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Friday, February 17, 5–9pm: David Michael Audio (4341 Delemere Court, Royal Oak, MI) will host an Evening of Turntables and Vinyl featuring outstanding new pressings from ORG. In addition, all ORG releases will be available for purchase. Space is limited. For more info, e-mail info@davidmichaelaudio.com, call (586) 244-8479, or visit David Michael Audio.

The courtship between two music-retailing giants is over. CDnowhttp://www.cdnow.com/">CDnow; and Columbia">http://www.columbiahouse.com/">Columbia House have decided to call off a merger that had been in discussionhttp://www.stereophile.com/news/10496/">discussion; since last summer. The official explanation from executives close to the deal was a sharp decline in Columbia House's profitability over the past several months.

The Home Entertainment Show—aka T.H.E. Show—which was originally scheduled for June 12–14 in the Long Beach Hilton, has canceled for 2020. According to a May 13 announcement, T.H.E. Show team of President Maurice Jung and Director of Marketing Emiko Carlin had hoped to postpone the event until December 2020. Not happening.

E-mail spam just got a lot noisier thanks to AT&T's a2b">http://www.a2bmusic.com">a2b music and BMG">http://www.bmg.com/">BMG Entertainment. (See previous stories 1http://www.stereophile.com/news/10198/">1;, 2http://www.stereophile.com/news/10133/">2;.) Last week, they announced that BMG will deliver the first "mass communication" of a2b MAIL to the consumer databases of each of its websites, www.bugjuice.comhttp://www.bugjuice.com">www.bugjuice.com; (alternative and rock music), www.peeps.comhttp://www.peeps.com">www.peeps.com; (urban music), and www.twangthis.comhttp://www.twangthis.com">www.twangthis.com; (country music).

On August 29, Nonesuch Records gave its first donation of $1 million to Habitat for Humanity International. The funds, raised in only eight months through sales of 150,000 copies of Nonesuch's superb benefit album Our New Orleans 2005, will be used to build homes for displaced musicians and others in the New Orleans Habitat Musicians' Village, whose centerpiece will be the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music.

Saturday, February 10, 10am–3pm, Northern Audio (3003 Babcock Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA 15237) welcomes Mike Marko of Nordost Corporation and Bob Scranton of Cambridge Audio for their "2018 Audio Innovations" seminar. Mr. Marko will provide the latest product demonstrations and cable comparisons, while Mr. Scranton will present how the right gear makes music lovers' lives better.

Another of the great ones is gone. Norman Smith had been a refrigeration engineer, but at 36, he decided to apply for an entry-level position as a recording technician at EMI in the UK. EMI had a strict caste system at the time and technical staff (the "white coats") were considered a rank below that of producers and even of balance engineers, who were allowed to sit in the mastering room. By 1962, Smith was promoted to balance engineer and was paired with George Martin for the first Beatles recordings. As balance engineer, he chose the microphones and recording equipment for each session and Smith is generally given a great deal of credit for the clarity and accuracy of the group's recordings from the beginning through the recording of Revolver in 1965. Because of Smith's age (he'd seen service in WWII) and EMI's dress code (ties and lab coats), Lennon nicknamed him "Normal." (Hence the title of Smith's autobiography: John Lennon Called Me Normal.)