Lonelobo

I'm interested as well as long as there is more beer than hip hop. And I'm NOT against hip hop!

Just a heads up to everyone that Record Store Day is coming up on April 21st. Do a google search and you'll find out what all the hubbub is about bub.

I'm having a blast with cheap audio gear. Just upgraded to a Panasonic SA XR 55 amp and Bellari phono preamp. The Bellari has a horrible hum and is getting replaced, but aside from the hum it sounds just fabulous with an upgraded tube. With any luck, I'll be coming to Jazz Fest again this year. Any chance you'll make it?

I find myself waiting on a NOS Rega P5 table (that needs a tonearm) to arrive. I'm getting the table at a significant discount and can have an RB-101 arm installed for a rather paltry sum to give me a working table that should be quite an improvement over my current setup. But the RB-101 is their entry level arm. Anyone have any advice? I can get a Moth 700 series (what would normally come with the P5) for around $600 but alas I don't have $600 to spend on an arm at the moment. I do have a Grace 707 and an SME 3009 arm in the closet, but the REGA is already drilled for a Rega arm. Who has an incredibly clever idea as to how I should proceed?

I'm having issues with every audio server I have tried. I have both windoze and macs. Same problems seem to happen with both platforms. I have tried SqueezeServer, iTunes, and JRiver with varying degrees of dissatisfaction. I am ripping with Exact Audio Copy. EAC finds all the track info and cover art and seems to work just dandy. I then use the server software to import from the directory where I am saving the wave files. Then, no matter which server program I use, all I am shown is a giant directory with the individual tracks from everything I have ripped all jumbled up together. Albums are not organized, artwork is not showing up and in general none of the filters for music or artist or genre work either. I'm at my wits end (short trip) trying to figure out how any of the software is supposed to keep my music organized. I also have a ton of podcasts and only itunes seems to be able to tell them from albums or playlists. they seem to confuse the hell out of all the other server software. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Well, wouldn't ya know that I'm not going to be able to make this as work has intervened. Hope the rest of you hve a grand time!

I have 2 pairs of Frazier Model 7's, one pair with cone mids and one with horn mids. Get L-Pads from PartsExpress. I just restored some Alon II speakers which retailed in 1993 for $2500-$3000 and prefer my Fraziers to them without question. You will be smiling soon rainforestman...

