This issue marks the debut of our pinball columnist—the wonderful Miles Raymer, whose acquaintance I made while editing at the Chicago Reader and whose passion for flippered frippery is astonishing. A long time ago a friend called my bowling technique “enthusiastic but mediocre,” and that description could also apply to my pinball aptitude as well. Perhaps it’s because I didn’t get enough practice at the Mid-Island Plaza—the Long Island shopping center later rechristened the Broadway Mall, which had a seedy, smoky arcade during my youth. It doesn’t have one any longer—the only store that’s stayed intact, with the same name and same location since I was a kid, is, I swear, Fredrick’s of Hollywood—but Michele Catalano’s tale of teenaged debauchery that took place under its roof (it involves Leo Sayer and some strategically pulled plugs) brings to mind memories of those shabbier, if slightly more fun, days.