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Fascinating

Love,
Remember when we first met — standing at the bar, admiring the jukebox's warm glow? How I somehow got around to telling you about that $90,000 turntable? It almost seems silly now. The small talk of first meetings often does, I suppose, seem silly. But not ours. Nothing "silly" about it. And nothing small. I don't know what made me think I should mention it — this silly turntable — but, a day later, you'd call and leave a message saying you'd like to hear more. "Fascinating," was the word you used.

Fascinating. Fascinating. Fascinating. I replayed the message a…

Time Travelers Pay Cash

Trying to convince your friends you're a time traveler? Folllow these, ahem, timely tips.

Mix Your Own . . .

Belt buckle? Jimminy Christmas, Sweet Couture is selling cassette tape belt buckles. It's $10 for a "We pick," $15 for your favorite brand. They don't offer my fave, the TDK-MAXG, however—which is a shame, because $15 wouldn't be an unreasonable price for one of those bad boys.

Via WMFU's Beware of the Blog.

Happy Birthday, John Atkinson

It's Johnny's birthday
It's Johnny's birthday
And we would like to wish him all the very best
It's Johnny's birthday
It's Johnny's birthday
And it's so nice to have you back to be our guest.
George Harrison: All Things Must Pass

What Makes Women Happy?

Interestingly enough, this essay is by a woman. Sheesh, obviously only a guy would be qualified to handle this question. No, wait a minute, I 'm a guy and even I know better than to try to answer that one.

Louis Moreau Gottschalk: A 19<SUP>th</SUP> Century One-Man Grateful Dead?

When we were enthusing about Dr. John and the Lower 911's concert at HE2006, John Atkinson exclaimed, "I can't believe he played a tango!"

Knowing my Mac Rebennack trivia, I riposted, "Oh yeah, that was "Litanie Des Saintes" by Louis Moreau Gottschalk." To which John said to me, as have oh so many others over the years, "Huh?"

Gottschalk was, at one time, "the most famous musician in the Western Hemisphere"—"the Chopin of the Creoles." This book review from The New York Sun has catapulted Notes of a Pianist onto my must-read list. And, if you've never heard it, order my favorite—and…

Super Bad

James Brown at B.B. Kings in New York on Friday night. Big semi-crazed shows, what they used to call revues, like the one Brown brought to town are fast becoming a lost art. The band featured three horns, three drummers, four female backup singers called Bittersweet (two black, two white) and four guitar players all of whom were killer and all of whom played in widely diverse styles.

In the center of this mayhem was the man himself aged 73. As the towels he had for sale upstairs put it, "the man who put the wet in sweat." Wearing a red suit with red lame accents and lots of underarm…

A Special Monday

Today is a special Monday in Stereophile land. Today is JA's birthday. Happy birthday, JA. Today is also Kristina Roman's first day with us.

I should say: "Today is also Kristina Roman's first day back with us." KR's been here before. If you open up your October 2005 issue of Stereophile, you'll find her in the masthead:

Editorial Intern — Kristina Roman

KR just enjoyed an excellent semester at Boston University and is now home for the summer. We're lucky to have her with us. We'll try to keep her busy and smiling. Primarily, Kristina will be helping us…

Here's A Story John Atkinson Will Love

They're selling cellphone frequencies to teens that confound adult teachers? Well, what frequency can you hear?

Why Extending Copyright Is Bad

I do believe in copyright and I do believe that creators deserve to benefit from their creations. However, very few works of literature remain popular even 20 years after their creation–and the current standard, recently extended by another 20 years, merely prevents legitimate uses, such as this case, where James Joyce's grandson is being pompous little pimple about who is "worthy" to write about his uncle.

The most comprehensive article about Stephen Joyce is The Social Science Research Network's Bloomsday. The most concise story is on the AP. However, as usual, the best read is at The…