Easy reading, as Hawthorne said, is damned hard writing.
BTW, Fred's Stereophile debut review of a Rogue tube amp will be in February's issue.
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Fred Kaplan's piece on Ornette Coleman in Slate isn't simply a brilliant piece of work, it uses embedded links to their greatest advantage. This ain't easy, although Fred's graceful prose and mastery of his subject sure make it go down smooth.
Knife wielding farmer's wives look out!
British researchers have restored sight to mice using immature retinal stem cells. or those of us with decaying vision, this is a huge breakthrough.
The 2007 Stereophile Buyer's Guide is now available. Visit our eCommerce page for details.
If you've flown anywhere in the last decade or so, you've seen SkyMall, that compendium of useless, hopelessly geeky, and just downright strange products. Pretty hard to parody something like that, eh?
Apparently, Kasper Hauser was up to the task. I can't wait to discover what a Banana-ganizer is. In the meantime, enjoy the video for Pepper Self-Spray.
Stephen Walsh's new biography of Stravinsky sounds as though it proves that, at least when it comes to hagiography, sometimes art is better without Craft (ahem!).
Ohhhhh, my aching head. Back from a wedding and then right into CMJ (a sort of New York version of Austin's SXSW), which strangely enough actually had music worth seeing and some very cool panels for the first time in many many years. The Thrill Jockey Showcase that I saw, which showcased all the noiserock that Shytown is famous for, was excellent. Also attended a party at the Slipper Room on the Lower East Side for Fuzz Music, a new music company whose backing comes from one of the Google millionaires. They're looking for things to sign but have no real idea, it seems, as to what directin…
Chesky Jazz SACD 321.hybrid multilayer SACD Bob Belden, David Chesky, prods; Nicholas Prout, eng. DDD. TT: 60:00.
Nicholas Payton: trumpet; Bob Belden: saxophones; Sam Yehel: Hammond B3 organ; John Hart: electric guitar; Billy Drummond: drums.
We—or perhaps I should be completely accurate here and say I—have become so comfortable thinking of Wayne Shorter a an instrumental genius that we (I) forget just how powerful his compositions are. Mysterious Shorter serves as a timely reminder that the powerful tenor saxophonist could have been a powerful jazz voice without ever…
My review of Nicholas Payton, Bob Belden, Sam Yehel, John Hart, Billy Drummond: Mysterious Shorter: Music of Wayne Shorter is now up at Face the Music blog.
"Also," John DeVore continued, "we should have drinks soon. What do you say?"
We arranged to meet at the Pink Pony on Ludlow Street, just beside the musical Max Fish and directly across from a suddenly vacant lot. You can look into that vacant lot from a third-floor bedroom window and count the ugly rats as they scurry across wooden planks and dart into dark holes. One, two, three...
We decided on the Pink Pony, and not the musical Max Fish because I'd requested coffee.
"Coffee bad, beer good," John DeVore replied.
"I'd actually like to drink something other…