postjack

I love the two tickets to Italy and $40,000. my fiance couldn't get over what an amazing couple Taran Killam and Jason Sudeikis made.

This is definitely exciting. I'm a huge LGBT rights supporter, though it feels insane someone even has to support rights for another human being in this day and age. It is the great civil rights struggle of this era. Quick example of the tide turning as the younger generation gets older. Not sure if any of you have seen it, but Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have a song and accompanying video out concerning gay rights. I'm not a big fan of their music (they have that "i'm gunna pop some tags" song, its pretty catchy). Anyway the video has gone pretty viral, and the stories go that at the shows, its the song everyone really loses their mind over, singing every world. Not the single, but the song about gay rights. The kids at the shows know every word and sing it all. Pretty amazing. I have friends that are Ron Paul conservatives all the way over to damn near socialists, and one thing we all agree on is oppressing someone's rights because of their sexual preference is insanity. here's the song. Warning, the video is wired to tug your heart strings, and the music itself is kind of cheesy, but I love love love the message: on a lighter note, here is a video from SNL last week, Xanax for Gay Weddings: http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/new-xanax/n37070/

I have that box, bought it for like $200ish I think from amazon.ca when it first came out. Its pretty awesome. Good enough sound. I will say it is MASSIVE. like its a big ole hunk of box. I don't know where the hell to put it, so it just lays around the house.

