Voltron

Come on out next Spring for the SF Jazz Spring Series! Sorry to break it to you, but SF has an incredible bluegrass festival for free 3 blocks from my house. Here is the lineup from earlier this month (I went on Friday and Sunday): Fri Oct 3 (10:30am - Noon & 2:30pm - 6:45pm) The morning (10:30 - noon) on Star stage is a special educational program for local schools (and the general public) as part of the Daniel Pearl Foundation Music Days. The afternoon (2:30pm - 6:45pm) features very special guests on the Banjo stage. Star Stage * 10:30am Ruby Jane * 11:30am MC Hammer Banjo Stage * 2:30pm Sharon Little * 3:35pm The Jerry Douglas Band * 5:15pm Robert Plant and Alison Krauss featuring T Bone Burnett Sat Oct 4 (10:45am - 7:15pm) Banjo Stage * 10:45am Band Joe & the Whyte Laydie * 11:00am Jimmie Dale Gilmore * 11:55am Laurie Lewis & Friends * 12:55pm Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band * 2:05pm Three Girls & Their Buddy (Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin & Buddy Miller) * 3:25pm Hot Rize * 4:40pm Odetta * 6:00pm Steve Earle & The Bluegrass Dukes Star Stage * 11:00am Dry Branch Fire Squad * 12:05pm Waco Brothers * 1:30pm Richard Thompson * 2:50pm The Desert Rose Band * 4:10pm The Del McCoury Band * 5:40pm Global Drum Project featuring Mickey Hart & Zakir Hussain Rooster Stage * 11:15am Carlene Carter * 12:20pm Guy Clark & Verlon Thompson * 1:30pm From The Jayhawks: Mark Olson & Gary Louris * 2:45pm Nick Lowe * 4:05pm Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women (Christy McWilson, Amy Farris, Laurie Lewis, Sarah Brown, Lisa Pankratz, Nina Gerber, Cindy Cashdollar) * 5:45pm Robert Earl Keen Arrow Stage * 11:00am Tift Merritt * 12:00pm Los Cenzontles featuring Santiago Jimenez * 1:05pm Bad Livers * 2:20pm The Gourds * 3:45pm Jerry Jeff Walker * 5:20pm Asleep At The Wheel Porch Stage * 11:00am Cyndi Harvell * 11:50am Sons & Brothers * 12:35pm Samantha Robichaud * 1:40pm Mike Farris & the Roseland Rhythm Revue * 2:40pm Marty Willson-Piper (of the church) & the Mood Maidens * 3:40pm Joe Purdy * 4:40pm The Roan Mountain Hilltoppers * 5:45pm John Jorgenson Quintet Sun Oct 5 (11am - 7pm) Banjo Stage * 11:20am Darrell Scott Band * 12:20pm Hazel Dickens * 1:45pm Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys * 2:55pm Earl Scruggs * 4:15pm Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder * 5:45pm Emmylou Harris Star Stage * 11:00am Bill Kirchen * 12:00pm Riders in the Sky * 1pm Ben Kweller * 2:30pm Elvis Costello's High Whines & Spirits * 4:15pm Gogol Bordello * 5:45pm Heavy Trash Rooster Stage * 11:00am Jon Langford's Skull Orchard feat. Sally Timms & the Burlington Welsh Male Chorus * 11:55am Kevin Welch & Kieran Kane & Fats Kaplin * 1pm Bonnie "Prince" Billy * 2:20pm Greg Brown * 3:25pm Iron & Wine * 4:40pm Loudon Wainwright III * 6:00pm Iris DeMent Arrow Stage * 11:00am Poor Man's Whiskey * 12:00pm Moonalice * 1:05pm Alison Brown Quartet with Joe Craven * 2:10pm The Infamous Stringdusters * 3:20pm The Waybacks * 4:30pm Pegi Young * 5:50pm Tea Leaf Green Porch Stage * 11:00am The Wronglers * 12:05pm Red Wine * 1:10pm Heidi Clare & AtaGallop * 2:15pm Bill Evans String Summit with Megan Lynch * 3:20pm The Opera Dukes * 4:40pm Justin Townes Earle * 5:45pm Maura O'Connell

Turns out that my wife went to the school open house so I hung out with my son and the panty-eating puppy. As such, I have had a fair amount of time listening to the Luxman during the day. Very nice surprise having some time and very pleased with the amp with both AD2K and CD3K.

