LATEST ADDITIONS

While Jon was <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/jons_rainbow/">on his way home</a>, I was back at <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/lucia_lodge/">Lucia Lodge</a>, working on “Recommended Components.” Earlier in the day, Jon and I had had a big lunch, but I knew that Tom, the lodge manager, would be expecting me for dinner at Lucia’s restaurant. Though I wasn’t particularly hungry, I shut down my laptop, and walked outside. Funny how things work out.

Until recently, I have considered LaserVision video discs as a rather dubious medium for serious music reproduction. The only review I had read about it by a critical listener (Harry Pearson in <I>The Absolute Sound</I>) was I singularly unenthusiastic, and since I had not heard one myself, I was inclined to take his word for it.

Toward the end of 2009, I read a lot about Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, an 18-piece big band, and its debut CD, <I>Infernal Machines</I>, which was showing up on several best-of-the-year lists. But I never received a copy of the album and couldn’t figure out how to contact the label, New Amsterdam. Finally, I <I>bought</I> a copy from Downtown Music, a terrific alt-jazz record store in Manhattan, and, it turns out, the excitement is justified.

<a href="http://www.lucialodge.com/mall/c121/s14406/default1.htm">Lucia Lodge</a> was opened in the early 1900s, on land originally settled by Wilbur and Ada Harlan in 1885. The Harlan family still owns and operates the Lodge. They’re great people.

On this night, I stayed up very late working on “Recommended Components” for the upcoming April 2010 issue. Having spent the entire day all alone, I was able to get a great number of listings compiled. No, I did not freak myself out by thinking about the ghosts of the cabin’s previous inhabitants.

Liner notes to <i>Slo Grown</i>, featuring Jon Iverson and some other guys.

After Boo Boo’s, we made our way to <a href="http://www.cheapthrills.biz/CT/">Cheap Thrills</a>, another excellent San Luis Obispo location filled with books, movies, and music. Upstairs is where they keep the delicious vinyl. I’ve never seen a better selection of country music. I was <i>so</i> tempted to buy every Bobby Bare, Willie Nelson, Charlie Pride, Merle Haggard, and Tammy Wynette album they had.