Monday, April 23, 2007
The Listening Party, and Other Caramelized Nibs
Saturday night was the long-awaited Listening Party. I drove out to darkest Berkeley where a colleague had set up his dining room with a big mixing board, four huge speakers (two huge in size, two huge in sound), and all the input you could desire: digital, cassette deck, and turntable. The five of us each had about 45 minutes of music from which to select, and we listened for about four hours. It was a lot of fun. We didn’t try to max out the speakers, either – we listened with volume, but not excessive volume. I was surprised at how much better vinyl sounds than I expected it to, and it was interesting to see where everybody’s musical tastes took them. I had a handful of oldies and boldies, but I wasn’t able to play several of them for technical reasons (i.e. I am an idiot) and we ran out of time for several others. I guess that means that I heard more of other people’s music than they heard of mine, which made it a successful educational experience for me. Add in the excellent bourbon-soaked steaks, five wines and four bars of chocolate, and it was a damn fine evening all around.
This evening I go to Oakland to retrieve my lost notebook, which was recovered somewhere on BART and is being held for me at 12th Street. I am delighted and very excited to be back in position to do a little scrivening. Meantime I can tell you, I rented Zardoz and watched as much of it as I could last night (I dropped off a few times but I don’t think it really made a difference). Zardoz is a movie that takes itself seriously - so you don’t have to. Other than giving me a few ideas for “casual Fridays” at work, I don’t know what this movie is telling me. I do know that it’s about as weird as it could possibly be. Plus, they kept saying the word “penis.” Logan’s Run vs Land of the Lost. Makes Dr Who seem high-budget. The dvd should come with its own peyote. If you want to know more about it, I’m really not sure what I could tell you.
Finally, I got my 11x14 reprint of this photo from shutterfly today. It’ll fit a nice frame we’ve got stashed away. It’s fun to see my little pix all blowed up big like this. I mean, not in a “Blow Up” way. No existentialism or murders or live segments of the Yardbirds or any of that sort of thing. That I noticed.
The listening party playlist and other details are in the extended entry. More - from the recovered notebook - soon!
Tunes:
NRBQ: Me and the boys
John Mayer and Herbie Hancock: Stitched up
Steely Dan: My Old School
Zony Mash: Upper Egypt
The Gourds: Gin and Juice
Camel: Ice
Pink Floyd: Wish you were here
Manuel Greco: Lucy in the sky with etc
Amadou and Miriam: Senegal Fast Food
Johnny Hiland: (?)
The Decembrists: Crane Wife #3
SOMA: Found Another Way
Eric Johnson: White Cliffs of Dover (video)
Stevie Ray Vaughn: (several video clips)
Randy Newman: Mama Told Me Not To Come (vinyl)
Yes: Roundabout (vinyl)
Gong: Espresso (vinyl)
Blues Project: Can’t Catch Me (vinyl)
Little Feat: Mercenary Territory (vinyl)
Joe Satriani: New Blues
Impediments: Gone Daddy Gone
Jim Dickinson: Oh How She Danced
Pete Brown with New Jazz Departures: Politician
Wilco: Sunken Treasure
Peter Case: On the Way Downtown
Boston: Let Me Take You Home Tonight (bootleg from Concord Pavilion); More Than a Feeling (remastered vinyl)
Steve Morse: Tomani Notes
Kottke and Gordon: Oh Well
Drive By Truckers: (?)
(((Echo))): Where’s Eddie?
Kings of Leon: Pistols Afire
Lindsay Buckingham: Intro -> Don’t Look Down
Roger Hodgeson: Had a Dream
Semisonic: Closing Time
Wm Burroughs: (REM song?)
Morphine: Donna -> Buena
Sunny Day Real Estate: The Prophet
Wines:
4 Vines – The Sophisticate 04 Sonoma Zin
Wild Horse 04 Paso Robles Merlot
Origin Rioja 98 (turned)
Markham Cab ‘94
ZD Cab ‘04
Chocolates:
Lindt Excellence Intense Pear Dark
Lindt Excellence English Toffee Milk
Lindt milk with raspberry filling
Chuao Chinita Nibs Dark Chocolate with Caramelized maracaibo cacao nibs and nutmeg
