Important Debate

Had an opportunity today to walk from my group's suite to the main GSM building to do some work in the machine room. On the way back to my office I overheard this snippet of conversation from two UCI undergrads:

It is good to know these types of important debates are still going on in this country's universities, while Nightline and the like are wrestling with really tough decisions.

Posted by ben at 12:20 PM
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New family member

Finally got an opportunity to take some photos of our newest family member. While visiting my parents yesterday up in LA, I grabbed a photo op with ///M number 2. Introducing Dad's news '96 E36 M3. The pictures don't do the color justice -- it's TechnoViolet with Camel interior. It's quite a looker and pristine with only 16,000 miles on the car when my father picked it up.

Unfortunately, hours after these pictures were taken, the car was backed in to by a truck in a local parking lot. The guy was awfully sorry, my dad was livid. The work truck had pulled over the sidewalk in a driveway, exiting the lot. A women was cycling on the sidewalk and he quickly backed up to get out of her way... he didn't look behind him and despite my father slamming on the horn, he didn't stop. No time to back out of the way.

The damage is mostly to the sheet metal between the right-hand kidney and headlight assembly. It will have to be replaced. The edge of the hood was nicked. as was the bumper strip. The most distressing part is the hood. A re-spray would never be right, so hopefully some magic with a buffer and some professionally applied touch-up paint will return the car to its pristine condition.

Perhaps a reminder to give our cars just a few extra feet of buffer space...

Posted by ben at 09:17 AM
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Little David

Lucky for me Cynthia, Andrew, and Holly wanted to go see some performance art/dance concert Saturday afternoon. I know, normally I wouldn't be all that interested in this sort of event, however in this case I made an exception. Since the three of them wanted to see it, that left me with little David, Cyn and Drew's 3 month old. Somehow I ended up with great end of this deal. A baby to play with and then send home.

David and I took a long walk in the nature park across the street from our neighborhood. He seemed fairly interested in the sights... and gave me a chance to try out the Treo's wimpy little 0.3 Megapixel camera. (Big on cute, small on quality. Oh well. I didn't buy the thing for the camera.) On the way home, I steered towards the AYSO soccer fields to make sure he was exposed to some proper culture, but he seemed more concerned with getting back to his waiting bottle.

While we waited for everyone to return, we did a little eating and reading. We listened to Coltrane, although I don't suppose David's music education is lacking at home, if a bit heavy on the Springsteen catalog. As per our earlier agreement, David waited to need a diaper change until Mom and Dad got back... David is welcome in our house anytime. *grin*

Posted by ben at 08:50 PM
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A Love Supreme

By:


Ashley Kahn gives the reader enough background about John Coltrane leading up to A Love Supreme, to better understand his motivation, his personality, and his life, but mostly to understand his signature album. This book is about John Coltrane, but more so, it is about his album.

Ashley spends about 1/3 of the book on background, 1/3 on the album, and about 1/3 on the "aftermath" of the album. It's clear that Ashley spent a great deal of time researching Coltrane, interviewing friends and peers, and listening to his music.

Although the book only gave an overview of Coltrane's life leading up to the production of the album, the details really come out in the exploration of the album itself. Ashley delves into the music, the motivation, and the production of A Love Supreme with the intensity of a true fan. The book is filled with quotes and anecdotes of John's life, many interviews with his friends and peers. In the final section of the book, Mr. Kahn highlights what Coltrane did following the album's release. His tours, albums, and projects. Ashley attempts to cover the massive influence this album had on the people in Coltrane's life and on his fellow musicians, as well we on Jazz and other genres in general.

Ashley Kahn includes some great resources for further information: the massive bibliography from the book, Coltrane's discography, and an index including all artists mentioned in the book.

I'd suggest this book to even the mildest Coltrane or amateur Jazz fan. Even better, is the two-disk deluxe re-release of A Love Supreme, featuring a live recording of the entire suite in 1965 and some un-released breakdowns from the night the original recordings were made.

Posted by ben at 08:00 PM
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