About Lugnut -- Patrick Malone

This is just an immediate response. I’ll post a thought out and reasoned response later. I don’t want to get too caught up with thought and reason! I have been looking forward to this weekend since Albert called me and told me he’d kick my sorry white %$#@ if I didn’t show up. I have wanted to meet Pat for many months. I’m not ashamed to say that I have a lot of respect and admiration for him. It has been a life changing event for many people, but to encounter someone on the web is to look though a darkened window when compared to conversing in person. The small amount of money it cost was well spent. Pat is a blast. He’s not as sedate as his comment about Albert being Lugnut on steroids might indicate. He gave the rest of us a run for our money. We hit three very good record stores. I went home with a lot of new vinyl: read, 27 LPs plus a seven LP Pink Floyd box set thanks to a friend of Albert. Thank you Dennis, if you ever read this!!! Thanks also to Louis and Dennis for opening their homes and letting us enjoy their rooms and systems.

We spent many hours listening to music, lying to each other and telling the worst jokes known to all of mankind! Albert put lots of miles on his truck, a fact for which each of us was grateful. Thanks to Cello for dinner Saturday night, and Vetterone on Sunday night!

Having met Patrick made the trip worth the effort, meeting Cello and Vetterone was like winning the lottery and then finding out that the payout was more than you expected. I would love to get to Boise to spend more time with these music lovers.

Thanks to Albert for putting this together and making it possible. The world hasn’t changed, but for four days Albert made it seem smaller.

Boy,,,it sure sounds like you guys had a great time!!!!!!!!Pat,seems like your living a fuller life than most folks without your worries,,,Right on Brother,geez,showing my age with those last 3 words,,,im glad things are going well!!you have a little slice of heaven on earth,,,,an endless supply of audio buddys!

As everyone can tell from Lugnut's post, we had a blast.

I had never met any of these guys face to face except for Nate (Nrchy), who visited me about a year ago. When I told Nate that he and Larry would be welcome to come celebrate, they both jumped at the chance.

Riding around in my GMC with Pat (Lugnut), Nate (Nrchy), Steve (Vetterone) and Larry (Cello), was like revisiting with old friends at a high school reunion. People that you really cared about but had not seen in 20 years. Now you are back together, surprised, grateful and laughing about old times.

It's uncanny how similar all of us responded to each other regardless of the topic, and we spoke of many things. All these guys brought experiences that were shared around the dinner table and during the many car trips in search of LP's.

I think everyone found at least one album they had been looking for and it was a blast coming back to my home and spinning them in my system. Cello got a "Men At Work" for $3.98 that was absolutely like new. Amazing how good it sounded for a pop record.

Pat is an amazing guy, the kind of guy you want to be friends with for life. Courteous, thoughtful and reserved, with a sense of humor as twisted as mine. I am happy we shared this time and music. High end audio is as always, the only venture in my life where I met the BEST people.

Even my wife and I are together because of music, she was helping out at a radio station where my friend, who was the DJ, allowed me access to the control room, where we spoke while the LP's were spinning.

Love of music is an amazing venture and never ceases to amaze and entertain me, as well as providing me with people who change my life and make it more worthwhile.

Hi Pat,

I was just sitting here listening to a little Coltrane tonight and was wondering how everything is going. I hope you are feeling well and keeping your spirits up! Sounds like Dallas was a great trip.

Let us all know how you are doing.

Joe

Joe,

Thanks for shaking my tree. I've been remiss this week in posting to this thread. In spite of wanting things to slow down some I still have much on my plate. My wife took on the project of helping me hang some inexpensive drapes in the music room behind the system. They look wonderful too. So, I moved the system and she did the drapes which needed hemming and I hung those acoustic panels that turned into a nightmare. I didn't want to use anchors because I'm stubborn. Ended up that I had to anyway and the house being old had sand mixed in with the ceiling texture so I had to use a masonry bit. The anchors are overkill for what is suspended from them since masonry bits are at least 1/4"diameter. Looks good now and it did improve the focus of the system. Steve has again shown what kind of a friend he is by offering to install a custom pair of bi-fold doors between the music room and the rest of the home. This should allow me to experience more depth of stage but may create some problems that don't now exist. We'll just have to deal with it. I'm excited.

I received my new ZYX Airy 3 Silver SB cartridge last Saturday but have yet to install it. My hands shake when I concentrate hard. When I install my new one I then need to install the Yatra on a friends table. So, I lack confidence with my hands and have two to do. Oh Steve, where are you?

My chemo went as expected on Tuesday. The steroids keep me pumped up and makes me want to be aggressive which isn't my true nature unless my buttons are pushed. Right after chemo I went to one of my audio club members home and helped install his new cartridge correctly. Luckily he is an emergency room doctor with very good hands. The result of our efforts was well worth it. It sounded very good right from the get go and will only improve with time. One cartridge project down and two to go. One more club member taking analog seriously again.

My first born, her husband and their almost two year old daughter will be coming tomorrow and staying through Father's Day. Both daughters and grandchildren will be here which means a great deal to me. This should be a lot of fun. The babies are very near the same age at slightly less than two. It's going to be fun watching them interact, if that's what you can call it. Nobody expects much other than two kids bumping into each other. Scott's all boy and Aidyn is all girl. Saturday night we're getting a babysitter and going out to eat and get an ear full of live blues as is Barb and my custom.

I'm still on a high from the Dallas experience. I'll never forget it. I know that some of you have met other Audiogon members and know what I mean when I say that no matter our differences, they dissapear when the topic is music. Never, and I mean never, have I met so many people that I had an instant bond with like this. As Albert says, it was like a high school reunion, as if we had known each other all our lives. Paul, Larry, Nate, Steve, Marty, Muna, Albert, Pat (not me), Frank, Chris, Doug, Paul, Dennis and Louis are all quality people and I consider them good and dear friends. Wow, I just counted and I've personally met 14 of you guys and I didn't go to CES or some other show and meet you. Amazing. They all know more than I do about audio so I'm a very lucky guy to draw on that huge well of knowledge if I need to. Sometimes I ponder on their individual record collections as well as mine. What would a combined collection of our finest offerings be? That would be interesting as just a list.

I'm doing better now than last week. I now get a week's repreive from the chemo which is always welcome. Hopefully after the next round of three treatments I'll be able to go without chemo for a few months. It would be nice to get all of my hair back and regain some of my lost vitality. Besides, as much as I care for the patients and staff that make up Mountain States Tumor Institute, I could use a break from that experience. It's hard to watch some of the other people and what they are going through. On some days many of the patients are like me, getting low doses just to keep things at bay. Other days folks are going for a cure and it can be very brutal. One of the drugs that I used and didn't work is really, really horrible in that parts of your hands and feet turn purple quickly and chunks fall off. It hurts really bad and you must stop taking it. The first drug I tried put nearly every muscle in my body into a permanent charlie horse. I had to stop taking that due to an allergic reaction. People, the ones going for a cure of my type of cancer take those two drugs as well as the current drug I'm taking at a much higher dose. Honestly, if the cancer doesn't get them the cure might. I don't think that is much of an exaggeration at all. Few of the people that start this program stay with it. A person can't honestly convey how bad some of this can be. Other treatments for other malignancies aren't so bad though. I don't wish to scare anyone but if you have no experience with this then it's good to know that there is a range of effects from really bad to easy. I'd be glad to get away from this scene for awhile.

Life is very good now. The tunes are sweet and made sweeter by the huge support group of Audiogon. Happy Father's Day to all you Dad's. Enjoy the weekend!!

Pat