Stephen Mejias

If Vinyl">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/vinyl_man/">Vinyl Man had a shield, it would look something like the Thorens TD 309 turntable. But it would be orange. Or green.

Look: I mean, listen: I mean, look: I'm the sort of guy who is comfortable with the idea that there's more than just music to this whole hi-fi thing. It's not all about the music. That's bullshit. It's also about friendship and peace and art and beauty. It's about belonging. You can get into hi-fi even if you don't listen to music. What? Yes! It's about getting drunk and high and lost. It's about girls and boys. It's also about the gear. But you can get into hi-fi even if you don't like gear. What? Yes! It's about more than just what the gear does. It's also about how the gear looks when it does what it does. Hi-fi is a full-on sensory attack, a blissed-out mind-fuck, an ocean, a sky, a lion in the tall, yellow grass. We feel with our heads and our hearts, with our ears and our eyes and every little bit of our little human selves.

Photo: Michael">http://michaelschmelling.com/">Michael Schmelling

Here in the office, I am (like most jerks in the corporate world) constantly juggling several tasks at once. Sometimes these tasks seem to have absolutely nothing to do with one another, and nothing to do with the making of a magazine. So it goes. To keep everything from crashing down at my nervous, trembling feet, I scribble little reminders on yellow Post-it notes and stick them to everything around me: Post-it notes on my computer screen, Post-it notes on my telephone, Post-it notes on my calendar, Post-it notes on my stapler, etc.

There has been a lot of Leonard Cohen talk going around the office this week. You will find out why when you receive your September issue of Stereophile. You will enjoy it, too, I am certain.

A couple of months ago, I heard an">http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/128092">an interesting segment on NPR about Sam Hillmer's Representing">http://www.myspace.com/representingnyc">Representing NYC project. Hillmer, a NYC school teacher, partners his students with indie-rock musicians to create hip-hop albums. The children are given an opportunity to express themselves and gain real experience in the art of commerce, while the musicians get to contribute to the working-class communities they've recently moved into.

I woke up this morning with a couple of sweet lines playing themselves over and over in my mind. The doctors and scientists call this phenomenon an earworm, which is an entirely unpleasant term. Isn't it? I mean, I would never want an earworm, but I don't at all mind the sound of pretty words running through my head.