No Big Plans for Tomorrow Night
Posted: December 30, 2009 Filed under: Listening | Tags: New Year's Eve 2 Comments »
In an alternate universe, I’d be down in Miami right now, taking in a Phish show or three and enjoying whatever else there is to enjoy in that city.
But here in this universe, I’ll be in the District tomorrow, most likely ringing in 2010 quietly at home.
Today, I was pondering New Year’s past. One of the most unfortunate ones I spent was back in the early 90s. That night, I had plans to go out to some random party in Connecticut, but the Metro North broke down at 125th Street. Rather than waiting for the next train or figuring out some alternate transportation, I gave up and returned to my folks’ apartment (they were away). I spent the evening at home, just me and my cat, listening to the Grateful Dead broadcast on the radio and staring at Central Park.
Acoustic Guitar Jones
Posted: December 29, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Guitars, Mandolin Brothers, mpomy, Tony Rice 3 Comments »Another tidbit from MPomy: a Santa Cruz Tony Rice Model D for sale at Mandolin Brothers.
Tony’s legendary 1930s D-28, previously owned by Clarence White, served as the model for an instrument design that combines the bass presence of the old D-28 with more substantial midrange and treble response, which is necessary for Tony’s modern lead work.
Writeup adds that the instrument, and “world class performance domination,” can be had for as low as $4,720.
Back in college, we all trekked to Mandolin Brothers, where they used to let you play everything, even the $30,000 Strats or whatever.
Three Albert King Picks
Posted: December 28, 2009 Filed under: Listening | Tags: Albert King Leave a comment »Over at MPomy’s place, I asked for some recommendations on Albert King recordings. MPomy and HK responded with these:
- Live Wire Blues Power
- The Big Blues
- Born Under a Bad Sign
Trey Uses FourTrack
Posted: December 27, 2009 Filed under: Technology | Tags: Andy Warhol, FourTrack, phish Leave a comment »Trey, via MiamiHerald.com:
“The greatest thing that’s happened to me over the past two years is the invention of the iPhone. There’s an app you can get called FourTrack. It’s a multitrack studio on your phone. Writing on this thing is unbelievable. Everywhere I go, 24 hours a day, I have this functioning multitrack studio with drum machines, and you sing right into it. That’s all you need.”
When I read that, I was reminded of this Warhol quote. Not an exact fit, but it’s still worth pondering.
What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.
DC City Paper Cover Story: ‘Writing Music for Monkeys’
Posted: December 23, 2009 Filed under: Listening | Tags: Washington Leave a comment »An interesting read this week from the Washington City Paper:
“Once I pieced all that together, I realized that it’s all human-based: Every bit of our music is human music, for humans, by humans,” he says. “One of the ways I could test whether I was right…[would be] to make music for another species based on their vocabulary. Let’s find out what triggers their emotions, the kinds of sounds they respond to.”
Punch Brothers via LGF
Posted: December 22, 2009 Filed under: Listening, Videos | Tags: Little Green Footballs, Punch Brothers Leave a comment »I’ve got a few bits and pieces lying around, but I’m quite out of steam this evening. Here’s one for the record, though. I came across the Punch Brothers last night via Little Green Footballs (formerly a conservative blog – not sure what it is now) and then downloaded the record, “Punch.” The jury is still out, but some of it is pretty good. Here’s the clip that LGF linked to.
