Last Wednesday, I tagged along with Michael Lavorgna on his latest 6moons.com RoadTour. I feel very fortunate to have been a part of it. Michael's RoadTours are not about declaring bests or absolutes. They are about people, places, music, and gear—pretty much in that order. Michael wants to know more about what happens to a piece of gear after it leaves the dealer—after the reviews have been read, the auditions have…
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Me, holding a very big tube, at Nori Komuro's place in Brooklyn. To my right, Komuro's prototype VT-52 sits quietly. Photo by Michael Lavorgna.
At Waterstone's website, Neil Gaiman interviews Terry Pratchett. If that isn't enough to whet your interest, the interview is accompanied by excellent Paul Kidby illustrations.
As usual, I find myself even more impressed by Pratchett (seems to happen with each new novel and interview). He's a modest chap—he's proud enough of his OBE and Carnegie medal, but he's even prouder of having been made an honorary Brownie for his creation of Tiffany Aching in The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and The Winter King. I think the Brownies showed good judgment—those three rank among my favorites of…
Oh, I forgot to mention: For really dirty records, like those that have been through my many unfortunate basement floods or those that I've picked up from the flea market on 17th Street, I've developed a two-part cleaning process.
First, I hit them with the MoFi Super Deep Cleaner, which the company recommends as a pre-cleaner for extra-dirty records. It's said to be made of a mild detergent and an "exclusive Quad-Distilled, hyper-pure water base." I don't even know what that means, but I'll trust them on it. A 16-oz bottle of the stuff costs $25. It's hyper-pure, brohams. I…
The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia? Now in its second revised and updated printing? Does any one person, even a momentous artist who now seems determined to die on the stage (to steal a quote from the great Midnight Cowboy) really need or deserve their own encyclopedia?
Michael Gray's weighty tome, The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia (Continuum, New York, 2008) is perhaps more than anyone but the most fanatical and fearless Dylan freaks (thank you Flaming Lips) will actually ever want or need. There are to be sure some doozies among the 850 entries. That fact that Dylan was on Dharma and Greg…
The Jazz Journalists Association announced the winners of its 2008 awards today. Here’s most of them—followed, in parentheses by how I voted:
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR: Herbie Hancock. (This is for his remarkable Joni Mitchell tribute-album, which crossed jazz and pop more compellingly than any fusion heard in some time. But I voted Ornette Coleman, for blowing as rivetingly as ever, and in some ways more gorgeously, at his concert at Town Hall.)
RECORD OF THE YEAR: Maria Schneider, Sky Blue. (Yes!)
REISSUE/HISTORICAL RECORD OF THE YEAR: Charles Mingus, Cornell ‘64. (Ditto!)…
BillB brings up a good point. He writes:
Stephen, if I read that right, the PURE Rinse is just water, correct? Very pure water, but still... If I've got that right, the Rinse would not tempt me, at $1 per ounce.
Bill's comment led me to revisit the price of the Mobile Fidelity PURE Record Rinse, and it's a good thing Bill wrote because I had mistakenly reported the price to be $25 for a 30-oz bottle. I am very sorry about the error. The correct price is $25 for a 32-oz bottle, which comes out to be about $0.78 per ounce. And, yes, as far as I can tell, the PURE Rinse…
Those of you in New York City this weekend should have no trouble finding a bit of music to enjoy. In fact, it might prove difficult to avoid. You may even find yourself dancing—wildly, uncontrollably—as you stroll along one of the city's many great stretches of sidewalk. The sidewalks themselves will vibrate like drum heads, bend like strings.
The Make Music New York celebration takes place tomorrow and will decorate every inch of the city—streets, playgrounds, parks, and porches—with free live music. It is our very own version of France's…
The e-mail popped in at around 4pm last Friday afternoon.
"Hi JA," Jon Iverson wrote. "As I was looking at the Cabasse review, it occurred to me that we could create an "Audacious Audio" category for products like this…."
"You must be psychic, Jon," returned JA, "as I was thinking the same thing while looking at the Cabasse review. Let's do it!"
"So, do we go with Audacious Audio?" Jon asked.
"I like it," I responded. "Plus, I can't think of anything more alliterative."
A flurry of enthusiastic e-mails zipped back and forth between me at 261…
Melissa's been listening to Fleet Foxes. She told me so yesterday, as we walked along Newark Avenue, into the setting sun. Like old times.
"Fleet Foxes. You're the fourth person to recommend the album to me," I replied.
"Well, you know me, Ging. I wouldn't steer you wrong."
"This is true."
"And it's on vinyl," she emphasized.
First Robert, and then Michael, and then Jon, and now Melissa. All of them listening to Fleet Foxes, and now I'm listening to Fleet Foxes, and, yes, it is good—a gentle mix of early Arcade Fire and earlier My…
I was the Mix-Tape Master of Deltona High School. Deltona, Florida, USA. Somehow, after all these years, I've even kept tapes from way back in the day. You reading this, Kim? I still have that tape you made for me, all covered in bubblegum wrappers and Band-Aid brand bandages and your sweet profanity. Tapes packed so tight and deep with angst and desperation that songs get chopped off at their bitter ends, are left to rot in some chocolate brown Memorex hell. All Siouxsie Sioux and Jesus and Mary Chain and Jane's Addiction.
And Liz Phair.
Liz Phair's shockingly great…