I was eating tagine with John Atkinson and Cantus' Erick Lichte a few nights ago and mentioned having read Anne Midgette's essay about her <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/21/AR20080…; towards Brahms.
Downloads are taking off and it has been 25 years since CD was launched, yet audiophile demand for turntables and vinyl continues unabated. When did you last spin a record?
Enid Lumley accosted me in the corridors of Santa Monica's BayView Plaza Hotel in March: "That doesn't sound like a real piano!" I was taken aback. The sound to which the redoubtable Ms. Lumley was referring emanated from a 7' Steinway we had hired for <A HREF="http://www.performancerecordings.com/">James Boyk</A> to play at the <I>Stereophile</I> show. Jim was conducting a series of tutorials on how the sound of a real piano is constituted, so Enid's criticism, on the face of things, seemed absurd. As my face obviously showed this conclusion, she hastily explained that, of course it <I>was</I> a real piano, but the fact that it overloaded the 40-seat room in which it was being played caused it to sound different from the sound of a real piano played in a concert hall. To lead visitors to the show to expect piano records to sound similar to what Jim was producing was dishonest.
Physical sales of music <A HREF="http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/MUSIC-MARKET-DATA-2007.pdf">plummet…; at a rate that exceeded the sales growth of legal downloads in 2007, according to the IFPI. While global digital sales grew by 40% in 2007—representing about 10% of all music sold—IFPI figures suggest that CD sales in the US dropped by 19% (10.5% in the UK).
Whenever my family and I travel together, I catch a glimpse of how the human mind works. Immediately after checking into our hotel, my wife goes to work distributing the contents of our suitcases among the room's various cabinets, closets, and drawers. Then, the next morning, I discover the location of my underpants <I>heuristically</I>: seeking without knowing, in the hope that some newly learned pattern will be imprinted on my brain. Thus do I earn the luxury of complacence: Every morning thereafter, my things are right where I know they should be.
This is just so wrong, it's right.
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Huckleberry likes to sleep just above my keyboard. That part's cool, but when he wakes up, he'll decide to play swat the fingers until I give chase.
In her kittenage, before we adopted her, Bagheera was a deli cat. I don't want to psychoanalyze an animal with a brain the size of a walnut, but Bagheera <I>loves</I> cardboard boxes. She will lie on them for hours—unless we do something silly like pet her or <I>notice</I> her. Then she'll go sulk in the corner.
The great Eliane Elias put on a quite a show last night in NYC. Touring in support of her new album, <I>Something For You, Eliane Elias Sings and Plays Bill Evans</I>, the pianist, singer and longtime Evans admirer lit up Dizzy's at Jazz at Lincoln Center, which is easily one of the best–sounding rooms for live music that I've ever been in. The food in there is fairly tasty and not wildly overpriced, a total rarity on the New York jazz club scene. And that behind the stage, floor to ceiling glass that adds a Central Park West backdrops to every performance is genuinely divine. Say what you want about Wynton, but the man did make the three JALC venues happen.
It's easy to be impressed by Simaudio's Moon Evolution Andromeda Reference CD player. Everything about it oozes quality and luxury, from its imposing two-chassis configuration to the multi-component disc clamp of machined aluminum. Even surrounded by my double-decker VTL amps, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/turntables/506vpi">VPI HR-X</A> turntable, and Ferrari Fly-yellow <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/619/index8.html">Wilson Audio Sophia 2</A> speakers, the Andromeda was usually the first thing guests asked about: "How much does <I>that</I> cost?" The answer is $12,500. The Andromeda <I>should</I> look impressive.