LATEST ADDITIONS

Whenever my family and I travel together, I catch a glimpse of how the human mind works. Immediately after checking into our hotel, my wife goes to work distributing the contents of our suitcases among the room's various cabinets, closets, and drawers. Then, the next morning, I discover the location of my underpants <I>heuristically</I>: seeking without knowing, in the hope that some newly learned pattern will be imprinted on my brain. Thus do I earn the luxury of complacence: Every morning thereafter, my things are right where I know they should be.

This is just so wrong, it's right.
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Huckleberry likes to sleep just above my keyboard. That part's cool, but when he wakes up, he'll decide to play swat the fingers until I give chase.

The great Eliane Elias put on a quite a show last night in NYC. Touring in support of her new album, <I>Something For You, Eliane Elias Sings and Plays Bill Evans</I>, the pianist, singer and longtime Evans admirer lit up Dizzy's at Jazz at Lincoln Center, which is easily one of the best&ndash;sounding rooms for live music that I've ever been in. The food in there is fairly tasty and not wildly overpriced, a total rarity on the New York jazz club scene. And that behind the stage, floor to ceiling glass that adds a Central Park West backdrops to every performance is genuinely divine. Say what you want about Wynton, but the man did make the three JALC venues happen.

It's easy to be impressed by Simaudio's Moon Evolution Andromeda Reference CD player. Everything about it oozes quality and luxury, from its imposing two-chassis configuration to the multi-component disc clamp of machined aluminum. Even surrounded by my double-decker VTL amps, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/turntables/506vpi">VPI HR-X</A> turntable, and Ferrari Fly-yellow <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/619/index8.html">Wilson Audio Sophia 2</A> speakers, the Andromeda was usually the first thing guests asked about: "How much does <I>that</I> cost?" The answer is $12,500. The Andromeda <I>should</I> look impressive.

I'd pay cash money to know how "Some stupid with a flare gun" translates into Japanese.

In bed the night before last, images of large and heavy loudspeakers carefully maneuvered into their old shipping cartons and up the narrow flight of stairs from JA's listening room, around a tight bend made tighter by piles of shoes and other things, and up another flight into a hall separating dining room from living room. One heavy step at a time, carefully.