I’ve put up a batch of hard cider…
I transferred it to the secondary fermenter a few days ago and gave it a preliminary taste. Yum yum. It’ll go into bottles in a week or two and should be ready to drink for Thanksgiving.
Author Archives: Holland Hopson
Soundverge by EMIT Series on Odeo
Soundverge, David Manson’s radio shows are now available on Odeo. The radio shows accompany the long-running EMIT Series of events in Florida and currently feature Gustavo Matamoros, Holland Hopson, and David Liebman with Abbey Rader.
2 of 2: Ewen and Hopson
Here’s the second duet with guitarist Sandy Ewen from the 2003 No Idea Festival in Austin TX.
[audio:02_imp.mp3]1 of 2: Ewen and Hopson
Going through some old recordings I ran across these duets with guitarist Sandy Ewen from the 2003 No Idea Festival in Austin TX. Sandy is playing her distinctive chalk-guitar and I’m on squeaky sneakers, soprano saxophone and live electronics. Sandy is now with the Weird Weeds and also plays with Tom Carter as Spiderwebs.
[audio:01_imp.mp3]Cycling 74 announces Max 5
David Zicarelli has posted a preview of Max 5 on cycling74.com. It looks like a significant upgrade in terms of the user interface and usability of the program. I’m looking forward to finding out more as the release date (sometime in the first quarter of 2008) nears. Thanks to Create Digital Music for drawing my attention to this announcement.
Some features that I find interesting:
Archimedes Screw Highchair
The bottom section of a highchair is a large archimedes screw, as if it were wearing a skirt with spiral pleats. Placing a child in the chair activates a motor that causes the screw to slowly turn, raising bits of dropped food to within the child’s reach.
Bike-friendly Plan Announced for 9th Ave NYC
NYC plans to reconfigure 7 blocks of 9th Avenue in Chelsea to make it friendlier for bicyclists. The plan involves positioning a bike lane between the sidewalk and a row of parked cars. (A buffer zone with barriers to prevent cars from entering the bike lane is also included.) See a New York Times article here. I wonder how these lanes will function at intersections, particularly with the pedestrian islands extending into the street? I’m in favor of more bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure, so I look forward to seeing this implemented–and one day riding it myself!
When It’s Bleepy-time Down South
The New York Times has an interesting piece on Louis Armstrong’s strong reaction to the Little Rock, Arkansas desegregation saga. My favorite part is when Louis addresses President Eisenhower as “Daddy” in an appreciative telegram. If only Armstrong and Mingus had gotten together on Fables of Faubus.
Fried Green Tomatos
New Music Online: Part 1: Lala.com
I’m writing about my experiences with lala.com as the first part of a series focusing on music distribution models on the internet. Other posts may cover amiestreet.com, online radio services such as pandora and music networking sites like mog. I’m particularly interested in how these sites serve experimental music and musicians. My definition of experimental music is a broad one, covering 20th and 21st century classical music, avant-flavored jazz, fringe areas of pop and rock, and other non-mainstream varieties.
What is it?
Lala.com is a CD trading service. The site has recently expanded to include an online music player, but its functionality remains limited, so I’ll focus on the CD trading aspect of the service. I have found lala.com to be a low-cost, low-risk way to expand my music library.
How it works
Users post a list of CDs they own and are willing to trade. They also create a list of CDs they want. The lala.com database facilitates trades between users. These trades are not usually direct, one-to-one exchanges (e.g. I send you a CD you want in exchange for a CD from you that I want). More typically, User A sends out a CD to User B and receives a CD from User C. Each CD received costs $1.75 including shipping and handling. There is no charge for sending CDs.
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