Then there was the look. Once designers took over, they also became things of beauty. The Herbie Hancock clear cube comes to mind. Rhino's Fifties single box (with trading cards and every CD set inside a 45" record) or the Rhino sci-fi…
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Back when everyone was rushing to convert LPs to CDs, the boxed set was a wondrous thing. The rush to "box" every artist propelled the record biz to some of their best Christmas seasons ever. It even inspired some labels to get off their then wealthy asses and dig around the vaults to find that most marvelous of record label offerings, the "bonus track."
It's interesting: A small change can make such a big difference. I wake up, force myself out of bed, walk into my living room, and stop to admire the so-slightly-revised layout. So slight, the revision is, but I love it. It just seems right. It seems
meant
to
be.
In the office, I'll let you know, the guys sometimes make fun of the way I choose to break my lines. I don't blame them. But, I do have a reason. It's about rhythm and soul. It's hi-fiku. Also, of course, it's not unprecedented. Others may know it from elsewhere, but I take it from JP Donleavy’s…
My fellow blogger Mark Fleischmann has taken his Happy Pig's Hot 100 New York Restaurants online. The listings are available by neighborhood, alphabetically, or by type of cuisine.
It's a great list—not the same old Food Channel names, but real NY eats, cheap'n'tasty for the most part. These are the restaurants you usually need to live near to be aware of. I welcome this resource and expect to be consulting it often.
Good news: It's in the ventromedial nucleus (VMN) in the hypothalamus.
Bad news: As an audiophile, I emanate vibes that shut it down.
Bad news: As an audiophile, I emanate vibes that shut it down.
"Don't stay too late," JA says, on his way out of the office.
"I won't."
"Will you be seeing Kelli tonight?" he asks.
"Yes."
"Will you be staying at her place?" he ventures further.
I smile and nod.
"Good," he says. "Rearrange all of her furniture."
As anyone who has talked me me even briefly over the last month knows, I loved reading King Dork. It's a young adult novel that's one-half rant against Catcher In the Rye, one-half spoof of The Da Vinci Code, and one-half Encyclopedia Brown in the 21st Century. Yeah, I know that adds up to more than one, but that's how good it is. It's also very knowing about rock trivia and absolutely spot-on about what it feels like to be an "uncool" teen.
Read this interview with Frank Portman and you'll want to read King Dork. Any regular reader of Stereophilia will love it.
I've been checking out the Creative Commons–licensed MP3s at Musikethos. If you dig classical music, you'll find a lot to admire there.
I love the arrangement of Scott Joplin's Bethena for saxophone quartet and piano—it's gorgeous.
An exhibit organized around the schtick of making the paintings about the atmospheric conditions portrayed within them. Works anyway.
The fax machine is singing its song. Beep bloop beep bloop bleep beep beep. And bloop. It goes on and on. Kristina feeds the machine and the machine eats, requests for verification on pricing and availability of amps and speakers, tonearms and cartridges, accessories and racks and so much more. "Recommended Components" is singing its song. Swoosh and whir.
Dear Colleague,
We are working on the October 2006 issue of Stereophile, which will feature our semi-annual "Recommended Components" section. Below is a list of what MAY be included in our final list. We would appreciate…
Walking to the train this morning I saw a woman who was a dead ringer for Sara Carter, wife of A.P. Carter, whose leaving to marry A.P.'s cousin Coy torpedoed the famous Carter Family.
I almost spoke to her but then what was I going to say? Hey, you look a lot like someone you’ve never heard of? Lacking sufficient coffee reserves at that hour, I probably couldn't have gotten it all out anyway. Hewing to my policy of trying not to say idiotic things to redheaded women, I kept silent.
But the theme of country malcontents, though not redheaded, continued when I walked in to the…