Stephen Mejias

I was the Mix-Tape Master of Deltona High School. Deltona, Florida, USA. Somehow, after all these years, I've even kept tapes from way back in the day. You">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/062607letting/">You reading this, Kim? I still have that tape you made for me, all covered in bubblegum wrappers and Band-Aid brand bandages and your sweet profanity. Tapes packed so tight and deep with angst and desperation that songs get chopped off at their bitter ends, are left to rot in some chocolate brown Memorex hell. All Siouxsie Sioux and Jesus and Mary Chain and Jane's Addiction.

I say this all the time, but I’ll say it again: I cannot keep up with all of the great new music that’s being released. It’s coming from all over the world, it’s beautifully packaged, and it’s lovingly presented by people who care deeply about their relationships with the artists and the listeners. This is a wonderful time for music, and, therefore, a wonderful time for hi-fi.

Today, I’m listening to Jannick Schou’s Act of Shimmering, a new vinyl-only release limited to 300 copies and made available by Experimedia, a home for sounds that reliably fascinate, enthrall, enrich.

My speakers haven't moved very far from where they first landed on the night that John">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/111005may/">John DeVore visited Jersey City. The Arros, after the Gibbons, found a similar home — a comfortable spot, if nothing else, which works fine enough for me. It's a spot that allows me to walk into my bedroom easily, without having to brush up against a side wall or trip over any turncoat cable. A spot that appreciates symmetry and cleanliness and my apartment's obsession with order.

Exposure, the old-school British company best known for its high-value">http://www.stereophile.com/budgetcomponents/1105exposure/index.html">hi… amplifiers and disc players, has entered the ever-growing iPod market with its new EXPO3 wireless dock. The EXPO3 uses a Bluetooth A2DP-equipped cradle to transmit music files to a base station receiver connected to your hi-fi. A fully-charged iPod is good for eight hours of fun; the base station can recharge both iPod and cradle transmitter, and you can continue listening to music while charging.

Hi. I turn my back on my computer screen to look through my office window and see that it is once again pouring rain. This is the 567th consecutive day of rain in New York City. What the hell is going on? Is this some sort of end-of-the-world business?

David Gilbert from Italy sends this link to images of famous people (and beasts), from Bill Clinton to Chewbacca, spending quality time with their LPs. And Wes Phillips shares a wonderful Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, in which Calvin’s dad teaches his son a lesson about RPMs.

I often wanted to turn back, in fact, but Pete was so damn far ahead of me that I couldn't even get his attention. I kept following.