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Fuck and Run

Calling anything “IMPORTANT,” particularly a record, often sucks the life out of it and dooms it to a kind of overly academic hell to be debated by talking heads and those that “were there.”

Some of that kind of competitive parsing goes on in Guyville Redux the DVD that accompanies the reissue of Liz Phair’s landmark debut, Exile in Guyville.

Not being female or someone who was in the “Chicago Scene” of the early 1990’s, I can’t speak directly to how she totally rocked my world. But I can say that it’s been out of print for several years, so it’s good to have back. If you…

A Good Turntable

Some people might wonder what it is about me and the Rega P3. Why would I simply settle on the old Rega when there are so many other similarly priced turntables out there?

A new Rega P3-24 turntable with RB301 tonearm and Elys 2 cartridge costs $1095. An audiophile looking to spend about a thousand bucks on a new turntable might also consider the Clearaudio Emotion ($1200); Funk Firm Funk ($1159); Music Hall MMF-7.1 ($1299); Nottingham Horizon ($1100); Pro-Ject Experience ($1000); or Sota Comet ($1050). There are, of course, many others. All are special in their own ways, and…

This Is Our Music

Fortunately, I didn't have to rob any banks or max out my credit cards this weekend. I didn't even have to travel to Africa. The crazy heat and humidity (Footnote for Jaclyn Gooding), however, made it feel like high noon in the Kalahari Desert. Simply sitting at my kitchen table, my laptop (Footnote for AlexO) open and our April 2008 issue turned to page 155, was a kind of dull, hot torture.

I looked up through the heat to find that the blades of my ceiling fan had turned into circling vultures. The ice in my tall glass of water quickly melted, and then the glass melted, too…

Elizabeth's Last Day

Friday, June 20th, was Elizabeth Donovan's last day at work. We left the office together, and walked across the street to Mulligan's Pub. Elizabeth carried a large backpack, a box of books, a lamp. The place was packed, but we found a little space by the door, beneath an air conditioning unit.

"What are you gonna drink?" she asked.

"I think I'll have a Bass," I replied.

"Okay, I'm buying," she said.

"But it's your last day. I should buy."

"No, I feel bad. I owe you."

"Don't feel bad. You don't owe me anything. Anyway, I'm taking…

And Into These Boxes

"Up for another?" asked the e-mail.

It was from Michael Lavorgna. I opened it. He wrote:

I heard from Patrick Amory and it's looking like we are going over his place this Friday for a Road Tour. Patrick, besides working for Matador Records, has a huge collection of rare classical recordings and knows a boatload about them. His system: original refurbished Quad 57s, Leak or Radford amps, a Shindo Monbrison preamp, and a Garrard 301 in a new LignoLab plinth. We'll be doing stereo and mono.

I had other plans, but how could I pass up such an offer? My other plans…

PSB Imagine

Last Tuesday evening, JA and I left the office together and stormed through Madison Avenue's rush-hour onslaught, beneath so much Art Deco splendor, around Grand Central's excitement and confusion, passed happy hour revelers&#151slicked-backed men dressed in jackets and ties as if it wasn't 100 degrees outside, and impossibly radiant women in their picture-perfect poses sipping frozen drinks through tall, thin straws&#151to make our way into Park Avenue's old and golden Waldorf=Astoria.

I hate that "equal to" sign in the middle. It screws up the flow of everything.

…

Mikey In the Press Room at RTI

Here's a sneak-peek at Mikey Fremer's upcoming DVD, "It's a Vinyl World, After All," scheduled to be released later this year. I swear: Mikey doesn't always talk like this. It's just that it's loud at the RTI pressing plant, and Mikey's a little excitable.