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Monthly Meeting ACA at Tasos SyrigosIntoxication...Some people are born with the gift of not only having the ability to create alcohol in their blood stream, but also to share this with others. Tasso and his wife Maria are two people who are exactly like this. They intoxicate the air around them so that anyone or anything that breathes, will naturally get high when they are in the same space with them. Even the fish they have in their aquarium seem like they swim with a bit of a dance. Tasso’s ACA’s meeting was yet another live example of this unpatented psychological high. We have all heard the speakers before, but not the amp, a beautiful and very much close to perfect machine to produce music with. It had power and was so musical it was almost a true signature of the companies’ ideals. The perfect LP setup was done by our own VP and the sound was simply... intoxicating. So let’s get this right. The Intoxicated, inebriated the ACA members. Yes, without the use of illicit drugs or alcohol I might add. The listening session...
Bill Evans - Sweet Dulcinea Blue
Sweet Dulcinea Blue by Bill Evans was the first drink poured. We received Bill with great eye opening stature and almost all of us immediately stopped talking (something rather hard to do with ACA members in the same room). The sweet and almost poetic strings with the brass simply danced us in our chairs and our minds started to let the dopamine loose in our heads. It didn’t make us travel but it lifted us off the floor. I was already mesmerized. 
Luciano Pavarotti - Caruso
Caruso by Luciano Pavarotti was brought back from the dead in an astonishing lively performance. I was not sure how this was done though. This was so powerful and flawless that the only thing in the room which was not correct, was us! Tonally perfect, timing perfect and sonically blissful. 
Jacques Brel, Les bonbons
Les Bonbons by Jacques Brel was a beautiful break between drinks and the French Bon Bon was extensively three dimensional in every aspect a vocal could be. This includes size, depth and tonality. Some in the room were not attracted to such a song at start but then listened carefully to fully adorn the playful song and the artist in this composition. 
Beirut - La LLorona
La Llorona by Beirut, again not known by some ACA members was there to give us a shot of Johnny Blue. Very precise in nature and so very warm and intricate to anyone witnessing this played on Taos’s system. It was here that everything blended and if you have a chance to listen to this album, I suggest you do with a drink in hand, or go to Tasso for the afternoon! 
Gladiator Soundtrack : "The Battle".
The Battle by Gavin Greenaway & The Lyndhurst Orchestra & Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard & Bruce Fowler & Jack Smalley came together for the Empire Elite to come through with flying colours. It was simply nothing less than a double shot of the best rye I have had. Simply intoxicating. (I think it was by here I was inebriated without alcohol that I needed a real drink to calm down!) 
The Doors - My Eyes Have Seen You
My Eyes Have Seen You (Advanced Resolution; New Stereo Mix) by The Doors, was the close to perfect song for me to hear at this point in the evening. Not only did this symphonic stereo play the impossible, but it played impossibly well on recordings I know and have heard again and again in my life. I felt the age and cohort being described by the needle on the LP and it went straight into my sensory system only to create what those who were there could and can experience.
Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water
Smoke OnThe Water by Deep Purple took me to when I was nothing but a child when my father used to listen to this epic song and was for me, as for others the first song we ever played on the guitar. This tribute, executed so well through this setup was the spring in my seat as I wanted to go up and down and not just move my hands in the air. 
Jimi Hendrix - Machine Gun (Live Copenhagen 1970)
Machine Gun by Jimi Hendrix I left for last because I cannot even begin to start describing what I felt while listening to it. Firstly, I could hear the amp, I mean I could hear which amp was being used, I could imagine the settings Jimi was using, and I felt I was back in time, live, to where this was being played. It was so realistic and passionately reproduced that every single ACA member felt we were kids again and as if we had hear Jimi for the first time. Intoxicating...So kudo’s to Tasso, his wife Maria, who stuffed us with a great dinner, and to the system put up tonight. A perfect blend of rye, bourbon and scotch to create an atmosphere of which even I cannot describe. Thank you Tasso, for not being just yourself, but for surpassing it.
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