Jon Iverson, Stephen Mejias, and I were sitting in the Venetian's food court after the Primedia cocktail party on Saturday night with Mo-Fi's Coleman Brice and Music Direct's Bes Nievera, Jr. We'd wanted to grab some sushi, but Tsunami (what an unfortunate name) didn't have a reservation for five for another two hours and our second choice, an Italian restaurant (what else?) had just laughed when we asked. So we wound up eating pizza slices off of vinyl tables rather than sashimi off of bamboo.

Climb the AP's stairs day by day, <BR>
Push on through the screaming fray,<BR>
Get those pictures anyway.

Hansen is a new line of ultra high-end speakers from Canada, using proprietary drivers and said to feature extremely dense, non-resonant enclosures. The company is headed by Lars Hansen, who, as former president of the Dahlquist Corporation, is no stranger to the world of high-end speakers. The sound of the Prince ($27,000/pair, third model from the top) was simply excellent&mdash;an auspicious debut, I felt.

"Larry, I've just come from the Alexis Park." Tom Norton, editor of <A HREF="http://www.ultimateavmag.com/"><I>Ultimate AV</I></A>" button-holed me. "I think the Pioneer speaker is worth a visit. It's one of the only new things I've found over there." Tom's words rung in my ears. Had to see it!

Jimi Hendrix on Swedish television in 1967. Need I say more? Computer speakers don't do it justice, turn it <I>up</I>.

Make mine a Venti? Give me a break! I once asked a Starbucks counterperson why they called their humongous-sized hot-milk drinks "ventis." "That's Italian for twenty," the barrista said. <I>Riiiight</I>, like any Italian I've ever met would slam down 20 oz. of coffee at a time.