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<I>"Glory to the genius of Edison!"&#151;Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov</I>

I had no idea, back when I set out to put together a music lover's stereo system in the $2500&#150;$3750 range, that while I was beavering away the stock market would tank and credit markets would freeze up&#151;or that the federal government would print money to bail out overextended investment banks, take equity interests in commercial banks, and become the lender of only resort for GM, Chrysler, and Ford. I usually avoid even the hint of political commentary in my audio writing, but I can't resist passing along a quip I'm very proud of: I <I>told</I> all my friends that, if they voted for John Kerry, within four years we'd have socialism, and I was right (footnote 1).

Audiophiles often prefer to listen for themselves before committing to a purchase. But brick-and-mortar retailers are succumbing right and left, partly a result of the economy and partly owing to the trend to online sales. What is the future of high-end audio retailing?

I have an article in the Arts & Leisure section of today’s <I>New York Times</I> about Andy Warhol’s album covers. Everyone’s seen the covers he designed for <I>The Velvet Underground & Nico</I>, with the banana that peels, and the Rolling Stones’ <I>Sticky Fingers</I>, with the zipper that unzips. But who knew that the pioneer of Pop art designed over 50 covers over the entire span of his career, and not just for pop albums but also for jazz, classical, and opera? His work, often signed, appeared on Blue Note, RCA, Columbia—all the giants—and echoed, or often anticipated, the style that he would cultivate not just as a commercial designer but as a gallery-and-museum artist (though he rarely distinguished between the two). A new, lavishly illustrated, fastidiously documented book, <I>Andy Warhol: The Record Covers, 1949-1987</I>, lays them all out. Read about it <A HREF= http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/arts/music/26kapl.html?ref=music >here</A>. Buy the book <A HREF= http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Warhol-1949-1987-Catalogue-Raisonne/dp/37913… >here</A>.

Even as Robert Harley was writing his <I>Stereophile</I> <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/solidpreamps/mark_levinson_no38_preamplifier…; of the $3995 Mark Levinson No.38 remote-controlled line preamplifier (it appeared in August '94, Vol.17 No.8, p.98), Madrigal Audio Laboratories announced an upgraded, cost-no-object version, the No.38S (footnote 1). At $6495, the 'S is significantly more expensive than the junior version; although it uses the same chassis, power supply, and circuit topology, it's in all other ways a different preamplifier.

I really don't know anything about the Flying Burrito Bros. I know that Gram Parsons was in the band, and that makes them cool. Michelle, the first girl I ever loved, wore a Flying Burrito Brothers t-shirt (baby blue with a metallic gold logo, purchased from some old train station thrift shop in Hackensack-ack-ack-ack-ack), but she was from San Francisco and talked about Haight-Ashbury and rearranged her furniture twice a week and received phone calls from Pauline Oliveros and Marian Zazeela (in her dorm room!), and I figured the t-shirt was just another one of her crazy things. It was only much later, after she had shaved her head and had her name legally changed to Maya Moksha, that I realized Michelle was way cooler (and crazier) than I'd ever understand.

The May 2009 issue is now on newsstands. The cover's so bright, you gotta wear shades. See that orange LP sitting on the SME 20/12 turntable? That's my copy of Boris's awesome <i>Smile</i>.