Guaranted, it's no Casino Royale, but with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Bonnie Raitt, Dr. John, Sun Ra, Otis Rush, Johnny Shines, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Freddie King, and Luther Allison among the participants, the 2-LP Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival 1972 isn't half bad. The Atlantic Records original (SD 2-502) was one of my "Records To Die For" a few years ago. Unfortunately, the only copy I've ever seen is mine.

The international "Making Vinyl Detroit 2017 Symposium—or whatever you want to call it—was successful beyond most people's highest expectations for the first of a kind event that saw in attendance representatives from many of the world's major record pressing plants (GZ Media, Optimal, MPO, URP, QRP, RTI, Rainbo).

Bryan Ekus, President and Executive Producer of Making Vinyl Detroit 2017 and Larry Jaffee, Conference Director have put together an outstanding two day Making Vinylconference comprehensively covering every aspect of modern vinyl production. It would have been a shame had weak industry participation marred the event. Fortunately, the worldwide industry responded to the call producing hundreds of attendees from throughout the industry, including pressing plant owners and executives including RTI's Don MacInnis, Rainbo's Steve Sheldon, Optimal Media's Peter Runge, MPO's Alban Pingoet and GZ Vinyl's MIchal Sterba, who were asked to discuss why they never gave up on vinyl in a panel discussion run by Third Man Pressing's Randy Cholewa. The picture is the view from the podium during the panel discussion led by analogPlanet Editor Michael Fremer

At the 1999 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I found the Alexis Park Hotel's Specialty Audio exhibit area "depressing." In the year 2000, however, it was a refreshing oasis of sanity in a desert storm of digital sand swirling around the main convention center, which promised us 500 channels of TV, PPV, WebTV, AOLTV, DSL, Geocast, Web Radio, downloadable MP3, and on and on.

CiAudio (better known as Channel Island Audio) is an American-manufacturer of high quality, moderately priced electronics that you can explore at the company’s website. The PEQ 1 MKII is built to an unexpectedly high standard given its $995 price tag and American heritage. The outside is a sturdy milled aluminum chassis unusual at this price point as are the highest quality panel mounted Cardas™ RCA jacks. Inside is a dual mono design with each input jack going to an identically laid out, independent mono circuit, which helps to eliminate crosstalk.

Pianist Jamie Saft's trio recorded a well-received, sonically superb 2014 album called New Standard. If you need a group or individual backgrounder, please hit that hyperlink.

Netherlands-based Music Box Designs manufactures these solid wood vinyl storage containers and ships them world-wide for a very reasonable price. Shipping is free in The Netherlands and throughout most of Europe.

Saturdays during the Blues at the Crossroads concert weekend, Acoustic Sounds and Quality Vinyl Pressing (QRP) open their doors to blues fans from around the world, who are invited to tour the QRP pressing plant and buy new and used records and SACDs at Acoustic Sounds.

Subscription-based jazz label Newvelle Records recently announced its third year of vinyl-only original productions. The six gatefold packaged albums ship every other month. Subscribers get a box in which to store the albums.

Opened June of 2017, Kaneshii Vinyl Press is a full-service boutique vinyl-record manufacturer located in the West Royalty Industrial Park, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, on Canada’s East Coast. The company sent the press release in the early fall, probably after the opening "shake out". Good idea!