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Don't Look Back Boston 1978 https://album.link/i/158642228 Example: My friend and I were talking the other day about Boston (as you do), and we were saying that we don't seem to get to the other albums because Boston Boston exists. So, because I now have a streaming service, I immediately added Don't Look Back to my queue. I have to say any track could be added to their first album. For their sophomore release it is very good.

Billy Bragg's The Million Things That Never Happened Ex.

Pink Floyd reforms to help Ukraine. Roger Waters getting IQ tested. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/07/pink-floyd-reform-to-support-ukraine?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Used to bartend in this really unexciting motel while in college and there were a few random CDs behind the counter that we would of necessity play over and over. This, oddly enough, was one and I still love it.

Was listening to Queen's 1977 album News of the World and reflecting on its cover art. The cover art was done by Kelly Freas, based on his cover for the October 1953 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. There's an alternative cover for NotW, which was also inside the gatefold on some versions: Freas' artwork is kind of creepy, unsettling, quite vintage looking but also weirdly futuristic. I remember seeing it as a kid and not being sure what to make of it. The music is pretty spectacular as well.

These guys were my introduction to British New Wave, back in college. I was a bit obsessed, and definitely crushing on Nick Heyward.

Don't quite remember who turned me onto these guys, but I'm Stretch-ing out and listening to their catalog. Interesting version...

Recently, I became a member of the Board of Directors of the Communities of Belonging Organization. We strive to help marginalized individuals get the resources they need to persevere and re-enter society successfully. https://communitiesofbelonging.org/ As a part of April being 2nd Chance Month, we are holding a walk to raise awareness and funds to support our vision. We will be walking around Green Lake in Northern Seattle (for any locals in the area). If you would like to be a sponsor, I have setup a team on our Givebutter site. Please take a look. https://givebutter.com/XXcbAZ/michaelmaddock Please feel free to ping me with any questions and thanks for everything. Cheers, Mikey

Club D'Elf - You never know (2022) Available at many streaming services: https://album.link/i/1606781019, Qobuz: https://open.qobuz.com/album/d06ti8igrjiub and Bandcamp:https://clubdelf.bandcamp.com/album/you-never-know From All About Jazz I very much agree.

Done. Walk on Mikey!

I don't listen to a lot of classical vocal other than full opera and some live performances. But I really liked this one. Mirages Sabine Devieilhe 2017 https://album.link/us/i/1291109280 One of the reasons I like this is in no small part because of:

Now we are talk'in 😉. The tube channel has become really close to the SiC FET channel, both at 100V output. The performance is not yet at the Carbon level, but is pretty good for a tube amp. What was the problem with the previous mod? The simplified G2 supply didn't work well. This tube is quite sensitive to Vg2 (which may make it a good candidate for G2-drive applications, given the low Ig2). The previous circuit has Vg1 as part of Vg2, so the Vg1 variations causes Vg2 changes. The solution is to use one 150V zener diode for each tube, put it across G2 and K, and feed <1mA of current from GND using a resistor or a current source. I also added a 10uF capacitor in parallel with the zener. Without it, the output clips at around 300V but the distortion still looks good before the clipping. Now the circuit should deserve an audition. Since the main problem is the knee on the Ia curve and Ig2 curve below Va=100V, with higher B- (500V maybe?) and perhaps higher current, the tube circuit should perform even better. I'll leave that to the next episode. For now I'm waiting for the sockets from China to build the other channel.

Karen is out of town and Peter is hanging with his girlfriend so decided to check out a local seafood market/restaurant. They specialize in fresh, locally sourced seafood so everything below uses fresh, local seafood. Started with a dozen raw oysters since they are my favorite Followed by a bowl of their blue crab gumbo with a main entree of grilled grouper with hush puppies, Cuban black beans and coleslaw for desert I had key lime pie and a cup of coffee (no picture because the second Tiki drink was catching up to me - See Drinking Thread)

It's doing really good. I'm guessing another few weeks and I can lose the bandage.

Got a chance to use some of the new tools working at the boss' house.

Getting ready to move the rest of our stuff that was not sent up to Vermont to our beach house rental where we will be living for the next 2+ months until Peter finishes high school (and the renovation finishes on our Vermont abode). Stay tuned for more later today.

A little retro, a little quirky and a little twinky. All of my favorite things in a band.

One of the employees of the bookstore I'm working on is also an employee of HookFish across the street. I bought us both lunch, because he gets a 50% discount.

I love it when you find metal in your expensive wood by running it over the jointer. That is all.

Oh man, I've been putting off writing this one. I have 3 uncles, all on my mother's side. The youngest is a really good dude who has been tasked with dealing with the aftermath of the bad actions of other family members for his entire life. The oldest is an unimaginable piece of shit even by the standards of trash tier relatives. I would not micturate on him were he on fire. Sadly, he lives on at the age of 82, showing no signs of slowing down. My third uncle, the middle one, was born retarded. He spent some troubled times in the 1960s and 1970s in "state schools" which were horrible institutions in MA where all sorts of people with mental disabilities were dumped. In those places my uncle experienced horrors we shall never know. He was never verbal beforehand and was even less so after. From family stories I know he was attacked by aggressive "patients" (not really an appropriate term, but it's what they used) and was more or less defenseless. He'd show his trauma and pain by biting his own hands and the staff would notice the wounds. How long this went on I cannot say, but it was a time period measured in years. In the 1980s, he got out of the ellscape that the MA institutional system and into much more caring group homes. In the 1990s, he moved in with a family who were paid by the state to take care of him. Mercifully, they were a very caring group and took care of him quite well. Late last year the matriarch of that family contacted my youngest uncle (the good one) and said they could no longer really take care of my retarded uncle. That lead to a series bureaucratic headaches where my uncle eventually ended up back in MA institution. Fortunately they aren't as bad as they once were. Not too long after, my uncle contracted Covid. He recovered, but he was 63 years old and not in great shape. He was in and out of the hospital, most recently being treated for intestinal blockage. He returned to the institution and died hours later. His passing has been very hard on his surviving siblings (minus the asshole one, whose opinion to me on par with that one Mr. Putin.) I think for my uncle it was a mercy. What I observed of my uncle was that in spite of the horrors he experienced and witnessed, and his inability to communicate his suffering to anyone around him, he was an an amazingly sweet guy. His limited expressions showed shyness, curiosity, good nature, humor and a kindness I seldom see in us "normal" people. I tried to draw some inspiration from his kind spirit and find strength in his ability to rebound from trauma.

Wow. I just learned that a woman I knew in the mid-late 00s during the heyday of the 413 drum n bas scene died in January. She was only 38. The scuttlebutt, which I take with a dump truck sized grain of salt is that she got ahold of some cocaine laced with fetanyl. I have no idea if that's remotely true. Vicky was a wild an hedonistic girl in her 20s, but I never saw her hanging out with the cokheads. What I remember about her was energetic, outgoing, uninhibited and uninterested in what other people thought of her. She led charge among her group of friends on events like Camp Bisco (a huge music festival revolving around the jam band the Disco Biscuits) or just local DNB weekly event. I know she rubbed a few people the wrong way, especially men who had a higher opinion of themselves than she did. Certainly 38 is entirely too young an age for anybody to go, especially a speeding bullet like Victoria. Somewhat related, a dnb DJ I knew died last November, days after he turned 44. His death was definitely due to a fetanyl overdose. That shit is everywhere, being used to lace all sorts of things where one would not expect to find a synthetic opiate and it's frighteningly deadly.