking to record to tape, mix to tape, and then release his/her record on vinyl must be vigilant in order to avoid his/her music being converted to digital in the process of the vinyl mastering.
You may know this already, but when a record is mastered, the lathe speeds-up and slows-down in order to open space between the new groove and the groove adjacent to it on the disc to accommodate the wide groove that will result from the loud passage with a lot of bass that is coming up, and then to close the space to accommodate the narrow groove resulting from the soft passages that follow. In order to do this, the lathe has to know what is coming ahead of time.
Stated differently, before the mastering engineer hears a sound coming from the tape machine, the lathe computer must have already heard the sound and have made all of the calculations necessary to adjust the groove width to accommodate the sound that you are about to hear.
In the pre-digital world, this was accomplished by mounting a second playback head (the "preview head") on the playback tape machine, in the same tape path as the playback head, but mounted several inches in front of the playback head. This resulted in the same signal being produced by both heads, but with the signal from the playback head being delayed about .7 seconds behind the signal from the preview head. The signal from the preview head was routed to the lathe computer, and the signal from the playback head was routed to the cutter head (the part of the lathe that actually cuts the grooves into the disc).
I haven't been involved with mastering for vinyl in a while, but I have read that there are not that many tape machines equipped with a preview head in existence these days. Instead, many mastering studios who master from tape create the necessary delay by using a digital delay line. The signal from the tape is converted from analog to digital, and that digital signal is split, with one part going to the lathe computer and the other part being delayed .7 seconds and then being converted back to analog and routed to the cutter head.
The cutter head is being fed an analog signal. But it is not the same analog signal that came off the tape. Instead, it is an analog signal that has been digitized and then reconverted to analog before being transferred to the master disc as an analog signal.
Thus, even if it is recorded to tape and mixed to tape It, it will not be a totally analog recording it is mastered for vinyl in this manner. Best to look for a mastering studio with a tape machine equipped with a preview head.
Regards,
Bobby Thomas
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Truth!!! Baba booey is right too!
Joel Sercarz
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Bob, I get studio-quality sound via JBL 4312s /Technics SLQD33 semi-automatic/JVC RS77 60 watts a channel which has built-in 5-band equalizer and shakes the whole house when set at 3. Analog recordings sound better on vinyl. Best on 45s! Some Motown and Stax classics have been successfully remastered for CD, but those are exceptions. Paul L
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Reading this got me so anxious it caused my eczema to return (and I don't even have eczema).
Bob Kranes
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Bob, I'll buy your Nakamichi 582 if you want to sell it
I'll even drive to the valley to get it!
Throw me a price...and I'm on my way
Thanks,
Lance Cosgrove
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glad you are re-discovering your old vinyl! And thank you for recommending people stay away from those horrible USB turntables. You are also right about most modern digital albums poorly pressed to LP….BUT NOT ALL. But more importantly I am writing so everyone doesn't get the wrong idea about setting up your own TT. Just because you managed to get sound out of your speakers, doesn't mean that the turntable is set-up properly. I mean just because it's "working" doesn't mean it's reproducing at even close to it's potential. It's not rocket science or secret black-magic of course….but you do need a scale, a level, an alignment tool, a speed strobe, a test record, and something to measure capacitance, to get it right. A Ferrari with a flat tire and a couple dead spark plugs isn't going to beat a VW golf….things have to be properly tuned up. Congrats for getting yours up and running….but you should probably still call in an expert if you really want that baby to sing!
-doug tantrow
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Speaking of sound quality.
AM radio used to sound great but no more and here's the reason.
Something that you might not know is that AM radio quality today is not that of the AM radio stations we listened to growing up. Neither is the sonic quality of AM receivers. The bandwidth of the signal itself was substantially reduced by the FCC in the 1980s from 15 kHz to a max of 10 kHz but the majority of AM stations chose to purchase new transmitters that produced signals at only 3 or 4 kHz wide to save money since most AM stations were no longer profitable. The industry also switched from manufacturing rich sounding vacuum tube transmitters to producing only thin sounding solid state transmitters, this further diminished fidelity. This change is often lamented in Radio, a magazine for broadcast engineers that I subscribe to.
None of this really mattered much since the makers of radio receivers had already reduced the quality of the AM receiver in their components so that they could put the costs savings into producing higher quality sounding FM receivers. So even if AM stations were still transmitting a good quality signal it didn't matter because the AM receivers being made are low quality.
As a result, the AM sound we listen to today is nothing like that we enjoyed growing up. The fidelity has been reduced by a magnitude of four or five with the belief that more stations could be squeezed into the AM band. Unfortunately, AM stations are now so unpopular that AM licenses are being turned in to the FCC and no one wants them as stations go bankrupt.
Frank A. Gagliano
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Its great to hear you talking vinyl. I've long thought you'd given up on it completely. As a guy who runs a vinyl-only record label/club that bummed me out. Your passion for music is unparalleled and I feel like vinyl is something to passionate about today. Especially the physical packaging (which is what Vinyl Moon focuses on). Although I disagree about digital having a quality representation on vinyl. It can be done right. Many labels cut corners and press from CD quality files but those that take the time to cut lacquers from high-def files can create a beautiful sound on vinyl. But you are absolutely right, not all pressings are created equal. But thats also why the vinyl community is so great. We all chat about whats quality and what is just a cash grab (plenty of those).
Looking forward to more vinyl letters from you! If you want some mind blowing vinyl packaging records from me, just let me know and I'll send a few over.
Brandon Bogajewicz
Founder, CEO: Vinyl Moon
https://www.vinylmoon.co/thecollection/
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Welcome (back) to the club. I got my ex-Father-in-law's old Pioneer PL-518 direct drive that he bought in the 80's, after starting on a cheaper Audio Technica table, and that thing is still trucking and sounds fantastic. Shit was built to last back in the day. I'm 32 and I still use spotify and all that, but when I have the time to kick back, unwind and really listen, nothing beats dropping the needle and getting transported straight to the source.
