Leaderboard

DakhaBrakha....holy shitballs were they great! Highest recommendation! Great musicianship, and a massive connection with the audience (they played a small space in Portsmouth NH, they've played here before and a good chunk of the audience had seen them before). I didn't know they did this, but they auctioned off two paintings (and a pair of drumsticks) to benefit Ukraine. I won one of the paintings, and got backstage for a pic with the band and to tell them of my partial Ukrainian heritage! A wonderful night, filled my heart!

I wasn’t able to photograph the "buck moon" earlier because of the heat and heavy dust in the air. But this weekend, the conditions cleared up, and I managed to capture something. I’m happy that the different colors on the surface are visible. PD. Until they install fiber optic cable at my house in the South, my internet access is limited, and I can’t connect very often.

Goes hard 🙃

I dunno, maybe. Appreciate the concern, but some of my faves were struggles initially, so I at least want to semi-understand, before dismissing. The vocals, so prevalent, feel like syrup on everything at this point. And I love My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and most of Sigur Rós. Anyway, easier to swallow, except requiring stamina... Bill Evans, Last Waltz (the last concert).

^^ interesting. I like the tune. I have the new album in my queue, but have not touched it yet. -- So, I listened to 'petal', and it was coming off strange on my headphones. Like it was over driven, sounding like woofer buzz. I have had this before by actually overdriving speakers. So I checked out the first track 'kiss me' and it had some of the same qualities. I double checked by pushing these through my emotivas a bit and yep it sounds like they made a choice. Engineered by Lou Carrao with Max Martin all over the place on the album. Maybe they think it is a 'raw' sound, but it just sounds muddy to me. Regardless I do like the song itself, self actualizing and pissed. It has not turned me off of the album, I will probably listen and report in the other thread. thanks Dusty.

Marin Metric Century done and dusted! That was so much fun. Cool to ride with thousands of people. The stretch along Tomales Bay is A++ riding. Those of you who have been out to Marshall for Oysters know what I am talking about. I am soooo glad I trained for the climbing and held some back for the final hill. Next year we do the 100 miler!

Ride into the Sun by Brad Mehldau (2025) https://open.qobuz.com/album/ov6m8obwm1zwa Example: Surprised I missed this release last year. Brad is on my Fav list. Anyway, lovely release. Being an Elliot Smith fav makes it that much better. Brings in a handful of friends to play along.

Inferno & Paradiso https://petapixel.com/2026/07/30/photographers-reveal-the-most-painful-and-hopeful-images-theyve-ever-taken/

It's late and I'm tired, but here's a start. Needs a new seat post and seat. I'm going to update the cockpit properly. Already have a different wheel set for it, which is why I didn't bother installing the rotors.

Visited the Lowell [MA] Folk Festival this weekend. Good food, good music, and fun to people-watch. Caught some Vocal Harmony group, Bluegrass/string, Zydeco, Haitian drummers & dancers, and - my favorite - some Tuvan musicians doing throat-singing. In the last pic, the two young ladies in front of me were loving the Tuvan singing, they kept smiling and looking at each other, I could see one mouth "Wow" several times.

RIP John Dvorak, long-time tech journalist. He was a regular in PC Magazine that I used to read a bunch.... Talking Biz NewsDvorak, early tech journalist, dies at 80 - Talking Biz NewsJohn C. Dvorak, an early and influential technology journalist for PC Magazine, died Monday at the age of 80. Aric Mackey writes, “Widely recognized for his profound impact on the technology industry,