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Blue Yodel #7

John Fahey cites Bill Monroe’s “Blue Yodel #7” as the song that changed/destroyed his life. After hearing that song, he knew he had to play guitar.

After reading Fahey’s book, How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life, I knew I had to have the record. I searched eBay for "Blue Yodel #7," and there it was! I bought it! A sweet Bluebird 78rpm disc (Bluebird B-8861, released in 1941, b/w "In The Pines") from the RCA Manufacturing Co., in Camden, NJ!

I kept it in my office, on top of my filing cabinet, neglecting to bring it home. Minutes ago, our publisher, Keith Pray, came…

Now on Newsstands: <i>Stereophile</i>, Vol.33 No.4

The April 2010 issue of Stereophile is now on newsstands. For the cover, we selected the Monitor Audio Platinum PL200 loudspeaker. Like Bob Deutsch, I was impressed by this speaker when I heard it at the 2009 Salon Son & Image, so I was especially pleased by John Atkinson’s decision to highlight it. Our cover photographer, Eric Swanson, and designer, Natalie Baca, were also pleased by the speaker’s great looks: The fine-furniture finish of its Santos Rosewood cabinet, the silvery ceramic-coated aluminum magnesium drive units, the handsome Strathspey leather front baffle, and,…

Transitional Period

For a time, I had my gear sitting on top of my new Ikea Expedit bookcase. An identical bookcase sat along the front wall and held a ton of books, but proved visually distracting when listening to music; it also weakened my system's soundstaging abilities.

Progress

My friend, Eloise Moorhead, helped me place the front-wall bookcase on top of the right-wall bookcase, creating a solid stack of vinyl!

Like Home Again

Almost there. And vodka tonics make lifting easier.

At some point during the course of the day, John Atkinson comes into my office to remind me that women only want one thing: “Women only want one thing,” he says. “You know what that is?”

I wait for it.

“They want to move your furniture.”

All this time I thought he was joking around, but it appears he’s been telling the hard truth. Check this out: I had mentioned my problem to Eloise. Eloise is a student at the New York School of Interior Design. She’s also a music lover. She’s also incredibly cool…

Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton

“Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton when he comes 'round They sing "I'm in love. What's that song? I'm in love with that song." (from “Alex Chilton” by The Replacements) My five month old cell phone fried itself dead. Traffic in downtown Austin crawled inch by inch. A friend, who called himself a “capitalist,” called long distance to tell me Obama’s health plan was going to bankrupt the country. But all of that paled in comparison to the strange news that on the first night of South By Southwest 2010, the great Alex Chilton had died just before leaving New Orleans to come to…

The Room, Today

And here's how the room looks today. As I said, it looks, feels, and sounds like home.

It sounds better than ever, in fact.

Over the last couple of nights, I've had several of those spine-tingling moments of wonder and awe over the excellent sound in my room. There is greater overall clarity, more precisely focused images within a wider and deeper soundstage, more drama, more musical flow, a more relaxed presentation. What can be responsible for this improvement in the sound?

Is it the return of the little bookshelf? The wall of beautiful vinyl? The…

(Don’t F With) Dre Day

You might’ve noticed my big smiling mug on the stereophile.com home page today, calling attention to my review of Monster’s Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. When I posed for that picture&#151a few months ago and with a hellish hangover from a night of fun spent at John DeVore’s Monkeyhaus&#151I had no idea that I’d be today’s top model. The photo was the work of our sneaky web monkey, Jon Iverson. I came into the office, went to our site, and spit coffee all over my monitor. Hilarious.

My mom saw the picture this morning and commented, “You should’ve shaved, Stevie.”…

Show Report Coming Soon!

Stereophile's John Atkinson, Stephen Mejias, Robert Deutsch, and Art Dudley will be reporting live from the 2010 Salon Son & Image show in Montreal.

On Our Way to Montreal

The Salon Son & Image hi-fi show opens on Friday, March 26, in Montreal, one of the world’s friendliest and most colorful cities. Tomorrow morning, John Atkinson will arrive at my front door, and we’ll drive the 376 miles from Jersey City to Montreal’s Hilton Bonaventure, where its rooftop garden and two floors of music await us.

It should take about six hours to get there, and we plan to stop for nothing.

We’ll be blogging from the show, so be sure to check in often.