Attention all Dallasites with an Organ Fetish!!!!! Registration is now open for local music lovers to attend walking tours along with music librarians who will be visiting Dallas week after next! To sign up, simply click this link and choose which tour you would like to attend. You may select tickets for more than one attendee, but please provide the name and contact information requested for each individual ticket-holder. Also, please remember that these tours all take place at the same time, so you should only select one ticket for each person attending. http://musicwalkingtours.eventbrite.com Keep in mind that spaces are limited, so register right away to reserve a place--first come, first served. If you find that you will not be able to attend, after all, please visit the same link again to cancel your reservation so that others will be able to attend. Below is a copy of last week's message with information on the tours. For complete information on the MLA conference, including schedule of individual sessions, visit: http://mla2012.musiclibraryassoc.org/ See you on the 15th! Tina Murdock, Assistant Manager Fine Arts and Humanities Divisions Dallas Public Library 1515 Young Street Dallas, TX 75201 (214) 671-8337 / 670-1662 (214) 670-1646 / 670-1654 (fax) tina.murdock@dallaslibrary.org ______________________________________________ For the past several weeks I've been telling you about opportunities related to the national Music Library Association meeting in Dallas next month. Here is one additional event that may interest local musicians. On Wednesday Afternoon, February 15, we will host three music-related Walking Tours in the downtown area. For any who previously registered for the Wednesday afternoon pre-conference workshop mentioned in my last e-mail, please note: that event has been cancelled due to insufficient enrollment. You will receive a reimbursement from the national organization for that part of your fees. We would invite you to consider joining us for one of the afternoon tours. Individuals registered for the MLA conference will have the first option for all of these tours, but most of these can accommodate enough people that some spaces may be available for local music lovers. After the first of February I will send you information on how to sign up for any available spaces. For now I thought I'd let you know what will be included in the tours, so you can mark your calendars and consider which tour group you might like to join. Organ Crawl Dallas boasts a number of significant instruments, including some within walking distance of the Fairmont. We will visit three sites (four organs) for this year’s Organ Crawl: The magnificent Lay Family Organ at the Meyerson Symphony Center. Tour led by DSO organist Mary Preston. The historic instrument and carillon tower at theCathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Tour led by Brian D. Bentley, Director of Music Ministry, and Cathedral Organist Corey Candler. Two very fine mechanical-action instruments at First Presbyterian Church. Tour led by organist Thomas Froehlich. 12:15 Meet in hotel lobby 12:30 Meyerson (includes brief demonstration concert) 1:45 Walk to Cathedral 2:00 Cathedral 3:00 Walk to First Presbyterian 3:30 First Presbyterian 4:30 Walk back to hotel Dallas Arts District The product of thirty years of dreaming and building, the Dallas Arts District is the largest contiguous arts area in the nation, spanning 68 acres and 19 blocks. It has been called the most significant arts building project since the construction of New York’s Lincoln Center It was the intention of the district’s planners that the district would not only be a home for the arts, but would itself be a collection of art works. The district comprises thirteen architecturally and historically significant buildings, making Dallas the only city in the world with buildings designed by four Pritzker Prize winning architects in one block. Our tour will provide an insider’s view of three anchor buildings (including the two newest additions to the district) dedicated to music and theater: Winspear Opera House, designed by Spencer de Grey of Foster & Partners, home of the Dallas Opera. Tour led by Jennifer Schuder, Chief Marketing Officer/Director of Community Outreach. Wyly Theatre, designed by Rem Koolhaas. Home of the Dallas Theater Center. Tour led by a representative of the AT&T Performing Arts Center. Meyerson Symphony Center, designed by architect I.M. Pei and acoustician Russell Johnson. Home of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Tour led by Melanie Armstrong, Meyerson House Manager, and DSO Chief Librarian Karen Schnackenberg. 12:15 Meet in hotel lobby, walk to Meyerson 12:30 Meyerson (includes brief demonstration concert, orchestra library) 2:00 Winspear and Wyly 4:00 Return to hotel Dallas Public Library and 508 Park Avenue Bluesman Robert Johnson (1911-38) recorded only twenty-nine songs in his brief career, in 1936 and ’37. That small repertoire, however, was powerfully influential, shaping the future work of such major pop, rock, and blues stars as the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, the Allman Brothers, and Led Zeppelin. In recent years, Dallas’s 508 Park Avenue has become famous as one of the only two locations where Robert Johnson recorded. The 1929 Art Deco building and adjoining warehouse served as the local offices of Brunswick and Vocalion Records and distribution center for Warner Brothers Film Exchange. Offices sometimes served as makeshift recording studios, not only for Johnson, but for other groundbreaking performers such as Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, the Stamps Quartet, W. Lee O'Daniel and his Hillbilly Boys, the Crystal Springs Ramblers, and the Light Crust Doughboys. In recognition of the site’s heritage, it was here that in 2004 Eric Clapton recorded Sessions for Robert J. and Me and Mr. Johnson. Tour led by Bruce Buchanon, Associate Pastor of Community Ministries at First Presbyterian Church. Dallas’s J. Erik Jonsson Central Library is the second-largest public library building in the country. It houses a downtown branch; a state-of-the-art Children’s Center; and extensive circulating and reference collections, as well as significant archival collections on its research floors. It is also home to a remarkable collection of contemporary art pieces, which the library has collected since its inception in 1901. The tour will include an overview of the entire building as well as a more in-depth look at the Fine Arts Division. In addition to its impressive circulating and reference collections, the Fine Arts Division houses significant archival materials related to local music organizations such as the Dallas Opera, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Theater Center, and others. The library has also commissioned several important musical works in its history, including Milhaud’s Symphony No. 11, Ginastera’s Third String Quartet, and Gunther Schuller’s First Symphony. Manuscripts of these works and other musical treasures from the library and other local collections will be on display in honor of MLA’s annual meeting. The tour will also pass near other Dallas landmarks along the walk to and from the Fairmont. The famous Neiman Marcus chain is a Dallas original, and its flagship store is still a shopper’s mecca in downtown. The luxurious Adolphus Hotel was the creation of beer baron Adolphus Busch. Opened in 1912, the Adolphus is probably the only hotel in the country with a Steinway grand piano almost as famous as the hotel itself. You’ll find part of the story on-line, but we’ll save a local secret for the tour! Other points of interest along the way include the Magnolia Building (which will explain all the Pegasus statues and symbols you’ll see around the city); the Aristocrat Hotel (now Indigo), Conrad Hilton's second hotel, but the first to actually bear his name; the historic Majestic Theater; and the Dallas Grand Hotel, originally the 1956 Statler Hilton, known for its unique architecture, a Y-shaped tower supported by an innovative cantilevered structural system. Adjacent to the Grand is the site of the original Dallas Public Library, a gift from steel baron Andrew Carnegie. The second library building, designed by Dallas’s most famous architect, George Dahl, still stands on the site today. Tour led by MLA member Tina Murdock, Assistant Manager, Fine Arts and Humanities Divisions. 1:00 Meet in hotel lobby, walk to 508 Park Avenue 1:30 508 Park 2:15 Walk to library 2:30 Dallas Public Library 4:00 Walk back to hotel

