This month’s DIY project wraps up something I started a few years ago. I’d purchased a used Music Hall MMF-2.1 turntable from a fellow member of a forum I frequent. I knew that the cartridge clips had snapped off, and one of the wires had broken off at the end of the tonearm near the headshell. Well, it certainly was broken off when I got it! The wire was too short to attach another piece to, so that meant one of two things: 1) get a different tonearm, or 2) rewire the tonearm. What’s it gonna be, Santa Claus?

My CD and LP collections are in a disarray right now. Since my main listening area is on the main floor of the house now, rather than the basement, only parts of my main system and music collection have followed me. I just don’t have the storage room for everything yet. Nothing that some major redecorating, and a few trips to Ikea, wouldn’t fix. My CDs, especially, are scattered around the house. Many are in bins in an upstairs closet. Others are downstairs on CD shelves. And I recently spent an afternoon putting away and organizing a lot of my CDs. While I was at it, I began picking out candidates to load into the CD changer. I found a few discs I haven’t heard in awhile, and have been becoming reacquainted with them.

A few years ago, BMG began releasing RCA’s Living Stereo classical albums from the 50s and 60s on hybrid SACDs. One had to wonder if the SACDs, or any digital equivalent, could live up to the magic of the original “shaded dog” LP pressings during these recordings’ original release. Digital transfers can be such a “literal” translation of what’s on the master tapes, it can be a little too exact; the magic of the Westrex cutting head is part of the whole “Living Stereo” mystique. How do these SACDs live up to the Living Stereo name?

Great news for fans of the Tijuana Brass and solo Herb Alpert recordings: Herb Alpert’s nephew, Randy “Badazz” Alpert, has informed us at A&M Corner that they are preparing the next round of reissues for release on the Shout! Factory label. (Randy and Herb worked together with Andy Armer on the Rise and Beyond albums.) Do we have any idea what is going to be released in the second wave?

A month from today, a long-running Detroit radio show will mark its 45th anniversary on the air. Bob Allison’s “Ask Your Neighbor” now broadcasts on WNZK-AM (690), but the format is still the same: callers reach Allison with a question about just about anything household related, and either Allison or his many dedicated listeners will provide the answer. In a world of “shock jocks”, ratings battles, mindless radio talk hosts and narrowly-programmed playlists, it’s a wonder that show like Allison’s can remain on the air, but thankfully it does!