Saturday's Situation

• How did I miss this?  Somehow it completely flew under my radar that PMac had released a boxed set of other artists performing his (some of it co-written with John) music, titled The Art of McCartney.   I discovered it when looking up Heart's cover of Band on the Run.

• Willie does Yesterday.  The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens does a cool The Long and Winding Road.  Vince Furnier, who I dig, does a decent, but unremarkable Eleanor Rigby.  I haven't checked out all the tracks yet, but one that is genius has to be K[icking] I[t] Simmons & Stanley's rendition of Venus & Mars/Rock Show.

Funny.

• It can be had in several formats, including MP3 (really?), and of course, CDs.  But seriously, to be legit, you'll want to shell out the £64.99 for the four record - as in vinyl - offering.

• Then, you'll want this, for just $749.00 US:

This is Sota's base model

• Or at least one of these:

As a kid, I had a GE clamshell record player

made of beige plastic

• My dad handed me down a Fairchild 412, dual belt drive reduction system and about a 12# platter, when he 'upgraded' to an AR turntable.  35+ years later, I'm convinced the Fairchild is the better machine:

Stock image, missing its rubber mat.

• I can't remember if 'mine' has an Empire, Stanton, or Pickering cartridge on it.  If memory serves, it's a Stanton 737 - I'll check next time I'm at the folks' house. The correct cartridge,of course, for such a venerable machine, would be a Shure V-15 type III or IV, IMO.  My Technics at home wears an Audio Technica.  Wish I had scooped up a bunch of clearance NOS cartridges at the dawn of the CD era - dirt cheap at the time, they'd be worth a fortune now.  (Update: It's an Empire 2000 E)
• When the Lord comes to restore order, harmony and righteousness to the world, vinyl will again rule, and I will be prepared, as I have 4 or 5 turntables (not counting the Fairchild), and a couple of reel-to-reel (Sony, Akai) units.
• In the meantime, I am nonetheless considering getting one of those Bluetooth receiver doo-dads so I can set my phone's media player on timer mode at bedtime, and stream shuffled tunes to my den stereo.

• If I make it to the range tomorrow, planning to test some 200 grain loads, using Titewad, a very fast,  and 571, a very slow (for handgun cartridges) propellants.  I'm kind of anticipating the latter will have an unacceptable amount of muzzle blast, even in the full length platform, but, we'll see.
• Miniature 'capsules' to be placed atop the Atlas .IV-V ACP (advanced copper payload) delivery system: