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Louis Moreau Gottschalk: A 19<SUP>th</SUP> Century One-Man Grateful Dead?

When we were enthusing about Dr. John and the Lower 911's concert at HE2006, John Atkinson exclaimed, "I can't believe he played a tango!"

Knowing my Mac Rebennack trivia, I riposted, "Oh yeah, that was "Litanie Des Saintes" by Louis Moreau Gottschalk." To which John said to me, as have oh so many others over the years, "Huh?"

Gottschalk was, at one time, "the most famous musician in the Western Hemisphere"—"the Chopin of the Creoles." This book review from The New York Sun has catapulted Notes of a Pianist onto my must-read list. And, if you've never heard it, order my favorite—and…

Super Bad

James Brown at B.B. Kings in New York on Friday night. Big semi-crazed shows, what they used to call revues, like the one Brown brought to town are fast becoming a lost art. The band featured three horns, three drummers, four female backup singers called Bittersweet (two black, two white) and four guitar players all of whom were killer and all of whom played in widely diverse styles.

In the center of this mayhem was the man himself aged 73. As the towels he had for sale upstairs put it, "the man who put the wet in sweat." Wearing a red suit with red lame accents and lots of underarm…

A Special Monday

Today is a special Monday in Stereophile land. Today is JA's birthday. Happy birthday, JA. Today is also Kristina Roman's first day with us.

I should say: "Today is also Kristina Roman's first day back with us." KR's been here before. If you open up your October 2005 issue of Stereophile, you'll find her in the masthead:

Editorial Intern — Kristina Roman

KR just enjoyed an excellent semester at Boston University and is now home for the summer. We're lucky to have her with us. We'll try to keep her busy and smiling. Primarily, Kristina will be helping us…

Here's A Story John Atkinson Will Love

They're selling cellphone frequencies to teens that confound adult teachers? Well, what frequency can you hear?

Why Extending Copyright Is Bad

I do believe in copyright and I do believe that creators deserve to benefit from their creations. However, very few works of literature remain popular even 20 years after their creation–and the current standard, recently extended by another 20 years, merely prevents legitimate uses, such as this case, where James Joyce's grandson is being pompous little pimple about who is "worthy" to write about his uncle.

The most comprehensive article about Stephen Joyce is The Social Science Research Network's Bloomsday. The most concise story is on the AP. However, as usual, the best read is at The…

Do Men and Women Read Differently?

No, I don't mean that we mens move our lips. Language warning: This articles contains stuff like, "We have an 'evolved cognitive predisposition to attribute states of mind to ourselves and others' that is also known as 'mind-reading.'"

Portraits of Primates

I remember linking to a similar site, but these are different, although equally fabulous, portraits. I find it easy to recognize these guys as members of the family.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Sleep

Maybe even a little more.

Therapy

Robert has asked me to review the new Sonic Youth album, Rather Ripped. You'd think I'd be thrilled about this. I would be, normally. But, so far, I find the new Sonic Youth album to be disappointing, an underachievement. Having to review the new Sonic Youth album is beginning to stress me out. Thus: this, therapy.

The new Sonic Youth album starts with a song called "Reena." "Reena" turns me off in such a way that I can hardly get through to its end. Maybe, I'm thinking, if "Reena" wasn't around, or if Rather Ripped simply didn't begin with "Reena," I'd like the album a whole…

Let's Get Small

Iowa State university has a happening scanning electron microscopy website. Amazing stuff that surrounds us everyday.