Sean, MPLS
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I hope Howard Stern reads this. Of course, nothing will change his closed mind on the subject.
Chris Friday
Tour Manager
Mike Gordon Of Phish
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Your first dream system sounds remarkably similar to mine. L 100s, Kenwood 3500, Nakamichi 500, Pioneer PL 112D. A Yamaha FM tuner and Sony reel to reel were later additions. The Yamaha, Pioneer, Nakamichi and JBLs are gone. The Sony and Kenwood are still in service.
Dan Daly
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aloha bob..just read your piece on turntables..loved it!!! introducing my neighbor and great friend tom who started SHINOLA…i use their turntable and for me a game changer!!!…..he would love to have some dialogue with you re turntables and stuff…like to be a fly on the wall!..shep
Shep Gordon
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Thanks Shep.
Hi Bob.
In 2011 we went to Detroit with the hope to figure out how to create 100 jobs. I had recently left a watch Company that I had started in the mid 80s and utilized deep relationship in Switzerland to help accomplish the buildout of a factory and the training of a workforce that had no experience in making watches. We told our story in organic ways and were surprised, shocked actually, by the market demand when we finally started selling watches in July of 2013. We have subsequently utilized this same business model in several product categories. www.shinola.com
For several years now we have been investing heavily in creating an audio business that was predicated on bringing audiophile quality equipment to a more mainstream audience. We believe our growing legion of customers who are interested in our brand because of our design/quality of products and because of the back story of having created 650 much needed jobs in Detroit. We launched our turntable last year. As you can see from this video, we dove deep into the making of a turntable with VPI. https://vimeo.com/192694526. We have just started shipping the first headphones into the market.
I don't know shit from Shinola about audio equipment but I believe I have hired world class talent in an effort to get started. I sure would like to get an objective outside opinion about the quality of our first products. Would you have time to play around with our stuff and give me your perspective?
Thanks and best, Tom Kartsotis
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Mazel tov!
This piece made me happy. I'm one of those guys who never sold his turntable, and I have a very fine one, and most of the LPs I ever bought. Play one of your old Simon and Garfunkel records and be prepared to be amazed. How did Roy Halee get voices like that?
And you're definitely right that analog mastered recordings sound best. But I think that hi-res digital masters, 96/24 or 192/24, sound better on LP than they do on 16/44 CDs. I'm sure you'll hear more from Fremer on that!
And today's LPs are almost always better pressings than we got back in the day. Remember during the Oil Crisis when petrochemicals were in short supply and LPs got really really thin? Not to mention full of pops. That just doesn't happen now.
So enjoy.
Larry Fisher
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I bet that you will be getting an I-told-you-so email from Michael Fremer!
And from dozens of other long-time (long-in-the-tooth, also) turntable owners, like me.
Thanks for the analog love,
Chaz Jenkins
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My EAT B- Sharp got delivered for review yesterday….
However, Bob $1595 with a $200 cartridge is neither expensive nor "cheap".
It's good value for the $$$
"I could I have installed the sub-platter upside down? That turned out to be true."
OMG!
"And the unit came with an Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge, so I didn't have to set azimuth and all the other arcanities of Stanton and Shures way back when."
Actually the Ortofon 2M Blue and any cartridge today would benefit from correct azimuth setting, which can improve channel balance and separation. Not sure why you think the 2M Blue is exempt. But at that price point it's not as necessary as when you spend a few thousand for a phono cartridge (and more people do than you can imagine).
(Note: The Eat B-Sharp comes optimized for the Ortofon 2M Blue.)
"Forget those kids buying vinyl as souvenirs, many of whom don't even own a turntable, or if they do, it's a piece of crap."
At the Making Vinyl event in Detroit two weeks ago we learned from the head of the Association of Indie Record Stores (can't recall the actual name) that kids are buying a very decent Audio-Technica turntable that's selling in the indie record stores by the "stack" - 30 to 50 per week - the way these things used to be sold at Tower and Virgin...
"Forget the digital recordings transferred to vinyl. Best if the original is analog, i.e. tape."
Not so! Paul Simon's engineer Roy Halee (Simon and Garfunkel, Dylan, BS&T, Lovin' Spoonful) told me recently that the vinyl version of "Stranger to Stranger" cut from 192/24 file sounded much better than the CD. A concert pianist I know said that the vinyl edition of his latest recording cut from digital source sounded far closer to what he actually sounds like than did the file. There are reasons for this best discussed 'elsewhere'
First: the best part of the EAT story: it was designed by a woman, Jozefina, wife of Pro-Ject owner Heinz Lichtenegger.
She was already manufacturing and selling a line of EAT vacuum tubes when they met so this is not a faux design by a poseur. What's more, Heinz's story is truly amazing. He found a homely turntable for sale in the early 1990s at a GAS STATION and bought it. It sounded surprisingly good "for cheap" (Heinz was then distributing high end audio in Austria) so he visited the Czech Republic factory that manufactured it.
The Soviet era factory had fallen on hard times and had stopped manufacturing vacuum cleaners, refrigerators for the Soviet bloc. Only the turntable and a few other items were still being manufactured there.
Heinz soon started manufacturing and marketing inexpensive Pro-Ject turntables.
Today the entire factory is dedicated to Pro-Ject turntables. But he's run out of room so he and a partner just opened a second large factory. Pro-Ject now sells more than 160,000 turntables a year.
Michael Fremer
It's been at least two decades and a half since I put needle to the grooves. My musical listening format changed right along with my recording format. It just happened, like a quiet alien invasion as starting with my neighbor next door and outword, we all changed to the new digital technology and couldn't wait to show off to each other how cutting edge State of the art we were.
It wasn't until we (The Persuasions), recorded our album with Barenaked Ladies, released this year, that we had to reach backward for something to play our test pressing of the double vinyl album set. So, on a borrowed portable turntable and one speaker cabinet to listen on, we all gathered round in the living room and "listened." The sound of the needle hitting the groove slammed us all back to yesteryear when listening to music was a ritual experience only those from a certain generation could truly understand.
