stereophile.com n August2019 47
steroptph(Damn his scruples!) But he pointed
me toward other titles I might find
interesting, one of which I wound up
bringing home: The Lark in the Morning,
by British folk duo Dave and Toni
Arthur (Topic 12T190). The first time
I played it, this well recorded album
of traditional English ballads
(think: Cecil Sharp), most
performed a cappella, suffused
my soul with bright sunshine
and allowed me to tune out
all the other nonsense in my
life. Dave and Toni’s voices
were distinctive and clear, their
harmonies just weird enough
to catch my attention at every
turn: a marvelous, charming,
and perfectly beautiful record.
No less charming was my parting
conversation with the vendor. I asked
for his card, and in reply he asked for
mine—and when he examined it, his
eyes lit up: “Stereophile: Wow! I know
you guys!” I half-expected his next
sentence to be one of praise—vanity,
thy name is obscure, 60-something
writer—and was deflated in the nicest
possible way:
“Hey, do you know Ken Micallef?”
I assured him that I do, and that’s
he’s a very nice guy.Unreliable narrators make for great
fiction but unsatisfying consumer
journalism. So while I was off sunning
myself in Florida, Editor Jim AustinBut come with me”—and at this she
stepped out from behind her table
and led me across the repurposed ball-
room to a competitor’s table, asked
if they had the record I was looking
for, and assured me that the dealer in
question was a good guy. And he was:He wanted just $3 for what turned
out to be a dead-mint Arc of a Diver.
That scene and variations were
repeated during my two hours at the
Record Riot. Every seller I encoun-
tered was cordial, helpful, and, when I
made a purchase, effusive with thanks.
Best of all was an exchange I had with
a youngish dealer from northern New
York State, whose copy of the second
album by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra^4
I spied underneath his display table:
He was holding onto it for another
customer and, as he told me good-
naturedly, he couldn’t consider letting
anyone else have it for any amount.others dismissed the whole enterprise
as an example of that most disdained
21st century phenomenon, the noth-
ingburger. It seemed the biggest story
of High End 2019 was turning into a
perfectionist-audio Rashomon.very lyric that the disc slipped free and
landed on its edge with improbable
force.
Though by no means a rare LP, that
copy had sentimental value, added to
by the fact that she and I had enjoyed
listening to it the evening before. Then
and there I knew what
the right cure should be:
Get her another good-
condition copy of Arc of a
Diver. I didn’t have to wait
long for an opportunity:
Days later, an email blast
informed me that, on the
following Sunday from
10am to 5pm, Albany’s
perennially damp Ramada
Inn would host the city’s
semiannual Record Riot. The admis-
sion fee was $3, but early birds hoping
to get a jump on the hoi polloi could
get in two hours earlier for $10.
I made it to the show a little after
8am and found that perhaps 80% of
the vendors were set up and ready to
go—and I was one of only a handful
of shoppers to arrive so early. I asked
the first vendor I came to—a 50-some-
thing woman who, like all but one of
her colleagues at the show, specialized
in rock music—if she knew offhand
whether Arc of a Diver was among her
wares. Her reply was remarkable: “I’m
pretty sure I sold mine last weekend.
IDLER GOSSIP
Were it possible to be dazzled to death,
I wouldn’t have survived last year’s
High End show in Munich: The sheer
volume of ultrahigh-quality playback
gear on display there all but over-
whelmed me, so much so that even
certain AC power conditioners and
megawatt power amplifiers—products
to whose charms I’m mostly immune—
had me in their thrall. Yet for all that,
I remember the 2018 Munich show as
the one where British analog specialists
SME announced their intention to re-
vive the classic Garrard 301 turntable.
Thus was I disappointed not to at-
tend High End 2019, where the revivi-
fied 301 was to be unveiled.^1 Yet dur-
ing the show and throughout the days
that followed, I was surprised by the
reports I saw, from audio enthusiasts
and colleagues in the press alike, on the
reintroduction of the most well-regard-
ed motor unit in all of vintage audio.
Some said the 301 on static display
there was brand-new; others claimed it
was merely a refurbished original; still
4 Many thanks to EAR-USA’s Dan Meinwald for
turning me on to their music.1 Sad but not crushed: My reason for skipping the
show was a long-planned family vacation.