I spent an afternoon <A HREF="http://stereophile.com/musicrecordings/671/">interviewing</A&gt; the Emerson Quartet when they released their epic Shostakovich cycle.They were delightful. They're dedicated musicians, of course, but also witty and welcoming&mdash;just good company.

<I>The Daily Mail</I> maps the world with cartograms: resizing the countries according to different measures. For example, did you know that Ugandans drink the most alcohol per adult?

Not too many people know this about him &#151; not even his closest friends, not even his mother, not even his wife &#151; but John Atkinson, editor of <i>Stereophile</i>, is a huge fan of The Fucking Champs. In fact, JA sent me this clip<SUP>1</SUP>.

In the dawn of the record era, album covers were based on the covers of photographic albums. Then Alex Steinweiss proposed to Columbia that it "embellish the 78 RPM record albums (covers) with original artwork (drawings and paintings)." An art form&mdash;and an industry&mdash;was born.

<I>Break me a freakin' give</I>, I muttered to myself as I clicked on the URL to the above-titled article. <I>How stupid is this going to be?</I>