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The Open Bar

It's not all-audio all-the-time in the Stereophile forums. Every once in awhile, a fellow likes to turn down the stereo and reach for The Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, The Economist, Sports Illustrated, King, whatever.

We are large. We contain multitudes.

Therefore, we've created a new forum where we can gather to discuss any topic that might be on our minds. The Open Bar is where we'll toss around ideas on politics, entertainment, science and nature, sports and leisure, arts and literature, board games, the weather, or whatever.

Conversations may become…

Pitch Perfect

Remember what I wrote last week about my dream listening room? Some nice furniture, DeVore Fidelity loudspeakers, Shindo amplifiers, walls lined in vinyl LPs, all that?

Well, shit, Matthew Rotunda of Pitch Perfect Audio went and beat me to it. The team at Pitch Perfect Audio will be celebrating their third anniversary on January 1, 2009, and they'll be doing it in style. The new showroom looks pretty damn glorious. If I lived in San Francisco, I might just stop by on my way home from the office and roll all around the rug and tangle myself up in my favorite LPs, like the place…

The Two-Box Solution

My favorite audio product of 2008 isn't precisely an audio product—it's a home theater in a box. I'm referring to Polk's lovely SurroundBar 360, which sells for $1200 and gives you a low-profile 48" "sound bar" and a base station, which includes an optical disc player, DSP processing, and an AM/FM tuner. The base station, of course, contains all the amplification the sound bar requires. Also included is a special umbilical to connect the two pieces—and, in a savvy little detail that tells you a great deal about how much thought has gone into the SurroundBar 360, the connectors on that cable…

Dylan on the Radio

Perhaps the most interesting thing on satellite radio has been Bob Dylan’s Theme Time radio show on XM, where he uses big themes like “baseball” or “eyes,” and builds shows around music that somehow connects to the theme. The idea for this show, which is worth listening to if only for Dylan’s raspy–voiced patter, may have come from a previous Forties–era radio program hosted by one of Dylan’s heroes, Woody Guthrie.

Besides the music which is extraordinary, the show is filled with great details. Ellen Barkin as the opening announcer is um...well, forgive me, but the woman has…

The Dresses, the Shoes, and the Clothes

My heart is not broken. It is collapsed like the sun into the frozen Meadowlands. Sometimes, alone in bed at night, I get this awful, screaming pain in the side of my bony chest, in that empty space where I imagine you to be. It's not often that I do this, sit here. Listen to the same sad songs over and over again, sing along, cry, think of how these words were written for us. It's probably not a good habit to be getting into, but it seems I just can't stop. It's been more than two weeks now, and it isn't wearing off. Twelve songs, 40 minutes, over and over again. I can't stop…

The Process of Listening That Way

Selfdivider directed us to this excellent and encouraging article in the New York Times.

Melissa found a bunch of abandoned LPs, so her boyfriend Dave bought her a Rega P1. (Good move, Dave!) It wasn't long before Melissa fell in love with the vinyl experience. (I know how that goes.)

Now she holds listening parties in her Brooklyn apartment, introducing friends to the rich sound of vinyl. "There is something I like about the process of listening that way," she said. "Having to listen to it in the order the musicians intended, and turning it over. There is…

Waning Shorter

Wayne Shorter marked his 75th birthday with a concert at Carnegie Hall last night. The show began with the Imani Winds, a spirited quintet of woodwinds and French horn, briskly traversing Villa-Lobos’ “Quintette en Forme de Choros,” followed by the world premiere of Shorter’s own classicial composition, “Terra Incognito.” (Let’s just say Gunther Schuller has nothing to worry about.) Exit Imani Winds, enter the Wayne Shorter Quartet, sparking lusty applause but not much after. Shorter’s band was, as usual, great. Danilo Perez, piano; John Patitucci, bass; Brian Blade, drums—not many rhythm…

Because You Asked, or: Stop

In a way, I started writing that Ryan Adams piece at the moment I dropped the needle on the record&#151around two, or maybe closer to three weeks ago now. Words, however, weren't typed onto this computer screen until last Monday. Normally, I don't spend so much time on a blog entry. For better or worse, these entries usually end on the day they begin, but other things&#151work, Thanksgiving, life&#151kept getting in the way of my completion of the Cardinology piece. I think I could have finished it all in one day had I had the opportunity, and I also think it could have…

Deep Listening

I am thinking of going to this on Saturday. I wonder if there are any good record shops in the area.

You Have Been Poked by Jim Thiel

"So what are you doing this Friday?" my father asked, trying to elicit information I could tell he already knew.

"Hmmm. Oh, I'm playing a gig." I responded, calmly.

"I know."

Ha! I knew he knew.

He continued, "Why didn't you invite me?" (He was referring to me not sending him a Facebook invitation for my gig, which I did send to more than 120 others.)

"Because you are not in New York, so it seemed illogical." (He's in Birmingham, Alabama.)

"Well don't worry. I don't go to things I'm not invited to."

This tiff divulged into a two-day…