Thursday, July 29, 2004

Updated 13 August 2004 I also updated the link to the New Diary on the right side. This completes phase two of the program. Next - linking the new Diary to this Luna Negra Website Diary location. Sorry about these changes, but once this is set up, it will be much more permanent than before as it will live on our own server, rather than Radio Userland's or Blogger's. Thank U 4 your patience!   2:23:31 PM     One Last Entry here If you use a RSS or Atom Newsreader, use this address to subscribe to the new Diary: http://feeds.feedburner.com/OttmarLiebert   1:24:25 PM     New Diary While we are working on the new Diary/Blog, please click on above Title link, or the New Diary link on the right side, to read the latest posts. This here diary will remain frozen as of NOW and will be archived a.s.a.p.. Hey, having to make that extra click will improve the strength of your finger!   9:55:28 AM

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Big Mind DVD I received a pre-release version of the Genpo Roshi Big Mind DVD yesterday. The recording was made on February 8, 2004. I haven't watched the whole thing yet. Hope I say nothing too foolish... I think I did throw some gang signs towards the end... Maybe they made my signs foggy like they do on MTV with gang signs and naughty T-shirts... Come to think of it, I might have worn a naughty T-shirt that day... Hope this becomes available as I would love to buy some DVDs for friends. You might remember that I am a big fan of the Big Mind process.   4:03:01 PM     My Bus Café It is a Capresso 1000, which I have had for 3 or 4 years. The machine is very reliable and makes excellent coffee.   11:28:39 AM

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

More tour dates Sep 09 St. Louis MO - Pageant Sep 10 Chicago IL - Park West Sep 11 Milwaukee WI - Festival Sep 16 Boston MA - Scullers Sep 17 York PA - Strand PAC Sep 19 Annapolis MD - Ramshead Sep 22 Wilmington DE - Opera House Sep 23 Alexandria VA - Birchmere Sep 25 New York NY - BB King's Sep 26 New York NY - BB King's Sep 27 off Sep 30 Orlando FL - Universal Oct 02 Pompano Beach, FL - Pompano Beach Amphitheater more are in the works....   2:51:12 PM     La Semana If you go to amazon.com and search for "La Semana", you will find a page that has no photo or review yet, but announces that the album will be available on August 24th. And here is a link to the Tower Records page.   2:32:22 PM

Monday, July 26, 2004

Studio Report In the weeks since the tour ended I have upgraded the studio computer to OS 10.3.4 and ProTools 6.4. The new ProTools software adds some nice features and is worth the upgrade. The Guitar Rig software was used on a song for the first time this week-end and I am happy with the result. Very cool. It's going to take some time to wade through the live recordings from the Triple Door in Seattle. Four shows are a lot to listen to.   2:29:12 PM     My Gear Guy Lately I have been shopping for music gear at the above site. Great prices and great service. If you decide to sign up, remember to put the name Eric Nolan in the field that says: Where did you hear about us? He is my contact there and a great guy. Here is a link to Eric's personal site with 4 free music downloads.   2:25:23 PM     Kenji Williams “I developed this technique of wiring my violin through the audio interface into Logic, and then using Logic’s live SFX plug-in on my violin to sort of beat-synch it into the music I composed. It works really well, and makes my violin into a whole different instrument. I could get really detailed effects and play with the rhythm of the delays with the music. It’s so liberating.” Check out Kenji at the Apple Pro site   7:45:15 AM

Sunday, July 25, 2004

RIAA Continues Distributing Dud CDs to Satisfy Settlement cosyne writes "Part of the music industry's recent price fixing settlement involves giving free CDs to public libraries. Although they are technically complying with the the letter of the law, they're abusing the spirit by giving the libraries large piles of crud. According to the Stevens Point Journal, '[the] Milwaukee Public Library received 1,235 copies of Whitney Houston's 1991 recording of "The Star-Spangled Banner," 188 copies of Michael Bolton's "Timeless," 375 of "Entertainment Weekly: The Greatest Hits 1971," and 104 copies of Will Smith's "Willennium."' The recording industry obviously wouldn't want to have libraries loaning out music that people might otherwise buy." See also a related story about shipments to another state. [Slashdot] That's low. I would have used this as an opportunity to create some goodwill for record companies by supplying Libraries with some great music. Some jazz, classical, folk, you know, stuff people don't hear on the radio much and might discover at the library and then go out and buy. Why would anybody go to a library to hear pop... Maybe the library in question can hold a contest - create a sculpture with 1,235 Whitney Houston CDs for the front lawn...   12:43:00 PM

