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Thank You
Five years is a long time for most things,
especially a small business. To
thrive (much less survive) on the Internet as
a magazine that caters to only a handful of
music lovers and audiophiles is almost
miraculous. For The Stereo Times, the occasion
of this fifth anniversary came with much
fanfare and one of the nicest celebrations
thrown in a very long time. Since the outset,
I knew that I could create a magazine, written
and published by audiophiles, against all
odds, if I had two indispensable ingredients:
luck and tenacity. Luck, it seems, has always
followed me through many endeavors. Tenacity
is something I developed along the way.
I knew that serendipity would have to play a
huge role in The Stereo Times' success,
because creating another audio-related website
(my last count was 14) was one thing, but
making it successful would be a horse of
different color.
How does one gauge success?
First and foremost, I own a very simple Black
man's perspective: I'm still here in one
piece! Surviving the tumultuous 60’s as a
small kid, with all the graphic images of the
struggles of the Civil Rights Movement, the
assassinations of the Kennedys, Malcolm X and
Dr. King, and the horrors of Vietnam blasted
onto my fragile psyche from a small black and
white television wasn't a cakewalk either.
Somehow, believe it or not, it was that small
AM radio that sat atop the stove in my
mother’s neatly tiled kitchen that gave me
hope. A hope America at the time could not
offer most of us. That radio never stopped
playing music, music that would become the
soundtrack of my youth. Smokey Robinson and
the Miracles gave me more to think about
besides all the rioting, killing and drugs
that permeated our society during that time. I
came through that period shaped with a greater
sense of purpose and resolve for living. With
a little bit of my parents guidance and a LOT
of God's grace, I was given opportunities that
many in my peer group got but never took
advantage of. For that alone I am successful.
Music keeps my heart beating, my legs young
and my spirits high. I was an audiophile
before I knew what the word meant. As a mobile
DJ in the early 70’s (my dad owned a very
popular club and thus my first gig at age 13),
I was always paying close attention to the
music though the landscape had changed by this
time (1975). Instead of playing the
Temptations’ Psychedelic Shack I was spinning
Funkadelic, a super-psychedelic funk band
headed by the legendary George Clinton. I
remember how I would set up my loudspeakers
(el' cheapo pro series driven by Bob Carver's
amazing Phase linear 400 amps). I would always
have the speakers evenly separated from my
turntables so I could hear the stereo image
come from dead center. This was audiophile
behavior before I could afford a high-end
cable!
Fast forward. My love for music playback, not
necessarily audio or gadgets, led me to become
an audiophile. My walk into this hobby was
littered with stutter steps for a number of
reasons, but the biggest, of course, was the
outrageous cost of electronics. Electronics
that I thought were weird because they didn't
have tone control knobs. “What happened to the
midrange, bass and treble?” I’d wonder.
“Shouldn't the exclusion of these important
controls lower the price?” I didn't
understand. Of course, this was before I heard
my first high-end system. My first major
purchase (a used Krell preamp, of course) was
the emotional equivalent of getting baptized!
When I think back on it now I guess I was.
Within no time at all I was a member of the NY
Audiophile Society and working in a high-end
shop in downtown Manhattan. Soon I was good
friends with the likes of Bill Brassington,
Lew Lanese, former publisher of Fi Magazine
Jerry Gladstein, and longtime NY Audiophile
Society prez Arnie Balgavis just to name a
few. It was shortly thereafter that I informed
everyone of a website I was thinking of
starting up. Not only did these guys embrace
the idea but Bill and Lew helped me get
started. These wonderful folks gave me all the
inspiration and hope I needed. We had a mutual
love for music and each other, a rare
commodity indeed. I took the ball and ran with
it and never looked back. That was April 14th,
1999 (there was a short stopover as publisher
of another webzine called Planethifi in ’98
that failed miserably due to some
shortsightedness). The ensuing years were very
challenging but never ever did I even consider
quitting. I knew from the very beginning that
this would demand total commitment. The one
thing that made my staff and I feel best was
the feedback we received from our readers.
That was our lifeline.
Then came 9/11
Well, few of you know that I worked in those
magnificent Twin Towers, on the 65th floor of
Tower One to be exact. Only weeks before that
fateful day I had lunch with Acoustic Zen's
Robert Lee. We walked through all of the
"inner city" giving Lee what I called the NY
Glamour Tour, starting at the World Trade
Center and working our way through and around
Battery Park City, which was adjacent to this
huge complex. It was a perfect summer day,
circa July 2001, the perfect time to be out
and around lower Manhattan. On 9/11, I was
actually supposed to meet with Stereo Times
Managing editor Greg Petan. This was to be our
very first time meeting. He was to meet me in
front of Border’s Bookstore right on the
corner of Church and Vescey Street. I had just
returned from a weekend at CEDIA 2001 and was
flat out exhausted after returning Monday at
2:00am. But I was excited to meet Greg and
decided to drag myself in. Fortunately for me
I was late.
After countless funerals, memorials, wakes and
hours of mental therapy, I decided to do
something that I heard of people doing all my
life but was too afraid to do myself: quit my
job and dedicate all my know-how to making The
Stereo Times a success. I officially left my
job of 17 years the day the US retaliated
against Afghanistan and to this moment never
looked back. With a singleness of purpose in
our contributing staff of insightful writers
and a powerful stock of senior editors in Dave
Thomas, Marshall Nack, Petan, Paul Szabady,
Frank Alles, and Frank Peraino, as well as our
musically driven contributors Russell Lichter
and Nelson Brill we've prepared ourselves for
even greater possibilities and opportunities
that lie ahead.
The Stereo Times 5th Anniversary Party further
indicated that we're as serious about music
and audio as any publication has ever shown.
And based on the number of manufacturers and
well wishers in attendance, I don't think
there's much doubt to that claim.
Personally, I want to thank all you
manufacturers who came out for the party in
honor of the magazine's 5th anniversary. Thank
you for showing me that trust and respect are
the key elements that make successful
relationships. Until next year.
Clement Perry
Party
Photos
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