Dusty Chalk

Yeah, I think I'm keeping it, even at $20/month. Just haven't figured out my usage scenario(s) yet. My car actually does have bluetooth integration, but I'm cheap enough that I only get 2G/month on the phone, so I'd have to preload all the albums. And when I'm in the mood for something I own, even if it's on one of the iPod classics, I realized I can still listen losslessly through iTunes. Not sure I want to wear out my iPod classics for that, though, so I may start keeping a 1TB with me...hmmm...or maybe a whole laptop, since I'm now getting to the point of taxing the laptop too much...sorry, tl;dr+thinking out loud... And yeah, I got a 30 day trial, how'd you only get a 7 day trial? And yes, if I only used it as background music, I'd probably stick with Spotify too (because Pineapple Thief!), but even when I listen at work as backgrond music, I'm listening on good enough headphones that I feel I can hear the difference, so I try to stick with that too, most of the time.

Soup, The Beauty of Our Youth -- on progstreaming -- some nice big melodramatic flourishes, a la M83, need to hear again up next: Alek Darson, Panopticon EP -- also on progstreaming -- heavy guitar wankery

Hurray, not blocked at work, but unable to log in, so no ...er... me...not that I ever did a whole lot...

Jungle curry chicken at Absolute Thai near Verizon Center -- I heard this mentioned on a TV show the other day (Forever?) and when I saw it on the menu I had to try it, and it was delicious! Even made me forget about all the smokers and caps fans I had to wade through to get there.

Tha's perfect, PM incoming.

So I had a Musical Fidelity X-LP2 (the dual mono one -- in two completely different tubes, even) somewhere that I can't find, so I need a phono pre that's only US$100 or US$200 so that I can get my rig started until I find it (hopefully next move) -- any recommendations? Any of the DJ ones that people would recommend, like the Art or the Rolls VP9? My absolute upper limit is US$275, at which point I'd get the Bellari VP130, but I'm seeing a lot of Cambridge and Pro-Ject and even Rega (if I use the mini A2D and a USB DAC, no?), I'm figuring one of those have got to be good, no? Bellari/Rolls VP29?

Yeah, sorry, been meaning to say something -- I figured the indexes just needed to be rebuilt or something, neh? Also, thanks Todd!

Fucking earworms, now I have, "It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!" stuck in my head...

Somehow I didn't post on Electric Citizen/Budos Band -- they were awesome. Not much more to say than that. Looked around at the audience -- mah people! Bunch of stoners. Electric Wizard -- in an alternate universe, Black Sabbath hired a female lead singer -- this is them. She's got the same sort of on stage magnetism (less the pissing into a firehose...I assume...), feathered 70s hair, guitarist and the rest of the band are Iommi and company incarnate -- dude even plays an SG. I only wish I had heard of them sooner. Any fans of Black Sabbath must check them out. Not a tribute band -- they played all originals. Budos Band were awesome. I thought there were three horns, but there are only two -- a trumpet and some baritone something -- basically, the cello equivalent of brass. Drummer, percussionist, guitarist (whose birthday it was), bassist who plays with the fretboard facing the front row of the audience constantly (to avoid carpal tunnel?) and keyboardist. Just superb music. Also heavily Black Sabbath influenced, except instead of Ozzy, they got two horns and a percussionist. And a keyboardist. I kind of got the impression there were various levels of 'alpha' in the band, but that for the most part, they were too stoned to care.

Yancey's Fancy Steakhouse onion aged cheddar -- oh my fucking, this is the best cheese evar!

Hiromi -- my first time seeing her, she was fantastic. Anthony Jackson and Steve Smith (Vital Information) in support, and they were both fantastic. No earplugs -- perfect volume. The performances were on, there was absolutely nothing to complain about...well...as much as I love synthesizers, I actually thought the one piece with the Nord was a little out of place, which is funny because I loved it in the Sonicbloom context. I think they basically played the new album and that's it. Opened with Warrior and Player, spoke (she so cute! That little girl voice comes out of her, and she's such an energetic player...), then went into Dreamer...couple tracks I didn't know, Firefly and Alive, and one more I didn't know. Good crowd, too -- very enthusiastic, yet polite. (They went quiet almost synchronously.) Great, joyous fun. I need more like this in my life. Don't know what that monstrosity Anthony Jackson was playing (6 string bass, electric, but obviously hollowbody, single cut out all the way at the top fret).

Happy birthday, Dinny! (party favour noise) Glad I got to see you last night. Didn't even realize...

My first good TV, the speakers were broken. I considered that a feature.

Wanna buck?

Can we move the rack talk to the rack thread, please?

Boris Berman, Prokofiev: inComplete Piano Music (Tidal has: Vols. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and the sonatas, which might be vols. 2 & 3, but I'm not sure)

I doubt there'd be a problem with solid wood legs. You'd want to treat them, though, and of course as always I recommend three legs over four, one thing you don't ever want in a speaker stand is that four-legs-not-the-same-length wobble. Unless you have just one nice stout piece, then just one would probably be fine.

Lollers, when I saw that on Facebook on my phone, I thought it was French toast with a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

This Will Destroy You, Another Language

Me:

Which ones, these? You realize they're only 12 inches? (Look at the dimensions of the tubes.) I think you want something more like 29-36 inches. Unless you want them for desktop, then they'll be too high. I used to have a pair of speakers that only needed about 12 inches of boost once, but they were short floorstanders and I was using them as surrounds and they needed to reach over the couch. Other than that, I can't think of a circumstance where I'd want 12 inch stands. Well, maybe something like a Spendor S100 or something like samich's. Maybe. Well...alright, also if it was a center channel. But that's it, no more. Don't forget Guitar Center, if you have one near you, you can see what they have, first. Those DR Pros look nice. I have these fab ones that I got there decades ago, and they're still going strong. I need to work to keep them from ringing (they're all metal), but they're better than the crap I got from Audio Advisor. I also have these great little ones that I got from Best Buy, but they were a brand called Target, I think, and I don't see them any more. Metal top and base plates, 3 wooden legs. Sturdy as fuck. Also still going strong.

Lollers. EDIT: Or, more correctly:

Fish and chips...except no chips...and a McDonald's patty bun instead...alright, it's really a Filet-o-Fish sandwich.

Antemasque -- rock! (Omar & Cedric [ex-At the Drive-In/Mars Volta] + Flea + Dave Elitch)