Stephen Mejias

And, dang it, just when I thought it was safe to check my e-mail, it turns out that Gang">http://www.myspace.com/ganggangdance">Gang Gang Dance’s long out-of-print 2005 release, the highly acclaimed God’s Money, is available again&#151and on vinyl, hallelujah. A note from The">http://www.thesocialregistry.com/index2.html">The Social Registry, another one of my favorite labels:

The February 2010 issue of Stereophile is now on newsstands. What do you think of the cover? I like it more than any cover we’ve done since the">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/now_on_newsstands_stereophile… October 2009 issue, which featured the lovely Zu">http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/zu_essence_loudspeaker/">Zu Essence speaker. The styling of the current cover may seem a bit soft and feminine (for Stereophile), but I think it’s elegant and graceful, like the speaker it frames. Vienna Acoustics’ Kiss is a beautifully finished three-way design with an integral stand. It uses a 1" silk-dome tweeter coincident with a 7" proprietary Spider-Cone midrange and a 9" Spider-Cone woofer. Wes wanted to make out with it. Can you blame him? He wrote: “The Kiss was exquisitely capable of revealing the emotional core of every type of music I played through it.”

While Jon was on">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/jons_rainbow/">on his way home, I was back at Lucia">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/lucia_lodge/">Lucia Lodge, working on “Recommended Components.” Earlier in the day, Jon and I had had a big lunch, but I knew that Tom, the lodge manager, would be expecting me for dinner at Lucia’s restaurant. Though I wasn’t particularly hungry, I shut down my laptop, and walked outside. Funny how things work out.

Spending time on the coast, with nothing to impede your view, leaves you feeling more aware of your connection to the planet, this gorgeous blue rock, spinning about in space. One remarkable thing about being so close to the edge of the continent is that you can actually see the curve of the earth. Here I am, committing it to memory.

After a bit of hiking, our friendly web monkey, Jon Iverson, took a seat on an old, wooden bench, which had apparently been made just for him.

But I know what you’re all wondering. Hiking schmiking. Beauty schmeauty. You’re wondering if we made time for any vinyl shopping. Of course we did! Here I am, making my way through the deep stacks at Boo">http://booboorecords.com/">Boo Boo Records in San Luis Obispo. If you’re ever in the area, you definitely need to stop at Boo Boo’s.

Boo Boo Records had a nice selection of cheap cassettes. Here I am making out with them.