Repost of my impressions of Hangout Festival 2013 in Gulf Shores, AL. Great weekend of music on the beach. Thursday Pre-Party Impressions Traffic / Parking / Arriving At Festival I drove from Mobile, took the "back way" because I'm an OG. Traffic in Foley was standard beach traffic. Pulled right up to the T with just a small amount of traffic, around 2:15pm. They have the roads into the neighborhoods one wayed now, it was a smart move. Found street parking pretty darn close to the Hangout with no problem. No line to get into the gate. Moderate bag search. I was asked to open my glasses case, but she didn't say anything about my e-cig or the various tins of snus I had. At this point the crowds at the festival were super small. During Future Rock I wandered around, filled up my Camelbak, got my bearings. Couldn't get on the beach yet, but as far as the street side goes I didn't notice any large changes. Wick-It The Instigator Started at Reptar, but wasn't really feeling it. I think I could dig them, but wasn't familiar, and felt like something more high energy, so I went over to the Boom Boom Room. Glad I did, this was a great time. I'd describe it as hip-hop / dubstep / mashup. Wick-It just looks like a big ole southern white boy, like a dude you drank beer with at a lot party sitting on the back of his truck. He definitely had the crowd going, lots of crowd pleasing rap numbers, and cool mashups I can't really remember right now. I know he did a long string of 90s rock stuff, rage/nirvana etc, van halen Jump was in there somewhere, all I do is win, clique (kanye west), really all over the place. His transitions were more of the fade out fade in variety. At one point during a song he pulled out a guitar and played a pretty decent solo, it was fun. He also had a turntable he did actual scratching on. After he stopped the music he thanked everyone, told us to take care of each other this weekend, and had us all hold up the peace symbol, and on the count of three we all said "peace". right when we said peace he started playing the ignition remix and walked off the stage. it was pretty gangsta, definitely put a smile on my face. St. Paul and the Broken Bones Neo soul act out of B'ham. I swear the lead singer looks like Drew Carey but sounds like Otis Redding, it is nuts. I really enjoyed both of their short sets, they played some old soul stuff and some of their own stuff. Talented players, could probably use a little more time to polish up their sound, but they were still pretty damn tight. Will definitely continue to follow their career, check them out if you dig old soul. Quixotic A drummer, a guy on a violin and a laptop, and half naked women dancing and contorting themselves all over the stage. It was strange but pretty cool. Middle eastern electronic vibe. Conspirator awwwwwwww daaaaamn! Conspirator was awesome. A little noisy and chaotic, but these guys are a live band that gives the feel of seeing a good DJ better than any other jamtronica band I've seen, if that makes any sense (and that's a compliment, their sound although live was very tight and controlled, if a little busy, without deviating too deeply into cheesy techno/rock territory). Brownie seemed really stoked and happy the whole set. I don't know enough of Conspirator's stuff to comment on specific songs, but I know they had a piece of "another brick in the wall" somewhere in there. I've never been a big Bisco fan but I will definitely catch Conspirator again (Bonnaroo). The Mad Wikkid DJ. Played a lot of Brassft Punk, some other stuff. I'm guessing he is a NOLA guy. I honestly was just chilling on the benches during this set, wasn't paying too close attention. Small crowd. Lotus What I always forget before I see Lotus is how boring their music is. I know, I know, people like them, and I believe they are good at what they do, but what they do is play really low key jamtronica that doesn't really go anywhere. The crowd was eating it up, but the only thing I was eating up was my SPICY PIE OOOOOOHHHHHH!!! Early in this set the cops busted some guy, I didn't see what for, but two cops were standing there talking to him, he wasn't restrained or anything, when he suddenly decided to make a run for it. Unfortunately he ran directly into the arms of another cop not seven feet from where his great escape began, and said cop took his ass down, and other cops joined him. In my unprofessional opinion in was a clean take down, the kid was struggling and the cops handled it well. But it was still a huge bummer, I don't know what the kid did but I'm guessing it was just corn related. So take note, if it hasn't been said enough in this thread, cops in Gulf Shores don't play. Be smart. After that I left Lotus and went to Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, but I didn't pay attention, I just sat down and watched videos of my dogs on my phone. Cute dogs! Quickie Mart DJ. I'd say it was trap. Not annoying though, kind of fun actually, very bass focused instead of lazer sound focused. Crowd was loving it. He said he was bringing a special guest out, it turned out to be a female vocalist, apparently they have a group together called Bang You're Dead. The vocalist said she had a song for all the drinkers in the house, anybody got a drink in their hand? and everyone was like "wooooooo". So I was quite mystified when the song was called "Wasted" and was about being too wasted to achieve anything in life, like "all the missed opportunities because you're too wasted..." and "how can you be a good father if you're always wasted..." Not exactly the kind of party anthem that her introduction made it out to be. Hell I haven't drank in eight years and it still depressed the hell out of me. She wasn't exactly nailing the vocals either. The crowd was confused. Railroad Earth My first time seeing them, in fact I only started listening to them based on longinus's recommendation in this thread. Really great set, well played, and I even recognized a few songs, not by title but by ear. Well played jamband newgrass, will definitely catch these guys again. Umphrey's McGee The #1 reason I was here, it all built up to this. Over the past few years Umphrey's has become my #2 favorite band to see live, and in my opinion they are the most talented touring rock band that I've heard. Here is the setlist via The Bort: bridgeles, slacker > 3x > kitchen, day nurse, the floor$, come as your kids& (11:00) Stasis in obnoxious pants $ w improv, quacking slayed domes & crowd loving it. Quack off haters If this was 2 sets they would have to call in the national guard Set was AWESOME. Crazy high energy rock and dance party. Bridgeless opener clocked in at 17 