Stephen Mejias

The inimitable <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/wesphillips/">WP</a&gt; takes a poke at me.

I did not make it to <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/ces2009/">CES</a&gt; this year, but my exhibitor badge did. Here's our mischievous web monkey, Jon Iverson, with my name held hostage around his neck.

I think you'll enjoy <a href="http://www.trismccall.net/pop_music_abstract_2008sv.htm">Tris McCall's 2008 Pop Music Abstract</a>.

These days, weekends seem to last entire lifetimes. Is it the same for you? So much happens that has almost nothing to do with Monday through Friday.

I've got to agree with my main man, Michael Lavorgna: Dale's Pale Ale from the Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyons, Colorado, wins the award for best beer of 2008.

It kind of happens intuitively, like breathing or crying or finding your way back home. Every year around this time, I scan my compact disc racks and watch as my hand reaches for The Flaming Lips' 1995 album, <i>Clouds Taste Metallic</i>. I put the disc in the player. I sit back. And I listen, and I remember.

The January 2009 issue of <i>Stereophile</i> is now on newsstands. Volume 32 Number 1 is pretty much bursting at the seams with radicalness. I received a voicemail from a long-time subscriber telling me so. It went: