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Atlantic Icon

I was very sad to learn of the death of Ahmet Ertegun, one of the three visionaries behind Atlantic Records. Having met him several times, it makes perverse sense that he would have met his end due to complications from a fall at a Rolling Stones concert. He was a man of music to the end.

Several years ago, back when Primedia still had a luxury box at Madison Square Garden, the ad staff took a number of Atlantic Records staffers to a concert. I tagged along as trained monkey slash editor you could lay your hands on. When it was my turn to play nice with these prospective advertisers, I…

Messianic Delusions

Jessica Duchen says, "Christmas is coming, decisions are being made over whether to splash out on an organic turkey, and Handel's Messiah is being reheated for its annual outings. With its stirring choruses and memorable melodies, it's no wonder that Messiah is still everyone's seasonal favourite, especially when performed in a style allegedly appropriate to the mid-18th century. But just as consumers of supposedly organic food can be misled, so music-lovers, dazzled by displays of "superior" knowledge, often swallow assurances that they're hearing a historically correct performance when they…

Lesser-Known Editing and Proofreading Marks

We need these.

What Does [Blank] Sound Like?

An audio dictionary.

Take Me Out

MLB caskets and urns for the, ahem, die-hard fan.

Via Grow A Brain.

The Perfect Demo CD

As CES approaches, the e-mails and phone calls pour in. Though the temperature here in New York City remains in the mid-fifties, we're snowed under by invites to dinners, demos, and other assorted press events. We mark our calendars, make reservations, create itineraries. As it continues, I wish that all the talk and preparation would come to a sudden end. I wish we were there already, in Vegas, listening to music.

My favorite part of preparing for CES is creating a demo disc. Each year, Jon Iverson, Wes Phillips, and I trade discs, taking some pleasure in sharing the music we…

Call That a Knife?

My problem with the Swiss Army Knife has always been that it was a pretty lousy knife—the steel used for blades was hard to sharpen and easy to dull. Back when you could still carry a knife when you traveled, I would carry the Tourist, which had a bottle opener, corkscrew, tweezers, toothpick, Phillips and flathead screwdrivers, and two useless blades.

I carried a Opinel ringlock knife for actually cutting things, like sausages. I'd say that when you actually have to carry an extra knife to do the stuff that a knife is supposed to do, a company ought to call its product something else.