LATEST ADDITIONS

There are certain manufacturers for whom every new product implies the promise of countless modifications, Usually a month or so apart, culminating inevitably in a version so far removed from the original that it must be assigned a new model designation—usually a letter suffix ranging from A, to D. By the time E is envisioned, another CE Show is approaching, so the decision is made to give the unit an exterior facelift and a brand-new model number. Presto! A new product for CES.

Thanks for the kind birthday messages, everybody. I had a great day. Joan & I went to the <A HREF="http://www.frick.org/">Frick Collection</A> to gaze at our favorite Vermeers, Franz Hals, and J.M.W. Turners, not to mention checking out a comprehensive display of the New Testament drawings of <A HREF="http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/tiepolo/">Domenico Tiepolo</a>, which were completely new to me.

In my e-mail inbox, I saw a new item: "FedEx Shipment Notification."<br>
Spam? I wondered.

One clich&#233; that never loses its aptness is "end of an era." And it certainly applies to the passing on October 29 of SME’s founder, Alastair Robertson-Aikman. While there remain a handful of survivors from the original "golden age" of audio, few of them were still active in 2006. AR-A, as he was known to friends and staff, wasn’t simply still active: he was still tweaking his sound system and planning new products.

On Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson's <I>Swiss Radio Days, Vol.15: JATP Lausanne 1953</I> (TCB 02152), the performances are so extraordinary that only the music itself can fully tell the tale.

Huckleberry serenaded me for my birthday. Figures that a showboat like him would play a Les Paul.

Bagheera, in basic black, always looks ready for a party, but for my birthday, she got <I>all</I> dolled up.

I just discovered the neurobiology website <I>Beta Rhythm</I>, which is so densely packed with information that it'll take me ages to pore over. The best post I've found yet is this one about sound.