There has always been good and bad. That’s ageless. And has only a bit to do with rather I like it or not. I like some pretty bad shit. The Shags were monumentally bad and I love them. Taylor Swift is a phenomenal song writer and I hate her. So I’ll always say, to each his or her or their own.
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Well stated, good sir.
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LOL at “doing some research” to broaden musical horizons. That sounds like something my dad would do. Just open Spotify or Pandora and press play.
I noticed you didn’t say he was an ex-buddy…
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I’m here for the Shaggs. And here I was thinking that Sphinx only liked Captain Beefheart and Metal Machine Music. I never knew that he also likes a good tune.
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Two things I love are Blue Note Records and tape decks. At the moment, I have three reel to reel decks and two cassette decks patched into my system.
Recently, Blue Note had a sale on some records in their “Tone Poet” series. These are very nice 180 gm pressings from the original source tapes. The channel separation is superb and the dead wax between cuts is silent. I highly recommend them.
Anyway, last weekend I made a couple of cassettes from these records and they are superb. For the gearheads present:
Turntable is a VPI Scout II with a Dynavector 20X2 cartridge with an unusual 1.0 mV output. It runs through a Jolinda JD9 II phono stage equipped with Tung Sol 12AX7 tubes. This passes through a “someday to be upgraded” Kenwood receiver and into a Nakamichi Dragon cassette with a BASF type II tape.
The music is Lee Morgan The Rajah and Stanley Turrentine Comin’ Your Way on one C90 tape and Lou Donaldson Mr. Shing-A-Ling and “Baby Face” Willette Face to Face on a second tape.
There are some songs good enough to make the cut on my next big mix tape. When I get about three hours of favorites noted, I use the Crown SX824 (my best deck) to make a mix tape on a 3600 ft. roll of 1/4" tape.
Very cool. Been thinking about a VPI turntable, but I waffle on what gear I want next. It’s not something to buy on a whim.
If’n you know anyone interested in a receiver, I have a Sansui 8080db I’m looking to re-home.
I love Sansui gear and that’s 1970’s Sansui at it’s best. How much? PM me if you’d rather.
As for the VPI, you don’t see many used ones so if you want one, you will probably need to look at their new line-up. None of it is cheap, but in my opinion almost all of it punches way above it’s weight class.
For me, the key was the 20 lb platter. Nothing like mass to keep rotating equipment stable. The soundstage is great and it’s easy to locate instruments in space. VPI’s newer stuff is better than a few years ago, especially their tonearms.
Sent you a PM
The other turntable that has my attention is from E.A.T. They have those high-mass /high dollar platters, but they have their C-Sharp model, with a more modest 11-lb platter, to match their more “modest” price. I’ve never heard one in person though. They sure look great, and reviews are very good.
Not 2021 music, but this is a fascinating stroll through New Wave royalty as they trace the history behind “the greatest song ever made”.
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“Lips Like Sugar” is still my favorite popular 80’s New Wave song.
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While we’re on 80s New Wave, I was in the Driftless Cafe in Viroqua, Wisconsin last Thursday, and they were playing I Was Dancing in a Lesbian Bar. I guess that’s actually the 90s, but Jonathan Richman never changes.
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Lake Trout? Never fished up there
It’s actually a great place to fish, the Driftless. It’s a weird small area of Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin where the glaciers never came through, so it’s got a bunch of small cold water trout streams. We caught mostly browns, a few rainbows, and a couple of native brookies. I really liked it, and it looks more like New England than the Midwest.
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I looked around on street view at the place where you said you were chasing down chili ingredients or whatever it was you were up to and I was astounded at the geography. My initial reaction was eastern Pennsylvania, but yeah, New England works just fine, too. It sure as hell doesn’t look like anywhere else in any of those three states I’ve ever been.
There’s a lot of corn, but there were parts of it where if someone said you’re in Pennsylvania I’d have said yep.
That sounds great.
Are you guys strictly flyrod, or do you sometimes slum and use spinning reels?
I caught a bunch of specks on a spinning rod about 6 years ago. I fished for catfish with stink bait about 15 years ago. I’ve got nothing against it, I just have all these fly rods and nothing else.
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I get it for sure. I’ve got more various stuff than I know where to go with it.
I’d like to pick your brain someday about things.
We should spend a day fishing.
Have you guys ever caught trout on the Guadalupe or Llano? Smallmouth bass? Guadalupe bass? Perch?