Fred Hersch, one of the top handful of jazz pianists on the scene, spent several months in a coma last year, owing to complications from HIV, with which he’s been living for well over a decade. When he emerged, he had to teach himself how to play piano all over again—not the technique, but the reflexes, the timing, the coordination—but you wouldn’t know it from <I>Whirl</I> (on the Palmetto label), his first album since the return.

<a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/moving/">The move</a> is going fairly well. I’m almost completely settled in. I didn’t feel like waiting for the movers, so I just moved myself. Because all Source Interlink employees at 261 Madison Avenue will now be on a single floor, some people lost their private offices. While some are now sharing offices, I took a cubicle. So I no longer have a view onto sunny decks, no redbrick walls, no green trees; the only thing I can see from my seat is a gray cloth partition.

<a href="http://www.audyssey.com/">Audyssey</a&gt;, a company specializing in room equalization technologies (ask <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/musicintheround/music_in_the_round_40/index1…;), has launched a sweepstakes for fans of high-quality sound. There are some cool prizes, including a Marantz NR1601 slimline home theater receiver and an 8GB iPod Touch. To participate, become a fan of Audyssey <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Audyssey">on Facebook</a> and fill out a short questionnaire. For complete details, click <a href="http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/52020">here</a&gt;.

Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Pat Sansone at the Solid Sound Festival, North Adams, Mass. August 14th, 2010. Photo in this and the preceding entry by Charles Harris.

It may be time to begin appending the words “The Great,” in front of the name of Wilco. At least that’s my unvarnished reaction to their headlining performance at the inaugural edition of their own Solid Sound Festival, held last weekend in North Adams Massachusetts. Where in the hell is North Adams you may ask, why across the Mohawk Trail is the answer. I once had a friend, upper crust Brahmin Bostonian he was, and his mother used to rhapsodize about “motoring along the Mohawk Trail. She must have been speaking about the end of the trail (otherwise known as Mass Highway 2), nearer to Boston because getting to N. Adams from Interstate 91 is an exercise in going up one side of a mountain (granted in Massachusetts mountains top out at like 900 feet above sea level so we’re not talking friggin’ K2 here), and down the other. It’s not a road for older ladies for whom cucumber sandwiches with the crusts left on is a big step.

I’m so much more impressed by good, <i>affordable</i> systems than I am by those costing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. I find it difficult to concentrate on music when I’m overwhelmed by the high prices of the gear delivering it. Price should never be the most impressive aspect of hi-fi.