For us, unwrapping the records, plugging in all the gear and lifting that turntable handle, trying not to scratch the record, filled the air with anticipation of hearing for the first time the collected sum of our labor of love, all those weeks of preparation, the recording studio and the echos of shared laughter and artistry with Barenaked Ladies, captured forever on vinyl.
The circle of life was complete. All our decades of recording and performing lives and the journey was coming at us through that one speaker. We were young again, Just a bunch of friends in a room playing that record we had just rush down to the local mom and pop record store to pick up and back home as fast as we could run, to "hear" and inhale every beat, word and riff. This time it was our record on a format we thought we would never hear, much less be the artist that would deliver this gift to ourselves from our past and future present. Attached is a picture capturing that moment.
Thanks Bob, for taking the time to read this.
Dave Revels
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I'm glad you like your vinyl. I'm also glad you used the "archaic" word, because it is. It's technology that pre-dates the introduction of home electricity for God's sake, and I swing back and forth between laughing and crying that people still swear by it.
Not to put down anyone who does like the sound of vinyl - to each their own - but let's not confuse it with accuracy. I look at it as a nostalgic audio patina like an Instagram filter. The thick layer of harmonic distortion, frequency & transient response degradation, and inevitable bass roll off may be pleasing to some, but it changes the sound dramatically.
Ask anyone who made records for a living back in the day when vinyl was the main music carrier. Especially anyone who worked at a studio with a mastering facility. Mixing a record, cutting it (without adding more eq or compression), then bringing it into the control room and A-B ing it to the master was an eye and ear popping experience. All it did was confuse and discourage the crap out of me.
Decent quality digital sounds so much more like the original than the best vinyl/turntable that it's not even close.
Better? Worse? That's all subjective and and personal. I don't miss it. Except for fondling covers and reading liner notes.
Best
Michael McCarty
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The million dollar question is... can you hear the difference between your old Panasonic and the B-Sharp? Have you tried doing an A/B blind hearing test?
But then again, you would be getting into "stereophile" territory, where old fuckers only talk about the sound and not the music, and it's all a competition to see who has a bigger wallet.
Glad you're not doing that and enjoying the music.
Diego Miranda
P.S. Also... are you into tape?
If not yet, sell that turntable, and with the money get yourself a RT-707 and some original quarter inch tapes spinning at 7 1/2 ips... after listening to God Only Knows like that you'll never go back.
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Hey Bob,
Micah is a good friend and a good man, and it sounds like he hooked you up
just right. I remember setting up my new high-end Pro-Ject PerspeX
turntable for the first time, about 8 years ago. After a few hours of
meticulous construction/precision, I finally put the tres-expensive
Blackbird cartridge/needle down on Side 1 of The Tragically Hip's We Are
the Same LP, and vrrrrrreeep! -- the needle went all the way across the
side in about 2 seconds. Oy! Mr. Genius over here clearly hadn't gotten
the anti-skating balance set properly. Good thing I had a backup copy of
that LP, just in case...
My 'table has long since been set properly and duly used to revisit both
classics reborn on 180-gram wax in addition to many new,
wonderful-sounding discoveries along the way... bottom line: viva la
analog!!
Best,
Mike Mettler
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hi bob,
i'll keep this short.
i'll bet the sound that your find glorious is in the ortofon cartridge.
i've got two. one in mono (best way to listen to mono pressings)
and one in stereo.
the ortofon cartridges are glorious.
may i suggest getting a mono cartridge for your spare panasonic turntable?
you'll be glad you did.
all of the records you mentioned were recorded/
mixed on tape, and mastered for vinyl.
(that's a sonically beautiful thang.)
your friend.
marvin etzioni
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Bob..
Perhaps you may recall, utilizing the tone-arm lifter os called: CUEING
... Me too now insearch of relacing some components n my DUAL 1229Q .. very wealthy friend sends me to his audiophile guru in Santa Monica..spend afternoon w him listening...'twas wunnerful .. went from $750K system down incrementally down to $6K all in
..... 1. Difference at each stop on way down pound for pound negligable a/k/a not worth
..... 2. Mentioned to boutique audio guru that i can go pro audio mixed w some home audio via line signal matching .. very reasonable price..and will be recording studio quality!!
...... 3. Per turntable .. Ferget 16rpm..but many folks are actually 78rpm appreciative these days ..so 33..45 & 78rpm's the best way to go..BUT .. PITCH CONTROL of at least 8% is a must !! .. Any real musician or true enthusiast civilian will attest to the PITCH CONTROL FEATURE ...
... it was the Pitch Control Feature that un-cozmixed the guru
Still in search of that current 2017 technology turntable w those certain throwback features..if ya know please pass info this a way..?
Thx
Don Allen
Tony Clifton's drummer
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Did you notice these cool ones in the George Michael Doc?
https://twitter.com/stoneaudio/status/920608926579773440
It made me want to buy one. I was a fan. So I had to watch. It's not great. Wanted more. But satiated the fan in me.
In action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-92ruWPTVQo
Jason Hirschhorn
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Pacific Stereo!! I bought everything there!
Tom Hedtke
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Nice to see you finally changed your stance on vinyl As you can now see/hear it's more than
just a fad.....It's about sound quality and always has been!
herm181
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One word: eBay.
Martin Rowell
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If you have any of the early Kinks in your collection ("Tired of Waiting", etc.), those mixes still stand up on vinyl. It's amazing! Also, the Sinatra sessions with Neal Hefti.
Robert Bond
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No - you're wrong! Streaming is the better than vinyl!!
I just wanted to chime in with some contrarian bullshit.