Exactly the right question.

Apparently my dog ate the entire tail end of one of those toys because when she got stuck mid-dump just now I had to help her out by pulling the rest of it out (with a plastic bag over my hand of course). Just to gross you all out more, she threw up a pair of my daughter's underwear in the middle of the last night. I guess there wasn't any more room for the undies.

Back to back jazz legends makes for a nice week. Last night, JP#s, clarke68, my wife and I saw Cecil Taylor play solo piano at Grace Cathedral, also part of the SF Jazz fall festival. I knew there was a history of jazz at Grace but learned last night that it goes back to the consecration of the cathedral in 1965 when Duke Ellington wrote a spiritual piece for the occasion. That's a pretty jazzy way to dedicate a Episcopal church. JP and I saw Pharaoh Sanders play there solo in the spring or last fall. The resonance of the walls and high arches and the sheer massiveness of the space make for some amazing musical experiences. Pharaoh practically dueted with himself playing off the walls. Anyway, the show last night started with a spoken word number by Cecil walking around up near the altar. An elderly lady said in a stage whisper to her son "I thought he was a piano player..." among other gems during the show, such as "This sure doesn't sound like jazz to me!" Anyway again, Cecil's playing was fast and heavy and the first piece was weighted on the low end of the register for several minutes. With all those bass notes reverberating around, it was almost too much. He lightened up as he went along and moved up the register and JP called the pieces more like sound paintings than plain old songs. Not to be outdone on the emo scale, Clarke quite rightly nailed one of Cecil's effects as creating shimmering waves of sound. However you characterize it, the show was fabulous and lasted about an hour after he started playing, which at the age of 79 and the energy he plays with was pretty great. The guy in front of us had been at Cecil's last performance at Grace in 1991 and said this one was much better, although his wife topped him and said that we should have seen him swing in 1957 in NYC like she did. That would have been sweet. Highly recommend that any jazz fan get out to see this man.

Happy day to you. Cheers!

Maybe you should flash your other new purchase at the delivery person, Vicki. I bet you'd have that package in no time.

Sucks Sucks Woke up tired, had some breakfast, got daughter ready to go to a Bat Mitzvah (last one of 6-7 over two years in her class), have a high school open house for her, and then she has the Bat Mitzvah party to attend tonight. Wife's sister's b-day this evening with her family coming over here for dessert. Somehow I will pay some attention to my son, my wife, my dog, and hopefully myself (time with the Luxman P-1 and world series later).

The shit storm of new cans is still going! 'Grats

It is not a problem. You could probably have the LCD on top of the box and you would never have an issue.

You're not going to have your LCD close enough to any of these bad boys to worry about the magnets affecting your screen. Can't really picture it.

I was going to look it up, but quite sporting of you to lend a hand old chap.

Is "chuffed" good or bad? I really like the HF-1, and think of them as being pretty easy to drive. Congrats to Cankin on the DACMagic. Waiting for impressions once you are able to amplify your headphones. Curious what the heck a balanced Mini^3 is, however.

Given all the dibs-calling and such, if you find that you don't really want the ESW10 I call dibs on them!

I think Dirty Vicki or Dirty Boomy would work better. I guess you will need a new subscription and at least this one back issue:

boomana: Headphone crazy! Gear crazy! Crazy people crazy! and now

I have not had them at the same time and compared them, but I bought the Ed. 9 and did not buy the L3000.

Yes, I think that his partner was much more focused on the bottom line, but Icarium is crazy if he thinks Craig "isn't in this to make money." I am not saying that he is out to make a killing -- he constantly undervalues his products based upon his disdain for others who mark up too much -- but this is a business and is a big part of his livelihood. I appreciate Barry's and morphsci's comments about their contentment with the process, and that is great, but lots more people would buy Eddie Current gear if there were a coherent and stable product line with some kind of spacing in between upgrades and new models.

