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a million billion fruit trees, frozen

fruitless, frowning
locked in avant-garde poses posing

a post-modernist’s dance
an infinite tangle of aching angles

shrugging shoulders dropping to awkward elbows bending
to empty hands ending in crooked fingers hoping /

pleading /

wondering why why and why /

looking seriously sorrowful in this,
their seasonal supplication;

wishing only for something sweet to give.

a few miles from plattsburg,

a few miles from plattsburg,
global positioning system

says:

blue sky / black earth / yellow grass / gray road

26.7 miles
until the next turn.

montreal is:

montreal is:
two spiral staircases

going up up up
in opposite directions

one is red,
one is green.

a mist this gray morning drops

a mist this gray morning drops
upon the curves

of cherry valley;

her distant foothills
wear it

like a soft flannel sheet. she

does not stir. i
could watch all day.

The lovely (as you can see) and talented (as anyone who heard her sing and play the flute at the SSI 2010 Give Band concerts can attest) Caroline St-Louis helped out at the show ticket desk. Here she is with her favorite audio magazine.

Jazz Musician-Bloggers

The Jazz Review was one of the most fascinating journals in the history of music-writing. Its editors were Nat Hentoff and Martin Williams, two of the most insightful critics of its day (the late 1950s and early ’60s). But its main distinction was that it consisted almost entirely of jazz musicians, writing articles and reviews about other jazz musicians.

In retrospect, the issues (which are now available online) contain as much parochialism as wisdom, which is to say they’re a reflection of their times. Art Farmer scolds Ornette Coleman for discarding chord-changes; at the same time,…

SSI: Final Words from Stephen Mejias

One of my favorite moments of SSI 2010 came during Saturday afternoon's outstanding "Ask the Editors" session, when a member of the audience asked the panel about audio nirvana. What components or systems, if any, had helped us achieve that elusive, mythical state when everything is perfect and right? I sat up straight in my seat and buried my fingernails into the palms of my hands, anxious to offer a response. When my turn to answer came, I stuttered, overwhelmed by the moment, but I think I said enough to communicate the idea that audio nirvana is a fleeting target, one that depends…

SSI: Final Words from Art Dudley

For a journalist at a trade show, few things are more awkward than entering a room and finding that the exhibitor and his staff are the only people there: No dealers. No customers. Just a few desperate souls ready to pin their last half-hope on a man with a badge—and the badge says Press.

Happily, I had only a few such moments at Salon Son et Image 2010: three, in fact, all on the same, slow trade day. (The trick, by the way, for those who covet the audio reviewer's life of power, riches, and fame, is to answer the begging gaze by fumbling with your cell phone and saying, "Sorry:…

A Perfect Fit

JA struggles while I take a photo: In the back of JA’s Land Cruiser, the Wilson Sasha’s WATT head unit fits perfectly behind its partnering Puppy.

The Glamorous Side

Here we are in Art Dudley’s listening room, preparing to load the Wilson Audio Sasha into the back of John Atkinson’s Land Cruiser. After removing the Sasha’s WATT head unit from its large Puppy woofer cabinet, we carefully tipped the Puppy onto its side, removed the spikes from its bottom plate, installed the dedicated casters in place of those spikes, hoisted the Puppy back into an upright position, and dressed it up in protective Saran-Wrap.

We then rolled the Puppy from Art’s listening room around a corner, into the hall, out the front door, passed a bunny, and onto the porch…