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Let's talk about Steely Dan. The boomer jazz rock duo who took their name from a steam powered dildo described in William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch, best known for their super slick studio production. They were hugely popular with boomers housewives in the 70s and gained a significant following amongst aging boomers classic rock aficionados in the 80s and 90s. Their 1977 album Aja is considered a studio masterpiece by some, and the most wretched, excessive piece of wank imaginable by others. The late, great Steve Albini, a legendary punk rocker and and god tier record producer, absolutely loathed Steely Dan and Aja in particular. In the 21st century, Steely Dan is the source of ironic zoomer memes. Their albums have a following with audio snobs to tend to listen to equipment and not, you know, actual music. This can lead to some obsessive behavior (top comment: "jfc"). All of this is to say, I don't really like SD, at all. I had to endure them on the radio throughout my youth. I was in a hardware store a few years ago and they had their in ceiling speaker system up louder than usual. I got serenaded by "Do It Again" while I furtively looked for ant cups. That experience threw me in a depression for the rest of the day. I actually love 1970s music production. It's all analogue, full of optically compressed bass and often loaded with horn sections that are really well recorded. Obvious examples are Rev. Al Green's "Can't Get Next To You" and the 800 lb gorilla that is Stevie Wonder's "Superstition." Bonus points to Bobby Bland's Dreamer album. To their, uh, credit, Steely Dan managed to wankify 70s studio tech to the point that I find it physically uncomfortable to be around. A while ago, I was browsing the official YouTube channel of 70s music television show, The Midnight Special. It's a treasure. It has live segments, obvious lip syncing, and entire shows (one hosted by George Carlin!) They have a rare live performance by Steely Dan, featuring their original frontman David Palmer. This rendition removes more or less everything I loathe about the band. The slick studio sheen is gone. In my very jaded opinion, Palmer is both a better and more emotive singer than Donald Fagan. It's kind of hilarious what an absolute statue Walter Becker is on stage, especially as the rest of the band is making a considerable effort to be really into things. The guitar solo is still kind of wank, but that's the 2FA for knowing it's really Steely Dan. Not long after this performance, Fagan and Becker fired the rest of the band and became a masturbatory studio duo. It would be interesting to see what kind of band they would have become if they'd done the opposite.

I remember that video, which came out right around the time I started thinking about being a lawyer. Not sure what's so remastered about the sound.

If you guys remember the Back to Mine series (artists compile the music they listen to at home after a night out), Everything But The Girl’s one now…

Going out to Mr. and Mrs. Bedecarre. Some AI BS but that's just where we are?

The Hitachi DA-1000 (and associated clones) is one of the earliest and most prized CD players. It's method of loading the CD can't accurately be described as unusual (at the time there was no defined normal) but it's certainly a striking one. Working examples change hands for a tidy sum. Even nonfunctional units are near to look at. European market clone of the Hitatchi. The fragile but very interesting looking CD loading mechanism. When was the last time you saw a CDP with an output meter?

Go sports ball.

😔

IOT all the way, it is a much better OS

New Teenage Engineering EP-35 Amp:

Elke Sommer, Actress in ‘A Shot in the Dark’ and ‘The Prize,’ Dies at 85. Just missed her 86th. She was a fascinating character. Stunningly beautiful, accomplished actor and talented singer. Apparently she had trouble with core subjects in school, but excelled at language. It has been my pet theory for decades now that had a learning disability.

or try windows 10 ltsc iot.... still gets security updates... or try windows 11 ltsc iot.... you don't need a Microsoft account for either and less bloatware and no AI slop...

A Song for You by Søren Bebe Trio (2012) https://open.qobuz.com/album/5707471025819 Example: An older set from Søren, clean

RIP Mr. Stewart, you seemed entirely like a decent human.

Aged 86 with Alzheimers and Lewy body dementia. RIP Patrick Stewart. What a rotten way to go. Was lucky to see him several times on stage, three times in Chichester. Malvolio in Twelfth Night, MacBeth in the landmark production as Macbeth in the tiny Minerva (so close I could have touched him), and as the aged Shakespeare, and his death in Bingo. That particular production of MacBeth transferred to the West End, and then two theatres on Broadway, and was made into a movie. And on the London stage with McKellen in Waiting for Godot and both of them in No Man's Land, a rather bleak play by Harold Pinter. A really superb actor of stage and screen. I'm really gutted he's gone.

hehe - Just came back to post that -- 3:02 in... Edit: Shoot - thread roll-over. ...

If there is stuff you're missing, you can add it. Big fan of flatpak instead of snapd.

Well now he's seen everything the GuardianPatrick Stewart, Star Trek actor and acclaimed thespian,...Star Trek: the Next Generation and X-Men actor died at his home after ‘a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia’

Oh no - my Captain ... Godspeed Patrick.. Edit: correction: Sir Patrick Stewart

RIP Patrick Stewart at 86.

I had Ubuntu on my old Toshiba laptop (12+ yo) i5. And it borked during the new update, making it unbootable. I was looking at getting the new version as a download and reinstall from USB, and I thought I would look at other options at the same time. Since it was going to be a full install anyway, I thought it wouldn't hurt to try something new. https://linuxmint.com So I gave Mint a try. Super easy install, it grabbed drivers and media codecs. I was able to install the handful of apps I need/use. And was up and running within the hour. It has been stable and slightly faster. Does it have all the power and the tools as Ubuntu? no, but for surfing and running youtube vids as I fall asleep, works just fine. I have not converted my main rig (MSI) off of Win11 yet. I have a lot of tools and programs that I need to research before making that leap. But happy to report that Linux really is an option for an older machine.

Meanwhile, making compact casssettes in Japan:

Modern tech with vintage looks, Ruark R710 all in one system, basically, hook up a pair of speakers and you have everything. Heard it at an audio show a couple weeks ago and was surprised that an under $10k setup was one of the top 5 rooms at the show, it embarrassed the shit out of many mega-buck systems. Yes, it also plays CDs. If I had room for speakers, I'd be totally happy with this setup.