click to enlarge
---o0o---
Sunday, June 08, 2014
Neil Young's album "A Letter Home," recorded in a voice-a-graph recording booth
By Jack Brummet, Music Ed.
Neil Young recently recorded a collection of covers with Jack White on a refurbished 1947 Voice-O-Graph recording booth at Jack White's Third Man's Nashville headquarters. Yeah, the same kind of machine my dad recorded a voice letter home for his mom at some port in World War II. These were still around when I was a kid.
The Voice-O-Graph is about the size of a phone booth, with a fairly crude microphone, and directly cuts grooves onto a 6" vinyl record. You can only record 111 seconds on a disc, so obviously some of these tunes are spliced. I love the fuzzy warmth of these tunes, the scratching sound of the needle in the grooves, and hearing what old songs Neil decided to record (Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Tim Hardin, Willie Nelson, etc.). The sound is roughly equivalent to that on Harry Smith's amazing Anthology of American Folk Music. Neil describes it as "an unheard collection of rediscovered songs from the past recorded on ancient electro-mechanical technology that captures and unleashes the essence of something that could have been gone forever."
The funny thing about Young releasing a low-fi, mono (and no overdub) album like this is that he has spent the last few years developing the highest fidelity system yet for music reproduction—Pono—that delivers music at up to 30 times the resolution of an MP3. His autobiography from last year goes into great detail on the Pono sound system, and he mentions over and over that even the modern CD only captures a fraction of the actual music recorded.
This is almost all Neil, but Jack White does vocals and piano on On The Road Again and vocals and guitar on I Wonder If I Care As Much.
Neil Young recently recorded a collection of covers with Jack White on a refurbished 1947 Voice-O-Graph recording booth at Jack White's Third Man's Nashville headquarters. Yeah, the same kind of machine my dad recorded a voice letter home for his mom at some port in World War II. These were still around when I was a kid.
The Voice-O-Graph is about the size of a phone booth, with a fairly crude microphone, and directly cuts grooves onto a 6" vinyl record. You can only record 111 seconds on a disc, so obviously some of these tunes are spliced. I love the fuzzy warmth of these tunes, the scratching sound of the needle in the grooves, and hearing what old songs Neil decided to record (Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Tim Hardin, Willie Nelson, etc.). The sound is roughly equivalent to that on Harry Smith's amazing Anthology of American Folk Music. Neil describes it as "an unheard collection of rediscovered songs from the past recorded on ancient electro-mechanical technology that captures and unleashes the essence of something that could have been gone forever."
The funny thing about Young releasing a low-fi, mono (and no overdub) album like this is that he has spent the last few years developing the highest fidelity system yet for music reproduction—Pono—that delivers music at up to 30 times the resolution of an MP3. His autobiography from last year goes into great detail on the Pono sound system, and he mentions over and over that even the modern CD only captures a fraction of the actual music recorded.
This is almost all Neil, but Jack White does vocals and piano on On The Road Again and vocals and guitar on I Wonder If I Care As Much.
---o0o---
Saturday, June 07, 2014
Friday, June 06, 2014
Four poems
By Jack Brummet
A touch of evil
Darkness, after having been eliminated,
furtively obtrudes again.
Does the wind blow over the earth
or does it blow under heaven?
---o0o---
Mission Statement
You don't need to see
A discounted cash flow analysis.
You only need to know
If the right people are in your pocket,
And, if not, whom should be bought off,
Scared off, or bumped off?
---o0o---
"I contain multitudes"
We all have a platoon
Of partly-contained
Spooky and multiple personalities
Ready to burst
I mostly believe otherwise,
But on a bad news day,
That we are just the latest revision
That masks our genetic disposition
And puts the lie to any notion
A touch of evil
Darkness, after having been eliminated,
furtively obtrudes again.
Does the wind blow over the earth
or does it blow under heaven?
---o0o---
Mission Statement
You don't need to see
A discounted cash flow analysis.
You only need to know
If the right people are in your pocket,
And, if not, whom should be bought off,
Scared off, or bumped off?
---o0o---
"I contain multitudes"
We all have a platoon
Of partly-contained
Spooky and multiple personalities
Ready to burst
From the confines
Of our clown car.
---o0o---
We need to put our fingers in the dike
Of our clown car.
---o0o---
We need to put our fingers in the dike
I mostly believe otherwise,
But on a bad news day,
It's like we're not all in this together,
That we are just the latest revision
Of a complex species
Drawn together in a social order
Drawn together in a social order
That masks our genetic disposition
And puts the lie to any notion
Of compassion, altruism, and love.
---o0o---
---o0o---
Fidel Castro lays a wreath at the Lincoln Memorial (with footnote on Guerrillero Heroico)
By Jack Brummet, Latin America Ed.
In April 1959, Alfredo Korda [1] shot this photograph of Fidel Castro, the new leader of Cuba, laying a wreath at the Lincoln Memorial.
