Category Archives: Music

Ready For War

An unpleasant reminder of ongoing horror came in the mail yesterday, in the form of a seven-inch single. It’s John Cale’s “Mercenaries (Ready For War),” released in 1980, from his punk masterpiece, Sabotage/Live. The A side is a brutal song … Continue reading

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The Beatles On Rock Band: You Don’t Know What You’re Missing

Last week’s New York Times magazine had an article about the upcoming release of Rock Band: The Beatles. A while back I posted about my one and only experience with Rock Band’s competitor, Guitar Hero, which left me not only … Continue reading

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Leaving West Virginia

So, I left West Virginia yesterday, for the second time this summer. And with luck there will be a third departure (preceded by a second return) in late October for the fall old-time week, or at least some of it. … Continue reading

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Ambience

Reading the Brian Eno book I posted about a little while ago of course inspired me to listen in-depth to a lot of his work, so for the past few weeks my listening has been oscillating between old-time and old … Continue reading

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Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color Of Sound

Part one of a series inspired by my reading Eric Tamm’s Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color Of Sound. I was rather dubious about this book. It’s a Ph.D. thesis by a music student, and the title seemed … Continue reading

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“The Hell With Everyone Else, You Sound Great!”

After a nice afternoon on Staten Island with my brother and some of his high school friends (aren’t we all much more fun and much easier to get along with now than we were in high school?), I took the … Continue reading

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The King Of Pop Is Dead

I spent much of yesterday in the car (or, rather, cars — more about that later) and listened to Michael Jackson’s two great albums (Thriller and Off the Wall) several times each. I don’t have any Jackson 5 on CD … Continue reading

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Glass On Glass

“It’s all the same! Pathetically the same!” Philip Glass was not criticizing someone else’s music, but discussing his own. He was sitting at a piano in the St. Ann’s Warehouse performance space in Dumbo, wearing a rumpled suit, his glasses … Continue reading

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Two Guitarists and a Microphone

"Freight Train Boogie" And a lot of special guests. Bob Jones and Boo Reiners, otherwise known as the Plunk Brothers, had a CD release party at Jalopy last night. Their first set consisted entirely of songs from their brand new … Continue reading

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Del Rey and Craig Flury

Del Rey and Craig Flury I have been stalking lessons from mary_wroth, it would seem. Last night I went to the Good Coffeehouse in Brooklyn to see my second Del Rey show this week. Del is not nearly as famous … Continue reading

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