That's a photo of Chad Kassem and me from 1997. We go back a long way—to the 1980's actually. He's getting a "lifetime achievement" award on Sunday December 7th from the Los Angeles and Orange County Audiophile Society.

Another listen to Music Hall's MMF 11.1 turntable? Wasn't one full review sufficient?

Not that it’s any of my business, but I was disappointed reading that Joni Mitchell had nixed Taylor Swift’s playing her in a biopix. “All you’ve got is a girl with high cheekbones” she’s reported to have said.

This double LP compilation pressed on "tie dyed" colored vinyl includes previously released Mardi Gras Records recordings from the seven brass bands featured on this surprisingly entertaining set.

From Mixmag.net: someone in Korea has built a working LEGO turntable and tone arm. Amazing.

The Neil Young master tapes for this second box set were sitting in Chris Bellman's mastering suite last winter when I visited and interviewed Bernie Grundman about the Blue Note reissues, some of which were originally digitized at BGM Mastering and some of which were cut to lacquer by Chris.

The compact, two piece VERA 20 Phono Preamplifier from MR Labs may look more like a piece of medical technology and less like high performance audio gear, but don’t let its plain looks deceive you.

It consists of two relatively small chassis, one containing the amplification and signal processing electronics and the other the power supply. The power supply chassis (which at approximately 6 pounds weighs 3 times more than the amplification chassis) is capped at one end with a beefy heat sink more typical of a power amplifier. The two chassis connect via a pair of multi-pin umbilicals.

For those taking the time to listen to the two posted files in the Led Zeppelin III review....

The producer Ralph Sall had an idea ten years ago or so: why not get some of the greatest musical talents of our time to pay tribute to Sir Paul McCartney by having them cover his songs? What could possibly go wrong?

A reader forwarded a link to a story by Colette LaBouff published in The Morning News, "a magazine of essays, art, humor and culture" that I'm 100% certain you will enjoy reading. The publisher has generously granted us permission to provide the link.