LATEST ADDITIONS

When I realized that I knew most of <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16741721">WGUC's Top Classical CDs of 2007</a>, I had to stop and wonder: "What the heck is going on with me?"

"Cavalcade of merciless repetition," is how Jimmy Page described touring in the <I>Sunday Times</I> last week. I still say they're gonna tour but give them credit: they're being coy about being dragged into accepting all that cash.

In the middle of my salsa and <i>son</i> craze, Iron & Wine's <i>The Shepherd's Dog</i> has come as a surprise. It got me wondering what other albums I might've missed along the way. Lots, I'm sure. If I end up with some spare cash after the holidays, I think I'll take some time to revisit my indie-pop/folk fascination, starting with the following:

B. R. Myers didn't like Denis Johnson's National Book Award winning <I>Tree of Smoke</I> <A HREF="http://www.theatlantic.com:80/doc/200712/vietnam">much</A&gt;.

Stockhausen's death garnered all the attention, but I'd be remiss if I didn't note the passing of Andrew Imbrie on December 5.

Somebody at <I>The Washington Post</I> had the supremely brilliant idea of having Pulitzer Prize winning literary critic Michael Dirda <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/06/AR20071…; <I>The Completely Mad Don Martin</I>.

When I browse through early issues of this magazine, I envy <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/historical/712">J. Gordon Holt</A>. When he <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/711">founded</A&gt; <I>Stereophile</I> in 1962, there were aspects of society that stood as solid as the Rockies overlooking his current Colorado home. Back then a magazine was a thing forever; the main means of serious communication would always be the written word; records would always be LPs...recorded in stereo; the US had a large, prosperous consumer electronics industry; computers were huge mainframes made in the USA by IBM (of course), and required air-conditioned rooms and armies of white-coated attendants; everyone watched three broadcast television networks; once a film left the neighborhood cinema, it was gone forever&mdash;or at least until it appeared on the "Late, Late, Late Show." And most importantly, people took for granted that progress in sound reproduction meant improvements in quality.