Some Mid-Winter Musical Odds & Ends

• Here is an interesting article from The Glass Onion Beatles Journal about how some Capitol Records executives protested The Beatles' brand new Apple Records logo. They viewed the sliced apple found on side 2 of every record as pornographic because in their opinion it represented a well known part of the female anatomy. I'm sure you can guess what part it is. This is a must read for its inanity, kind of like the Jerry Falwell/Teletubbies controversy.
• A long running, well written blog, Music & More published by my friend, Bill, posted his annual, detailed article discussing his top albums of the year. His 2018 list is a nice combination of older, legacy artists along with some lesser known acts and a few newcomers who hope to be stars someday. There are more than 40 of them and you can read about every single one here. Please do because he puts lot of work into this list. 

• I'm currently reading Peter Guralnick's biography on Sam Phillips, the founder of Sun Records and the man who discovered Elvis Presley. Phillips used some of the $35,000 he received from RCA when they bought Presley's contract from him to start WHER: 1000 Beautiful Watts, the very first "all-girl" radio station in America. Please listen to a very interesting program by NPR's The Kitchen Sisters about this groundbreaking radio station.
• According to the Yorkshire Post, an English newspaper, a study by Sheffield University indicates that classical music aficionados still prefer CDs to streaming music by a two to one margin.
• In early 2017 Bloggerhythms posted a review about the wonders of Chromecast Audio and how it could turn old fashioned "stupid" speakers into intelligent ones for just $35.00. I've had mine for over two years now and it works beautifully. Unfortunately, earlier this month Google removed it from the marketplace without any announcement.  I just checked the web to purchase a second one as a backup and they're sold out everywhere. Chromecast Audio worked well with mobile devices and both Windows and Mac computers. Today, even if you can find one Google has ended its support for laptops and PCs. New purchases can only be used on Android devices, iPads, or phones. I'm sad to see it will soon be another digital relic of the past. I'll continue to use mine until it dies.
• In addition to my Chromecast Audio I have an ipod Classic that holds 40,000 songs, another great item that is no longer sold. An Apple store employee told me recently that if the battery dies they will not be able to replace it, so someday it will be worthless. I'm many years beyond the age of even the older Millennials but I still love 21st Century, digital music devices. Sadly, products become obsolete too soon these days and it's exhausting trying to keep up with the changes.