David Cross getting kicked out of a Blues Brothers concert on Martha's Vinyard in 2006

CV control

And for the lady of the house...

It's a beautiful boom box, and it's only $75! If I hadn't already gotten a certain Mister his present, you can bet this would be in our bedroom Dec 26th. Perhaps someone is still thinking of what to get me.

Thank you, Monocle Monoscope.
(And thank you to the anonymous commenter for pointing out my mistake. This is why I shouldn't post after 11:30 when I'm on a sugar/caffeine jitter-spree.)

**UPDATE** We impulsively bought it (in dark brown) about 5 minutes after posting here. So yeah. Instant gratification.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Now that the holiday gift buying season is upon us, I thought I'd go ahead and point out three machines that we all should put on our wishlists:

1. Tenori-On
These are still only available in a limited run in the UK, and will probably undergo a revision or two before they hit The States, but I don't care. I want one now. It's got the immediacy of the also-tough-to-get Kaossilator (literally, turn it on and start making music with no learning curve), but with the ability to import samples into a 16x16 step sequencer/lightshow. The Sonic State review is worth checking out if the machine is new to you, but this video of Jim O'Rourke goofing around on one in a hotel room sums the whole experience up nicely:



2. Monome
My favorite of the "alternate" Ableton Live controllers, the Monome is a minimalist, hand built, reasonably priced backlit trigger grid for live, sample-based music making. There are no dials on the unit-- no controls whatsoever other than the buttons-- and no internal synth engine to speak of. Sounds are mapped to it via USB and controlled using one of a growing number of user-generated open source sequencer programs, many of which come complete with demo videos. It comes in three sizes and is almost always out of stock.



3. Kaoss Pad 3
Kaoss Pads have been around for a while now, but this is the first one that actually seems like it might be worth buying. It comes bundled with a gaggle of effects and you can load sounds into it with removable SD cards, manipulating them on what looks like the dance floor of the damned. And, for reasons I'm still researching, you can have the tiny screen horizontally scroll large-font text across it, which seems to have all the old timey efficiency of a dot matrix printer.



What's on your wishlist this year?

The CPP: live!

The Christian Pirate Puppets played at the Sidewalk Cafe last night. The crowd was real polite:


We played these songs:


Some interpid fan posted videos from the show on his You Tube page. Here's the one for "Solid Gold Pizza":



Joe Bendik, below, played after us:



We've got a new 7" out on the Colonial Recordings USA label. Like all good singles, it's a lathe cut affair, in an edition on 30. It comes with a hand stamped cover, a sticker and a condom. Send us a note if you'd like one. They're $10 each. It looks like this:

New bookcase for the Project Room

From master craftsman, Robert Speer

Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh, the cutest.

Recording: The Boilermakers

I'm not sure how or why, but all three members of The Boilermakers were in the same city at the same time last night. I met up with them in one of the cheaper rooms at the poorly named Funkadelic Studios and recorded a few of their songs. Look for something on Colonial soon-ish.

Worlds Collide

The Shamblers got together with librarian upstarts The Cannoneers Monday evening and signed an historic agreement concerning nothing much in particular. A good time was had by all.

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this Writer's Strike

Dishes accident

Goodbye, favorite mug. You will be missed.

(P.S. Ben and Kellie: "Colonial lives!")

FS: Sennheiser MD 417

I'm selling my MD 417. It's the poor man's 441, with a cool desktop stand and art deco grill designing to boot! Also, the original paperwork, clip, case and cardboard box are included in the auction as well. Tell your MD-series collecting friends!! This one's tough to find...

Here's the link

EDIT: I've put a link to our eBay store on the bottom of the column to the right. There'll be new auctions every week or so-- audio gadgets, 90s college music 45s, etc. Check often!

The man for the job

Is anyone hiring? For anything? I'm looking around, as they say.

eBay pick of the day: Neumann KM184

Neumann KM184


Neumann 184s aren't rare and they're on eBay all the time. But never for $400. This is a steal! Please, someone, buy this. And let me borrow it.

New round of things for sale on eBay

We've got a few machines up for sale on eBay. If you're in the market for an Altec NOALA, a Tascam CD-R4U, a Funk Logic RNC rack or a (broken) Stylophone, stop on by!

"Behind the Glass"

In looking up info on this book, I came across this movie's website. Have any of you seen it? It looks great!

I also came across the Wikipedia page for this show, which sounds completely insane. Have any of you seen an episode/clip/etc. of this thing?

Fancy Pants!

Knee(Audio)Pads beat from prisonerjohn on Vimeo.

This and other awesome projects on Silently Crashing, a participant in the equally amazing MediaLab Prado's upcoming Visualizar Workshop, which is where I want to be next week.

Yes, that's a lot of links. Yes, you should probably click on all of them.

Japanese Russian-doll-theremin ensemble

Cribbed from Matrixsynth:



Are they wearing stethoscopes?

Giant SM7 or tiny Afghan rug?

You decide!

eBay pick of the day: Neve lunchbox (!)

6x Neve B002 preamps in a powered mini-rack


Ridiculous. Six 1073s, essentially, in a to-go container. For ten grand.

Open thread: Theme Music

What's your favorite theme song-- movie, TV show, doesn't matter.

I like the one that plays during the opening credits for "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three":

Rehearsal: Shamblers

The Shamblers got together last night and wrote six new pop masterpieces. They'll be on our MySpace page within the next few hours. In the meantime, there's a marathon running through our neighborhood, and our attendance is required.

EDIT: there was a band playing on the route near our place called "Pocket Monster"-- they warmed up with "It's Cold Outside" by The Choir! Check 'em out!

Three passes