The January 2009 issue of <i>Stereophile</i> is now on newsstands. Volume 32 Number 1 is pretty much bursting at the seams with radicalness. I received a voicemail from a long-time subscriber telling me so. It went:

We started the day with a bit of Bell's and a couple cups of coffee. Then, we started walking.

We walked and walked and walked&#151stopping in pubs along the way&#151and gradually became more and more lost.

I often wanted to turn back, in fact, but Pete was so damn far ahead of me that I couldn't even get his attention. I kept following.

When we finally reached the top, we found a strange surprise: The rest of our classmates were there.

At the top of what I'd later learn to call "Arthur's Peak," I looked out onto the jagged, gray city and felt immortal.

Pete gave me the two fingers.

(Who wouldn't feel immortal with hair like that?)