minutes, if I timed it right, as usual UM made it clear this was serious business right from the start. Slacker was great, Triple Wide arose seemlessly, and sounded very different from other versions I've heard. The crowd was completely at UM's mercy when In The Kitchen started. Day Nurse grooved things down for a bit, and then The Floor was huge, lots of cool unique improv in this one. Come As Your Kids (with you spin me right round at the end, not sure if they always throw in a verse from this) was fun, but I was secretly hoping for a Forty Six & Two to close it out. What a set! I saw UM for three nights over New Years, and it was amazing, but I love that even in just one festival set they can make me feel like I caught a whole show. Very glad I made this show, will be acquiring the tape and listening to it many times. Exiting the festival was easy, as usual very little traffic coming home. Got a vanilla shake from sonic (half off after 8PM). I need to shower. Stoked for tomorrow, but I wouldn't be surprised if nothing this weekend tops that UM set. ------- Friday Impressions Traffic was a little thicker than yesterday, but again no big deal. Paid to park today because I didn't want to be late for The Breeders. Very little line to get in, although my bag search was extremely thorough today. Logistically, I noticed they have laid out wider passageways entering the beach, and have put grass down in these areas. A smart move, as before it was just stairs, and these always created bottlenecks. I have to hand to to Hangout, every year they review what they could do better and continue to slowly improve. The Breeders I admit beyond Cannonball I know nothing of this band. Apparently on this tour they are playing The Last Splash in its entirety, and man that must be a great record, because I really enjoyed this set. I can't vouch for how well it was played, due to my lack of familiarity with the music, but I definitely liked what I heard. Some light banter between the songs kept things upbeat. A great way to start the day! I'll definitely be listening to more Breeders stuff, and would definitely catch them again if I have the chance. Toots and the Maytals What can I say, its reggae on the beach, it was awesome. I got a perfect position directly behind the soundboard. This was the Chevy stage, a stage I have ranted about at length primarily due to the sound not being loud enough, but of course it sounded great where I was. The soundboard also is further back this year, and visually is much wider open, providing better sightlines to the stage for those standing behind it. It was a well played set, and the crowd was going nuts for Toots, they loved it. I don't know enough about Toots to comment on song selection, but he did do a cover of John Denver's "Country Roads" swapping Virginia for Jamaica, it worked surprisingly well. Jim James I love MMJ, and Jim James is one of my favorite vocalists. I also enjoy listening to the new album at home, its good, 3/5 stars for me, but not great. James did what he has been doing this whole solo tour, and played the solo record in its entirety. While I enjoyed some of the jams in the songs, most of this set was a snoozefest. Its always exciting to see James, and hearing his angelic voice is always awesome, but the material is slow and a little weird, and I found myself wishing I had chosen Afrojack instead. After the album he played one more track I didn't recognize, could have been MMJ, more likely something from MOF or another side project. So if you are planning on skipping something else you wanted to see at Bonnaroo in favor of Jim James, keep in mind you are going to get the new record, and a few other tunes. If you are not OK with a slower, more chill show then you are used to seeing with MMJ, then I suggest you attend another set, and get your Jim James party down fix at the superjam. Grizzly Bear / Ryan Bingham / The Weeks Wandered around and caught a bit of each act. Nothing turned me on. Passion Pit My second time catching them this year, previously saw them for the first time at Buku. Again they delivered. Fantastic high energy set, well played, lots of fun. I was on the rail in front of the left speaker, sounded amazing and had plenty of room to dance. I'll continue to catch Passion Pit again and again so long as they keep playing at this level of awesomeness. And that was pretty much my day. I caught a little bit of Anders, but I was so incredibly exhausted I called it a day. Can't remember the last time I was so tired at a festival. Hangout just wears me out, must be all the sand walking. So in the end not the greatest festival day ever, but it was worth it for The Breeders and Passion Pit primarily. Going to NOLA tomorrow, y'all have fun. Ready for a long and awesome day on Sunday! ------ Sunday Impressions Got there real early today, 11ish. Really awesome walking into the festival when there is almost no one there. In general it took the crowds longer to fill in today, a lot of folks were probably sleeping in after a long weekend. Generally speaking the crowds seemed thinner overall on Sunday than Friday (and generally thinner all weekend compared to the previous two years), but there were still plenty of fans in attendance. Less people meant it was much easier for me to get around, get to restrooms, etc. Zion I First act of the day, and the only act playing during this timeslot. I knew nothing of them going in, but there was nothing else going on, so what the hell right? Boom Boom Tent was about a quarter full maybe, enough people to call it a crowd. Turns out Zion I is a hip-hop duo, conscious rap would be the term I believe. Pleased to say they put on a fantastic set. The DJ did a bit of his own thing at the start, then the MC came out, and he was very talented. The mix was perfect, beats and vocals were both easy to make out. The crowd, though small, was enthusiastic. The DJ also had an MPC (I think that is the right term, whatever araabmuzik uses) and did some live beats as well, it was a cool. A very good set, I'll be checking out some more Zion I. The Revivalists A recent discovery for me, I saw them at Voodoo this past year and thought they were pretty good, then started listening to their studio stuff, which is good, then saw them open Gentilly at Jazzfest this year, and they were amazing. They are a NOLA rock/jammish kind of band. Super high energy live show, every member plays like they are a headlining act, they all seem very happy to be doing what they do. The lead singer has this Iggy Pop carved from a piece of wire look, but less punky and bloody and more beer drinking hippie kind of thing. It was a good set, really looking forward to