Steve Martin has just published an autobiography, <I>Born Standing Up</I>, in which he describes how he created his comedic persona by using logic. That was the easy part, next he had to figure out how to <A HREF="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/funny-martin-200802.html?c=y… it to the audience</A>.
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced that it will launch "a new consumer technology event," Digital Downtown (D2), 'to showcase the latest electronic lifestyle and workstyle products to residents and employees of Mahattan's Financial District." D2, which will be held from June 12–14 at the Winter Garden of the World Financial Center, will be open to the public, unlike the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
Nigel Tufnel gets an <A HREF="http://chronicle.com/media/flash/v54/i18/guest/">honorary degree</A> at the Berklee College of Music.
Stop me if you've heard this one: Back in the early 1990s, just after the fall of the Soviet Union, I debated professor of music engineering and magazine columnist Ken Pohlmann on a talk show on the CBS radio network. The subject was analog sound vs digital sound, but I guess when Pohlmann felt I was getting the upper hand, he felt he needed to play the tube card. Derisively, he said, "I bet you're one of those tube guys, too, aren't you?" Before I could open my mouth, he continued: "You know, the Soviet Union's military gear, including the MIG fighters, ran on tube electronics, and look what happened to them!"
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.
<P ALIGN=CENTER
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AOxVXQlZXqI&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AOxVXQlZXqI&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>