Voltron

I first heard of Davy Knowles in the last week and I just got back from seeing him and his band Back Door Slam at a small club called the Independent. He is a 23 year old blues rock guitarist and singer from the UK and he was blistering for about 2 solid hours. Here is a pic Davy took from the stage and already posted to Twitter, which is what he said he would do. You can see my left hand making a peace sign as the last highest hand in the back about a third of the way from the right of the frame. Anyway, he can play the shit out of a guitar and has a great rockin' blues voice. He did mostly his own music, but with a good sprinkling of classic rock tunes that people know to keep everybody interested. He played a relatively short version of Oh Well by the old Fleetwood Mac ("I can't help about the shape I'm in I can't sing, I ain't pretty and my legs are thin But don't ask me what I think of you I might not give the answer that you want me to") that transitioned into a searing, lengthy rendition of Crosby, Stills & Nash's Almost Cut My Hair that would have made Stephen Stills hang up his guitar after his recent lame-ass effort at the R&R Hall of Fame concert. That was something, mother-fucking else! He also did Cortez The Killer, one of my favorite Neil Young tunes, so that was pretty awesome as well. His other cover that I can recall was by Rory Gallagher, who along with Peter Frampton (who produced his recent album) seem to be Davy's top heroes. All in all, a great show even though my ears a ringing like a son of bitch. This was the last show on their tour, allegedly, but they also seem to be playing NYE in Philadelphia so they are not exactly on hiatus. Check them out if you can, and don't hold their lame band name against them. We hypothesized it must mean something different in the U.K.

Wrong.

Blakroc

Well, they picked the Thos. Handy Sazerac as the Best American Whiskey so they can't be too wrong.

How about just wearing some shoes?

Very nice whiskys.

Sending out a couple packages, and listening to: This Warm Decemeber

Animal Collective -- Fall Be Kind (EP)

James Carter -- Present Tense

My local Naim dealer doesn't have it listed yet, either, so I don't know the price. This is a gross generalization, but in my experience Naim gear sounds best with Naim gear. There is a distinct house sound and approach to gear. Whether that applies at all or to the same extent in the case of a DAC is a good question.

Balanced DAC to go with The Protector

There's some irony in there somewhere. And welcome to Head-Case merxz. Stick it out and you'll have some fun here.

Purchased but not yet dispatched! Taiwan is close, though, right?

Not there yet. How much?

Are they available? Gotta check out the website.

You don't like line drawings of hairy naked dudes? To each his own, I guess. Now playing: Portico Quartet -- Isla

UPS finally came through! Congrats.

It really isn't a problem to my understanding and while it is more or less prominent with different carts I think it is always there.

Dirty Projectors -- Bitte Orca

Bellari is noisy and lame. Don't do it. Channel Islands and other phono stages are way better options in my book.

That's hilarious, Grahame. Claire saw some of your number cavorting earlier in the day and when we were headed out for the evening there were packs of drunken Santas walking down Market. Had no idea there was such a thing as Santacon.