Wes Phillips

Okay, no list of 50 could be perfect, but this one's pretty good. I could probably come up with a list of 50 that <I>also</I> changed music without any overlap, but that's one of the pleasures of the list game.

Pat Metheny on Kenny G. First we use fairness and logic, <I>then</I> we kicks 'em in the yarbles.

What happens if the Earth switches magnetic poles? It <I>could</I> happen&mdash;and soon.

Some days I feel like <I>Stereophile</I>'s designated audio antichrist. After all, I wrote an automotive audio column for the magazine about 10 years back&mdash;a feature that prompted more than one reader to send the pages carrying my column back to Santa Fe as "not what I subscribed for"&mdash;<I>and</I> I reviewed the <A HREF="http://stereophile.com/mediaservers/934/ ">iPod</A>. So, not really being a glutton for punishment, I wasn't wildly enthusiastic when Edelman account executive Stefani Gudis tendered an invitation to hear the Infiniti/Bose "Studio On Wheels" model G35 sedan. It wasn't that I didn't think that car audio could be a valid musical experience, I simply had been disappointed too many times by car manufacturers touting "audiophile" sound packages, which, upon examination, were probably more about preventing aftermarket add-ons by car audio installers. BTDT, as the kids text-message.

Even though the European Commission okayed the merger of Sony and the Bertlesmann Music Group (BMG) in 2004, Europe's second-highest court&mdash;the Court of First Instance&mdash;annulled the merger on July 13. The decision came about because of a challenge from independent record labels that claimed the EU regulators shouldn't have approved the merger in the first place. This is the first time a European Commission decision has been overturned and it requires the commission to examine the complex merger again.

We have just learned that Paul Nelson, an influential music writer and talent scout for Mercury Records, was found dead in his New York City apartment last week. The cause of death was not reported.

In a gesture that mirrors a <A HREF="http://www.eff.org/share/petition/">petition</A&gt; the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) is presenting to Congress, Flowerburger Records is circulating a <A HREF="http://www.flowerburger.com/">petition</A&gt; requesting that the British Parliament and the BPI, Britain's recording industry trade group, stop the lawsuits against music fans and develop constructive alternatives aimed at compensating artists.