Stephen Mejias

Though it seemed to have been fairly well-scavenged by the time we arrived on Saturday afternoon, the ARChive of Contemporary Music's Winter">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/926_new_stock/">Winter Record and CD Sale held many great treasures.

This week only, we can stream">http://soundcloud.com/subpop/beach-house-the-arrangement">stream new music from Beach House. “The Arrangement” comes from the A side of Beach House’s “Zebra” 12-inch, made special for Record">http://www.recordstoreday.com/Home">Record Store Day (this Saturday, April 17!).

In a sense, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist are music historians and preservationists. In "The Hard Sell," they take us on a scratching, mixing, looping journey through musical genres and fads, from the wildly obscure to the completely commercial, while employing not one, not two, but eight turntables and a collection of original 45rpm seven-inch singles that would make Mikey">http://forum.stereophile.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/84/size/big/… Fremer's hair go straight.

On the corner of Sherman and Sanford in the quiet, residential neighborhood of Jersey City known as The Heights, just a block from Leonard Gordon Park and two blocks from Pershing Field, there is a beautiful, old Victorian house. Standing a little taller than the other houses in the neighborhood, 112 Sherman Place, with its turreted rooms, stained glass windows, and distinct green and ochre exterior, has a proud, stately, almost royal, appearance. This is the home of Dave and Paula Lalin, their three children, their three pets, and more high-end audio components than you would ever expect. This is the Audio Doctor.

On a perfect, late autumn morning, Uncle Omar and I made the short drive from Downtown Jersey City to meet with the Lalin family for a little tour and a lot of hi-fi.

In our">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/now_on_newsstands_stereophile… March 2010 issue, Steve Guttenberg offered an excellent As We See It, detailing his newly rekindled relationship with vinyl playback. Over at CNET, Steve is known as the">http://news.cnet.com/audiophiliac/">the Audiophiliac, discussing a wide range of news, events, and ideas, all in the worlds of music and hi-fi. Now the Audiophiliac and his colleagues at the 404 Podcast present the Audiophillie Awards: They’re asking recording engineers and hobbyists of all levels to submit their best work, with the chance to win some fun prizes.

On Saturday, I accompanied my 14-year old sister and her friend to the Bamboozle">http://www.thebamboozle.com/home.php">Bamboozle Festival, held at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Saturday was cold, windy, wet, and gray&#151not the best circumstances for an all-day outdoor festival. On top of that, I had a shocking hangover&#151a gift from the previous night spent with my 26-year old sister and her husband. I wasn't in the mood.