Stephen Mejias

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I have had a Jalapeno Pepper stress-reliever at my desk now for a little over a week. I have not needed to use it to relieve any frustration but I had no choice but to finally ask Stephen, "Why on earth do we have a Jalapeno Pepper stress-reliever with Stereophile stamped along the side?" To which he replied, "Stereophile's had lots of odd merchandise." He tossed me a black, felt pouch from his bookshelf, and inside I found six golf-coins, each marked with an animal: a camel, a donkey, an alligator, a monkey, a rabbit, a snake, and a plain one simply marked "Stereophile." I also found a crumpled piece of paper inside which read: "The Players..." And so, I felt it necessary to share a few of the descriptions that correspond to some of the animals.

CAMELs used to be Golfers until they got stuck in the SAND TRAP.

Eight plus (8+) strokes on any hole and you’re an ass...er...DONKEY.

ALLIGATORs are most definitely a WATER HAZARD, as are you and any Player that touches water.

So I thought to myself: "What other weird Stereophile merchandise is lying around this office?"

The CD Case that Ignited my Tangent:
This afternoon I found a Stereophile CD case while taking inventory of components that need to be returned to manufacturers. Admittedly it was not as interesting or funny as the pepper (or the donkey coin for that matter) but it was merchandise nonetheless. As there are a few of them in our storage room, Stephen asked if I'd like to keep one. I thanked him, but declined.

An Ode to CDs
CDs, CDs, how you will be missed
But my iPod is more compact and easier to fit
In my purse, my pocket, at the gym, or on the train
And the truth is that MP3s are to blame.
Sure, some are corrupt and are of poor quality
But I can't deny how the internet has expanded my library.
CDs, it was great to know you and I've had tons of fun
But you can't keep up, and soon will be done.

Okay, so I'm not a poet, but I do not buy CDs anymore, and for this reason, could not accept the CD case (although it is very nice, so whoever designed it...great job!). I know this confession breaks some peoples' hearts because "I do not support the industry," or because "I am lacking some form of tangible, personal contact with artists, covers and lyrics," or because "computers, in and of themselves, are the spawn of Satan," but I do not buy CDs (although there is an exception to every rule). More often than not, artists don't put enough good songs on a single album for me to want to buy the whole album. Or worse, there are five good songs on their debut album, one on their second, four on their third — and all together that's ten songs and the average CD is twelve tracks! Why do I need all three albums when iTunes and other online music sites make it so convenient to just take the ones I want? Obviously, the answer is that I don't.

This is the part where my mother would say that's because music today is "junk," which is true in some cases (more than I'd like to admit anyway) as I feel that my generation is severely deprived of good music, which is a whole other blog entirely, but in the end, my mother strengthens my argument for how CDs are on their way out (although this is nothing new and we've all known this for some time now).

Tom Petty Catharsis:
My friend Nancy, from Boston University, went to a Tom Petty concert on June 21st in Massachusetts and had been talking about it for months prior. Now, when she purchased the tickets, I thought to myself, "Why is everyone so excited about this Tom Petty fellow?" Sure he sounded familiar, but I'm 20, so, technically, I have not been "free-falling" for very long and my "life is a short-highway, although I am riding it all night long" (or at least until 12:00am or 1:00am on weeknights because "college-time" has finally caught up to me). So I go on iTunes, I buy a few Tom Petty Songs and... ::PoOf::. I've known about Tom Petty, subconsciously, all my life it seems, but I would have never realized it because I would not risk buying a CD by a "seemingly" unknown artist. Of course, I could read the lyrics online if I really wanted to, but I don't want to read lyrics to see if something looks remotely familiar. I just want to listen to it.

I'll admit, I should have known who Tom Petty was, so please don't comment on that fact. More importantly is that this is not the first or last time something like this will happen to me. Songs by countless artists from Oasis to Journey to Ben Harper have returned to my playlists after many forgotten years. Songs from my mother's playlists — Nat King Cole, The Temptations, even Tina Turner! (I mean, the list is endless really) — have even been added to my own, which is why I can sympathize with her point of view on some of the "radio friendly songs" of today, if they can even be called that. All in all, I only wish I had downloaded Tom Petty much sooner because I would have liked to have seen him live, but I will overlook it and settle for a Red Hot Chilli Peppers' concert in the fall with Nancy.

So I may not have wanted the Stereophile CD case, but the pepper? I'm all over it. This is also a good time to mention that Elizabeth Donavan's 2 year-old daughter paid a visit to the office the other day and I had the pleasure of helping her photocopy her little hand holding the Stereophile jalapeno. To my dismay, that photocopy (which was later colored with hi-liters) appears to have gone missing, so, if anyone should find it, my extension is 23944.

Anyway, I guess you could say that I am on a mini-mission during my stay here to find some strange and amusing items that bear the Stereophile logo. Hopefully, they too will make for interesting tangents for my blog. And for those of you who are just dying to know, Stephen did explain to me that the Jalapeno Pepper dates back to when Stereophile's offices were located in New Mexico. Prior to this enlightenment, it seemed a little out of place here, but it's pretty clever when you know the background. I can only assume that the golf coins are a natural product of the publishing industry's adoration for golf (...a wild guess really).