I've been working on the new entries for our upcoming "Recommended Components" feature. Our "Recommended Components" feature is big. It appears twice a year—in our April and October issues—and is a fun way for readers to become quickly familiar with the many products we've reviewed. Every product listed in "Recommended Components" has been placed in one of four or five quality classes. Components in Class A offer something extraordinarily special, but every component included in our list is truly excellent or offers excellent value for…
search
What’s the point of having a blog if you can’t be self-indulgent now and then? So allow me to plug my new book, Daydream Believers: How a Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power (Wiley & Sons). As the subtitle may suggest, it is not a biography of the Monkees but rather a journalistic dissection of why the United States’ global adventures and image have gone to hell in recent years. Some of you may know that I write a twice-weekly column in Slate about such matters. My book is not a compilation of my columns; it’s all new stuff. The official pub date is February 4, but it’s already in…
Jaki Byard’s Sunshine of My Soul (High Note) has come to my attention a bit late, otherwise it would have made my Top 10 list at the end of last year. Yet another long-lost concert-tape dug out of the vaults, it takes us to San Francisco’s Keystone Korner in June 1978, where Byard is flying barrel-rolls solo. Byard—who died in 1999 at 77, gunned down on his doorstep for still-unknown reasons—was a pianist both virtuosic and rowdy. His left hand is rock-solid, his right hand fleet with fury. Imagine Willie “The Lion” Smith pressure-cooked by Mingus (Byard played in Mingus’ band through most of…
Saturday night, Jeff Wong, my wife, and I went to see the Holmes Brothers at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater. Wowsers! State of Grace has been one of the most-played discs I bought in 2007, so we expected to be entertained.
We were completely knocked out. The Holmes Brothers came to play and within minutes of hitting the stage, Wendell Holmes, Sherman Holmes, and Popsy Dixon turned a bar full of jaded New Yorkers into a down-home tent meeting. They ended the set with a medley of "Amazing Grace," "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," and "Jesus on the Mainline" that had people speaking…
Omar and I left my apartment and stepped into the chilly night air, on our way to Binny's Liquors.
"It's getting cold again," he said.
"Yes."
There's a point on Third Street where it bends into Newark Avenue. You've got Pop Merrigan's to your left and some unremarkable storefronts to your right. Right at that point, where Third bends into Newark, we were stopped by several old, wooden chairs, haphazardly set out on the narrow sidewalk. They were for sale. Yellow light poured forth from a storefront which, in my experience, had always been hidden by…
We spent almost all of today proofreading the April 2008 edition of "Recommended Components." One day of proofreading, however, is not enough.
It requires more, but we're strapped for time. We were supposed to ship to prepress yesterday. "Recommended Components" always ships late, and no matter how careful we are in our proofing, there are always—always—mistakes. John caught errors that I didn't catch, I caught errors that Elizabeth didn't catch, Elizabeth caught errors that John didn't catch, and round and round and round, but there are always more errors.…
The Sony Cards are in!!!! The Sony Cards are in???
"I want my Maypo!!!"
To paraphrase the Doobie Brothers, what was once ridiculous has now become absurd. To the Nth power.
Here's the deal with Sony's latest effort to fight piracy, the piracy by the way that they allowed occur in the first place, an idea straight from the boys in accounting and legal: Platinum Musicpass. You go into a Best Buy, Target or Fred's and purchase a credit card with fancy artwork for each album you want to download in what the press release calls, "high-quality MP3 files." Each card costs…
Much of the April issue shipped to prepress yesterday, and the big "Recommended Components" feature is on its way out right now. All that's left to go is "Letters," "Industry Update," and the table of contents. Often, our shipping days coincide with the arrival of our office supply of the previous month's issue. That is, as we send off the April issue, the completed and bound March issues are arriving here.
We keep our supply of back issues in a medium-size storage room. Inside, there is the smell of glossy paper, cardboard boxes, and good work. After we've shipped an issue…
I've told you about my love for CBS' Sunday Morning news program. The show is simply fantastic. Charles Osgood is the host. Charles Osgood wears bowties and talks in perfect rhyme. Mo Rocca knows how to dress. David Edelstein takes me to the movies. Bill Geist is the most charming buffoon. Ben Stein has a strange way of lifting the human spirit. Serena Altschul makes me sigh.
You should watch this show. That's it. Just watch it.
I feel like Art Dudley, I feel like Sam Tellig.
I'll be sure to watch this Sunday's episode. I will sit on my orange couch…