Music editor, Robert Baird, comes over and asks: "How’s it going, chief?"<br>
The "chief" part I take as a compliment. This is a magazine publishing company we’re working for, after all.<br>
"Not bad," I say, while handing him the new <a href="http://www.silverjews.net/">Silver Jews</a> album I purchased last night: "Have you heard this yet? It’s pretty good."<br>
"Oh yeah," he responds, "It’s great. Did you <i>buy</i> this?"<br>
On our way home last night, at your request, we found shelter from the relentless rain near a bit of dancing fire. White candles melted into soft wings and waves and fingertips, beckoning us closer. We sat at the fun table beneath so many beaded chandeliers, and ordered the best drinks in all of Manhattan—pineapple coconut mojitos and razzle dazzles—which were far too strong, but perfect, nontheless. The older woman in the strange hat offered us one of her piggyback dates—stuffed with almonds and wrapped in bacon, sprinkled with Cabrales bleu cheese—but we, of course, declined, and decided instead to order some of our own.
Wes sends his "Hola!" from Barcelona:
Gerhard Feldmann’s Bösendorfer New York is partnering with the Jazz Foundation of America to donate the legendary "Blue Note" Bösendorfer to the JFA's inaugural auction benefit, which will be held November 16 at the B.B. King Blues Club and Grill in New York City. Auction proceeds will support JFA non-profit programs, especially working gigs and educational programs for victims of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.
Last week's "Vote" results indicate that readers clearly favor better-sounding recordings. But would a poorly recorded work prevent you from buying it, regardless of the performance or artist?
"I can't make out the words."
I'd heard rumors about Peak Consult. John Marks was all a-burble, having reviewed the InCognito in "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/932/index2.html">The Fifth Element</A>" in the September 2003 <I>Stereophile</I>, but I'd never actually <I>heard</I> anything designed by PC's Per Kristoffersen. Therefore, when US distributor Chris Sommovigo proposed that I audition the $25,000/pair Empress, I was intrigued. Well, who wouldn't be?
Back in March, I wrote a <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/images/newsletter/305stph.html">reviewlet</A…; of Channel Islands Audio's VHP•1 headphone amplifier for the <I>Stereophile</I> eNewsletter. (What—you aren't receiving that free download yet? Well, log on to www.stereophile.com and opt in.) The VHP•1 has continued to enchant me—reason enough to examine it in greater detail, I reckoned. But the real reason I returned to the VHP•1 ($349) is that CIA's Dusty Vawter recently sent me his new VAC•1 ($159), a replacement power supply for the VHP•1's stock wall-wart supply. Could a new power supply <I>really</I> offer a substantial improvement in performance?
I recently spent a few days filling in for a local engineer, recording middle-school and high-school bands and choral ensembles. This was a requirement of the statewide music-educator adjudication process. (Don't laugh; recording high-school bands is how Telarc got its start.)
Like many specialty audio companies, <A HREF="http://www.nhthifi.com">NHT</A> has had its ups and downs. The Benicia, CA–based loudspeaker manufacturer, founded by <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/232/">Ken Kantor</A> and Chris Byrne in 1986, was sold to Jensen International in the early 1990s, sold again to accesssories perveyor Recoton, and then acquired (and some would suggest saved) by Rockford Corporation towards the end of 2002.