Stephen Mejias

Sonic Youth gets jolly, too, on everyone's favorite radio station, WFMUhttp://wfmu.org/">WFMU;.

Sarah Lois Vaughan was born on this day in 1924, in my hometown: Newark, NJ. In this clip, taken from a 1958 performance, she sings “Tenderly.”

Thanks must go to Lester Perkins and Jazz on the Tube.

Back in February 2008, senior contributing editor John Marks decided to hold a">http://www.stereophile.com/thefifthelement/208fifth/index.html">a competition.

On Saturday, November 6, John DeVore of DeVore">http://www.devorefidelity.com/">DeVore Fidelity hosted a Monkeyhaus">http://www.monkeyhaus.net/">Monkeyhaus Listening Party at his Brooklyn Navy Yard factory. If not for the pictures, a selection of which I’ll post over the next three days, I might not remember the event at all&#151not because the party was forgettable, but because we had so much fun.

The self-titled album by Guano Padano, released earlier this year by Important Records, is a joy. The band, an Italian three-piece (Alessandro Stefana, Zeno de Rossi, and Danilo Gallo), is joined by Alessandro Alessandroni (whistler, best known for his work in Ennio Morricone’s soundtracks), Gary Lucas (Captain Beefheart/Jeff Buckley guitarist), Chris Speed (clarinet player with Tim Berne, Uri Caine, and John Zorn), and Italian singer, Bobby Solo, who does a fine rendition of Hank Williams’ “Ramblin’ Man.” Awesome album; great sound, too.

This is weird: French hip-hop producer, Jean-Christophe Le Saout (aka Wax Tailor), is releasing "Say Yes," the lead single off his third album, In The Mood For Life, as a dual-layer compact disc/miniature-vinyl.