~Bobbo
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Exactly
Regan Fey
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Glad you're enjoying your new 'table...the emotional impact is what it's all about. If you wanna make a couple of inexpensive changes that'll make the listening experience substantially more involving, I highly recommend swapping out the Ortofon—which is a perfectly decent cartridge—for an Audio Technica ML440b, which is a bonafide giant-killer. You'll never look back. I also recommend putting a better platter mat on there than the supplied felt one.
Happy to send links if you'd like.
Michael Howe
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Did the same myself recently. Ain't it fun.
Enjoy.
David Claringbold
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Zen and the Art of the Turntable....!
Vijay Thakur
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I believe the Sl 1200 and Sl 1300 are Technics.
Patrick Herrington
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Bob, Abraxas was one of the first albums I went back to on vinyl and it indeed sounds phenomenal. Enjoy!
Tom Moore
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Wonderful piece.
Thanks!
Blaz Perus
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It's hard to describe why I loved this one. The way you pulled me through the words. I was just not just reading, I was involved. A human wrote the email, and suddenly tens of thousands of readers were transported back to the past, smelling, feeling and hearing that magical vinyl that shaped so many of our lives. I would love to go there again. Thanks.
Dr. David Madow
Reisterstown, MD
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We're from the same era, Bob! And I upgraded to old stuff some years ago. The turntable (though not getting a lot of use as most vinyl remains boxed up in my limited quarters) is a belt drive Thorens. I did a little work on it, and replaced the OEM tonearm with an SME and cartridge I can't recall right now. Exquisite device, the Thorens is, of course.
I still use my 40 year old JBL L-36s. I've replaced the foam, grill cloth, and binding posts, and they still sound great. Have not had to touch the electronics of the crossovers.
Always wanted Nakamichi, and acquired a TA-3A receiver. I cannot crank it to full volume, that would blow out the windows. The Who's "Who's Next" through it made it like it was meant to be heard. Nice at the time to not have any nearby neighbors! And my 12" single of Steely Dan's "Aja" never sound so in your face :)
Ever tried a Nakamichi CR-7 cassette? I don't care if the format is outdated, that thing makes cheap low bias tapes sound like CDs, imagine the good tape.
Harder to move around the full equipment than those today that just use an iPhone and Bluetooth speakers, but we knew how to rock, and still do.
Rock on, Bob.
Don
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"Right now I'm playing Santana's 'Abraxas.' Carlos's guitar has got that richness we heard at the Fillmore, only this time it's in my home. That's what we used to do, save all our money so we could buy the best stereo to get closer to the music, when it wasn't just entertainment, but life itself."
Fred Catero
David Rubinson
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Are you one of the old fogeys that your always stating live in the past? Or have you finally crossed over and realize when you really want to hear,feel, even smell the music, nothing compares to vinyl! Just bought a new turntable myself, one of the Regas. Very happy with it and set up was a breeze.
Have fun listening!
Terri Haram
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If you want to really get blown away, see if they will trade your Ortofon Blue up to the Black. I have to listen to all my records again now that I can reach all the music hidden in those grooves.
Pinhey
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Thanks for writing this Bob.
Many folk agree with you about the experience. I've worked in this field as long as you and what you are talking about is the immersion in the music. Yes, analog has a lot of warmth, though in most cases it is distortion (some of which we tend to like). What is special is the ritual of vinyl.
Having to place the disc properly, and in your case to clamp it down more or less demands your attention. It's not as easy to change records or tracks so you listen. Today, far too many do not listen, and it is all background noise which is why so many accept the highly compressed sound both of mp3 files and the compression placed in the studio to make it loud in the hope it will break through in your car or on the go.
The magic of vinyl is not so much the medium, but the fact that the ritual places the music in the spotlight. If you've gone through the trouble of setting the turntable up, then you will sit and listen often in the correct position to get that sound. Instead of placing a cheap powered speaker up and walking away while it plays in the background you are engaged with the music, lovely.
Now I would always rather have music than not, so I have no issue with these portable speakers. In fact, I am one of the first to make these Bluetooth speakers or iPod dock units. Today more people are hearing music in some way for more time and in more places than ever. That's a good thing. However, what you are talking about is diving into it, and hearing it for real with your attention. Just like love isn't it.
all the best
Robert Heiblim
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Wow blast from the past. I sold stereo equipment during prep school and college vacations. Owned both those JBLs and that turntable. The cartridge was always the critical element and the good ones were $200-$300 and worth every penny. Remember the Dishwasher and the "ionized water " that came with it to clean the record.
Steven B. Frankel
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I enjoy your Letter - an eagerly anticipated read that often adds perspective, educates or challenges assumptions. However, like everything in our lives today, the words often have a digital tenor - ones and zeros - ups and downs - an impressive rounding of synthetic edges. It is all good.
What striking beauty in your piece today on analogue music. The joy of participating in building the system / participating in the process. Not just the music, your writing went analogue too. It resonates in true frequency. No edges, only genuine smooth transitions.
Zippo chance that I will stop being "ok google", or be buying a two grand turntable, but deeply appreciate you taking me back to a cherished place in time.
Building the stereo system was paramount. Reality, the need to pay dorm fees, meant the equipment took a penultimate position and in time was sold for parts to pay the bills. Thirty years later, I suppose the degrees have finally paid for themselves....
Not the good old days, but rather the other good days.
Peter Campbell
Toronto
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You won't regret spending https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-AT440MLB-Phonograph-Cartridge/dp/B00OQUJ1QO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511619991&sr=8-1&keywords=at440. Unbelievably great.
Some mat suggestions:
http://www.hifigem.com/rcc-record-mat.html
https://tinyurl.com/y7fx5qhy
http://herbiesaudiolab.net/ttmat.htm
https://www.needledoctor.com/Origin-Live-Record-Platter-Mat
-Michael Howe
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A Turntable at this price should have been purchased from a reputable Audio retailer; the price should have included set-up for you. Setting-up a turntable is an art-form and its handled by a trained technician employed by the retailer. Anything less--you got ripped-off.
