skullguise

All of the above, for you and all folks potentially in the path!

Got to see Mary Fahl again last night, stunning show. Her latest 2 albums are winter/holiday music, and a covers album. Both were showcased, along with a nice dose of earlier stuff, including her time with October Project. Got to speak with her after the show, and she signed a rare CD I had (her husband said even she didn't have a copy of it). It got a "Wow...!" and a smile. No pics, but it was a small, intimate place right in my hometown!

SO freaking cute! Congrats to you and Yumi!

I'm a big fan of Orchard, have now several of the pecan Pi-based products and have had their GaN amps in the past, too. I have chatted with Leo a fair bit, even around his RCA to balanced converter. I thought there were pics of the board itself....at least partial that I had seen in his Facebook group if not on his web page. Yes, it wouldn't be a best-selling product, but there were several folks in the FB group that had use cases beyond turntables.... I have toyed with DAC HAT's quite a bit, including some great bang-for-the-buck ChiFi ones. Orchard's Pecan Pi (BB chips) and Plus (AKM chips) versions still kick butt on anything else I've heard. I have a Plus board with Pi board inside an all-in-one unit that has Purifi amp modules, as well as 3 other fully boxed streamers.... As for the Midgard: I got it in last weekend, have been playing around on a Sennheiser 660S2 as well as an Altiat Cal 1H (Altiat is Aumkar from Kaldas Research). One of the Pecan Pi boxed streamers is front-ending it. I'm hearing some great things with both phones, and the amp drives them easily even in low-gain mode. That said, the RCA outs on the Orchard feed a small Stax setup (252S and L500 Mk 2), and the mids sound more transparent on that. Not sure if it's the amp or phones. Need to listena nd maybe experiment more. But I think for < $250, this is a great amp to try and maybe use ongoing! It's making me think about getting some Focal Clear's/Mg's again.

I had watched a few episodes....the only one I actually remember is one where she cuts up her credit cards in a seemingly stoned-induced glee..... Beyond that, it's a blur....

Thanks all! Nice times were had, the day before and the day of. Met up with an audio acquaintance Tuesday for a nice BBQ lunch and a visit to a nearby store. Yesterday was a relaxing day reading, talking with a couple family/friends, then out for a nice dinner at a local fish place. they had dropped what was my standard birthday dinner item, but have added it back. Called (now) Bayou Cod, it is described as "Blackened cod, shrimp, andouille [sausage], cajun cream sauce, spinach, tomatoes, rice." They USED to use catfish, then changed to redfish (snapper). For a while they took it off completely, now it is back with cod. Our waitress was awesome, she had been there a long time and said MANY people were up in arms that this was dropped. She also gave us a free dessert for my bday. So as an old manager I had used to say: Fat, dumb, and happy!

Their longevity is amazing, almost like the Rolling Stones. All the above makes me remember when Gene Simmons was on the Howard Stern show. He readily admitted that everything Kiss did was carefully planned and crafted, and no amount of merchandising was too much. I seem to recall a phrase "Pennies and nickels, Howard....pennies and nickels" (meaning it ALL makes a difference and ALL adds up)..... But I still fondly remember my Kiss Alive cassette tape, and am still working out issues from having it stolen (by a counselor no less) at Summer camp back in 1977 😄.... And making out with a girl from the next year's camp after slow-dancing to Beth....

Binging....along with a shot of Jameson (last night).....

RIP Shane....had a chance to see the Pogues, but got sick and had to miss them....was very bummed.....somewhere I have a VHS video of them live, need to find that. And I hadn't realized he was born on Christmas day.... And RIP to Henry Kissinger....an amazing figure in politics....

Happy Birthday Zoe, and MANY more great ones!

Karen has been bugging me a bit about my speaker volume, so getting a tiny bit back into some headphone listening. I ended up ordering one of these....coming this weekend I think. My Orchard streamer (newer one using AKM chips) has RCA and XLR outs, so driving a small Stax setup RCA, and will use the Midgard via XLR and drive Sennheiser HD660 v2's via the Halo XLR output. This amp is getting some pretty good reviews, especially at the price. Thinking the Halo feedback process will work well with the Senn's.

These guys are so good.....I need to listen more often....

Happy Birthday Bryan!!

RIP to Marty and Larry (the latter I knew nothing about, so thanks for posting all the links jpelg). Sad one for me, and many fans of Killing Joke: RIP to Geordie Walker, long-time guitarist for the band, and core member for all their incarnations. https://www.stereogum.com/2243715/killing-joke-guitarist-geordie-walker-dead-at-64/news/ He/they made some awesome and powerful music into their 60's....IMO never lost anything from their early days....

I used to work for an Israeli company, I loosely keep in touch with several folks there. The "average" Israeli, according to most of them, wants peace and would gladly accept a two state solution. The key as to why many still hesitate, and don't want to just make a formal state of Palestine, is that the Palestinians have proven NOT to be able to push out the violent part of their population. There is a history in Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, and I think even Saudi Arabia, where Palestinian populations - or that extreme element at least - incited violence, caused strife, and celebrated local Arab deaths. There is a reason that Palestinian refugees are not being taken in by other Arab countries.... These Israeli's I know agree that Israel will gladly give land for peace (TBD about Netanyahu), but still would need proof that Palestinians would be peaceful before allowing them to be a formal state. Self-govern is indeed one thing, and in the case of Gaza (which has self-governed since about 2005) it has not proven peaceful at all. One person I know was in tears over the bombings, for the civilian lives lost, and as Iain says will be propaganda for Hamas recruitment. But he also echoes others' thoughts that Israel almost has no choice. If they give in too much without the promise of peace, they will be seen as weak, and others will repeat what Hamas has done. I just saw a picture by Banksy which showed a small Jewish and (I assume) Palestinian child watering/caring for a small tree that seemed just planted. That made me sad...if one generation can be taught that peace is an option, there can be hope. But so far, I'm not seeing it....