What does Parts Express have in common with premature ejaculation? Answer: Both happen before you know it. I ordered all the parts to resurrect the dead Anons on Wednesday and the shipment shows up on Thursday afternoon. I got the email that my order had shipped this morning (Friday) at 2:45am. I refoamed the woofers yesterday and this morning reassembled the boxes and plugged them in on the B-side of my amp with recapped Frazier Model 7's (they are the coned version, not the horn version) and I have been listening all morning. Here are my impressions, though I'm pretty sure nobody gives a rat's ***. They are as I expected, tight bass and upper mid and treble heavy. That is not to say they are not enjoyable in the upper mid and high frequencies...they are, and there is an airiness about them that is admirable. But they seem really deficient in the lower mids and the lower end harmonics. Switching between the 7's and the Alons is a challenge because of the difference in efficiency between the beasts. Listening currently to Mallette's piano recordings and my feeling is that I prefer the Alons on 2/3's of the keyboard starting on the right. But the lows and mid harmonics seem to be missing. My ideal would be to listen to both pairs as a set but that will require some engineering because of the volume differences. If I had to choose between the Alons and the Frazier 7's, the 7's would still be eating crackers in my bed. I would love to try some modern drivers in the Fraziers just for kicks. Anyone know of any likely candidates? Remember, they must be efficient.

Verily, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of inefficiency, I shall fear no speaker. Thy horn and thy Hemholtz resonator comfort me. I lie down by still waveforms. I am tempted by free shiny things. I have sucumbed to curiosity. I am (sigh) a man.... I have been given a pair of Alon II speakers that need to be refoamed. All the parts are ordered and the woofers have been cleaned up. In the early 90's these were relatively pricey and relatively highly regarded by the "I need more power" crowd. I have never heard them in working condition. I have been listening to the tweeter and mid today and they exhibit that typical mid-range heavy sound that is so popular these days amongst the ribbon cable addicts. Of course they are missing their 10" fully suffocated woofers so I'm just guessing at this point. And the point is that I'm getting more curious. But, all my amps are wimpy wimpy wimpy...albeight clean and wimpy. After all, my Klipsch and Fraziers don't need much power to be happy. Come to think of it, my speakers will never be good politicians even though they are very good speakers. "So what is the point of this post?", you may be asking yourself. I know I am. Well, here's the deal. My somewhat limited imagination is imagining that these free inefficient speakers need more power than a Central American dictator. And here I am without any truly manly powerful amplifier to drive these free speakers. Did I mention they were free? So I said to myself...self, you need a powerful and cheap amp...yeah, that's the ticket. Maybe a honkin class-d amp with a phono section. Problem is, I haven'e found one yet. Every time I think I've found a good candidate, the price tag humiliates my dreams and Fat Freddy's Cat is looking for my headphones. So that's it, I need help finding an affordable class-d amp with a phono section. It may not exist...I may be looking for something that hasn't been made yet. I know I've been looking for lots of things that don't exist lately...a woman who agrees with me...a way to make Frazier 11's blend into the background, and a dog who likes cabbage. So can an inexpensive class-d amp with a phono sections be so hard? I mean, really?

