A New York Times Story Today Dubs Chad Kassem "The Wizard of Vinyl"
some of the commenters sound as if they'd sing "The devil came from Kansas" if they had the taste to know Procol Harum
A New York Times online story published today written by Ben Sisario headlined "The Wizard of Vinyl Is In Kansas" presents to the general public the Chad kassem most Tracking Angle readers know if just through buying the records, CDs, SACDs and tapes he produces, presses and sells on the Acoustic Sounds website, though some have met Chad at hi-fi shows or at one of his Blues at the Crossroads concert extravaganzas.
Pictured in the photo are (L-R): Chad Kassem, record producer and keeper of the Dylan, Miles and other Sony Music treasures Steve Berkowitz, and the very grown up Malachi Lui.
For most New York Times readers the Chadster is a new experience and the vinyl resurgence is, based on many of the comments, an annoyance to be countered and hopefully eradicated like a PVC plague. These people are disgusted, annoyed and some are left to "chuckle" at our foolishness. They seem in need to explain Chad's success as some kind of con game that fools us out of our money when blind tests, and scientific research "proves" the superiority of CDs and streamed files.
The story Sisario skillfully tells almost gets lost as the commenters focus on the vinyl resurgence rather than on the fascinating Kassem story of redemption through vinyl. For those of you who don't know the full backdrop of Chad's adventure, please read the story and of course luxuriate in the furious comments from the "vinyl hating community", though there are as well some wonderful comments.
I hope everyone reads the story and the comments. For a humorous telling of Chad's really incredible story told as the Moses story in the Bible, watch my roasting Chad years ago at the annual L.A. & O.C. Gala. It's on my previous endeavor's YouTube channel that's essentially dormant since I departed so I'm okay sharing the video here.
