Secrecy is the element of all goodness...

In this interview with composer and pianist Harold Budd we learn many things including his contempt for being categorized as "New Age" ("That one frosted my balls so much.") and the fact that he's working on a new collaboration with Jane Maru tentatively titled Jane 12-21. I am listening to his Perhaps CD as I write this and his performance on it may be one of my favorites. You can get a little taste here.

You may have heard that Brian Eno has a new album coming out with Karl Hyde called Someday World. One track, The Satellites, is now available on YouTube.

From new music to old. Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway turns 40 this year and it has been called "the Ulysses of concept albums." (To kids these days who only buy or illegally download singles, an album is a collection of songs delivered in a single package. A concept album has a unifying theme to the songs and usually requires them to be listened to in a certain sequence.) While the article is a nice dissection of the album for the uninitiated it might be a bit too Peter Gabriel biased. Certainly, he deserves a lot of credit for both is work in Genesis and his solo work. But his unilateral control over the lyrics got to be quite divisive. Guitarist Steve Hackett felt like the band had recorded music that they liked, was solid, and complete and then the next day Gabriel word record vocals over that music in a way that felt like painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa. I suspect Hackett's experience on The Lamb led to his leaving the group shortly thereafter. Also, it was funny to read about Phil Collins comparing the tour to This is Spinal Tap because...

Here are 15 things you may not know about This is Spinal Tap. #9 Most of the dialogue was ad-libbed. (Blues jazz festival.)

Robert Motherwell, Stephen's Iron Crown, 1981. This 10 foot by 7 foot painting greets you as you enter the first floor gallery of The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and has been in that same spot for as long as I can remember. It's a great gate keeper.

Audioklassiks is a photo blog of vintage hifi equipment from the 1960 and 1970s. I recognize a lot of this stuff. Also, I have no idea why anyone would use speakers with horn tweeters indoors. But that's just me.

The Mini Museum project on Kickstarter really doesn't need your help (over $1 million pledged versus the original goal of $38,000 with 12 days to go). It's a cool idea and I'd love to have one. But to ensure you get one the remaining pledge levels are $250, $480, and $500.

In retrospect, this doesn't seem too surprising: jazz improvisation engages the brain's language centers.

Fort Worth is the top city in the country for finding a job. Arlington, Dallas, Houston, and Austin are also in the top 10.

How much solar time differs from standard time.

Did you know you can get a backup of all your Google, Facebook, and Twitter data? Thanks to this article from the Smashing Newsletter, now you can.

Remember the computer system in Jurassic Park? ("This is a Unix system. I know this.") It was actually loosely based on SGI. Anyway, you can run it in your browser.

If you watched the TV game show Treasure Hunt like I did as a kid, join me in wishing R.I.P. to host Geoff Edwards.

If you're a parent, stay away from New York where the state legislature is considering requiring parents to attend "parent support programs" in order for their student children to advance to the seventh grade. This is about as ludicrous the war on large soft drinks. Talk about a nanny state. When the local school district here required that I take an on-line drug awareness exam before my sons could participate in extracurricular activities you better believe that everyone from the superintendent on down heard from me about how they had overstepped their mandate.

Bad idea #1: Snowden to speak at SXSW.  I guess Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen were busy.

When you next climb Mt. Everest be prepared to pay for the privilege by bringing down off the mountain about 20 pounds worth of the copious turd pyramids that dot the landscape. Why did you shit on Mt. Everest? Because I was there.

What your poo poo and pee pee tell about what's going on inside your body.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy The Tumbler.

...even virtue, even beauty is mysterious. ~Thomas Carlyle