Not mentioned earlier in this report was the fact that there were actually two shows taking place simultaneously this past weekend. For the best part of 20 years, the September Hi-Fi News-sponsored show, usually held at hotels close to Heathrow airport, was the premier UK event. The last few years, however, have seen a steady decline. The decision was therefore made to locate the 2006 Hi-Fi News event at just one hotel, the Renaissance, which…
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On display in the Hi-Fi News Show ballroom were classic Lowther and Voigt drivers (bottom left is an AC mains-energized field-coil Voigt).
Mark Mortimer's review of Einstein and the Old One makes an interesting point—just because we "know" stuff our ancestors didn't doesn't actually make us smarter. We "know" without comprehending.
Sounds like a good book, too.
Bill Thompson explains how DRM supersedes copyright law and chills creativity.
Ten years ago, John Horgan wrote The End of Science, arguing that scientists had already solved most of the big mysteries of the universe, Has a decade of scientific progress tempered that belief?
This just in: Jerome Harris dropped me a line announcing a concert tour with Bill Frisell, Jack DeJohnette, and Ben Surman. Unfortunately, it won't be playing anywhere I can go see them, but if you're lucky, you can catch one of these dates.
Lineup:
Bill Frisell: electric guitar, banjo
Jack DeJohnette: drums, electronic percussion, piano
Jerome Harris: bass guitar, voice
with Ben Surman, audioscaping
Featuring the provocative, evocative, playfully textural music from Jack and Bill’s new CD The elephant sleeps but still remembers (Golden Beams) available: online…
What I've been missing lately is music. And possibly alcohol, thinks Buddha.
Early on, when I had no hi-fi, I wrote more about albums and songs. The blog became a reason for me to search the internet for new artists, to go out and buy new discs. Later, however, after I acquired a hi-fi and became comfortable with it, I started writing more about gear. I got bit by the bug, as they say. There's nothing wrong with that; afterall, the gear sings along. Music was still in the air. But, most recently, all I've been writing about is work:
Here is the story of how I get to work…
"DRM is a technical device, but it's being used in an all-embracing sense. It can't be circumvented for disabled access or preservation, and the technology doesn't expire (as traditional copyright does). In effect, it's overriding exceptions to copyright law,"said Lynne Brindley, chief executive of the British Library.
Richard Dyer's valedictory column for The Boston Globe is surprisingly upbeat.
"The century has seen changes in the distribution of music that no one could have imagined. Before the end of the 19th century, the only way to hear music was to go hear someone else play or sing it, or play or sing it yourself. The cylinder recording, the flat 78 rpm disc, the LP, the CD, the iPod, not to mention the use of music in other electronic media such as radio, television, and the movies, have changed not only the way we listen to music, but what we listen to.
". . . In the context of such…
In the new study of brain activity, volunteers silently read phrases describing movements involving one of three body parts. All of the phrases activated movement-related regions in the left frontal cortex—presumably the ones responsible for moving the body part in question.
Hmmm, I suppose that the same experiment involving even more suggestive literature—porn, restaurant reviews, audio criticism—can't be far behind.
Speaking of keeping it real:
"I just hate starting the day like this," JA sighed.
He'd been stuck in the Madison Avenue traffic. Buses, taxis, and eighteen-wheelers coughed and moaned, sending their fumes into a bright, blue sky. I watched and waited as red turned to green turned to red. On my hand truck, I balanced the tall Silverline speakers, the squat PSBs, and the weighty Zanden amplifier. The air was cool. Our office building is shaded not by green trees, but by gray scaffolding. Construction workers filed in and out, rolling large spools of black cable…