Do Listeners Want A Common Musical Language?
Marc Fisher wonders if sharing the hit record experience is possible in the age of iPod.
Wes Phillips
Continue Reading »
Bring Back the Neanderthal
Stephen Strauss argues that we can only really know our nearest relatives by creating cloned reincarnations.
This Just In
Mystery of Napoleon's death laid to rest?
Best DVD Commentaries
Now that I don't review DVDs professionally, I almost never watch the commentary tracks. Like most folks, I feel I could use that time watching a movie I've never seen before—yet, a few (a very small few) of 'em are interesting or amusing. I think my favorite was Randy Newman's commentary for <I>Pleasantville</I>, which came off as an insider's view of the Hollywood scoring community (his uncles Lionel and Alfred were both film composers).
Where We Stand: Parts 1–3
Greg Sandow has written three long posts about why this might be the end of the classical music era. The link below takes you to the third, but you can scroll down the page and read them in order.
It's Baa-aack!
The Broadcast Flag bill simply won't die. Time to let your representative know how you feel about it.
The iPhone Will Set You Free!
It's everything you need.
<P ALIGN=CENTER
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1xXNoB3t8vM"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1xXNoB3t8vM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
Alabama
For Martin Luther King day, here's John Coltrane's haunting "Alabama," which, according to Sascha Feinstein and Craig Werner, was based on the rhythms of the eulogy Martin Luther King delivered at the funeral for the four girls slain when their church was dynamited in Birmingham.
<P ALIGN=CENTER
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8j_TDoOPnIA"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8j_TDoOPnIA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
Kyle Gann on Teaching Composing
Boy, this is great writing tempered by knowledge and experience.
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About AACS
On our last News Desk post of 2006, we reported that an anonymous hacker called Muslix64 had announced that he had <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/010107hacked/">cracked</A> the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) digital rights management (DRM) scheme. Muslix64 said he'd release more details (and decryption software) on January 2. That software, called BackupHDDVD, is now available <A HREF="http://rapidshare.com/files/8318838/BackupHDDVD.zip.html%22">online</A&…; and the Internets have been all atwitter about it, with charges ranging from "bogus!" to "hallelujah!"