catching their Cafe Where set at Roo. Hope some inforoo'ers check them out as well! Baauer Oh man this was bad. I watched Baauer's set streaming from Coachella and it looked pretty fun to me, but this set, at least the first half that I caught, was awful. It was like one big drop, just the worst kind of "dubstep". The mix was horrible, a complete 180 from the good mix I heard from Zion I just an hour before on the same stage. Loud, abrasive, waaaay too much top end/brightness, not nearly enough bass impact. Sounded like the speaker system in a car where all the speakers are blown out. Nothing is worse in an EDM show than when you can't even feel the bass. I need a clean mix if I'm going to get down. So we left and walked down the beach for... GROUPLOVE Pleasantly surprised by this set. The girl singer it turns out is cute as all get out, and I had a great time just watching her. I'd heard their single and don't care for it, but the rest of their stuff was cool. I'll have to listen to their studio stuff. Galactic Awwwwwww yeeeaaahh! Galactic is always talented but can be hit or miss for me, but today I was really digging it. Corey Glover was outstanding, great song selection, fantastic playing. In fact one of the best times I can remember having at a Galactic set. The time just flew by, I could have listened to them play for another hour easy. I think them being on a beach stage this year helped the vibe tremendously. We were right behind the soundboard, and the sound was perfect, sightlines were perfect, and we had plenty of room to dance. Love this band. Porter Robinson Again in the boom boom tent, and while the mix wasn't nearly as bad as it was for Baaeur, it was still really loud and I could have used more low end. Not that I'm complaining about the volume, once I put in my etymotics they lowered the volume and cut off just enough of the top in to let the bass and SPL come through. I'd much rather it be too loud than too quiet, because too loud can be fixed with earplugs. Porter put on a decent set, definitely not as good as Buku 2012. I could use more minimal electro and less ZOMG LASERS PEW PEW IN YOUR FACE electro. Had me thinking I might actually catch Pretty Lights instead of Porter at Roo, but we'll see how I feel when that LN rolls around. Plenty of people in the tent, but not so packed that it wasn't easy to get a nice spot to the right of the soundboard. I danced and had fun, so it was all good. moe. I haven't seen moe. in probably 10 years. Song selection was good, playing was good, but on the whole I wasn't inspired. Probably just because I'm not as into them as I used to be. The set started at 4:15pm, which means festival social hour had begun, so there was a lot of people chatting, which was also distracting. Huge crowd for the Letting Go stage, so I couldn't get to a spot where the sound was loud enough to drown out the chatters, so that was distracting as well. I wandered over to Space Capone for the last 15 minutes of their set, and wish I would've caught it all, because they were bringing that hard funk, very cool stuff. Steve Aoki Oh man this was pretty bad too. Mix was better than Baauer but worse than Porter, and by far the loudest of the three. Aoki doesn't even pretend to be doing anything up there, he hits play then just stands on his rig and flails his arms around. He threw his customary cake into the crowd. I could have dealt with the sound and him not doing anything issues, but the music just wasn't moving me. Again just very in your face non-stop peaks, just peak peak peak peak peak peak, no cool midbass beats or anything. I like to feel that bass in my chest getting my blood pumping, not a wash of bright treble coming over me. I did not stay long at all, maybe half hour tops. I went and posted up at the Chevy stage behind the soundboard for... Trey Anastasio I'm a Phish guy, and am always happy to see Trey live, but putting on my critical phan hat this was a subpar set. Again, its still Trey, and I love him, but the set was flub heavy on Trey's part and the song selection was low energy for the most part. Highlights include Money Love & Change and Simple Twist Up Dave and the customary rocking Push On. First Tube could have been awesome but Trey completely blew it, worst First Tube I've ever heard. He missed all the good parts, it was bad. Still the two hours flew by pretty quick, I danced and made the best of the set. Even though it was mediocre I am glad to again have had the experience of seeing Trey on the beach. Stevie Wonder First half of the set was my favorite music of the weekend. We Be Jammin, Higher Ground, I Wish, a handful of awesome covers. Stevie's band is razor sharp, and his vocals were awesome. Stevie told a genuinely touching story about his mom being born in Alabama, and how back then society told her she would never amount to anything, but then she had him, and he was so grateful to everyone for giving him the opportunity to give his mother some comfort before she died. Stevie actually cried on stage telling this story, it was really uplifting. After this though his mind sort of seemed to wander, seems like he went off the setlist, started doing a lot of random acapella stuff, ordering his band to play certain things and whatnot, and became kind of obsessed with getting the crowd to sing certain parts. This is fine and everything, but when an artist I paid money to see gets to obsessed with getting the crowd to sing all kinds of stuff (See Dave Gahan) in literally every single song it starts to piss me off. I paid money to hear YOU sing the chorus famous rock star, not you spend ten minutes getting the "ladies to sing la di da da da" and the "men now you sing do do dee do da", like training us before you even start the song. We made it till about 10:30pm and bailed, my buddy had to work the next day. Heard Signed Sealed Delivered when we were walking out, don't know what we missed after that. Kind of weird to see a set go from such a spiritual high to such boring lows. Curious what other attendees thought of the set. In conclusion, Hangout 2013 was a success for me. I enjoyed it more than 2012. Definitely smaller crowds this year. Sound on all the stages was generally good, except for the Letting Go stage not being loud enough sometimes and the mix being awful in the boom boom tent sometimes. The sound on both beach stages was thankfully great this year, in previous years the volume has sometimes been too low. I totally would have bought one of those 2014 tickets had I known where to go to get one. Guess I'll buy them in the November/December presale like every year. Thanks for another great year Hangout. Now the Bonnaroo focus begins!