[1] Korda also shot one of the most famous images of all time—Guerrillero Heroico—the shot of Ernesto Che Guevara at a memorial. According to the Wikipedia page about this photo, "To take the photo, Korda used a Leica M2 with a 90 mm lens, loaded with Kodak Plus-X pan film. In speaking about the method, Korda humbly remarked that 'this photograph is not the product of knowledge or technique. It was really coincidence, pure luck.' "
In April 1959, Alfredo Korda [1] shot this photograph of Fidel Castro, the new leader of Cuba, laying a wreath at the Lincoln Memorial.
This image is copyrighted. The copyright holder allows anyone to use it, provided it is not used to denigrate the Cuban revolution
Castro admired Abraham Lincoln and kept a bust of him in his office. He once wrote about Lincoln's devotion “to the just idea that all citizens are born free and equal."
____________________________________________________________
---o0o---
An air kiss from Mayor Rob Ford
By Mona Goldwater, Gestures Ed.
It's Friday! Blow someone a kiss. Hey, if Mayor Ford can do it. . .
It's Friday! Blow someone a kiss. Hey, if Mayor Ford can do it. . .
---o0o---
Thursday, June 05, 2014
ATIT Reheated (from 2008): The Roman stadium at Aphrodisias, a/k/a Ἀφροδισιάς a/k/a Afrodesia, Turkey
By Jack Brummet, Eur-Asia Travel Ed.
Afrodite in all her glory, but minus her cabeza,
in the museum at Afrodesia - click to enlarge
Del runs out from the gladiator's entrance to the stadium - click to enlarge
another section of seats - click to enlarge
Aphrodisias, a/k/a Ἀφροδισιάς a/k/a Afrodesia, is in Asia Minor, about 230 km from İzmir.
Aphrodisias was named after Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of Love (and if you've seen her sculptures, you'd believe it), and at this site there once existed her cult image, Aphrodite of Aphrodisias. The city was built near a marble deposit that that was heavily quarried during the Roman period, and the marble sculptors from Aphrodisias became famous in Rome. See Keelin Curran's post about Turkey in Ruins for more information and Afrodesia photos.
A long shot of the stadium - click to enlarge
The Temple of Aphrodite is a focus of the ruins, and restoration is ongoing. However, what really knocked me out most about Aphrodesias was the stadium. But so did the temple, the statuary, the fantastic relief friezes, The absolutely amazing Bouleuterion (Council House) is on the north side of the North Agora, and is fantastically reconstructed, and on a more human scale. But it was the stadium that enchanted us most--partly because it was used for gladiatorial and wild beast exhibitions (e.g., slaughters), but mostly because of the grand scale. You could feel those 30,000 citizens filling the marble seats.
A section of seats at the top of the stadium - click to enlarge
Afrodite in all her glory, but minus her cabeza,
in the museum at Afrodesia - click to enlarge
Del runs out from the gladiator's entrance to the stadium - click to enlarge
another section of seats - click to enlarge
Aphrodisias, a/k/a Ἀφροδισιάς a/k/a Afrodesia, is in Asia Minor, about 230 km from İzmir.
Aphrodisias was named after Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of Love (and if you've seen her sculptures, you'd believe it), and at this site there once existed her cult image, Aphrodite of Aphrodisias. The city was built near a marble deposit that that was heavily quarried during the Roman period, and the marble sculptors from Aphrodisias became famous in Rome. See Keelin Curran's post about Turkey in Ruins for more information and Afrodesia photos.
A long shot of the stadium - click to enlarge
The Temple of Aphrodite is a focus of the ruins, and restoration is ongoing. However, what really knocked me out most about Aphrodesias was the stadium. But so did the temple, the statuary, the fantastic relief friezes, The absolutely amazing Bouleuterion (Council House) is on the north side of the North Agora, and is fantastically reconstructed, and on a more human scale. But it was the stadium that enchanted us most--partly because it was used for gladiatorial and wild beast exhibitions (e.g., slaughters), but mostly because of the grand scale. You could feel those 30,000 citizens filling the marble seats.
Can you imagine charging out here to fight your fellow
gladiator with a trident? Click to enlarge
another long shot of the stadium - click to enlarge
another long shot of the stadium - click to enlarge
The stadium is thought to be the best preserved of its kind except for the Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi (which we didn't get to see...yes, we did miss a few ruins!). I would love to see a rock show there one day.
A section of seats at the top of the stadium - click to enlarge
---o0o---
Wednesday, June 04, 2014
Eight twisted photographs, context and photographers unknown
By Jack Brummet, Photography Ed.
this one is certainly a "hillbilly fake"
---o0o---
Tuesday, June 03, 2014
Middle fingers of the month - including Paul McCartney, Elisha Cuthbert, Jimmy Hoffa, Dave Grohl and Joan Rivers
By Mona Goldwater, Gestures Ed.
Our irregular roundup of middle fingers, some belonging to celebs, and some to just regular folk. Sent in by readers and found in random corners of the Internet. . .
some celeb, but not sure who
Junior gesturer
Joan Rivers
Elisha Cuthbert
Banana Guy
Bumper Sticker
Dave Grohl
Jimmy Hoffa gesturing to Robert F. Kennedy in a Senate hearing
Grandpa
X-ray
Paul McCartney to reporters
---o0o---
Monday, June 02, 2014
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