Uh, twice.

I listened to L3000 this last weekend for the first time in a while. They are good to great cans, and they are better balanced in a good system. When I had a pair for a couple of weeks, though, it turned me from wanting them a lot to not really caring much at all. There is a wow factor and the tactile appeal of the leather covers, but in the end I didn't find them nearly special enough for the cost. They are not neutral and they are not all that well balanced, from what I have heard. I'll live happily with my PS-1s that I bought before the crazy uptick in price. Oh, wait, I meant to write something more related to the original topic. I am really looking forward to hearing the ESW9 vs. ESW10 at Tampa, Vicki, so please don't let go of either before we have that chance. Aardvark seems to be quite taken with the 10 and slwiser apparently thinks they are an upgrade. I'll be curious to hear it. I often take my HF-1s for travel as an alternative to IEMs but they are not closed and do not represent an option on a plane. I used my Ed.9s a couple times that way, but then reterminated them with 2 XLRs which is kinda clunky with adapters down to 1/4 and then 1/8. I hope you can borrow an iPod this weekend to spend some time with the 10s.

JP#s and I saw Archie Shepp tonight at the Herbst Theater as part of the SF Jazz Festival. Really good show by a 79 year old man that can still blow and sings even more clearly than he talks. He played tenor and soprano sax, with piano, bass and drums accompanying. So glad to catch him because he doesn't come here often and he still has it. Political, topical, powerful stuff. See this legend if at all possible. One odd bit. The drummer seemed into it all night but was a bit too much at times -- mix should have brought him down and the piano/bass up -- and if anything was too anxious to mix it up when he should have dropped it down on occasion. At the end of the announced last number, he immediately took down his cymbals and broke down his hi-hat and was off the stage. Archie fucking Shepp was left standing at the front of the stage while the pianist and bass player looked bewildered and hung back. Archie needed about a second of prompting and went right into another tune without the drummer. It was one of my favorites of the night and finally let the piano and bass shine through more, while Archie's amazing tone and some breathy soft playing was prominently featured. Lemonade from sour lemons. No idea what the deal was with that cat.

Is it because I dissed you in DC the other day? Don't hate on the Lavry. I have them simultaneously right now but have not compared them. Don't really care to.

Congrats Steve! Nice symmetry given that you/EMI contributed all the other door prizes!

Huh? Not sure what you mean but he does take one-half as a deposit and he has yet to finish a Balancing Act to my understanding. I am not attacking Craig, as you know, and I am not talking about something similar to the Mikhail/SP issue either. As you and I have discussed many times, I think Craig does himself a disservice for the reasons above. Lots of good ideas but you've gotta decide enough is enough and finalize a design. It reminds me of my father in law, a retired engineer. The real joy to him is in the design and problem-solving phase. He plans things, tests them, thinks of a new idea and starts over again. The problem that caused the need in the first place remains unsolved because he doesn't finish anything. When my in-laws retired and moved out of their long-time Maryland home, they spent months finishing house-hold projects that were half-done (or less). They lived without any kitchen cabinet doors for many years because he wanted to build them out of cherry wood from their Michigan home that was milled, planed, shaped and ready for staining. He got pretty far until he was bored and turned to some other over-thought project. The basement floor was jack-hammered up in places for some kind of drainage/moisture control system -- and stayed that way for years. Their house was a pit in many ways until they got it ready to sell, but it was fabulous for the next owners.

What I wonder is why Craig doesn't design an amp, put it in production and sell it. Right now, he has Balancing Act pre-orders, the Nautilus prototype floating around, the empty box Aficionado, the Zana Deux T, an electrostatic amp, and who knows what else in development or partial construction. Not only is he leaving money on the table by not releasing products, but by constant tinkering and design-changing be undermines his credibility with customers. I think he has already said that BA pre-orders can shift to one of the more recently developed amps, and to my mind that is cool but it seems to indicate that the BA is not his latest and greatest anymore so why would somebody stick with it? The engineer/inventor mentality of always wanting to make the best possible product is great, but there are costs to it too.