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If you are a Neil Young fan, check out TONE staffer Lloyd Peterson’s recent posting on All About Jazz:
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=31878

As always, Peterson bypasses the obvious story line and digs a bit deeper, revealing a facet of a musician that perhaps you didn’t think of right away, even if you are a mega fan.

I caught Jon Ragel, the turntablist who performs as Boy Eats Drum Machine, at the Someday Cafe in downtown Portland, and I received a rather special gift after the show. Jon brings copies of his recent album Booomboxxx to sell at his shows, as most performers do. Jon takes it one step further by offering his album in both CD and LP form, and he puts the vinyl into old record covers and hand paints each one. In other words, each copy is a unique work of art.

I chose this particular cover since it was an old RCA Living Stereo (I didn’t spot any Mercury Living Presence covers, in case you were wondering). The fact that the vinyl sounded fantastic–warmer and more revealing than my CD–was an added bonus. Keep reading »

Well almost.

After a few days of wiring and moving a few things around, the Sooloos is completely hardwired into my music room.  The pair of Store 2’s that hold 2TB each, are neatly tucked away in the record and CD room with plenty of ventilation.  Most of all, when you close the door, the whole thing is SILENT…

The Sooloos Control 5 now feeds to my main system via the digital input of the outstanding Wadia 781i SE (review forthcoming) and to our art directors desktop system via line level outputs on zone 2 and my desktop system via zone 3.  The Sooloos can run all three zones simultaneously and thanks to their Control PC software can be accessed from either of our Mac’s via Parallels on the desktop or via iPhone to cover basic start, stop and pause functionality.

This is the most fun you can have with music with your pants on. 6500 CD’s right next to the listening chair with room for about 3500 more!

If you are not familiar with the Sooloos, you can read our full review in issue 11.  Watch for our long term test report on the web soon.  If you sign up for our mailing list, you will be the first to hear about it….

TONEAudio is very excited to announce that Lloyd Peterson is joining our staff to add to our already diverse music coverage. In case you haven’t heard of him, his book, Music and the Creative Spirit: Innovators in Jazz, Improvisation and the Avant Garde is a phenominal group of interviews with some of the finest artists in Jazz today.

Pat Metheny called it “Maybe the best book on Jazz I have ever read”.

Lloyd also writes for allaboutjazz.com and has just published an interview with Iraqi musician Rahim Alhaj. It’s a great read, albeit somewhat scary, listening to what this man has been through. Here’s the link:

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=31994

I highly suggest this one.

Not just a jazz guy, he told me last weekend when we were at the Portland Jazz Festival discussing the Ornette Coleman/Pat Metheny collaboration Song X “That’s only the beginning. I’m always trying to find something that’s way out there.” So watch for Lloyd’s concert coverage on the PDX Jazz Festival in the April issue, and a lot more in the months to come.

Hey all,

Sorry about the long delay in posting. As our music editor likes to say, it’s been “Crazy” around here, just lost track of time with the holidays. Keep reading »