Personal – Page 25 – Scratch My Brain

offBeat :: Alt. N.O. :: Online Duets

Louisiana music magazine offBeat has an article about my online mp3 store in their June isuue. It also appears on their website.

offBeat :: Alt. N.O. :: Online Duets

Such releases, though usually unheralded, are nevertheless spelling trouble for a record industry already plagued by online music trading. While Duets Volume I isn’t free, at $6.93 it’s still a lot cheaper than most anything in a music store. “And,” says Albert, “I’m trying to get people to discover my music, so it’s nice to be able to price it.”

As the Internet becomes a medium in which music is not just stolen but also legitimately sold, its implications for the music industry are unclear. For his part, Jeff Albert is cautiously optimistic. “I think on some level that’s where the future is, but I’m not sure if people are ready for it. People get nervous about the technology.”

For the big labels, that nervousness comes with good reason.

Fortune Cookie

I often quote my favorite Yoda line to my students, and my kids too for that matter, when they tell me they will try to do some particular thing. The quote is usually accompanied by a bad impression. I do this so often that now I just have to say, “don’t make me bust out Yoda on you.”

Imagine my pleasure when I opened my fortune cookie tonight to see this:

Dragon’s Den

Good news on the New Orleans venue front! I heard from a fairly reliable source that the Dragon’s Den, once a central venue in the New Orleans adventurous music scene, will re-open in June sometime. The even better part of the rumor is that they fixed the A/C.

An economist visits New Orleans. By Tyler Cowen

This Slate article looks at New Orleans universities post-K.

An economist visits New Orleans. By Tyler Cowen

You would never guess that Xavier University in New Orleans sat under 8 feet of water. Sure, the student center is being gutted, and some of the grand Gothic Revival doors have searchers’ spray paint still visible. But for the most part it looks like any other midsize Southern American university. The students, back from their semesters away, are gathered on the quads. The faculty members are back in the classroom and the laboratory. Energy is in the air. Yet the neighborhood across the street still lies in ruins.

I teach at Xavier, and it is a surreal feeling to look out of a fourth floor window and not see any occupied homes in what used to be lively urban neighborhoods.

It has been almost 8 months.

Music in the air at a flying display with a difference

This idea hits home for me. My father is a pilot. It sounds like a good time.

Guardian Unlimited Arts | Arts news | Music in the air at a flying display with a difference

“This is a concert with synchronised flying rather than a flying display with music,” said Ross Mallock, horn player, chairman of the Salisbury symphony orchestra and formerly a colonel in the Army Air Corps. “What you see in the air is very carefully matched with what you hear. Yes, there is some engine noise but a Spitfire’s V12 engine in full song goes very well with a symphony orchestra.”

Mr Mallock launched his concerts to prove that music and aviation can be mutually complementary

Back from Chicago

The blog posting has been a bit slow lately because I was in Chicago from 2/28 – 3/6. I was having so much fun, and hearing and making so much music, that I didn’t get much chance to write.

I got to hear the Chicago Symphony’s Friday matinée performance of Weber’s Overture to Der Freischütz, Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes by Weber, and Brahms’ Second Symphony. It is amazing how tight a group can get when they play together everyday for years.

The week’s performances and recordings with the Lucky 7s were very fulfilling. What a great bunch of guys, and cool music too.

I was enlightened in several ways with regards to my recent delving into the space where art and commerce intersect. I’m sure more of that will come out later, but the main thing I picked up was that the music is always best when dealt with solely on its own terms. Don’t ignore the business, just don’t let the business affect the musical vibe.

Boing Boing: Creepy bill creeping through congress limits artistic expression

If you like to write letters to your congress people, check out this Boing Boing post.

Boing Boing: Creepy bill creeping through congress limits artistic expression

Boing Boing: Universal DRM dystopia

It seems to be DRM day.

If DRM and its implications are of interest to you, read this Boing Boing post. It’s got a good punch line.

Boing Boing: Universal DRM dystopia

My interview with Jeb Bishop in Jan. ’06 Cadence

Pick up a copy of the January 2006 Cadence Magazine. The issue contains an interview I did with musician/trombonist/cool-insightful-cat Jeb Bishop. You should pick up a copy anyway, because it is a neat magazine. Interesting interviews, and lots of reviews.

From the “any press is good press” desk

Guardian Unlimited | Arts news | Just right for an orgy

The Christmas Day edition of Doctor Who, it warned, would feature the doctor saving the world from “a sinister band of masked alien Santa Clauses armed with lethal trombones”.