Monthly Archives: July 2009

CATcerto!

Just when I thought I’d seen everything, here’s a video of an orchestral work set to the piano performance of…a cat??  Yes! CATcerto is the creation of  Lithuanian conductor and composer Mindaugas Piečaitis, and was performed by Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra in Klaipėda (Lithuania) on June 5th, 2009.  Nora The Piano Cat™, the featured soloist, was brought in by video.  Check out the official CATcerto site for the video (hosted on YouTube), and interviews with the composer/conductor, and Nora!

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J. Gordon Holt, R.I.P. (Stereophile Magazine founder)

Just got word this morning that J. Gordon Holt, founder of Stereophile Magazine, passed away at his home in Boulder, CO yesterday (July 20).  Stereophile was one of the first “audiophile” magazines, and was launched by Holt in the 60s.  While he hasn’t been associated with the magazine for years, he is still fondly remembered by the audiophile community.  After Stereo Review and Audio, Stereophile was the first audiophile magazine I subscribed to, back in its smaller format.  While I could never afford all of the megabuck equipment, the music reviews were often worth the price of the magazine alone.  R.I.P, Mr. Holt!

Gino Vannelli’s “Crazy Life” (A Retro Review)

It’s a crazy life, a hazy life, a mixed-up, jumbled phasey life…a crazy life for people who want to smile…

Gino Vannelli: "Crazy Life"Many readers know that I tend to favor albums from a decade or two ago, over newer ones.  I do occasionally find gems among newer releases, but it’s even more of a surprise to find a new favorite album among a collection that I’ve overlooked in the past.  Gino Vannelli was listed for a local gig, but that turned out to be a false alarm.  Nonetheless, I figured I would listen to more of his catalog, as I’d picked up just about everything at used record shops.  Starting at the beginning, I decided to give Crazy Life a try…

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Google Maps GPS (an idea for Google)

As some readers may recall, I’m a big fan of many of Google’s free applications, including Google Maps (and its “home” edition, Google Earth).  Awhile ago, I was using an older Magellan GPS unit in the car, which helped with sales calls.  Its shortcomings over Google Maps became readily apparent the longer I used it.  The Amazon Kindle, XM Radio, and Google’s own Android-based “Google phones” gave me an idea of “mashing” a few existing technologies to make some thing new.  I know this makes no sense yet…but read on for more on “Building The Perfect GPS”!

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Ubuntu On A Second Computer

ubuntu1With Ubuntu being as stable as it’s been for me, I decided to install it as a backup OS on another computer here.  This one is a Biostar iDeq 200N from a few years ago.  The challenge this time was to install to this computer, which has an integrated video chip on the motherboard (the nVidia GeForce4 MX), along with wireless networking.  Not only that, the CD-R/DVD drive has been acting up, so I had no way to install it from my LiveCD.  Given my issues, I’m glad I was able to boot into Windows XP for troubleshooting!

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