Stephen Mejias

When the wind blows hard, our building makes a sound like an old ship swaying on the sea. Not that I would know how that sounds. But I can imagine. I'm very attracted to this sound. It makes me wish for more windy days. It makes me wonder if I was born to live on the sea.

It sounds like wood bending and stretching and almost, but never quite, breaking. It sounds like the tensing of some wooden instrument whose strings are tuned too tight. It sounds like the wooden floor beneath a cellist's feet. It sounds like waking up too early on Saturday morning. I don't know what else it sounds like. You tell me. It sounds like our building in the wind.

Today, the wind brought a treasure of wonderful music. Unlike the music that is sent so regularly to many editors and reviewers who already cannot keep up with the piles heaped about their ordinary offices, editors and reviewers who almost cannot be blamed for being ho-hummed and matter-of-coursed by this music wrapped in dull yellow Jiffylite cushioned mailers, littered by cotton candy-colored press materials and bastardized by business credentials, and, therefore, inspiring no great amount of joy, no wonder or awe, no tingling sensation whatsoever, this truly special music arrived in a plain brown box, differentiated only by its scent, which was something like that of Golda's Bar in Newark, NJ, before the smoking ban, of course.

Inside, there were twelve CDs:

1. The Renaissance Album, Goran Sollscher
2. David Russell Plays Bach, David Russell
3. Los Otros Maranones de Aguirre, Los Otros featuring Hille Perl, Lee Santana, Steve Player, and Pedro Estevan (playing "all kinds of incredible stuff, especially his wondrous hands and a triangle")
4. J.S. Bach: Sonatas & Partitas, Paul Galbraith
5. Concierto Barroco, Manuel Barrueco
6. Bach Works for Violin Solo, Lara St. John
7. Popular Classics for Spanish Guitar, Julian Bream
8. Calliope Dances / A Renaissance Revel
9. Flamenco Direct, Carlos Montoya
10. Altre Follie 1500-1750, Jordi Savall
11. Spanish Legends, David Russell
12. Istanpitta, Henri Agnel

And two LPs:

1. Tequila, Wes Montgomery
2. The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery

Perhaps it's a coincidence that this plain brown box of wonderful music arrived at just the perfect time, when all the music played in my home is acoustic guitar. And maybe the fact that it's all acoustic guitar has something to do with the speakers I've been using. I suppose it does.