Shawn

I'll check out that Dungen when I get a chance. There is a cornucopia of cool music from Sweden, they've been pumping out great acts in a steady stream for the past decade or longer. One of my favorites from this year is the latest album by Anekdoten. They kind of took the King Crimson instrumental sounds from '69 to '74 and used that as a foundation to build upon. They have been around since 1993 but are returning after an extended hiatus, Until The Ghosts Are Gone is their first in 8 years and I think quite possibly their best overall. They also sound like they've been paying some attention to what Opeth has been up to for the past 5 years or so.

I have a feeling Big Big Train probably connects with locals on a bit of a deeper personal level than those of us across the pond, but I still enjoy the imagery. You have to admire the sincerity in what they do, everything is so beautifully arranged and layered. While occasionally I wish they would let their hair down a little bit it does create a very specific ambiance that makes them a unique experience in 2015. They do occasionally let loose a little, the title track of The Underfall Yard, the song Lovers from English Electric Full Power and most of the material on the Far Skies Deep Time EP. Now that Rikard from Beardfish has become a full-time member I'm thinking their next album might have a slightly more extroverted flavor. ______ Since I know you liked the more pop-oriented excursions of Porcupine Tree I think you might enjoy a young American band I ran across recently called "Abigail's Ghost" from New Orleans. I wrote a review of their latest album for Progradar. I don't usually gravitate toward overt pop material but these guys captured my attention. http://www.progradar.org/index.php/2015/10/29/review-abigails-ghost-black-plastic-sun-by-shawn-dudley/

Okay, I'm going to just keep posting in this thread whether anybody else looks at it or not. Wanna see a really beautiful performance of mature modern progressive rock? Hope so. This is Big Big Train performing the song Victorian Brickwork a few months ago in London. The guitarist who plays the extended (and excellent) solo near the end of the song is Rikard Sjöblom from the band Beardfish, he currently plays with both groups.

If you're making a straight biographical drama then it needs to be grounded in reality. Obviously Cheadle did not intend this movie to be a straight biographical drama, but something a little more experimental and free-flowing, the reviewer might try actually reviewing the film he is watching...not the film he expected to be watching

Last night: one of the best concerts I've ever attended. This band has transcended to the next level...

Damn straight it's art! Roger Dean album covers and those produced by the Hipgnosis studios are many of my favorite album covers.

There is a copy of one of those early Hank Mobley Blue Notes from the late 50s on display at Rockaway Records (sorry, can't remember which one), the sticker price is $1200.

A few beautiful houses on Carroll Ave. in Angelino Heights, Los Angeles. This striking red house was used as the exterior location for the TV show "Charmed". The series was supposed to take place in San Francisco, but the show was filmed primarily in Los Angeles.

I got lucky with the timing of this shot...

You don't have to rename the other files because iTunes is only paying attention to the .itl file that is in the Music/iTunes folder. Not sure how the others were created but they are superfluous. If you back up your computer with Time Machine you'll always have access to a backup copy of your library file. One time I had a lightning storm knock out my power and when I brought up iTunes the library file had been corrupted and could not be repaired. All I had to do was grab the file from the previous day and drop it in the folder and all was right with the world again.

It doesn't scatter the library file all over your hard drive. iTunes saves all the database files in one location only (on a Mac it's the Music/iTunes folder). The media files you can choose to store elsewhere. That is the only user configurable option. I did tech support for Apple for awhile and iTunes is one of those things that is really really simple to use...IF you let iTunes control everything. 99% of the technical issues with iTunes I ran across was user error. The initial problem you had was the first guy at Apple tech support you spoke with sent you down the completely wrong path. The initial instruction he gave you was incorrect. I've migrated my iTunes media folder to new (larger) hard drives on several occasions and if you let iTunes do the process for you then no play counts, playlists or anything like that will be lost. If you try to do it manually...it will get screwed up.

There is no reason to "take a punt on an unfamiliar band" in 2015. You sample the album on Spotify or Amazon Music or Apple Music or Youtube, etc and then decide whether it's worth the purchase or not. It's called being an informed consumer.

Agreed. Add: King Crimson Jethro Tull Electric Light Orchestra (27 hit singles!)

Finished up Supernatural - Season 10. The character actors occupying the various villain roles are what keeps this show reasonably entertaining, the show itself is so formula at this point it basically writes itself. But it's like a comfortable pair of old tennis shoes that you don't want to throw out...

Only if people don't know the difference between fiction and documentary. If that's the case, they deserve whatever they get.

Informed opinion based on actually watching the film? So the above description of the story made sense to you? It's a fictional story populated by some historical people. As Jim said above, "jazz fiction", I'm cool with that.

Informed opinion based on actually watching the film?

The piece of equipment I use for this: Mac Mini used as the primary component of my stereo system/entertainment system. Been using this setup for the past 5 years and I'm perfectly content. The mini hooks up to my primary stereo receiver and the only other components are my 38 year old Technics turntable and a blu-ray player. The majority of my music listening is run from the Mini, except for LPs and some audio blu-rays. The mini also takes care of all my TV streaming via Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and any other content I find on the internet. Having all my computer, audio & video needs combined into one simple setup has been wonderful and it's perfect for studio apartment living.

The public art installation "Spheres at MacArthur Park". Many of the 2500 hand painted beach balls were produced by school children in the Los Angeles area.

Grimm - season 4 (via Amazon Prime) - I think this is the best season yet, took this show forever to get the right balance of arc/standalone but they finally seem to have smoothed it out. I also watched Zoo which was an interesting premise hampered by haphazard execution, lazy scriptwriting and budgetary constraints.

The Blacklist. I avoided this show for a couple years but once it showed up on Netflix I decided to give it a shot. It's total paint-by-numbers procedural TV, but it does a fairly good job of applying the formula and keeping it entertaining. James Spader chews up great gobs of scenery but is consistently entertaining. Spader and the various guest star villains are where most of the interesting characterizations come from...the rest of the regular cast is less convincing but then again, the formula helps carry them. Season 2 was an improvement overall. Guess I'll start watching season 3 now since Hulu has the current run episodes available.

According to the Prog Rock Britannia documentary what changed after 1974 was the record labels were no longer letting bands do "whatever they wanted" in the studio and started pressuring them for singles, radio airplay and overt commerciality. Many of the prog pioneers have said that there is no way that period of music could have existed without the "hands off" policy allowed them by many of the record labels in the early years of the 70s. By the time the mid 70s came around that had largely come to an end (except for the biggest names) and many groups who had previously been working without restrictions were suddenly being dictated terms from the record labels.

I'm glad punk rose and died quickly...feel the same way about grunge... And meanwhile just a couple weeks ago the yearly Prog Awards were held...and there are more progressive rock bands I like running around in 2015 than there was at any point since the 1970s. I believe Steven Wilson just finished up multiple sold out nights at the Royal Albert Hall...

Doctor Who - The Witch's Familiar. The conclusion of the opening two-parter was a great episode, very much in the spirit of the 1970s Tom Baker era. I love Capaldi as the Doctor, he's perfect.