I'm not usually a case guy, but I did buy a Seido for my Note 2. I find that most of the time I don't use it though. I like the original feel of the phone, even if its a bit slippery, but also I need it to slide in and out of my pocket easily. Despite the Note 2's size this is no problem in its naked state, but with a rubbery grippy case it gets tricky. I've been thinking of getting a wallet case for it, http://www.amazon.com/Galaxy-Note-Natural-Diary-Collection/dp/B009S9DT7K/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2XATW4WLXS21R&coliid=I20NPXT4RRUBU'>something like this, so I don't have to carry my wallet either. The good ones are expensive though, like the one I linked. In other Note 2 news, my Note 2 has been acting up lately. While at Hangout this weekend it went completely on the fritz, kept shutting off and resetting itself. I did a factory reset when I got home, and this has helped tremendously, but it still freezes or resets itself from time to time. A bit of light googling revealed that this is a known issue, and I'm running a dummy file generator app to try and remedy the issue. I hope the phone doesn't eventually brick on me, because A) I love it, best phone I've ever owned and I bought it unlocked from New Egg, so I have no warranty. Which means I'd either have to go back to my iPhone 4S or buy a new phone. I'd get the Nexus 4 if it came down to that, couldn't stomach dropping another load of cash for another unlocked Note 2. My contract is up in the Fall, but I'm trying to get off the contract cycle and be a free agent so to speak, just on principle really. I really want to support Google's no contract model with their phones, and I think $300 is extremely reasonable, but now that I'm in love with my 5.5" screen I don't want to ever use anything smaller unless I have to.

Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City Well holy shit, I think Vampire Weekend might have the best album of the year hear. No kidding, I'm shocked. I have listened to only a smidgen of their earlier work, and certainly didn't think they were capable of greatness, but this is fantastic. "the gloves are off, the wisdom teeth are out, what you on about?" EDIT: and the vinyl sounds pretty damn good as well. the mix is a bit messy (by design) but mostly the midrange comes through beautifully

left my etys on a plane a few years back, picked up some Shures. Surprised to admit I like everything about the Shures better, from the fit to the sound. Warmer, better bass, all that stuff. i can't find my shures now though.

Well shoot, I didn't even realize Stephenson had a novel after Anathem. And know I see Reamde was released, what, two years ago? Crap on me, been spending too much time rereading GRRM and Joe Abercrombie. And I love the Baroque Cycle, but I can see how a Stephenson fan could be turned off by it. I don't know nothing bout no bitcoin.

baba booey Howard Stern is the reason I subscribe. I tell myself that when he is done, I am done, but I've really grown to love the music content. I like a lot of stations: -1st Wave: early "alternative", so lots of easier to digest post punk and early synthpop and other stuff -Jam On: jamband stuff -XMU: indie -The Joint: reggae -Electric Area: trance/house/electro/etc. Electric Area streams a lot of live festivals and live DJ sets, I love this. -Classic Vinyl/Classic Rewind/Deep Tracks: all classic rock type stuff -The Spectrum: they play a little bit of everything, mostly cool stuff. The classical and Jazz stations are also great, the decade stations are fun as well. As has already been said: 1. Its great for road trips, really helps pass the time 2. Customer service sucks, though my experiences have been fine (had to call to cancel my "sirius" radio so I could sign up for a new "xm" radio, which doesn't make any sense but the guy cancelled my radio even though he didn't seem to understand what I was doing, and he did it without too much fuss, so whatever). 3. SQ is generally poor, but in the car it doesn't matter. The one station that is so bad that it matters is Raw Dog Comedy, which is a shame because they have some funny comics on there, but it sounds like a 32kbps mp3 I downloaded off of Limewire in the late 90s. Internet streaming is all 128kps.

Truth. It seems obvious for anyone who understands the math, but I spent many years beating my head against that wall, busting my ass trying to run but still eating whatever the hell I wanted, and being mystified when I wasn't losing weight. I'd also always hurt myself running. I really enjoyed the running, but even with the right shoes etc, I think my legs are just to stiff to handle the impact. Rowing seems to be working out, its low impact but works a lot of muscles. I'm ramping up very slowly, starting as low as five minutes, and now over a month later I'm doing 16 minutes, or about 3000m. I want to be doing 5000m a day, or around 25 minutes.

Great thread. Stories about weight loss are so awesome for me, because I understand what a dramatic change in can have in someone's life. I guess it was about four years ago I hit 235lbs, 26 years old and 5'10". I did Atkins, which a lot of people knock, for good reason, but Atkins taught me two very important things: 1. To cook at home for myself. Before this, I ate a lot of frozen pizza and restaurant stuff. 2. To eat food. This continues to be the key in all the ways I eat. Don't eat food products, but food. I lost a bunch of weight on Atkins, I think 35 lbs, which got me down to 200. I did this over the course of several months. I then started incorporating nuts and fruits. I continued on this path for a while, until my fiance and I watched a documentary that changed everything: Forks Over Knives If you haven't seen it, see it. I also became a follower of Michael Pollan when I read his book: In Defense of Food: Eat Food, Mostly Plants, Not A Lot. We went low fat vegan hardcore for several months, mainly using recipes from the Engine 2 diet and I lost another 20 lbs eating that way. Its the happiest I've ever been when eating. I am by no means a vegan now, though most of the recipes we use are vegan. My weakness is ice cream and sweets. I've gained about another 6 pounds, which puts me at around 186, still a pretty darn good weight, but I'd like to be about 10 lbs lighter. And thats still 50 lbs from where I started many years ago. Here is the truth for me about weight loss: diet is where I lose weight, not exercise. Exercise is the magic pill, it works wonders for my mental, emotional, and physical well-being, but its not the key to weight loss. Its much, much easier to put less in to reach that calorie deficit, then it is to burn it off. Of course it can help, but if I'm still slamming back Ben and Jerrys and hamburgers, the weight ain't gunna come off. Having said that, I recently bought a Concept2 rower, and have slowly been incorporating daily exercise into my routine, and it makes me feel amazing. Melody and I just started down the VB6 diet (Vegan Before 6:00PM). I'm hoping to one day truly commit to going full low fat vegan again.