Ric, thanks for that document. I think it covers a lot of what happened that time fairly accurately from what I've read and heard. I also had known about it not guaranteeing a formal Palestinian state, but had also heard that the intent was to pave the way towards that goal after some time of peace, and the UN would hear the vote on that like it did with Israel originally. But it was indeed both sides - the attacks from the Palestinians that didn't stop, and the settlers in Israel who pushed into West Bank - that didn't allow the process to go further. It was interesting to see the point of view that the settlers were LEGALLY allowed to continue their population of the area. But personally I don't agree with that argument, and see them as morally and ethically wrong. If you want true peace, Israel has shown they'd trade land for it (if peace can be truly kept). And in Gaza, Israel fully backed out years ago. I would hope that someday this will happen again. I worry that the violent elements like Hamas have too strong a hold, and Israel needs to get rid of Netanyahu and his ilk from positions of power as well. Major work for both sides....each is trying to cement their hold on their respective citizens.

As a Jew myself, I fully stand by Israel. Mike makes a lot of true and salient points. Even the "illegal" settling of the West Bank was done AFTER several surrounding countries attacked Israel, and they gained the land. The Sinai peninsula is another example of that. But Israel gave that land back to Egypt as a part of a peace settlement. The Palestinians - in Gaza or the West Bank - have never agreed to any peace settlement with Israel. So Israel has not given back the West Bank. They HAVE left Gaza alone, and have been out of there basically since 2005 IIRC. The non-Israeli's in the West bank have continued to send suicide bombers into Israel, so it's always a hotbed of violence. The bombing of Gaza is indeed massive. I have mixed feelings about that because 1) until Hamas is removed there will just be more bombs/missiles/attacks on Israel, and 2) thousands of civilians are dead and tens or hundreds of thousands displaced. I wish it wasn't happening, but I still lean to Israel's side because of #1 above, AND the fact that this wouldn't be happening if October 7th hadn't happened. And any sign of weakness with Israel is a sign for others to do what Hamas has done. I will ALSO recognize that Netanyahu uses this to exercise his power in war. I cannot stand Netanyahu, indeed he is a right-wing power hungry asshat who would marginalize many in Israel, Arab and Jew alike. I also condemn the settlers who force their way into the West Bank. I would like to hope that some day it can be part of the Palestinian/Arab state and self-govern...peacefully. Tens of thousands of Israeli's have protested Netanyahu's attempts at grabbing power and many of his policies. But I will always support Israel, and condemn Hamas and any non-peaceful Palestinian. Mike is right, Palestinians cheered when the dead bodies of some of the Israeli's were paraded around. I also think they've been taught only with propaganda that everything wrong in their lives is because of Jews/Israel. In many ways they don't know better. I was having a passionate but relatively peaceful debate with someone, who was also focusing on the horrible conditions in Gaza. I asked the same question as noted above: would this be happening if October 7th never happened? And when he said that Hamas doesn't represent all Palestinians, I agreed. Then I asked: why don't they protest or revolt? And the answer was that the people in power wouldn't let them or accept it (they have actually killed those who rally against them). So of course, I then asked: who is oppressing the Palestinians more? The answer is clearly Hamas. They place weapons and fighters in or next to civilian locations (schools, hospitals, etc.) and don't let people evacuate (or at least until so many have died and they can use it as propaganda). There are videos from their leaders saying they will have civilian casualties to achieve their goals. I'm rambling....I'm not as firm as Mike to say you MUST support my thoughts or like my posts. But I understand his passion, because as Jews we KNOW what it's like when people do nothing (ref: Hitler and Germany in WW2). What I would ask is to do some research and help form a stronger opinion. Research at how Palestinians have been kicked out of several Arab countries (because of the elements of violence) and are not welcome even as refugees. Read what Hamas stands for (eradicating Jews in Israel, as well as globally). Understand who is the MOST oppressive to the Palestinian people, what "genocide" REALLY means (guess what: Hamas is genocidal in intent, Israel is not), and then recognize that Jews have been marginalized and attacked globally and throughout history perhaps more than any other race/religion. And also do research into how many Arab on Arab conflicts have resulted in dead Palestinians and other Arab populations, and try and understand why there is so little outcry for the Palestinian people in those situations. Because it's not Israel doing it.....that's a sure sign of Antisemitism.... So I get where Mike is coming from, and feel much of the same fear and sometimes anger. I don't expect anyone to like my post, but at least to read it and try to learn more, to help understand.

Very Happy Birthday JP! Hope you don't decide to fight a bull on your day....

Holy crap! Hope you and all others there stay safe, and it doesn’t get too much worse!

What Dan said (and big fish too)! Very Happy Birthday!

Very Happy Birthday!!

While my wife's sister and her husband are up helping their daughter (she just had her second child, a boy!), we are dog-sitting for their dog Mia. Super cute and sweet Mini Goldendoodle. She loves her own "pets." Also posting a pic here for amusement....it's like DOTU moved to Maine 😄

But only Captain Kirk pronounces it correctly! 😄

Due to its oft being played, I lost interest in Sabotage; indeed other songs on that album are great. We had a consultant working with us in 1994, he was a big Beastie Boys fan; we chatted music a lot. On one of the visits to our office, he joined me to see October Project in Cambridge, MA. Very different music, but he liked it a lot. For the next week he stopped singing/humming BB and hummed OP songs all the time.....

Very Happy Birthday!