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So did I ever mention I forgot to turn on my Microphone until half way through track 2 during Made Out of Babies set? (only twice Chris, TWICE).
Well Brendan thought the venue was maybe recording it, so on the off-chance I emailed them asking if they could send me a copy and I'd pay. I mentioned I'd driven from Brooklyn, but it seemed all pretty unlikely.
In a couple of hours they wrote back that they'd ship me a cd. How cool is that? The Lime Spider totally rocks!
Actually, let me expand on that. Good size, cheap beers and lots of choice, friendly people. Kick-ass soundsystem. If you're ever in Akron, check it out, once again, it's theLime Spider, Akron, Ohio
Update (2/12/05) The CD never arrived :-(
posted at: 16:46 | path: /moob | permanent link to this entry
The Baroque Cycle - Neal Stephenson
A book review of sorts
I am part-way through book three of Neal Stephenson's Trilogy "The Baroque Cycle" - Quicksilver, The Confusion and The System of the World
Wow! There is no better word. I frequently find myself thinking it is quite impossible for someone to have written this book. It's huge, and it's deeply thought out, and it touches on a lot of topics, yet continues to entertain, to provoke and to amuse.
What is it about? Well, I'd say it's about Money, Science, Alchemy, Trade, Natural Philosophy, Pirates, Kings, Vagabonds, Slavery, plus a fascinating excursion through late 17th and early 18th century British and American history. And more...
The language is fun, Stephenson uses a lot of anachronisms which hint at the history that lead to current usage. It's often a bit like the moment in Blackadder when the prince's servant (Blackadder - played by Rowan Atkinson) is asked what he's eating - he replies "oh it's just something the Earl of Sandwich recently invented". Funny and educational.
The action is big and bold, people kill each other, marry, divorce, beat, steal, poison, blow up buildings, ships, carriages etc. Revenge simmers for decades, enormous fortunes are won and lost, sometimes more than once by the same people. Babies are stolen, slaves are freed, england goes from bust to boom and back. Coffee and chocolate, newspapers and theatre become popular. London becomes too noisy, crowded, dirty and dangerous for a man who lived there in earlier times but revisits from Boston.
The principal protagonists are fictional, but are on first name terms with all the famous people of the day - Isaac Newton, Leibniz, King Louis XIV of France, Hooke, Boyle, Huygens, Samuel Pepys, assorted English nobility. Not all the historical backdrop is familiar to me - I'm fairly certain the Tower of London did house the Royal Mint, headed by Isaac Newton at the time, but I've never heard of the "Black Torrent Guards" - might be a play on Coldstream Guards. Similarly I know Newton and Liebniz argued over who invented the calculus, but did Newton really have a close, jealous companion called Fatio? Not sure...
So far it's been enthralling, and I'm looking forward to the finale. Sure
there are some annoyances (too much use of italics,
repetition of odd words or phrase like "penetralia", "glacis", "watered
steel", "watered silk"), and quite a few bits that don't ring quite true
(a welshman called "Angus" not to mention long overly clever
conversations) but overall it's a triumph.
posted at: 16:38 | path: /misc | permanent link to this entry