Fun topic, I have been thinking about this lately. Mainly because one of my previously favorite shows (True Blood) has fallen so hard off a cliff this season it's made me dizzy. Even before this season I would not have called it perfect, but it was fun and always entertaining, Now it's just awful, it's like they have completely different writers. Anyway, on topic: Breaking Bad Game of Thrones (only two seasons so far) The Wire Upright Citizens Brigade (three seasons) Arrested Development Chappelles Show Six Feet Under (maybe, it's been a while since I've watched it) Portlandia (two seasons so far) Parks and Recreation (consistently delightful)

Tinkering with the idea of making the full jump from PC desktop to iMac. What always held me back was the small amount of gaming I do on my PC. By gaming I mean skyrim. And since skyrim performs well on the 2011 iMac in bootcamp, I imagine it would perform well on whatever iMac refresh we get this year, which hopefully will have nvidia GPUs, which generally speaking don't suffer from the occasional skyrim stuttering issue that radeons do. I just love the Mac ecosystem, especially now that iCloud is fully integrated with pages/numbers etc. So I am patiently waiting for the assumed iMac refresh, but the rumor mill has been quiet since wwdc. Would be nice if we get a quiet spec bump when ML comes out. Will probably sell my 2011 MBP to help fund an iMac purchase. I use my iPad 3 for 95% of my portable computing.

a few from elusivedisc for the 10% sale. not nearly as hefty as Ric's haul. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ITEM# DESCRIPTION QTY TOTAL --------------------------------------------------------------------------- MFSL1-366 THE GRATEFUL DEAD WAKE OF THE FLOOD #'D1 $26.99 Ship Via : USPS MEDIA MAIL (FOR MUSIC ONLY!!!) 4-10 DAYS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- MFSL2-382 BOB DYLAN & THE BAND THE BASEMENT TAPES1 $35.99 Ship Via : USPS MEDIA MAIL (FOR MUSIC ONLY!!!) 4-10 DAYS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- MFSLP1018 STEVIE WONDER HOTTER THAN JULY #'D LTD 1 $20.69 Ship Via : USPS MEDIA MAIL (FOR MUSIC ONLY!!!) 4-10 DAYS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- APLP8604 THE GRATEFUL DEAD RECKONING 200g 2LP 1 $44.99 Ship Via : USPS MEDIA MAIL (FOR MUSIC ONLY!!!) 4-10 DAYS also subscribed to the Music Matters Blue Note releases. a little late in the game on this one, I know, but I'm trying to work it out so I can get all the previously releases without it destroying my finances in one fell swoop. i own a few and love everything about them.

Festival season is indeed upon us! Melody and I did both weekends of Jazzfest this year. Not all the days, just 1st Sat/Sun and 2nd Sat/Sun, but still it was an intense experience taking in both weekends. First weekend highlights included Mickey Hart Band at Tips FQ. I was all snuggled into my hotel bed Friday night when I got a text from one of my Phish message board buddies who said he was at this show. I drove into the FQ and bought a ticket, so glad I did. I have never seen Mickey in any capacity, and to hear him ramble about the suns energy and starclusters and how it helps us party during Space was a surprisingly magical experience for me. (thats a blurry Dave Schools to the left) Tom Petty at the festival proper was also pretty damn entertaining, and I'm not even a fan. Also caught Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen at the Acura stage, who brought the thick greasy funk. Also caught this superb cochon de lait po boy, which brought the thick greasy pork omg: its seriously like the best tasting thing ever. i ate more then one. the crawfish sushi was also shockingly good, as was the crawfish bread and crawfish beignets. view of the acura stage on 1st Saturday, it was packed: 2nd weekend we caught tons of Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Their Economy Hall set was an outstanding experience, so cool to see the mix of old, middle aged, and spun out hipster kids enjoying the same music. pretty magical. i had a homemade ice cream sandwich during this set. Also strangely met Jeff Waful during this set (light guy for Umphreys McGee, super gracious dude). Later we saw My Morning Jacket at Gentilly which was amazing. The PHJB show at the newly restored Joy Theatre was awesome. Some technical issues but plenty of guests, including Stanton Moore, Walter Wolfman Washington, Ivan Neville, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and Jim James of MMJ, who performed an awesome rendition of St. James Infirmary. later that night we had pancakes, shrimp poboys, and gumbo at an awesome 24 hour place in the FQ called Daisy Dukes: sometime that weekend we also had the obligatory breakfast at Mothers, I got the debris biscuit: hell yeah. Trombone Shorty killed it on the fairgrounds, as did Galactic. Anders Osbourne set at the Gentilly stage was incredible as well, this guy is a superstar. damn I can't wait until next year. Hangout was amazing as well, Jack White's set left everyone stupefied. Here is a crappy shot of the fireworks during Seven Nation Army: Umphrey's McGee also brought it, I heard a bunch of songs I love, including Ringo, Haj, and even the elusive prog Iron Maiden esque Wizard Burial Ground. Skrillex destroyed his daytime set, leaving me so exhausted I had to retreat to a friends condo to lay on a couch for a while. String Cheese had two awesome sets, including a Rosie > Miss Browns opener, and a fat Rollover sandwich in the second set. Pretty amazing seeing them on the beach. Plenty more to come in festival / live music season. In a couple weeks I'll be going to Bonnaroo for the first time since 2004, and I am really really excited for that. Then Iron Maiden (!!!) with Alice Cooper opening in Atlanta, then a nice break until August when I get to see Phish crush the South for three nights. Then Voodoo fest and Bear Creek. Its going to be a great year!

