Stephen Mejias

Photo: HeadRoom.

We're so excited about the new Photo">http://forum.stereophile.com/photopost/index.php">Photo Gallery, and so happy with the steam it's building, we've come up with another section to the album: The History of Stereophile.

Kelli's never been too happy with my orange Ikea couch. After all, she has her opinions on what a couch should be. First and foremost, obviously, a couch should be comfortable. Aiding in the comfort of a couch, Kelli tells me, are things like arms and backrests and cushions made of soft fabric. All of these things work together to provide a soothing place for resting one's head and supporting one's legs after a long, tiring day in the office. My couch, however, lacks these things. To a certain degree, I'm proud of my couch for maintaining its individuality — its unwillingness to conform to society's standards of what a couch should offer and be. My couch is a rebel.

At the top of what I'd later learn to call "Arthur's Peak," I looked out onto the jagged, gray city and felt immortal.

It was a miserable description of sexy. He usually does much better.

Dear weblog,
On Friday, we managed to successfully release to pre-press the final pieces of our July 2011 issue; and it was only three weeks ago that we finished shipping our June issue. On top of the pressure of such a short production cycle, we also felt the effects of attending, over the course of just two weeks, both the Salon Son et Image in Montreal and Axpona in Atlanta. It’s been a busy and exhausting month. On the positive side, it seems that the economy is taking a turn for the better. We see this in the sudden spring of hi-fi shows, but also in the increasing size of our print issues: 140 pages for May 2011 vs 116 for May 2010; 156 pages for June 2011 vs 132 for June 2010; 140 pages for July 2011 vs 124 for July 2010.

These trends, it seems, will continue.

As I’ve mentioned, I enjoy making connections between all kinds of seemingly disparate things and ideas, but I take special interest in finding connections between different musical genres or artists. I obsess over this game, as though finding common ground between Drake and Ryuichi Sakamoto&#151an easy example, but a valid one&#151will somehow make me a stronger person, make me more intelligent and attractive, allow me to better understand others, make the world a more beautiful place.

It’s in these connections that stories are made. And I love stories. Caught by the idea that everything happens for a reason, that every event is leading to someplace meaningful and magical, I’m hungry for connections, like a DJ attempting to create the perfect mixtape, one that can represent a sum of life’s experiences, wonderful and mundane.

Seems I’m not alone. (Whew.)

Through Kickstarter, director Trevor Undi and producer Sean Barney hope to fund their Kymera Project, a sort of “visual mixtape,” setting songs to images to tell a story that takes place in New York City.