Frank DeFonda
Fayetteville, NY
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Hi Bob, congratulations on the table! It really does sound better. Funny thing I just upgraded my Ortofon Blue to the Black. I was feeling guilty about spending the money until I read your piece. Thank you. You will really like the Blue. I did but, I got the bug and had to upgrade. Be careful it's easy to catch! Now you'll be scouring used record stores! That bug is an addiction! Have fun Russ Wilson
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As an audiophile and lover of music, I was so happy to embrace the arrival of CD's. The house shaking dynamic range with no more clicks & pops with a medium that could last forever and never experience wear. While I embraced vinyl (had 300 records, all sleeved/protected), I had and still have a love affair with the CD. It's funny to me when I see these twenty-somethings now loving the retro-cool of vinyl, showing up to art events with 35mm film cameras and bringing Polaroid film cameras to parties. I'll continue to enjoy my CD's (still love the quality, especially in the world of MP3's). But... I do find the idea of getting a nice Projekt turntable with an Ortofon cartridge to be tempting, you have me pondering this one, especially for some of the precious vinyl I still own that never made its way onto CD.
Don Adkins
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Bob your gonna get a lot of email, with all us vinyl geeks sharing our experiences.
I'm actually listening to David Bowie Young Americans on a Dual 1209. A fellow audio enthusiast, who I only met online through a Dual 1219 he was selling, lent me this 1209 to see if I would like an idler wheel turntable. First time I met him in person was when he gave me the Dual to try, no deposit, just trust among fellow fanatics. This would only happen in Halifax, NS or other small cities. I'm running a Sansui AU-7900 amp 80 wpc, Luxman CD player and preamp, Akai cassette deck, Technics SL 23 and Thorens TD 320 turntable. It's a fun and rewarding obsession, lol!!
EAT B-Sharp that is a nice TT!!
Doug Gillis
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Aren't you making the point that Neil Young was trying to make by advancing Pono?
Firstname Lastname
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Exhausting but beautiful. But...no thanks.
Michael A. Becker
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Bob!
After all you've said about vinyl and how we're all idiots to still be touting the pros of records and turntables...
Glad you stuck it out. A fantastic table without any of the hassle you describe ( but worth every bit of hassle, well, because!) is the Orbit Plus from U-Turn Audio. Great, fully manual table that literally is plug and play. You can get with pre-amp or without. And it won't set you back $1600 and plays just as fine.
The kids in Woburn, MA (sorta your old stomping grounds) know what's up.
Happy Thanksgiving. Keep up the good fight in all its forms.
Billy Fields
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You've got an amazing memory for detail, yikes. I sure wish I had hung on to my MacIntosh tube amp.
John Brodey
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For me, the nice thing about going back to vinyl is that it takes away the ease of skipping through a track. And for me, sometimes when I'm forced to listen I find that a track that doesn't grab me in the first 10 seconds might after the first 30 or 45.
The old vinyl sounds great, for sure, but new works like Supernova and Ouroboros by Ray Lamontagne, and Way Out West (by Marty Stuart) some awesome as well
Jim Blaney
Nashville
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Finally! A vinyl post from you with a little positivity thrown in!
So what if it's a niche, a hobby, a pain in the ass to set up. But when it's done,
it's fun and done right, it sounds fantastic.
For me the biggest draw is that the analog recorded stuff of yesteryear
was mastered from the original tapes by the mastering gods of the universe.
Who knows where the digital files of today come from? Did they have the master?
Did they brickwall the recording? Did anybody even care?
But back in the day, with Robert Ludwig and Doug Sax and others
at the helm, you can't go wrong with some of the originals. Nothing like a
Porky Prime Cut to make the needle dance in the grooves!
And when I went to visit my 24 year old daughter recently, she was listening to The Band's
second album…on vinyl! I had given her a copy a while ago but never knew she listened to it.
And what can be wrong with that?
Good luck spinnin' Bob.
Paul Bizzigotti
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Got one of those big honking black Sansui amps with the JBL 100s for high school graduation present in 1971. Was in stereo heaven for nearly 30 years before that equipment gave out. Nothing's sounded as good since.
Cameron Dilley
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What a great article!
Glad to see that you're enjoying vinyl again; I'm 42 and have literally been collecting since I was a little kid scouring flea markets and used record stores with whatever allowance money I could conjure up. While I bought CD's over the years (but almost always grabbed vinyl when available, even in the dark days of the 90s), and stream a lot of new stuff these days, I never disconnected from vinyl as in my experience it has always been the way to be most focused on listening and, when a record is pressed well (and this almost always means from analog tapes), it has a depth and complexity that always helps for the enjoyment of the music.
Are you hip to the vacuum cleaning systems for vinyl? These things not only cut back on surface noise but get rid of those annoying skips that get caused by an unruly spec of dust or grime that gets stuck in the grooves and is often undetectable to the eye. As a musician who helps pay the bills by also being a record dealer, these cleaners are fantastic for avoiding problems that cause people to return records for skips and surface noise, too. Most folks are amazed at how quiet vinyl can be after a deep cleaning. Of course some vinyl itself is just noisy by its composition, but it's truly amazing how little surface noise a clean record can have. I even clean new pressings, as it can get rid of microscopic shavings from the pressing process that also can cause surface noise.
VPI tends to be the most favored standard; they aren't cheap, but they are built like a tank and do the job very well. For more budget minded folks, a similar system is available from Okki Nokki, and a manual system by Record Doctor works quite well.
Derek See
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I am a boomer who is trying to rebuild my vinyl collection. Unfortunately I can't drop that kind of coin on a turntable and to be honest my ears still haven't recovered from third row at a Nugent concert in 74 and I'm not sure I could appreciate the full nuance of a high end system.
