Question for nfaguys: Not trying to out you or anything, but is one of the famous jazz musicians you've helped out the tenor saxist Sonny Rollins? If so, then you and I have spoken on the phone: I interviewed someone from Maine who kinda fits your description a couple years ago for the entertainment weekly I work for. If it's you, I'm doubly glad to discover we're both Outlaws.

I'm sure everyone had guessed that I'm technically challenged. I write about the arts for a living, mostly music (duh!) but also film, books, theater, whatever. Oh, and NRBQLou, I'm quite familiar with No Depression; mentioned it in a freelance piece I did for the leftie weekly The Nation a little bit ago.

I was never into audio as much as music, but I can trace the beginnings of a growing interest in sonic concerns back to a piece I was working on some years ago about the sound quality in nightclubs. It was like a "report card" on NYC venues, and I noticed that the sound in rock clubs was generally substandard (oh hell, just plain wretched) when compared with even the most oddball little jazz spots around town. Still don't really know why it registered then, because by that time I'd spent most of my adult life in performance spaces. (Admittedly, though, it could be the influence of my wife, whom I've said elsewhere in the forum is much more of a sound person than I am.) I should stress that noticing this hasn't made me hate music that's recorded badly—which actually, is way more pop and rock of all stripes than I ever imagined—but it has made me aware of the different tiers of possibility. And boy, have I learned a lot of invaluable nuts-and-bolts stuff from the cats in this forum.