happy birthday dude!

happy happy birthday!

happy birthday dude!

I haven't had too much time with the W3000ANV yet, but what time I've had I really enjoy them, more then I thought I would. The bass is fine, I think its enough for any reasonable audiophile. No they aren't bass cannons, but they are nowhere near as anemic as the W5000. There is definitely some kind of coloration going on in the midrange, probably upper midrange, but its nowhere near as horrifying as I've heard in other AT cans, in fact its quite pleasant, creating a midrange "bloom" that makes the cans very pleasant and addictive. The soundstage is typical to closed ATs, very nice and tidy and fun. Not crazy expansive, its still a closed headphone, but its nowhere near as flat as say a Grado, but then again nothing is. The cans are quite resolving, moreso then my RS-1. I listened to the vinyl of the new Ryan Adams (a true hi fidelity pressing by the way, his best record in terms of raw audio quality since Heartbreaker, maybe better) and the vocals and guitar plucks were crystal clear, really very nice. I threw on some Trivium to give it the not-super-well-mastered-but-not-death-magnetic-bad metal test, and the cans fared pretty well, kind of the like the RS-1 does for metal. I can't help but think of the cans as like a closed audio-technica RS-1, but with more resolution, a little more coloration, and a bigger soundstage. still honeymooning, but I'm surprised at how much I like these cans. i'll update impressions some listening hours down the road. I wish the matching amp wasn't 3000USD, its quite beautiful.

strangely, a lot of the comments I'm reading about the W3000 remind me of the PS1000, which I just sold to buy the W3000. I have no issues with coloration so long as its pleasant. We'll see soon enough. If they are like the W5000 with slightly more bass presence I'll probably like them.

Spam all you want, I thoroughly enjoyed the article.

Most people love the W11JPN, but to my ears they had this honky midrange coloration so bad that it actually gave me a headache. Very unpleasant. I sold the headphone just days after I received it. Having said that, most people seem to detect this coloration much stronger in the W5000, but I enjoyed the W5000 thoroughly, I just found it to be too bass shy. I finally sold my PS1000 so I decided to pickup a 3000ANV from kuboten before stock was exhausted. I've found that out of all the headphone companies, it is most difficult for me to determine how I'll like AT phones based on reviews. Again people rave about the L3000, and to me it was the most underwhelming high end headphone I've listened to. Not bad by any means, but not exemplary. I actually preferred the W5000 to it. As an aside I've never done business with Craig (kuboten) before, but he sure made it easy. Nice guy, great communication. With any luck I should have the headphones this week.

this is an interesting and weird development. i agree that reading between the lines, Stax must have been in some sort of financial trouble to settle for such a small asking price. the way I look at it, this could either be a really good thing or a really bad thing. other audio companies have been taken over by the chinese, and continued to release good products at reasonable prices.

awesome, finally we have a way to communicate besides text messages, telephone, and face to face conversation!

happy birthday man!