Bluetooth at home and on the go: Now in its 30th year

Leto Bluetooth speaker (no relation to Jared)

MC SeonWoo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 While Bluetooth has been around for some time now, it's not like me or other people to catch on late, often times because of the cost. Some even got telly decades after most of western civilisation to put it that way. When I switched phones, I couldn't use the classic cord that I grew up with anymore. A few years ago, I managed to find a pair of JBL headphones at the charity shop for $7. They work with my Android and I don't think I had them yet for my ageing iPhone. Only today at the chaz, did I finally find a standalone Bluetooth speaker that I could afford. I do have it in my record machine in another part of the house, but it's more inconvenient than playing good old vinyl since I just don't have that much room. On the same token, I have dozens of CDs stored in the attic, and it can be too cold in winter and hot in the summer to rummage through a large moving box in cramped quarters, especially if I need to play something at a moments notice or on a certain day. While I still want to go to shops and get real LPs and CDs when I can afford it, subscribing to Amazon and sometimes even going to YouTube or even a pirate site saves time and money, which is why streaming is mega these days. Netflix is more suited for the sister TV blog, and I don't watch much TV either way anymore. However, I wonder if it's actual stereo or just a glorified mono folddown. One brand sold at Dollar Tree with $5-10 items says to buy two speakers for true stereo, but I'm lucky to get this used one, since it takes time for newer tech to cost less and reach the second hand and even the thrift store, which doesn't happen everyday, but that can be explored at the retail blog. There's no need to spend hundreds more on hi-fi for your wi-fi. It was a right fortune as it is just to get the phone fixed after it broke more than once, mind. As for getting a good deal on Bluetooth at a place that is usually just full of junk, sometimes on a good day, you win the pools.

Arena

Arena, 2020. L-R: Kylan Amos, John Mitchell, Mick Pointer, Paul Manzi and Clive Nolan.

Kajamera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Courtesy Verglas Music.

 Arena are a band I have been dabbling with for some time, but unlike some of the related bands, I may not be getting all of the CDs since it gets expensive to go after all these every time I bring someone new into my collection. Mick Pointer, late of Marillion, and Clive Nolan, also of Pendragon, started the band in 1994, and there have been several different lineups ever since, which have included John Jowitt of IQ and Jadis; John Mitchell of Frost*, It Bites, Fish, and now Asia; and former Landmarq and Threshold frontman as well Headspace and Rick Wakeman band member Damian Wilson (his joining is what got me to buy the most recent studio album, The Theory of Molecular Inheritance). Paul Manzi left in 2020 to join the Sweet of all people, which some may consider selling out, by going from a complex prog band to a latter day lineup of a glam band from the '70s. Pointer still plays his old bands music on occasion, proving that he's no Pete Best. Mitchell and Nolan have also worked the late John Wetton of Asia on his 2003 solo album Rock of Faith, and the former on Wetton (Geoff) Downes Icon.
 Arenas dark lyrics and layered sound design resonate with me and many listeners. The band have been independent from the start, managing themselves and running their own label. They have built up a cult following spanning over three decades. Like other artists with simplistic names, they get confused with obscure artists of the same name on Amazon, where I stream them, Spotify and maybe even indie specialists emusic. Look for the Verglas label, or at least what you know is the real Arena on these services, given the generic nature of the name. No word yet on the next studio album. At least I can easily stream the band at home as I can on the go, but that will be the next post, this being the first in 2026. I guess it comes from getting bored of the other bands and despising current mainstream rubbish.