Now I take advantage of Spotify and I have it hooked up to my Alexis and stream it through a Bose wireless unit and it's convenience is awesome. I use it for playlists, party's and to discover new artists. (Check out John Moreland if you haven't already. He is the real deal) But vinyl, that is meditation for me. To go pick out that record that fits my mood, cue it up on the platter and and sit back and absorb the music start to finish. I don't multi-task or read or scan my Facebook. I listen to the music that the artist has produced and that's it.
Like you I have been having a great time rediscovering the classics that I love, but I am also checking out some of the new music that is making it's way to vinyl. Ray Lamontagne's "Ouroboros" is great on vinyl.
The hipsters are missing the point. It's not the possession of the flat piece of vinyl that is important, it's the feeling in your heart, the tingle down the back of your neck or the way your head explodes that comes from listening to that special piece of music that's important.
Build your gear up, buy the vinyl that moves you and PLAY IT.
Regards,
John Ferguson
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Dual CS 5000 and an Ortofon OM 40 Gold. Bought it with all Yamaha components and some still-amazing Polk SDA SRS 2.3s (big speakers = big sound!) in 1988, when I came into a bit of money. Still play it occasionally, and my friends who poo-poo it wind up sitting cross-legged on the floor, reading record liners. Great fun, and great sound. Thanks for keeping audio alive!
Chris Beytes
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You'll get a million of similar emails now, but you should hear Lucinda Williams' "Car Wheels" 180 gram re-release. Oh. My. Gawd....
Young Hutchinson
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The Eico HF-81 from 1961 is one of the greatest tube amps ever made because of the transformers and tube arrangement. You can get em on EBay for about $500 but you'll need a pro to up the capacitors and restore it for another $400-500. Once done, you will hear sound phrasing and subtleties you never heard before with your turntable.
John Rhode
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Wow, a new B-Sharp! Such a long way from that vintage portable record player with the penny taped to the tonearm. ;)
G. Robey
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Great descriptions of sound, anticipation, frustration, passion, and fulfillment. Thanks.
Harold Love
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Great assembly story. I applaud you for your patience. I would have thrown mine across the room ...
Not all USB platters sound horrible though. The Audio-Technica AT-LP120-USB is a remarkably good sounding unit at an affordable price. I wouldn't have believed it until I heard it with my own ears ...
Michael Roe
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My son got me Southern Blood on vinyl.
We're not southern, but the ABB is in our blood, and some of the inner
circle is in our address book. This was a special gift.
Went to the turntable on the PA system and it was dead.
Wouldn't even turn on. But it was a Fisher, inherited from my mom, never
liked it anyway.
So I went to the stereo system and put it on my nice linear tracking
turntable. Turned on the receiver and got blasted with static, volume
control had no effect, nor did any other function. Well ok, it's 25 years old, I guess it was its time.
But hey, I can still plug the linear table into the PA, so I crawl
behind the wall unit, disconnect it, and schlep it over to the PA, plug it in - no static - and hit Play. The unit moves about 1/4", bounces back to starting position, and stays there.
Now I realize that this is simply revenge for neglecting these devices
while my phone and computers get all the love.
But I'm a musician first and an audiophile second, and I have better
things to do with $1595. Amazon Prime finds me a 100W/channel amp that plays all formats of SD chips and does Bluetooth, with a little EQ, for $65, that was half the size of the old unit, and I didn't miss the three VCR inputs a bit. That put the stereo back in business. And then, for less than $100, I got an Audio Technica turntable with a USB output. Finally,
I can put the best of my 1200 albums onto hard drives and enjoy them
from anywhere. I guarantee you that at least a couple hundred of 'em aren't available
on Spotify.
And I can always put on the ol' Koss headphones and listen directly from
the vinyl if I'm in the mood to study.
Best,
Darryl Mattison
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There's a great deal to be said for vinyl. I've hung on to most of my 3,000+ LP collection, and they sound great on my system. I bought a Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Linn's superb Ittok arm 20+ years ago, used. I've upgraded the power supply and had a succession of very good cartridges in it. It sounds as good as LP can through my system (McIntosh preamp, Krell amps and B&W floorstanding speakers).
There's just one caveat: getting really good sound out of vinyl is, and will always be dependent on how well it was recorded in the first place, as well as the condition of the vinyl. Is it warp-free? Has it been cleaned recently? (A good LP cleaning machine can work wonders on well-loved discs.) Was the source material well-recorded in the first place?
There are great CDs and lousy LPs. Your mileage may vary, as they say. Yes, LPs are great fun, but remember: it's all just pretend. There is no orchestra (or jazz combo, or acoustic band, or whatever) in your living room. It's all just pretend. Spin, baby, spin!
David Basskin
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EAT. Nice Stuff. I never gave up on vinyl and have the turntable (and tonearm) to prove it. So I guess I'm one of those audiophile dudes. I have to disagree with you about the youngsters. They buy vinyl AND turntables. They will never give up their earbuds but they now know what good sounding reproduction is.
For me, vinyl just sounds better and is less fatiguing to listen to.
Remember this, the highest sampling rate you can get is . . . analogue.
Mitchell Manasse
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welcome back to vinyl, Bob..
we've been waiting for you..
Jimi Lalumia
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When the LOVE Turntable comes out next year it will have great sound and completely tame the hassle out of setting up and using a turntable. It's portable, and it can be controlled by an App on your phone so you never have to lift the needle to change tracks - it can skip tracks using the app with complete accuracy. Will
Connect to Sonos and be Alexa enabled too. The first turntable for the 21st century.
http://loveturntable.com/
Fred Goldring
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I loved my college stereo. Sansui 505 receiver, Aiwa cassette deck, Technics direct drive semi-auto tt plus all the other devices-compander, graphic eq… all plugged into first Advents and then Klipsch bookshelves. The lights were mesmerizing and the music was WOW. The tt and cassette deck was stolen to be replaced but not really. The Sansui kept chugging for 20 more years!. Thanks for the memories-Doc Blues
Mark Gresser
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Had a Vietnam vet roommate in the late 60's who couldn't wait for his Japan-purchased Scott/TEAC system to glitch so he could joyfully take it all apart and troubleshoot.
