Stephen Mejias

At around 1pm on July 10, 1964&#151almost exactly 45 years ago&#151percussionist Sunny Murray, bassist Gary Peacock, and saxophonist Albert Ayler met at the Variety Arts Recording Studio just off of Times Square to record what would become the first jazz release for Benard Stollman's ESP-Disk. The studio was tiny and cramped and its walls were covered with Latin album covers and its doors were open so that the musicians could breathe. Can you imagine how hot it must have been?

The sound of women singing. I love them all, always have:

I would give just about anything to be Andy Macleod for even a single day. (Lord, hear my prayer.)

I just got off the phone with Nathaniel Friedman, a writer working on a "vinyl revival" piece scheduled to appear in an upcoming issue of Penthouse, that finest of fine men's periodicals. I think it went fairly well. If nothing else, it gives me an excuse to buy the magazine.

Lydia Lunch's 1980 album Queen of Siam (ZE Records ZEA 33006, LP) is so impressive&#151both sonically and musically&#151that, while listening, you might just find yourself compelled to send an enthusiastic, breathless text message to one of your friends.

One of the records we listened to at">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/at_the_monkeyhaus/">at the Monkeyhaus last week was Sonny & Linda Sharrock's Paradise&#151a powerfully uplifting record, in my opinion. Sonny Sharrock, however, did not feel the same. In a 1989 interview with WKCR's Ben Ratliff, Sonny dismissed Paradise as being "not a good album," and attributed the album's failure to his own incompetence as a bandleader.

Last week, we moved&#151from the sixth floor of 261 Madison Avenue to the fifth floor of 261 Madison Avenue. The good news is abundant: