{"product_id":"the-perfect-sound-a-memoir-in-stereo-paperback","title":"The Perfect Sound: A Memoir in Stereo - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eGarrett Hongo\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eA poet's audio obsession, from collecting his earliest vinyl to his quest for the ideal vacuum tubes. A captivating book that \"ingeniously mixes personal memoir with cultural history and offers us an indispensable guide for the search of acoustic truth\" (Yunte Huang, author of \u003ci\u003eCharlie Chan\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGarrett Hongo's passion for audio dates back to the Empire 398 turntable his father paired with a Dynakit tube amplifier in their modest tract home in Los Angeles in the early 1960s. But his adult quest begins in the CD-changer era, as he seeks out speakers and amps both powerful and refined enough to honor the top notes of the greatest opera sopranos. In recounting this search, he describes a journey of identity where meaning, fulfillment, and even liberation were often most available to him through music and its astonishingly varied delivery systems. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Hongo writes about the sound of surf being his first music as a kid in Hawai'i, about doo-wop and soul reaching out to him while growing up among Black and Asian classmates in L.A., about Rilke and Joni Mitchell as the twin poets of his adolescence, and about feeling the pulse of John Coltrane's jazz and the rhythmic chords of Billy Joel's piano from his car radio while driving the freeways as a young man trying to become a poet. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Journeying further, he visits devoted collectors of decades-old audio gear as well as designers of the latest tube equipment, listens to sublime arias performed at La Scala, hears a ghostly lute at the grave of English Romantic poet John Keats in Rome, drinks in wisdom from blues musicians and a diversity of poetic elders while turning his ear toward the memory-rich strains of the music that has shaped him: Hawaiian steel guitar and canefield songs; Bach and the Band; Mingus, Puccini, and Duke Ellington. And in the decades-long process of perfecting his stereo setup, Hongo also discovers his own now-celebrated poetic voice.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eGARRETT HONGO\u003c\/b\u003e was born in Volcano, Hawai'i, and grew up on the North Shore of O'ahu and in Los Angeles. His most recent books are \u003ci\u003eCoral Road: Poems \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Mirror Diary: Selected Essays.\u003c\/i\u003e A regular contributor to \u003ci\u003eSoundStage! Ultra, \u003c\/i\u003e Hongo lives in Eugene, Oregon, and is Distinguished Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 544\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.2 x 8 x 5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e February 21, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42170804633735,"sku":"9780307386359","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/b9d6c5d8459a30db096f38e62a022a5c.webp?v=1733350786","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/the-perfect-sound-a-memoir-in-stereo-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}