A Fe(a)st of Sorts
Tomorrow, music editor Robert Baird is off to Austin, Texas, for the South">http://2006.sxsw.com/">South By Southwest Music, Film, and Interactive Fest. He attends year after year.
a few miles from plattsburg,
a few miles from plattsburg,
global positioning system
global positioning system
A Few Random Musical Notes
1. My system, with the Moscode in it, seems to achieve greater soundstage width. In Ryan Adams' "Mockingbird," a tambourine rattles away far in the righthand corner of my room. It startles and impresses me every time.
A Few Things, Quickly, Then:
The sky over Madison Avenue is a sliver of summer blue. Steam sighs and whirls up and out from the old street like a thin white curtain in the wind. A few things, quickly, then:
A First System
I’m so much more impressed by good, affordable systems than I am by those costing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. I find it difficult to concentrate on music when I’m overwhelmed by the high prices of the gear delivering it. Price should never be the most impressive aspect of hi-fi.
A Full Belly and an Empty Sink, Or: Patience and Wait 'n' See, Or: Fate Ain't Got Nothing to do with My Jonathan Adler Placemats
It's funny because:
Just as Wes suggested — though I so earnestly try to never hold expectations of any sort, and I talk a lot of smack about never expecting anything from this life, I'm really full of it: I have great expectations, and often scold myself for expecting too much — I figured I must have simply been expecting the magic to come. Or "looking for it," as my mom might say. And you can't go looking for it, she tells me. Because, if you do, you'll never find it.
Whatever, ma.
Just as Wes suggested — though I so earnestly try to never hold expectations of any sort, and I talk a lot of smack about never expecting anything from this life, I'm really full of it: I have great expectations, and often scold myself for expecting too much — I figured I must have simply been expecting the magic to come. Or "looking for it," as my mom might say. And you can't go looking for it, she tells me. Because, if you do, you'll never find it.
Whatever, ma.
A Full-Length Commute
I have a full-length commute. It lasts just about as long as an album. For instance, if I plug in the iPod and press play on Dinosaur Jr.'s Beyond just as I leave my apartment, the album comes to a glorious end exactly as I enter our office's elevators. This was a great discovery.
A Fun Day of Work
We’re currently working on our July 2010 issue, which will include Wes Phillips’ review of the Vivid Audio G1Giya loudspeaker ($65,000/pair). Near the end of Wes’ auditioning, the domes of both upper-midrange units were inexplicably damaged. As you can see from the">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/damaged_domes/">the picture, it appears the domes were poked by some sort of dull object. Wes didn’t do it; Wes’ wife didn’t do it. We’ll never know how the damage occurred. What we do know is that the aluminum-dome midrange unit is incredibly delicate and has a strong magnetic pull.
A Game of Chess
Illustrator Jeff Wong is working on a portrait of Stereophile founder, J. Gordon Holt, to appear in our October issue. Since Jeff will need some reference material, John Atkinson and I have been having a whole lot of fun sorting through great, old Stereophile memorabiliahttp://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/old_treasures/">memorabilia;, trinketshttp://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/the_finger_button/">trinkets<…;, photoshttp://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/jgh_and_jgh/">photos;.
A Glorious Day
It was a glorious day. The Good Lord smiled upon our little blue world with clear skies, warm sunshine, and limited edition 7" singles. I strolled into Tunes at 11:30am, just a half-hour after the store had opened. A large crowd of happy shoppers was already huddled round the main display shelves. Radiohead singles from every era of the band's brilliant career and so many colorful 7" discs and samplers and posters and platter mats and they have already run out of the Sonic Youth/Beck splits. What? Figures! Oh well. I am not disappointed—not too terribly. Instead, I am happy for those who came before me, happy for the bands and happy for the labels and happy for the world.