aKTual KaTe KonTent

[Dick Locke <wiltel!dlocke@uunet.UU.NET>]

Greetings all,

Thought I'd pop in and say "hi", etc.  Been a while.

News: A company called Acoustic Sounds has a couple of different KaTe
albums for sale.  That's right, new black vinyl KaTe; "Sensual World"
and "Lionheart" if memory serves.  AS is an audiophile-type company;
their catalog is $3.00 and a lot of fun; 800-525-1630.

Speaking of black vinyl records, I'll be in Manhattan (mid-town area)
for a conference in a couple of weeks.  I'd appreciate it if anyone
familiar with the area could recommend any good used record shops,
preferably ones within walking distance.  I'll also be attending
a conference in San Francisco in May; so recommendations there would
also be appreciated.

By the way, those of you who have abandoned vinyl in favor of CDs and
are interested in turning the black stuff into cash should contact
me.  Excellent condition only, though, please.

And hey, I *like* Candle in the Wind.  I'm sorry, I don't understand
why it gets bashed at all.  So there ;-)

Personal news:  We've been been pouring money into our cars and house
lately due to one problem after another.  This has basically stopped
music purchases, so I can't really talk about much that's new.  One
particular newish disc I have really stands out, though, and that's John
Cale's "Fragments of a Rainy Season".  This consist of live acoustic
performances of all his "classic" songs on piano or guitar.  If you've
ever heard and liked anything by John Cale, you *must* get this disc.
[For you younger types, Cale was a member of the Velvet Underground
along with Lou Reed way back when.]

I did finally buy a laser disc "combi" player recently after wanting one for
years.  I spent last Sunday morning (and some of the afternoon!) running
wires for my surround sound speakers from the front of the TV/stereo room
to the back, after receiving a $200 estimate to have someone run them
under the carpet.  The biggest trick was running the wires in front of the
fireplace; I ran them in a horizontal slot in the brick hearth and cut
little wood plugs to keep them in place.  Shirley thinks this is much
better than having wires draped across the floor and I must agree!

Virtually all laser disc players play CD's too, and I bought my player as
much for the CD sound quality as anything else (Panasonic LX-900).  There's
a substantial sonic improvement over my previous 7 year old player, and it's
a lot of fun to "re-discover" some of my CD's.  I went through my Kate stuff
a few weeks ago and it was great.  Though I love Kate, I don't play her
stuff too often, perhaps because I'm afraid I'll burn out on it...  When
I do play her I like to be able to really pay attention to it so that
it's special, not just background music...

Finally, and this is not at all KaTe related, a friend at work is looking
for some music and I wondered if anyone can help:
  We would love to get a decent recording of the theme music for the
  PBS Mystery! Inspector Morse series. The music is written by Barrington
  Pheloung and performed by ???. We have the "Best of PBS" CD and his work
  is not on it. He has written the themes for several other series and he
  has a distinctive style and sound. Can you pass this request on and see
  what turns up?

Later,

Dick Locke

p.s. new, preferred address is dlocke@atg.wiltel.com
	uunet!wiltel!dlocke will still work