Stack them Advents!
dennis brent
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I'm coming over with my Alone Together album!
Chris Mancini
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Something from this piece stood out to me: "But if something's recorded analog and reproduced analog, there's a special sound and... Forget the digital recordings transferred to vinyl. Best if the original is analog, i.e. tape."
I couldn't agree more. But, these days it might be "buyer beware" for artists now seeking to release records in the format known as AAA. An artist seeking to record to tape, mix to tape, and then release his/her record on vinyl must be vigilant in order to avoid his/her music being converted to digital in the process of the vinyl mastering.
You may know this already, but when a record is mastered, the lathe speeds-up and slows-down in order to open space between the new groove and the groove adjacent to it on the disc to accommodate the wide groove that will result from the loud passage with a lot of bass that is coming up, and then to close the space to accommodate the narrow groove resulting from the soft passages that follow. In order to do this, the lathe has to know what is coming ahead of time.
Stated differently, before the mastering engineer hears a sound coming from the tape machine, the lathe computer must have already heard the sound and have made all of the calculations necessary to adjust the groove width to accommodate the sound that you are about to hear.
In the pre-digital world, this was accomplished by mounting a second playback head (the "preview head") on the playback tape machine, in the same tape path as the playback head, but mounted several inches in front of the playback head. This resulted in the same signal being produced by both heads, but with the signal from the playback head being delayed about .7 seconds behind the signal from the preview head. The signal from the preview head was routed to the lathe computer, and the signal from the playback head was routed to the cutter head (the part of the lathe that actually cuts the grooves into the disc).
I haven't been involved with mastering for vinyl in a while, but I have read that there are not that many tape machines equipped with a preview head in existence these days. Instead, many mastering studios who master from tape create the necessary delay by using a digital delay line. The signal from the tape is converted from analog to digital, and that digital signal is split, with one part going to the lathe computer and the other part being delayed .7 seconds and then being converted back to analog and routed to the cutter head.
The cutter head is being fed an analog signal. But it is not the same analog signal that came off the tape. Instead, it is an analog signal that has been digitized and then reconverted to analog before being transferred to the master disc as an analog signal.
Thus, even if it is recorded to tape and mixed to tape It, it will not be a totally analog recording it is mastered for vinyl in this manner. Best to look for a mastering studio with a tape machine equipped with a preview head.
Regards,
Bobby Thomas
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Truth!!! Baba booey is right too!
Joel Sercarz
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Bob, I get studio-quality sound via JBL 4312s /Technics SLQD33 semi-automatic/JVC RS77 60 watts a channel which has built-in 5-band equalizer and shakes the whole house when set at 3. Analog recordings sound better on vinyl. Best on 45s! Some Motown and Stax classics have been successfully remastered for CD, but those are exceptions. Paul L
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Reading this got me so anxious it caused my eczema to return (and I don't even have eczema).
Bob Kranes
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Bob, I'll buy your Nakamichi 582 if you want to sell it
I'll even drive to the valley to get it!
Throw me a price...and I'm on my way
Thanks,
Lance Cosgrove
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glad you are re-discovering your old vinyl! And thank you for recommending people stay away from those horrible USB turntables. You are also right about most modern digital albums poorly pressed to LP….BUT NOT ALL. But more importantly I am writing so everyone doesn't get the wrong idea about setting up your own TT. Just because you managed to get sound out of your speakers, doesn't mean that the turntable is set-up properly. I mean just because it's "working" doesn't mean it's reproducing at even close to it's potential. It's not rocket science or secret black-magic of course….but you do need a scale, a level, an alignment tool, a speed strobe, a test record, and something to measure capacitance, to get it right. A Ferrari with a flat tire and a couple dead spark plugs isn't going to beat a VW golf….things have to be properly tuned up. Congrats for getting yours up and running….but you should probably still call in an expert if you really want that baby to sing!
-doug tantrow
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Speaking of sound quality.
AM radio used to sound great but no more and here's the reason.
Something that you might not know is that AM radio quality today is not that of the AM radio stations we listened to growing up. Neither is the sonic quality of AM receivers. The bandwidth of the signal itself was substantially reduced by the FCC in the 1980s from 15 kHz to a max of 10 kHz but the majority of AM stations chose to purchase new transmitters that produced signals at only 3 or 4 kHz wide to save money since most AM stations were no longer profitable. The industry also switched from manufacturing rich sounding vacuum tube transmitters to producing only thin sounding solid state transmitters, this further diminished fidelity. This change is often lamented in Radio, a magazine for broadcast engineers that I subscribe to.
None of this really mattered much since the makers of radio receivers had already reduced the quality of the AM receiver in their components so that they could put the costs savings into producing higher quality sounding FM receivers. So even if AM stations were still transmitting a good quality signal it didn't matter because the AM receivers being made are low quality.
As a result, the AM sound we listen to today is nothing like that we enjoyed growing up. The fidelity has been reduced by a magnitude of four or five with the belief that more stations could be squeezed into the AM band. Unfortunately, AM stations are now so unpopular that AM licenses are being turned in to the FCC and no one wants them as stations go bankrupt.
Frank A. Gagliano
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Its great to hear you talking vinyl. I've long thought you'd given up on it completely. As a guy who runs a vinyl-only record label/club that bummed me out. Your passion for music is unparalleled and I feel like vinyl is something to passionate about today. Especially the physical packaging (which is what Vinyl Moon focuses on). Although I disagree about digital having a quality representation on vinyl. It can be done right. Many labels cut corners and press from CD quality files but those that take the time to cut lacquers from high-def files can create a beautiful sound on vinyl. But you are absolutely right, not all pressings are created equal. But thats also why the vinyl community is so great. We all chat about whats quality and what is just a cash grab (plenty of those).
Looking forward to more vinyl letters from you! If you want some mind blowing vinyl packaging records from me, just let me know and I'll send a few over.
