Spectrum online magazine (from the Electrical Engineering Society, IEEE) has a great article on how compression techniques in the recording studios are turning music into noise.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/aug07/5429 

It's something that's concerned me for a long time... the lack of dynamics in pop recordings. Everything is turned up to the maximum loudness.

"The loudness war, what many audiophiles refer to as an assault on music (and ears), has been an open secret of the recording industry for nearly the past two decades and has garnered more attention in recent years as CDs have pushed the limits of loudness thanks to advances in digital technology. The “war” refers to the competition among record companies to make louder and louder albums. But the loudness war could be doing more than simply pumping up the volume and angering aficionados—it could be responsible for halting technological advances in sound quality for years to come."

It's also making people deaf.

Music from Other Minds is back after a summer break with some new programs.

This week and last week we're featuring tracks from Evan Ziporyn's latest release on Cantaloupe Music, called FROG'S EYE. Evan's writing for a chamber orchestra (the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Wind Ensemble) is spectacular, and the recording is amazing. 

This weekend we will also feature more pieces by Jason Treuting and SO Percussion, and Italian composer Alessandro Solbatini. 

And, I'm digging thru a pile of CDs for the following week's program.

You can always stream the current week's program off the MFOM website, http://rchrd.com/mfom/

Click on the LISTEN AGAIN link. 

There's this great little bookstore in my neighborhood. ISSUES opened in June off Piedmont Avenue, and today they had a little party, sort of a gallery opening for some art by a local artist, Xopher Davidson.

They have lots of magazines, especially art and music, and an odd collection of books and used vinyl records and CDs.

And, it's really small.

But, it's definitely worth a visit, if just to talk to Joe and Noella, who run it. It reminded Victoria and me of all the little bookstores we knew in the 60's.

And you never know what you'll find there.

For instance, this book: 

In 1999 Victoria and I were in New York City and I had to take a cab crosstown for some reason. The cab driver started talking to me after I noticed the camera on his seat. Turns out he was already famous as the cab driver photographer due to a NY Times article earlier that year. He showed me some of his pictures, while managing to dance thru the crosstown traffic. He said he was working with someone in Europe to put them out as a book. I was fascinated, both by the NY Times story, and even more so to be sitting in his cab looking at his pictures. I wished him luck.

Well, the book was published, in 2005 by Könemann in Germany. It's gritty and real. Almost 500 pages of Bradford's black and white New York as seen from a passing cab.

And, I got it at ISSUES, my new little bookstore in Oakland.

Issues is at 20 Glen, off Piedmont Ave, down the street from Peet's.  

The current issue of Oakland Magazine has a great article (by Derk Richardson) about the music department at Mills College. Includes a picture of percussionist William Winant at work.

The impact Mills College has had on experimental music  worldwide is enormous. Good to see mainstream local media finally discovering that fact.

The concert series seems to be the best kept secret in the Bay Area. I've never seen a sold-out concert. Check the website .

Here are the next concerts. Some real surprises:

 2007–08 Concert Series

The Concert Hall is undergoing renovations in 2007–08. Concerts will be held in Lisser Hall and other campus locations during this time. 

Tickets may be purchased the door or online at: http://www.boxofficetickets.com/. All Concert Series and Songlines Series events are free to Mills students, faculty, and staff. The Concert Line: 510.430.2296

The Concert Series is sponsored in part by a gift from the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. The Darius Milhaud Concert is made possible in part by a generous endowment from the Mills College Class of 1945. The Mills Performing Group is made possible by a grant from elfenworks LLC, proudly supporting the musical community.

Saturday, September 29, 2007, 8:00 pm
MILLS PERFORMING GROUP
Aaron Copland: Sextet for clarinet, piano, and string quartet
Roscoe Mitchell: White Tiger Disguise for mezzo-soprano
and string quintet
Zeena Parkins: Between the Whiles for solo electric harp
and electronics
Charles Wuorinen: Bearbitungen über das Glogauer Liederbuch for flute, clarinet, violin, contrabass
Graeme Jennings, violin; Cynthia Mei, violin; Charleton Lee, viola; Joan Jeanrenaud, cello; Richard Worn, contrabass; Lynne Morrow, mezzo-soprano; Tod Brody, flute; Robert Schwartz, piano; William Wohlmacher, clarinet; Zeena Parkins, electric harp; Steed Cowart, conductor
$12 general, $6 seniors and non-Mills students
Lisser Hall

Egad, it's almost October !  

 Here are a couple of events from Other Minds not to be ignored:

Dennis Russell Davies & Maki Namekawa, Two Pianos:
October 11, 2007, Thursday, 8:00pm.
Music of Philip Glass, György Kurtag, Adam Fong, and American premieres by Chen Yi and Balduin Sulzer. Herbst Theatre, San Francisco. Tickets TBA.

I've started organizing my photos into portfolios -- grouping them into small collections around a single theme or idea. We'll see where this leads. I'm working now on a couple of projects, and they're taking longer than I expected.

First is to organize the best of my "New York in the 60's/70's" images into a coherent portfolio. This will require rescanning the slides because I've learned a lot more about how to do this since I started four years ago.

Another project is called "At Home". I'm taking pictures around the house, trying to treat the subject as if I had never been here before, looking at everyday scenes as if for the first time. It's already produced some surprising (at least to me) results.  

Two portfolios are somewhat complete. One, called Night Game, are some images from a SF Giants game at AT&T park. Another, Cemetery, of the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, near where I live. Great place to walk and take pictures.   

The starting page is http://rchrd.com/photo/home.html

Comments welcome.