Peter Johnson

Well, I've been bitten by the scooter bug (impending 1/3-life crisis?), and although I haven't gone and bought anything yet, I'm really jonesing for a noisy, smelly, oil-and-gas-burning, 10-20 year old Vespa. Any tales from the wise? Years to avoid? Things to look for? I know about the new Vespas (Vespae?), and the Stella, but I'd prefer something older, 4-speed, with some miles on it. What have ya got?

Wasn't there a program in Win98 called "Direct Cable Connection" that would allow this? Has it been 86'ed from XP?

Does anyone know how to do this, possibly by connecting the P.C.'s with an ethernet cable? Will they "see" each other this way ( )? Is some kind of app required? Sorry, I'm cluless about this kind of stuff! Thanks for any assistance!

Oh. My. God. Words fail. This is an amazing recording--I can't believe I'm actually hearing it. More later, but... Wow. Chuck, thanks for helping to make this available.

PM Sent re Elvin, "Putting it Together"!

That's really cool...

It goes out in the morning. Happy listening. ← Thanks--can't wait to have _my_ world rocked!

Order placed!

Nooooooo....CLEVELAND? (with all due respect to board members who live there) Tell me it's just a business trip!

Yay! PM sent!

PM sent re Up and Down and Movin' and Groovin'!

19th & Waverly--"Ringgold Place".

No--I believe you have up to a year after the wedding date to get a gift. And if that's not _the_ rule, it's _my_ rule!

We sold our house in Philly last weekend in 20 hours. Unbelievable. This market is insane.

British humour at its best!

Whoooooo-HAH!!!! Happy happy happy, Jim! Have a great day!

By the way--put this on, and TURN IT UP--particularly when it's about to seque into the fourth movement!

I still get the occasional "page not found" error when I click on the icon for new posts in a thread...

That's not the hybrid, FFA--although a few reviews on Amazon say there's not a lot of difference in the CD layers between the two. I can't compare; but here's a link to the hybrid.

Glad you made it to the show, SS1! Thanks for the review!

I know this release (Charles Munch directing the Boston Symphony, ca. 1956) has had a bit of discussion here, but please allow me to commend it to anyone who's the least bit interested in it. Let me disclaim: I've been listening to the Organ Symphony since I was very young; it is one of my father's favorite compositions, and between the two of us, we have nine separate recordings of it (including the original LP of this one) and have heard it performed at least four times. So I'm not really an "unbiased" source. But I just have to say: This release is fucking INCREDIBLE. I don't know that I've heard a classical CD (I don't have an SACD player, so reference point is the CD layer) that has been this clear, this simply recorded, this sonically PURE in my entire life. The sound on this is just amazing. I don't know any history of the "Living Stereo" releases, but the liner notes state discuss (interestingly) the particular challenges of recording this composition with two mics going to two monoblocks, then cut in stereo to acetate; the predominant issue was balancing the organ and the orchestra (in high and low dynamic ranges)* so neither overwhelmed the other. Well, they did it, and this is as close to "being there" as I've come when listening to a CD. The piece itself is spectacular, if you've never heard it, and while it contains some romantic/impressionist cliches, on balance, it's a feast for the ears and, in many parts, heart breakingly beautiful. In this recording, the flutes soar, the trumpets cut through the mix, you can clearly tell the piece is scored for two pianos and harp (!), and it just...well, words fail. Technical and spiritual perfection. This is one of the most extraordinary recordings I've purchased in years--I don't have a single criticism. A bonus on this release is the inclusion of Debussy's "La Mer" and Ibert's "Escales", both of which are equally sonically fantastic; I can't speak to the technical/scoring strengths of those, as I'm not intimately familiar with them. This cost $12.99 at Barnes & Noble; trust me, your soul will thank you for spending the best thirteen bucks you could ever hope to let leave your wallet. I know I'm coming off as a mega-fan, here, but seriously--give this a listen. * Many recordings of this piece overdub the organ later and "fix it in the mix" to avoid this problem

Spyro Gyra?

Thanks, Alejandro! I'd heard about this, but never seen it. Thank goodness I didn't miss Michael Franks tonight!