Christmas is Coming!

I know I haven't posted as much as I like, but life always gets in the way. I do want to as the holiday
season nears, start profiling artists who are putting out great Christmas songs and holiday albums. First on the list is a great artist that my friend Der Bingle turned me on Elizabeth Chan.

I first got her EP "Naughty and Nice" last year which featured a great single "Christmas Song," The EP debuted at number 4 on the iTunes Holiday Charts. It was nominated for "Best Original Song" at the 3rd Annual Streamy Awards (Dick Clark Productions).

Ever since Elizabeth was a child she dreamed of writing the perfect Christmas song. One that would become a classic like Mel Torme's "The Christmas Song." Judging by her offerings I think she might just get there. Unfortunately many artists tend to want to do arrangements of the classics. I applaud Liz for trying to be different and write truly original Christmas songs.. A lot of artists wouldn't take the risk. Her pop sensibilities have done her well. She knows how to write a hook.

Elizabeths new offering is  "Everyday Holidays" available on her Website and  iTunes.

I'm particularly fond of Fa La La. A great pop song with a catchy chorus and great sax work by Andy Snitzer, but every song on this album is great. "Tis the Season" is a great power song. "Try to have a Merry Christmas." speaks to anyone who has struggled with the holidays with loss or heartache and reaffirms HOPE. "Hey Santa" is just plain fun with a little Don Ho influence.

So Christmas is coming! I plan on hopefully turning you on to some great artists and great songs that will help you get into the holiday spirit.

ENJOY!!

The Jetson's Revisited

Last year I had a blog post about my favorite cartoon growing up "The Jetson's" A couple of weekends ago I was watching CBS Sunday Morning and enjoyed a story about "The Jetson's" and their influence on us. I thought I would repost this video for you to see. Gosh how I wish that flying car was around today!

Part 2: The Modern Hi-Fi Listening Room

My Hi-Fi listening room also serves as my home theater. I'm using Paradigm Studio Reference 100's, with a 7.1 system powered by Anthem and Yamaha. The lighting is all remote controlled scene setting dimmers by Lightolier Compose. The key for every swank pad listening room is great stereo equipment, comfortable seating, good acoustics (treatments installed if necessary ) proper mood lighting and of course your favorite music.

Here are some pics of some cool Hi-Fi listening rooms I found on the internet.

The Modern Hi-Fi Listening Room

Ever since I was a kid growing up in the sixties, I loved music. I remember going over to my cousins house and seeing his father's listening area in his basement. He loved opera and had a real nice stereo system. I remember thinking I would like to have a room where I could listen to my records. There is something about listening to vinyl that is intoxicating. I loved the sound of the needle on the record.

Essential to any swank pad is the Hi-Fi listening room.

Early on the Hi-Fi was a main staple to the living room

Some background on Hi-Fi from Wikipedia:

Beginning in 1948, several innovations created the conditions for a major improvement of home-audio quality:

• Reel-to-reel audio tape recording, based on technology found in Germany after the war, helped musical artists such as Bing Crosby make and distribute recordings with better fidelity.
• The advent of the 33⅓ rpm Long Play (LP) microgroove vinyl record, with lower surface noise and quantitatively specified equalization curves as well as noise-reduction and dynamic range systems. Classical music fans, who were opinion leaders in the audio market, quickly adopted LPs because, unlike with older records, most classical works would fit on a single LP.
• FM radio, with wider audio bandwidth and less susceptibility to signal interference and fading than AM radio, though AM could be heard at longer distances at night.
• Better amplifier designs, with more attention to frequency response and much higher power output capability, reproducing audio without perceptible distortion.^[2]

In the 1950s, audio manufacturers the term the phrase high fidelityas a marketing term to describe records and equipment intended to provide faithful sound reproduction. While some consumers simply interpreted high fidelityas fancy and expensive equipment, many found the difference in quality between "hi-fi" and the then standard AM radios and 78 rpm records readily apparent and bought 33⅓ LPs, such as RCA's New Orthophonics and London's ffrrs, and high-fidelity phonographs. Audiophiles paid attention to technical characteristics and bought individual components, such as separate turntables, radio tuners, preamplifiers, power amplifiers and loudspeakers. Some enthusiasts assembled their own loudspeaker systems. In the 1950s, hi-fi became a generic term, to some extent displacing phonograph and record player.

Here is some of the labels on stereo produced records.

Since Stereo was fairly new, many record companies would put out Stereo Test records out so one could listen to the benefits of stereo. The records consisted of sound effects or classical music. The record would use stereo imaging and panning of sound from left to right to give the listening a spacial experience of the music. You might say stereo was the first surround sound that we have today.

As people became more interested in stereo equipment and audiophile high end equipment, the separate listening room became popular as a place to get away and immerse one's self in the music listening experience.

To be continued..........

Modern Hi-Fi

My pride and joy as a kid growing up was the Sony reel to reel tape recorder I got for christmas. Boy my mom and dad were cool. This model was the Sony 630D. It had detachable speakers and had noise reduction. I used to pretend to be a recording engineer by recording a lot of my vinyl LP's. The quality of reel to reels is great. I still wish I had it today. I made a lot of great recordings with this machine. Oh how I miss vintage hi-fi.

Here is a photo of mine, taken in the 1970's.  Note the pioneer EQ.




I found this video on the web of the Sony 630D in action:



Sony Reel to Reel TC 630 by RODALCO2012

A Post Card From Vegas

While cleaning out some old family photos, I came across some vintage postcards from Las Vegas. I'm not quite sure what year they are from. If Someone knows cars real well they could figure it out. I'm partial to old Vegas. It's too bad the classic Hotels are no longer there like the Dunes and the Stardust. Thank goodness the Golden Nugget is still there. I stayed there once and loved it. You could play 25 cent craps all day.