Thanks for the pix guys. They are so much better than mine and I are a professional. Yuz guyz rock!

Hey Trey, Do you have physical street addresses for all the locations for the pilgrimage (GPS coordinates would do as well). Traveling by motorcyce in the wee hours and depending on my GPS (and Radar Love) to get me there.

Leon Redbone cut the 78 that you remember, and yes, I still have it.

What Database Program are you using. I have tried Orange CD Catalog (also does lps).

Was the ghost you saw carrying any cables?

My fellow North Texans...there's a lot of great free performances at the University of North Texas. If any of you are shy, find something on the College of Music's Website that you're interested in, send me a pm and I'll escort you and show you around. ABSOLUTELY WORLD CLASS music and most of it's free. What ain't free is cheap. I double dawg dare you all!

Frazier? There, I said it and I'm not sorry. Ok, maybe I take it back....

ART Blakey "Live Messengers" Blue Note Jazz Clasic Series, Very Nice Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton, Jymie Merriot for 3 of the 4 sides, then Clifford Brown, Lou Donaldson, Horace Silver, and Curley Russell on side 4, 1954 lost Birdland Session

Whoa! I LOVE a civilized CAtFIGHT!! Mainly cause I can't help but throw a little gas on the kitty. Back to a lesser point of this knuckle buster, one of my ludicrous points is that if you ever turn up the volume of your rig when playing a recording of an accoustical instrument to be louder than the volume level said accoustical instrument can produce on it's own with no amplification.....you are listening to gear. Let's take a jazz trio for instance. An unamplified trio can only produce a certain quantified volume, even with a drum set. The audio snob will say that unless you lift the veil of the gear, you can't hear everything that the recording has to offer. The purist will tell you that you never will hear every audible nuance the trio is producing, even if you are there in person. Even if you stick your ear right up to the bell of the sax, you won't hear all the valves closing and the reed slurp, etc. Now this gets trickier if you are a snob who pretends and claims to be a purist. You can't say your criteria is to "accurately" produce the music as it was originally played if you foolishly use that volume knob willy nilly. Just for the record, I am a purist with extreme snobbish tendencies....fire at will!

