Author: DOuG pRATt

The return of an audio classic?

Amazon is listing the Technics SL1200MK5 turntable as being “temporarily out of stock.” But it was discontinued a long time ago and hasn’t been available, except used, for years. If Panasonic were going to start producing it again you’d expect the listing to be a pre-order.

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Well, the fact is that Technics did put the venerable SL1200 back into production this year, in a limited edition with Abbey Road Studios. It’s a 2-year licensing deal, and the thing costs $4000, but according to The Vinyl Factory in London there will also be a standard edition. If that’s what Amazon is offering, for less than $500, the actual model number will be SL1200G. But I have my doubts, as the standard edition is supposed to be priced about the same as the limited edition.

Who Was That Lady?

TCM West is showing “Who Was That Lady?” Good question, because who’s the blonde in the middle of this scene? Why, it’s B-movie bombshell Joi Lansing.

WhoWasThatLady

Joi appeared in “Superman’s Wife,” one of the more memorable episodes of “The Adventures of Superman” that, as a kid, I was always particularly excited to see.

SupermansWife

And who was that guy on the left, from the same movie? It’s an uncredited appearance by my mother’s old friend, Vincent Beck playing, of course, a Russian, as he would later do in episodes of “The Monkees” and “Gilligan’s Island.”

WhoWasThat Lady

Bang, bang

Massachusetts has an assault weapons ban that was signed into law by Republican Governor Mitt Romney when the federal ban expired in 2004. The state attorney general recently announced a stepped-up enforcement of the law, and it’s no surprise that gun lovers are protesting the change.

My position is not anti-gun. I favor of meaningful regulation, and not more of the mostly useless federal laws that are on the books. The problem is that the extreme positions held by the NRA and the Gun Owners of America leave no room for compromise on their side. I am hoping that the unexpected loss of Antonin Scalia from the Supreme Court will provide the first opening in future chances to establish reasonable restrictions.