Saturday, July 24, 2004

Bus door lock No key to forget...   8:43:46 PM     Traffic Control of the Future petra13 writes "A high point of the Autonomous Agents and Multi Agent Systems conference this past week was Kurt Dresner and Peter Stone's paper 'Multiagent Traffic Management: A Reservation-Based Intersection Control Mechanism.' They designed an automated system where cars reserve a time to pass through an intersection as they approach it and are then sped up or slowed down to ensure their arrival at exactly the right time. This allows traffic to enter the intersection from all directions simultaneously, eliminating the need for traffic lights and considerably reducing delays caused by stopping traffic. On their website, you can find Java applet simulations to illustrate the system. Especially impressive looking is the six lanes of heavy traffic in all directions simulation. I would love to see this in real life (from a safe distance of course)." [Slashdot] Very impressive. In Santa Fe this would probably only be useful at a couple of intersections. The intersection of St. Francis and Cerrillos comes to mind... In many cities, however, this could make an amazing difference. If each traffic light delays you by an average of 20 seconds and you have to cross 20 intersections - that's already, why that's almost seven minutes you could have slept longer... I imagine the real advantage of the system would be much lower fuel consumption...   4:45:06 PM

Friday, July 23, 2004

Ron's hands   11:02:40 PM     Do you know... ...how comforting it is to walk into a restaurant, and the waiter or waitress says hey, and brings you your favorite beverage as you sit down... My favorite beverage with New Mexican food is Bohemia beer, with a slice of lime of course. And the best New Mexican food is found here, at Maria's on Cordova Road. Here, the Chile Rellenos are made with Mexican cheese - trust me that makes all of the difference in the world... and last tuesday they served my favorite special for lunch, the pork tacos with two fresh salsas... The old part of the restaurant used to be the Santa Fe city jail... it has a certain something special... and it is the smoking section... I don't smoke myself, but growing up in Germany I used to go to pubs when I was 16 (legal drinking age) and the pubs there where always thick with smoke - so it's something that I don't mind - it even awakes fond memories for me... I dream of this place when I am on the road. Did I mention they wrote the book on Margaritas?   10:52:18 PM     Fuel Cell Technology Breakthrough Claimed As they say: "Small, cheap, and good: pick two." But no! Or so says the University of Houston, who have claimed to developed a small, cheap, and good fuel cell using thin film solid oxides. Small: a fuel cell with the volume of four sugar cubes can power a laptop computer; one the size of two soda cans can power a house. Cheap: does not use the ultra-pure and exotic materials of standard fuel cells. Good: thin film solid oxides have a 60-70% efficiency, and run at half the temperature of normal solid oxide fuel cells, at a mere 450 to 500 degrees Celsius. Wow! I can't wait to put a tiny 500°C battery in my lap. Read - 'Cool' Fuel Cells Could Revolutionize Earth's Energy Resources [EurakAlert!] [Gizmodo] There is something about Gizmodo that keeps me going back there. Like a cheap sugar rush or something...   9:22:49 PM     Song of the Outcasts LR writes: Received that flamenco book, "Song of the Outcasts" by Robin Totton... have only read 25 pages, but man, it's great... just blows it wide open... "ole" is from the Moorish "by Allah", he says. Great analysis of the "form" i.e. the solea. I mean, this guy knows whereof he speaks. Comes with a CD [which I haven't had time to check yet]. Off to the book store... I always wondered whether there was a connection between the words Allah and Olé. Especiually since the Gitanos often pronounce it more like Alle...   8:11:45 PM     Last coffin-nail in DVD Audio? One of the inventors of the MP3 format is back with a new technology that he hopes will revolutionize audio, creating superrealistic sound for theaters, theme parks and eventually even living rooms. Dan sent me this link and wrote: When I finished reading this article, I remembered you saying that surround sound is not that great because it's only good while you're in the sweet-spot. It looks like they've just found a way to overcome this problem. What do you think? I think that's great, Dan. It also makes me think of how fast hardware changes these days. A few decades ago the interested amateur could start building great stereo equipment in his garage and slowly turn that into a business. Now there does not seem any room for "tinkering". You need large teams of engineers to press ahead. Everything seems to get geared towards larger and larger corporations, doesn't it. Tinkerers are a dying bread. My dad is a great tinkerer and I think he is sad that I have no talent for tinkering at all.   7:54:54 PM     United music menu I think that selection of songs should work pretty well...   8:19:14 AM     United Inflight Entertainment In September and October you will find several "La Semana" tracks on United Airlines flights. Since "Eurobeat" is available on a lot more flights than "Worldbeat" we decided to put the music there. As you know categories do not matter much to me. May many a wary traveler discover "La Semana" on their flight...   8:07:17 AM     Apropos nothing... [Beyond the Beyond] I don't know what to say...   7:58:11 AM     Outdoor show Microphone set-up for an outdoor show with wind-socks on the mics. Check out the snazzy foam piece my crew made for the talking mic to rest on!   7:45:26 AM

© Copyright 2004 Ottmar Liebert. Last update: 11/23/04; 10:34:30 AM.