LATEST ADDITIONS

Years ago, when I taught high school choirs, I had many types of kids in my ensembles. Though none exclusively fit the overly stereotypical lineup of kids on Fox TV's <I>Glee</I>, I always managed to have a nice assortment of jocks, preps, goths, motorheads, geeks, wastoids, and dweebs. One of the things that always fascinated me was how the big, tough jocks would turn out to be the most sensitive, emotional singers. It was always a touching moment when an otherwise stoic football star or wrestler would get all misty while singing the final song of the year-end concert. It showed me that the toughest exteriors often hide the creamiest creampuffs.

I miss the High End Shows. Not the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas&#151;no thanks. I can do without the overpriced hotels, the 45-minute taxi lines, the frantic racing from venue to venue. No, it's the <I>Stereophile</I> shows I miss, with the centralized location, the rubbing shoulders with readers ("Hey, you're the cheap-speaker guy! Check out room 206!"), the listening to live music, and maybe even playing a little of it.

Baja marimba player, violin or piano virtuoso, slack key guitarist, or turntablist? Name the one instrumentalist you most admire.

You might’ve noticed my big smiling mug on the stereophile.com home page today, calling attention to my review of <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/headphones/monster_cable_beats_by_dr_dre_stu…’s Beats by Dr. Dre headphones</a>. When I posed for that picture&#151a few months ago and with a hellish hangover from a night of fun spent at <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/at_the_monkeyhaus/">John DeVore’s Monkeyhaus</a>&#151I had no idea that I’d be today’s top model. The photo was the work of our sneaky web monkey, Jon Iverson. I came into the office, went to our site, and spit coffee all over my monitor. Hilarious.

And here's how <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/the_weight_of_my_loneliness/"… room</a> looks today. As I said, it looks, feels, and <i>sounds</i> like home.

“Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton when he comes 'round
They sing "I'm in love. What's that song?
I'm in love with that song."

(from “Alex Chilton” by The Replacements)

My five month old cell phone fried itself dead. Traffic in downtown Austin crawled inch by inch. A friend, who called himself a “capitalist,” called long distance to tell me Obama’s health plan was going to bankrupt the country. But all of that paled in comparison to the strange news that on the first night of South By Southwest 2010, the great Alex Chilton had died just before leaving New Orleans to come to Austin to play a Big Star reunion. Or as the more cynical among us had it, <I>another</I> Big Star reunion.

<i>Almost there. And vodka tonics make lifting easier.</i>