Brandon Bogajewicz
Founder, CEO: Vinyl Moon
https://www.vinylmoon.co/thecollection/
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Welcome (back) to the club. I got my ex-Father-in-law's old Pioneer PL-518 direct drive that he bought in the 80's, after starting on a cheaper Audio Technica table, and that thing is still trucking and sounds fantastic. Shit was built to last back in the day. I'm 32 and I still use spotify and all that, but when I have the time to kick back, unwind and really listen, nothing beats dropping the needle and getting transported straight to the source.
Sean, MPLS
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I hope Howard Stern reads this. Of course, nothing will change his closed mind on the subject.
Chris Friday
Tour Manager
Mike Gordon Of Phish
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Your first dream system sounds remarkably similar to mine. L 100s, Kenwood 3500, Nakamichi 500, Pioneer PL 112D. A Yamaha FM tuner and Sony reel to reel were later additions. The Yamaha, Pioneer, Nakamichi and JBLs are gone. The Sony and Kenwood are still in service.
Dan Daly
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aloha bob..just read your piece on turntables..loved it!!! introducing my neighbor and great friend tom who started SHINOLA…i use their turntable and for me a game changer!!!…..he would love to have some dialogue with you re turntables and stuff…like to be a fly on the wall!..shep
Shep Gordon
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Thanks Shep.
Hi Bob.
In 2011 we went to Detroit with the hope to figure out how to create 100 jobs. I had recently left a watch Company that I had started in the mid 80s and utilized deep relationship in Switzerland to help accomplish the buildout of a factory and the training of a workforce that had no experience in making watches. We told our story in organic ways and were surprised, shocked actually, by the market demand when we finally started selling watches in July of 2013. We have subsequently utilized this same business model in several product categories. www.shinola.com
For several years now we have been investing heavily in creating an audio business that was predicated on bringing audiophile quality equipment to a more mainstream audience. We believe our growing legion of customers who are interested in our brand because of our design/quality of products and because of the back story of having created 650 much needed jobs in Detroit. We launched our turntable last year. As you can see from this video, we dove deep into the making of a turntable with VPI. https://vimeo.com/192694526. We have just started shipping the first headphones into the market.
I don't know shit from Shinola about audio equipment but I believe I have hired world class talent in an effort to get started. I sure would like to get an objective outside opinion about the quality of our first products. Would you have time to play around with our stuff and give me your perspective?
Thanks and best, Tom Kartsotis
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Mazel tov!
This piece made me happy. I'm one of those guys who never sold his turntable, and I have a very fine one, and most of the LPs I ever bought. Play one of your old Simon and Garfunkel records and be prepared to be amazed. How did Roy Halee get voices like that?
And you're definitely right that analog mastered recordings sound best. But I think that hi-res digital masters, 96/24 or 192/24, sound better on LP than they do on 16/44 CDs. I'm sure you'll hear more from Fremer on that!
And today's LPs are almost always better pressings than we got back in the day. Remember during the Oil Crisis when petrochemicals were in short supply and LPs got really really thin? Not to mention full of pops. That just doesn't happen now.
So enjoy.
Larry Fisher
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I bet that you will be getting an I-told-you-so email from Michael Fremer!
And from dozens of other long-time (long-in-the-tooth, also) turntable owners, like me.
Thanks for the analog love,
Chaz Jenkins
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My EAT B- Sharp got delivered for review yesterday….
However, Bob $1595 with a $200 cartridge is neither expensive nor "cheap".
It's good value for the $$$
"I could I have installed the sub-platter upside down? That turned out to be true."
OMG!
"And the unit came with an Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge, so I didn't have to set azimuth and all the other arcanities of Stanton and Shures way back when."
Actually the Ortofon 2M Blue and any cartridge today would benefit from correct azimuth setting, which can improve channel balance and separation. Not sure why you think the 2M Blue is exempt. But at that price point it's not as necessary as when you spend a few thousand for a phono cartridge (and more people do than you can imagine).
(Note: The Eat B-Sharp comes optimized for the Ortofon 2M Blue.)
"Forget those kids buying vinyl as souvenirs, many of whom don't even own a turntable, or if they do, it's a piece of crap."
At the Making Vinyl event in Detroit two weeks ago we learned from the head of the Association of Indie Record Stores (can't recall the actual name) that kids are buying a very decent Audio-Technica turntable that's selling in the indie record stores by the "stack" - 30 to 50 per week - the way these things used to be sold at Tower and Virgin...
"Forget the digital recordings transferred to vinyl. Best if the original is analog, i.e. tape."
Not so! Paul Simon's engineer Roy Halee (Simon and Garfunkel, Dylan, BS&T, Lovin' Spoonful) told me recently that the vinyl version of "Stranger to Stranger" cut from 192/24 file sounded much better than the CD. A concert pianist I know said that the vinyl edition of his latest recording cut from digital source sounded far closer to what he actually sounds like than did the file. There are reasons for this best discussed 'elsewhere'
First: the best part of the EAT story: it was designed by a woman, Jozefina, wife of Pro-Ject owner Heinz Lichtenegger.
She was already manufacturing and selling a line of EAT vacuum tubes when they met so this is not a faux design by a poseur. What's more, Heinz's story is truly amazing. He found a homely turntable for sale in the early 1990s at a GAS STATION and bought it. It sounded surprisingly good "for cheap" (Heinz was then distributing high end audio in Austria) so he visited the Czech Republic factory that manufactured it.
The Soviet era factory had fallen on hard times and had stopped manufacturing vacuum cleaners, refrigerators for the Soviet bloc. Only the turntable and a few other items were still being manufactured there.
Heinz soon started manufacturing and marketing inexpensive Pro-Ject turntables.
Today the entire factory is dedicated to Pro-Ject turntables. But he's run out of room so he and a partner just opened a second large factory. Pro-Ject now sells more than 160,000 turntables a year.
Michael Fremer
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