Thursday night I saw Dave Brubeck and his quartet in what can only be described as an audioorgasmic performance with the University of North Texas Grand Chorus, Symphony, Brass ensemble, and One O'clock Lab Band. Venue was the 10th year anniversary concert celebration of the Murchison Performing Arts Center that is the pride of the College of Music. The program started with "All My Hope", Brubeck's Communion Hymn from his Mass "To Hope! A Celebration". His quartet was front and center on stage with the UNT Symphony behind them and the 200+ strong UNT Grand Chorus in the elevated Risers behind the stage. This was followed by his "Pange Lingua Variations" and by the end of this piece half the audience of 1025 had tears streaming down their faces and you could hear them all sniffling. Absolutely phenomenal high church jazz mass. No way to describe it. The Winspear Performance Hall that housed the concert withing the Murchison Center is very possibly the best accoustical performance space for jazz I have heard. That includes Bass Hall in Fort Worth and the Meyerson in Dallas. Imagine the perfection of both those venues but at a third the size. I got my tickets extremely late and was no more than 30 feet from Brubeck's piano! There is not a bad seat in the house. If any of you in the Dallas area haven't been there...GO! On a side note, Pinchas Zukerman will be holding a Guest Masterclass on March 6th in the UNT College of Music Recital Hall, but it's free...FREEEEEEE!!!!!! GO!!!! Back to the concert at hand. Brubeck at 88years of age was awesome. He never addressed the audience as Russel Gloyd, the guest conductor took care of MC duties. Brubeck's current quartet consists of Bobby Militello (Sax/flute), Michael Moore (bass), and Randy Jones (drums). They are all silverbacks and stunningly virtuostic. During intermission, the entire Grand Chorus and Symphony flooded the lobby and mingled with the audience chowing down on refreshments while the stage was transformed for the second half pure Jazz set with the One O'clock Lab Band. The One O'clock played the 1st 2 tunes by themselves, but the great thing was from my seat I could see the right side stage door open and the entire Brubeck Quartet was leaning thru the doorway to intently listen to the kids kick it. The first piece was an original composition by the current director of the One O'clock, Steve Wiest. It was called Cydonia and was very challenging to both play AND hear. It was very good, but you had to listen really hard to take it all in. The 2nd piece was an arrangement of Brubeck's "Here Comes McBride" by one of the students in the Lab Band and it was so good that Brubeck is adding it to his personal repertoire. Then the Quartet entered and the rest of the evening they and the Lab Band took turns kicking each other's A$$es. They started with "Cassandra", then stepped it up with "The Basie Band is Back in Town". Then they played the "theme from Mr. Broadway", which was a TV show theme that Brubeck wrote. It was SIMPLY STUNNING. Then they played "Elementals", a Brubeck composition that explores all the different elements of modern music. And it was cool. Then in a flash they were playing "Blue Rondo A La Turk". I was in heaven. The Lab Band is the modern equivalent of a Big Band and those kids are absolutely adept at blowing like the best honkin big band you can ever imagine and they are laying and trading licks with the quartet seamlessly. OMG, it KICKEDDDDDD!!!!! Then, as if it could even get better, they launch into "Take Five" and kick it's A$$ all around the stage and audience and entire universe. We could stop importing oil tomorrow if you could have captured the energy in that hall. That was the end of the program according to the "official" program...but wait, Steve Wiest comes out with a trombone from off stage and the entire assembled band breaks into "A Train" and there ensues a melodic battle of mighty proportions between Steve on trombone and Bobby Militello on Alto Sax that eventually left the audience breathless and ultimately led to Steve's sweet surrender to the sax. HOLY $hit!!! It was absolutely outrageous and I feel absolutely blessed to see Brubeck up close and having the time of his life, passing so much on to the next generation. The Quartet had spent all week in Denton, rehearsing and teaching. I can't say enough about the Grand Chorus and the Symphony. They were absolutely PERFECT! And I don't mean, "perfect" for a University performance. You could see Brubeck smiling from ear to ear and really enjoying their perfomance of his work. I've been to a lot of awful concerts lately, but this one made up for all of them and then some.

We were hunting in a 22 degree blizzard with 40 mph sustained winds for a 2 degree wind chill factor. Found a couple of birds with their eyes frozen shut that you could walk right up to and pick up. Gives the word "harvesting" a new meaning. We found 8 or 9 roosters in an old farm house with half a roof (seen in pix background) and it's a miracle we didn't shoot ourselves when they started flying out rafters and windows with a dog inside going nuts and 4 guns blasting away like crazy and mostly missing cause we were laughing so hard. Get home to find a couple of old amps ready to be shipped back home. Life is GOOD! Now I need to find a good pre to go with these guys. Any suggestions from youse guys? And remember I ain't made outa money...I had to hunt in a blizzard just to put meat on the table.

Grateful Dead would be a good mouse epitath. I'll bet he was trying to reach the volume control.

You guys are bustin my chops! My turntable went bellyup a couple of weeks ago and I don't have time to remedy. But my estate/thrift saling is way down on the list of "have to do's" right now. glad you guys are having a ball. keep up the good work and DON'T come to my neighborhood.

My luck this week (all bad, some VERY bad) culminated in finding a mint pair of Heresy's on craigslist 4 minutes after they were listed for $50. I responded immediately via email as there was no phone number listed. Got a message back an hour later stating they were already sold. ARGHHHHH!!! 4 MINUTES!!! This is the 3rd item I have missed getting on Craigslist this week, and with one I had arranged to meet the seller immediately after he got home from work only to get a call 30 minutes prior to this time telling me he sold the item to someone else. My karma sucks!

Got my full replacement set of covers last week....SWEEEEET!!!!