Copper
363 Days in Vietnam, Part 4
[Previous installments from Michael’s book, 363 Days in Vietnam, appeared in Copper #84 , #85, and #86—Ed.] Day 301 Our mission at Tra Bong was never clear – it seemed like the powers that be were...
363 Days in Vietnam, Part 3
[Previous installments from Michael’s book, 363 Days in Vietnam, appeared in Copper # 84 and #85—Ed.] Day 244 A home-made recording of a new rock band arrived today from my girlfriend (and future wife) –...
363 Days in Vietnam, Part 2
[Our first installment from Michael’s book, 363 Days in Vietnam, appeared in Copper # 84—Ed.] Day 119 This photo of me pointing a gun at the camera has a lot to tell. A towel fastened...
363 Days in Vietnam, Part 1
Most of what the average person knows about the Vietnam War is gleaned from movies, TV dramas and documentaries like the one Ken Burns’ produced in 2018. Almost every one...
Axpona 2019, Part 2
[Part 1 of Rudy’s Axpona report was in Copper # 83—Ed.] One of my show favorites last year was the system from Eikon Audio, the new company founded by Gayle Sanders, co-founder of...
Axpona 2019, Part 1
Mid-April in Chicago once again presents us with Axpona, one of the largest audiophile shows in North America. Weather was once again an unwelcome participant in this year’s show. Various...
Montréal Audio Fest
The 2019 edition of the Montréal Audio Fest took place over the weekend of March 22-25th, and, since I reported on last year’s event, I thought I might trot out...
Copper at 3: the Writers Speak!
In the beginning, the idea that Copper would survive three issues seemed far-fetched. But three years? Inconceivable! The biggest joy of the whole process has been working with a remarkable group of writers, many of whom...
...And Now We Are Three
Back in my younger days—say, the fall of 2015—Paul McGowan came to me and spoke six fateful words: “I want to do a magazine.” I don’t recall my exact response, but...
Van Cliburn
In 1958, the Soviet Union announced its “First International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition”. The idea was to showcase that, in addition to being superior to the west in technology and military...
The Florida Audio Expo
I lived on the Gulf coast of Florida for 15 years, and even worked for an audio manufacturer there—VAC, in Sarasota. In spite of that—or perhaps because of that—when I...
Audio Love
I know exactly when my love of audio began ̶ maybe not the day, date, or hour, but the man who gave me the priceless gift. It wasn’t a salesman,...
Vade’s Recommended Reviewer Guidelines
Part of the fun of being an audiophile is reading reviews of audio gear. I’ve read audio reviews for 60 years, starting with Stereo Review, leading to Gordon Holt’s Stereophile and Harry Pearson’s The...
Joan Rivers: Yutz, or Audiophile Hero?
More often than not, it used to be that weekday mornings I would be rushing around, behind schedule, trying to get out the door to get to work. Since I...
Records as Time Machines
After years of experience as a producer and engineer, I’ve come to expect the unexpected—even with something as familiar as the sound of my own grandfather’s voice. Astute listeners...
“When Did THEY Do THIS To US?”
The other day I had the opportunity to meet with a local journalist who anchors one of the local TV morning news programs. He had been trying to upgrade the...
The 50 Best Albums of 2018
For me, 2018 was a blur, and seemed to pass faster than any other year before. Was it the politics? Was it work? Friends and Family? No idea. In all...
Val and Ed…and Amy
How would you react if you were suddenly face-to-face with one of your idols? I hope you’d be more prepared than I was on that day in 1984. I remember...
Early Music in the Bay Area: Sackbuts and Crumh...
It’s well-known for its fog, iconic bridge, wineries, redwood forests, and cable cars. It’s also known to early music enthusiasts as a world-class early music research center, for being home...
AES NYC 2018
Since coming into existence 70 years ago and still going strong, the Audio Engineering Society has hosted conventions that have become must-see/hear events for anyone involved in the audio industry, especially on...
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2018 Part 2
As pointed out in the last issue of Copper, the biggest news at RMAF 2018 had to do with the new venue for 2019. But that doesn’t mean that there was nothing new...
BASS! How Low Can You Go? (Or: Another Take on ...
This article’s title was taken from the great Chuck D who reprised his vocals for the 1991 Public Enemy/Anthrax video “Bring the Noise,” one of the earliest Rap/Rock partnerships along...
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2018 Part 1
The biggest news of the 2018 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest was, oddly, about the 2019 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. After 15 years at the Denver Marriott Tech Center, the show...
Monterey Auto Week Part 2
[We began Rich’s tale of Auto Week in Copper #69, and reluctantly conclude it here. Many thanks to Rich for allowing us non-gazillionaires to dream, if only for a little while—Ed.] While Werks is...
Monterey Auto Week Part 1
“The Pebble Beach car show is this weekend,” followed a little later by, “It’s all a bunch of stuck up, rich assholes.” If you’re the person sitting behind me and...
CEDIA 2018
San Diego is famous as a nice place to live, mostly because of its weather. Recently, it’s become more crowded than LA, so it’s far less nice than it used...
Wine Like Grandpa Used to Make
When I told Editor Bill Leebens that I write about wine for a living, he wanted exciting, off-the-wall stories about my day job. Such anecdotes might have been more common...
Customers Behaving Badly
Customer: “There’s a violin in it.” Sales Manager: “What did you say?” “I just heard a beautiful piece of music on the radio. It had a violin in it. I...
Gut Punches and Heavenly Strains
A few years ago, my old Spica TC-50s finally came to the end of the line. John Bau’s brilliantly constructed wedges from New Mexico could have lasted a bit longer, but the tweeters were...
Bird Brains
Acclaimed British biographer Jenny Uglow has published a new study of Edward Lear, that eccentric Victorian whose playful verse has always delighted children, and the child in all of us. Lear was...
Restoring a Historic Pipe Organ on a Budget
[John Seetoo‘s interview with Kamel Boutros appeared in Copper #60. This article goes into the details of some of Boutros’ work at the historic Calvary Episcopal Church in New York–-Ed.] Calvary Episcopal Church was founded in...
Counting Butterflies
I used to be a moderator of a now-defunct Indian bicycling forum called Bikeszone. BZ, as it was called, was the epicenter of the burgeoning recreational cycling movement in India....
You May See Me Tonight With an Illegal Tweak
As I threatened to do in my last column , I wrote a long review on power conditioners and power cords. What I left out of that story though, because I ran out of...
