LATEST ADDITIONS

Transatlantic flights wipe me out. Chalk it up to being an old man I guess. But after a connection through a dark deserted Heathrow, I arrived in Barcelona for the 41st Barcelona Jazz Festival and within a couple of days, semi-disaster had struck. Not to me mind you but to American jazz saxophonist <B>Joe Lovano</B> who fell, not once but twice and broke an arm and a shoulder. He had to cancel his show here in Barcelona, his European tour and then had surgery with the chief orthopedic surgeon of Barcelona’s much beloved soccer team, FCBarcelona, presiding. I saw Lovano this morning as he was leaving for a flight home. He had both arms strapped up in this elastic, soft cast contraption but was in good spirits and ready to head back to NYC. He says he’ll be able to play again in about 15 days, but he’ll have to lay off performing until after the first of the year. No word yet however on what caused his tumble, which is the bigger question.

A reader of <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/love_comes_close_again/#COMME… blog</A> states: "Vinyl-download bundles are a complete win-win for me, and I would choose the bundle over a CD every time." How about you? Would you prefer a vinyl-download bundle to the CD release of an album?

"Turntable Wars" was the phrase used by Anthony H. Cordesman to head his review of the Oracle, SOTA, and VPI turntables in Vol.9 No.4. To judge from the reaction of the manufacturers at CES to this innocent phraseology, you would have thought that Stereophile had been warmongering, rather than publishing what were actually pretty positive opinions of the products concerned. So enraged was Jacques Riendeau of Oracle, and concerned that the record be put straight, that he insisted on a "right to reply" to AHC's review; as it happened, Ivor Tiefenbrun and Charlie Brennan of Linn (right in photograph, footnote 1), and SOTA's Rodney Herman (center in photo, footnote 2), also wanted to contribute to the debate, so a small crowd of illuminati gathered in Room 417 of the Americana Congress to commit opinions to tape. I held the microphone and clicked the shutter; Larry Archibald (left in photo) was there to lend the proceedings a businesslike air.

This dude, <a href="http://poptartssucktoasted.blogspot.com/2009/11/live-review-fucked-up-b… Duffy</a>, does a good job of detailing last night’s Fucked Up show at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in charming Fort Greene. On a tree-lined, brownstoned block, in an old and ornate shrine, Fucked Up, joined by New Jersey’s Vivian Girls on backing vocals and Andrew WK on synths, made a scene. I kept a safe distance from the anarchy, up in the urine-scented balcony, with the other parents.

As an equipment reviewer, I find it helpful to talk to audiophiles and music lovers about their systems and upgrade plans. Fortunately, <I>Stereophile</I>'s computer supplier and troubleshooter, Michael Mandel, also happens to be an avid audiophile. I say "fortunately" because I rarely get a chance to talk to people who put down their hard-earned money for hi-fi components. Instead, I usually converse with equipment designers, technicians, and marketing types, hardly people who reflect the buying public. It is thus a valuable education to get feedback from real-world consumers to find out what kind of products they want, their priorities, and how much they're willing to spend for certain levels of performance. They have a view distinctly different from that of the often jaded reviewer who is used to enjoying the best (albeit temporarily) without agonizing over its cost.

<i>Photo: Jayme Thornton</i>

The people at Manhattan high-end audio retailer <A HREF="http://www.stereoexchange.com/">Stereo Exchange</A> know how to throw a party. They proved it back in April with their <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/spring_fever_at_stereo_exchan… Fever event</A>, and they look to surpass the success of that outstanding evening with their 25th Anniversary Celebration, this Thursday, November 5, from 3&#150;9pm.