In the cabinet beneath my sink, I found a package of Pledge Unscented Dust & Allergen Dry Cloths. I normally use these with my…
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Dusting is boring and makes me sneeze, so I had been putting it off. I don't know how many months and months had passed. It had been awhile. In fact, to an outside observer, it might have appeared as though I was trying to determine just how much dust I could collect on my bookcases. It was even starting to bother me. My bookcases no longer boasted their cheap cherry shine, but had taken on a soft, sickly grey. This weekend, I figured it was time.
I'm happy to say that this terribly grey day has turned suddenly bright and blue. And with sun in our eyes, so that we have to squint a bit, I invite you to join me on a short trip back to January 2003.
In our January 2003 issue, we introduced Art Dudley's "Listening" column. I didn't know it then, but that particular column, like those that have followed, would be very important to me. In AD's first column, he says a lot of cool things about a lot of cool things, and this is just one of them:
Music is easy to miss for the listener who thinks his job is to concentrate on…
Personally, I think Pink Floyd should do a reunion tour simply because this would make a fabulous concept album.
Has John Zorn gone mellow? His two new CDs, The Dreamers and Lucifer (both on his self-owned label, Tzadik), are swaying, swinging, crazy with catchy hooks, occasionally downright mellifluous. I don’t mean to overstate the contrast with the preceding Zorn oeuvre (which entails over a hundred albums, at least a thousand compositions). The time has long passed when Zorn—whose name is, almost novelistically, German for “anger”—gained notoriety for squealing on the alto sax like a banshee and cutting up compositions into surreal collage. The stereotype was never right: from the start of his…
Not much to say about this one: composed by Moore, performed by NYCs finest, The Bang on a Can All-Stars. If a little repetition annoys you, this is going to royally piss you off. A little repetition annoys me too, but a lot of it takes me somewhere interesting.
Perhaps the greatest praise anyone can let loose upon any silly piece of audio gear is that it inspires the discovery of new music. Right? Alright then. The Rega P3, in all its ashen splendor, does this for me. So much so that I'm going broke. I feel as though I'm single-handedly (with one hand behind my weary back, that is) revitalizing the record industry. I've spent so much money on new (used) records that I could've purchased my own P3 by now. In fact, I've decided that that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to buy my own P3. I'm in the office now, wishing I was…
The 2008 Vacuum State of the Art Conference & Show will take place on May 24-26 at the Hilton in lovely Vancouver, Washington. VSAC was started in 1997 by Dan and Eileen Schmalle of the Bottlehead Corporation, designers of some sexy vacuum tube kit amps and preamps. While the Schmalles are no longer involved in managing the conference, they will be on hand as exhibitors, along with many others offering some similarly sexy, tubey goodness (like Experience Music's The Chase amplifier in the pic above).
Between 1997 and 2003, the show was held every other year in Silverdale,…
Maude Maggart finishes out a six-week stay at the Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room near Times Square this Saturday. She’s an appealing throwback, including in her repertoire; her best album, I think, is a collection of old Irving Berlin tunes. Her voice is sultry yet sweet, laced with vibrato, pure in tone, mischievous in intonation. Her current show, called “Speaking of Dreams,” which I saw last night, is ripe with naturally passionate slow ballads. Her few shifts uptempo (Sondheim’s “On the Steps of the Castle” and a Jobim tune with acid-trip Marshall Barer lyrics called “Lost in Wonderland”)…
I am a lucky guy. The Stereophile team is always looking out for me. Today I received this e-mail from Bob Deutsch.
Hi Stephen,
If you ever find yourself in the unfortunate position of suffering a romantic disappointment, fear not, for help is at hand. I spotted this in a store in Pacific Mall, an Asian mall in Toronto that is said to be the largest such mall in North America. "Warm music never have heart break"—sounds good, doesn't it? "Make you feel relax" is pretty good, too. I'm telling you, it's tempting.
Bob
Warm music never have…
On Saturday, I accompanied my 14-year old sister and her friend to the Bamboozle Festival, held at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Saturday was cold, windy, wet, and gray—not the best circumstances for an all-day outdoor festival. On top of that, I had a shocking hangover—a gift from the previous night spent with my 26-year old sister and her husband. I wasn't in the mood.
The last large, outdoor music festival I attended was Perry Farrell's Lollapalooza, back in 1995. It was a good year for the event. I saw many exciting artists…