Milestones!

WordPress just told me that I have posted 250 times into this blog.

Wow. That’s a lot of words.

Well, here’s a few more. I was contacted late last week by Jeff Dorgay, the publisher for TONEAudio Magazine. For those of you sleeping under rocks (which begs the question of how you’re actually reading this, but never mind), TONE is a monthly online magazine that has a uniquely broad approach to the world of the audiophile, but still has a heavy emphasis on the gear and the music we run through it all. All in all, it’s one of my favorite magazines, and it’s been a lot of fun to download and read through every month (and that’s not even sucking up). If you’ve never checked it out, there’s a lot in there! Articles on speakers and amps, sure, but also discussions of food and wine, photography gear and cars. Oh yeah. And the icing on the cake is that TONE has, easily, the best and most honest commentary on music that you’d actually want to listen to that I’ve ever seen in any audiophile magazine.

Did that last bit throw you? Well, it should. I can’t tell you how many seriously boring records I’ve bought this year on the recommendation of various so-called experts. James Blake? Seriously? Ugh. Anyway, check out Issue 43 for the most insane coverage of an entire year’s worth of great — and real — music.

So, yeah, TONE does it all. Well, almost. Okay, one of the things TONE doesn’t do very much of is cover audio shows. That is, until now. Wait for it … Yep, that’s right, I’m going mainstream!

I’ll be covering the New York Audio Show (April 13-15th) for TONEAudio. Woohoo! I can’t tell you how pumped up I am about this. My wife, too, is all impressed and that’s fun. Of course, she grew up a huge fan of Rolling Stone and Almost Famous is one of her favorite movies. Seeing “Ben Fong-Torres” on the TONEAudio masthead was enough to make her swoon. Yeah, a little troubling, I know, but now all I have to say to her is “Ben-Fong-Torres” (which is a lot of fun to say really fast) and she starts giggling. Priceless.

So! Yes, I’ll be doing my level best to get to as many rooms as I can, shoot them up, make sure I label all my pics, ask as many questions as I’m permitted, attempt to write the answers down and not lose track of my notes. It’ll be a blast — hope to see you there!

For those of you wondering, here’s another “yes” — Part Time Audiophile, the blog, will continue on here. I really like blogging about audiophile “stuff”, so I’ll still be diligently plugging away in my own little corner of the Internets. Show reports, however, will change — stay tuned on how that’s all going to work out.

Anyway, I’m terrifically excited to join the TONEAudio team and I really look forward to seeing how that all works out. Wish me luck!