His moment of glory was "Lonely Boy," unforgettable for its metrical hook. He was a longtime collaborator with Linda Ronstadt, the anchor of her band. He produced a song for my friend Barbara McDonald and she spoke glowingly of him.

"Lonely Boy":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eZsPj9yXqw&feature=fvst

He takes the guitar solo here with Linda:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haZPPBJC8Ic

When Phast Phreddie Patterson the Boogaloo Omnibus offers me an hour DJ set at the Brooklyn Record Riot at Warsaw, I always say yes. What's more fun than spinning for a bunch of hardcore music geeks? Thanks Phreddie!

Here's what I played this afternoon (all LPs).

"No More Hard Times" by Malachi Thompson, with vocals by Leon Thomas, from Spirit (Delmark, 1981)

"Bushman Song" by John Stubblefield from Bushman Song (Enja, 1986)

"Hidden Treasure" by Sonya Robinson feat. Jean-Paul Bourelly from Sonya (Columbia, 1987) Read more »

Here's the plan, to be fleshed out as I go along:

CLASSICAL
Poulenc's Concerto for Organ, Strings & Timpani: classic RCA Living Stereo recording with soloists Berj Zamkochian and Everett Frith along with the BSO conducted by Charles Munch
Saint-Saens's "Organ" Symphony: same folks as above
Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand: Aldo Ciccolini/Orchestre National de l'ORTF/Jean Martinon
Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit, Miroirs, and Le Tombeau de Couperin: Abbey Simon
lots of Debussy
Honegger's "Liturgique" Symphony
Magnard's Symphonies ##3-4
Franck's Symphony in D minor Read more »

Last year, Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers was based on the idea that success in a field comes from practicing tasks for ten thousand hours. This simplified meme provides a starting point for understanding Michael Jackson's success: when at age five one starts doing something constantly, utterly assured facility in that work through ten thousand hours of "practice" gets built up pretty early. Michael Jackson sang and danced so much so young that it became second nature. Read more »

According to Wikipedia's obituary page, alto saxophonist died yesterday. He wasn't the most technically gifted player, but he had taste and imagination. I don't have a whole lot of his albums, but I enjoy what I've got:

Boston All Stars (Prestige, 12/51, 1/27/53) Read more »

On April 8th, we had the pleasure of working with Glenn Tibrook of Squeeze at our Music Salon hosted at Bennet Media Studios, our new home in the West Village of New York. After a brief lunch with a group of 20 of our friends, we went down stairs to the "catacombs" where we set up a stage for Glenn to perform. Read more »

CES just ending, while we didn't attend, there was plenty of net info to get a sense of what's going on. Last year, we spent the day looking at the new Samsung products at Ed Bennet's house. Microsoft was at the two day demo showing off their new products for TV.

I've been saying for a few years that the consumer is ready and demanding that their home theater systems or TVs have access to the Internet. The Apple TV box is the best but not the only add on solution to achieve this capability until now. Read more »

Read more »

This has something for everyone!

classical:
myspace.com/steveholtje

rock:
myspace.com/karenthecompulsives

RockinMinimalism
at
GlassLands, 289 Kent Ave.
(between South 1st/South 2nd)
Williamsburg
Sunday, July 27, 7-9 PM
Admission: $5

Featuring the concert premiere of “Eichmann” from my Bystander soundtrack and a Williamsburg all-stars performance of Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Trio featuring members of Saturday Looks Good to Me, Muggabears, Silver Haunches, and more.

Here's a rant from the AOL classical music board; ranter in bold, with my responses: Read more »

but jonathan rosenbaum said it better than i can...

Read review

Going to Film Forum to catch "Mepris" (Contempt) tonight. Jack Palance, Bardot, Fritz Lang, Belmondo. Ooh la lah. I shall report later...btw -- get the to the film forum website and check out the original French trailer. It is a work of high-art in itself.

Dusty and I just came back from Vegas after presenting 3 presentations on podcasting and media. For those of you who attended, thank you for all the kind comments. I've also posted our three presentations with links to them here. Read more »

Not Miles Davis, but rather my cat Miles (who was named after Davis). Miles was 17 years old and died this morning after living with diabetes for three years.

Right now that Miles/Miles Davis connection is playing out on my stereo as I listen to "He Loved Him Madly," Davis's tribute to Duke Ellington, a 32-minute expressions of grieving and love and respect, recorded in June 1974 and released on the album Get Up with It.

Before that, I listened to three of the gentler Requiem mass settings:

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924): Requiem, Op. 48 Read more »

Deejaying

Last night I spun records (yes, only vinyl) before, between, and after the bands performing at GlassLands, in Williamsburg. Read more »

More soundtracks to editing work:

Cappella Coloniensis/Hans-Martin Linde, Ulf Bjorlin: Symphonies of the Mozart Era (Capriccio)
A bargain 2-CD set with two symphonies by Vanhal and one each by Gossec, J.C. Bach, Von Dittersdorf, Mahaut, Reicha, and Kraus. Mostly lightweight but enjoyable; the Reicha, which sounds like the latest work here, is damn fine.

James Johnstone: Ercole Pasquini: Works for harpsichord and organ (Gaudeamus) Read more »

Mitsuko Uchida: Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 28, Op. 101, and 29 "Hammerklavier," Op. 106 (Philips)
28's pretty good, but her frequent pauses in the opening movement of 29 ruin its momentum.

Vladimir Ashkenazy: Beethoven: Diabelli Variations, Op. 120; Wranitzky Variations, WoO 71 (Decca)
Pretty good - the rigor of Brendel but with better tone.

Public Image Ltd.: Flowers of Romance (Virgin U.K.)
Includes three bonus tracks. Not the crucial stuff - the first two albums are sheer genius - but still pretty damn stimulating. Read more »

After a few days of playing around with Leopard, I feel like this is such a great technical achievement... I just had to write about this OS. Forget about all the nut's 'n' bolts of the OS, it's just a incredible leap into the future. Bravo Apple! Bravo. Read more »