And look who’s back: It’s Ariel Bitran! Ariel worked as our part-time editorial intern, enabling us to complete the 2008, 2009, and 2010 editions of the
Stereophile Buyer’s Guide, before departing for a full-time gig with Mini-Circuits.
Ariel and I kept in touch, and, one winter day, prior to an
Open End show at the Iron Monkey in Paulus Hook, during which I was crazily infatuated with a beautiful, vinyl-loving girl (another story altogether), Ariel mentioned that he’d be interested in a full-time position with
Stereophile. I was happy to hear this, and I told Ariel to hold tight because there might be an opportunity in the future.
Ariel held tight. Months later, he sent me an e-mail, basically checking in and reiterating his interest. Cosmically,
that very day, we were given the green light to hire a full-time editorial assistant! Oh, Lord, my prayers had been answered. I let Ariel know, and he was psyched.
After moving forward with the whole, official interview process, we all felt that Ariel would be the man for the job. While other candidates could certainly do the job, Ariel actually
wanted the job, and that makes all the difference. And here he is. Ariel’s first day as our full-time editorial assistant was July 30th, nearly ten years to the day I started as editorial assistant. I’m very happy to have him with us. And now I can finally, honestly say I’m not the young guy anymore.
