My Back Pages

Listening Deeply

Jason Victor Serinus Nov 02, 2021 First Published: Nov 02, 2021

Take a walk at night. Walk so silently that the bottoms of your feet become ears.Pauline Oliveros, Sonic Meditations

The one activity that distinguishes audiophiles from other music lovers is our practice of sitting in solitude and listening closely to music reproduced on a finely tuned playback system.

My Back Pages

Lou Reed's Dirty Boulevard of Dreams

Kurt Gottschalk Oct 05, 2021 First Published: Oct 05, 2021

New York City is a dream you can't haveglitz, glamor, grime, too much to take in from within, too much to understand from afar. It's a metropolitan manifestation of the Heisenberg principle, its nature changing with how you look at it. No matter how you try, you can't see the forest for the skyscrapers.

My Back Pages

My journey to hi-fi

Rogier van Bakel Sep 08, 2021 First Published: Sep 08, 2021

Step 1. When I was in my mid-20s, an older editor at the Dutch current-affairs magazine I worked for told me he wanted to write a piece about audiophiles: He had been bitten by the audio bug himself. Because I often wrote about rock and pop music, he asked if I had a quality hi-fi system, and if so, would I be willing to be interviewed for his article

My Back Pages

Alive at the Cafe Au Go Go

Jeff Weiner Jul 27, 2021 First Published: Jul 27, 2021

I grew up in a household that didn't have a record player and was pretty much devoid of music. In high school, I got a little stereo and began collecting records. By the time I entered Brooklyn College, in 1963, my "main man" was Trini Lopez; I also had a couple of Jack Jones albums. In New York, I discovered the Cafe Au Go Go.

My Back Pages

The Beatles: Liverpool Fantasy

John Swenson Jun 29, 2021 First Published: Jun 29, 2021

Last week, I had a puzzling dream. When I woke, the vision remaining from the dreamscape was of a single thread of conversation, almost oracular, with no context. Ringo was telling me, "That was actually John singing on that one, mate."

I searched for a hidden message. Maybe it was one of those naked-in-public dreams, the Beatles drummer chastising me for misidentifying the singer in some review I wrote. I soon forgot about it.

My Back Pages

Fun with Moose and Squirrel

Jonathan Scull May 26, 2021 First Published: May 26, 2021

'Cause it's hard to say what's real / When you know the way you feelFlaming Lips, "One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21," from Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

In a recent Zoom meeting, some friends got into a dust-up about how "real"-sounding high-performance audio systems can be. The consensus was that there was no chance at all of real, live sound. A label owner waved it off as impossible: "Fuhgeddaboudit," he said. He's from New York, like me.

My Back Pages

Goodbye to the house Mike Kay built

Jay Jay French Apr 12, 2021 First Published: Apr 12, 2021

By the time this issue of Stereophile arrives in your mailbox (and on newsstands), Lyric Hi-Fi & Video, the legendary symbol of male-dominated, uber-luxury hi-fi retail, will be closed forever.

This makes me sad. I wasn't just a client of Lyric; I worked there.

My Back Pages

Death Row Discs

John Swenson Mar 16, 2021 First Published: Mar 16, 2021

My music is keeping me alive.

I have terminal cancer, which is like Bergman's chess match with the Grim Reaper: You know you're going to lose, but with skill, determination, and luck, you can delay the inevitable, move by move. Determination is key, because it's all too easy to give up. My musica collection I've amassed over the last 60 yearsinspires me to keep going, to keep listening.

My Back Pages

Remembering live music in Europe

Thomas Conrad Mar 02, 2021 First Published: Mar 02, 2021

I wrote an article for the March 2017 issue of Stereophile called "The Permanent Jazz Festival: The Rise of Europe and the Future of Jazz." It presented two theses: that much of the energy in jazz now comes out of Europe, and that the best place to feel that energy is in the crowd at a European jazz festival. There are hundreds of them throughout the year.

My Back Pages

Landscape into music

Sasha Matson Feb 03, 2021 First Published: Feb 03, 2021

It says something about the power of music that some individuals fading into dementia can still recognize the music they knew earlier in their lives. Not to denigrate new music, or music one hasn't heard before, but our mental jukeboxes award top chart numbers to music that we have lived with over time. Those DJs making their playlists in our brain are the toughest of critics. They don't care what anyone else might think, "Close to You" is staying in the rotation. Music and memory are linked.