Generation costs/kWh for new nuclear (including fuel & O&M but not distribution to customers) are likely to be from 25 - 30 cents/kWh.
— Business Risks and Costs of New Nuclear Power, Craig A. Severance, January 2009. [via Climate Progress]
pricey
January 5th, 2009blues minus the blues
January 4th, 2009All the “… Blues” tracks I have, minus the blues:
- 12th street
- 1st precinct
- 30-20
- 99 year
- airplane
- alcoholic
- all
- all in down and out
- all night long
- answering machine
- apron string
- arcade
- arkansas hard luck
- autogeddon
- back door
- bad shoes
- bamalong
- banker’s wife
- bankhead
- barber’s
- barnyard
- bath house
- bay rum
- beach boy
- bedside
- bert’s
- big house
- big mouth
- big spit
- billy goat
- black and blue
- black bottom
- black cat
- black crow
- black dog
- black-eyed
- black hand
- black sheep
- blowing
- bluebottle
- blue coat
- blue day
- blue jeans
- bob dylan
- bob lee junior
- bone dry
- boogie woogie
- bottle of
- bourgeois
- bread line
- brownie’s
- brown’s ferry
- brown skin
- bull frog
- cairo
- candy man
- cannonball
- carroll county
- carter’s
- catfish
- c.c. & o
- cell phone
- checkout
- chester
- chicago
- chile
- chilly wind
- choking
- city
- coal mine
- coal tipple
- cocaine
- cold penitentiary
- columbus stockade
- coming into hard times
- country
- courting
- crazy
- crooked creek
- cross road
- cross tie
- crow jane
- cumberland
- custard pie
- custom-made woman
- cut 1/2
- dachau
- dago
- dark holler
- davidson county
- dead shrimp
- death bell
- deep elem
- deep river
- depot
- diamond ring
- dickson county
- dirty guitar
- dixie flyer
- dom
- don’t let your deal go down
- do right daddy
- down south
- dreaming
- dry town
- dust bowl
- dust pan
- dust pneumonia
- dying crapshooter’s
- early mornin’
- east virginia
- ec
- electro-shock
- elk river
- empty bottle
- empty pocket
- evening prayer
- evil twin
- expressman
- farewell
- farm girl
- fine artiste
- fisherman’s
- fishin’
- fishing
- fixin’ to die
- florida
- folsom prison
- football
- framer’s
- franklin
- franklin county
- freddy’s
- freight train
- fresno
- frisco whistle
- gambler’s
- gambling
- georgia brown
- georgia wobble
- ghost woman
- ginseng
- go easy
- goin’ away
- goin’ to leave you
- got the drunken
- got the farm land
- grace kelly
- gravel camp
- guitar
- hard time killing floor
- haunted road
- helena
- henhouse
- hesitation
- highway
- highway 51
- hobo
- hometown
- honey babe
- honky tonk
- hot jelly roll
- housefly
- huckleberry
- ice water
- indian squaw
- intersoular
- jailhouse
- jake bottle
- jake leg
- jake walk
- james allen
- james alley
- jellyfish
- jersey bull
- john henry
- johnson city
- just like tom thumb’s
- kansas city
- kentucky
- killin’
- kindhearted woman
- kozmic
- kristin’s
- kyle’s worried
- labor
- land locked
- leake county
- lee highway
- left all alone again
- lightnin’s
- little
- living here
- logan county
- lonely
- lonesome
- lonesome road
- lonesome weary
- long chain charlie
- lost boy
- lost train
- louisburg
- lovesick
- low d
- mad man
- maggie walker
- man trouble
- married life
- married man’s
- married woman
- match box
- mean conductor
- mean old ball and chain
- mean talking
- mehitabel’s
- mexican
- middlin’
- milk cow
- milwaukee
- minglewood
- mississippi boweavil
- miss meal cramp
- mistreated
- mistreated mama
- mitchell
- mixed
- moatsville
- mobile county
- morning
- mourning
- mr. e’s beautiful
- muleskinner
- multiple relationship
- muscle shoals
- my human gets me
- narrow gauge
- natural bridge
- new ground
- new minglewood
- newport
- new river
- new talking
- new white house
- new york j-d
- night woman
- north country
- no sleep
- n.r.a.
- number
- old lonesome
- old rock island
- old weary
- old woman
- ontario
- oozlin’ daddy
- original stack o’lee
- outlaw
- paddlin’ madeline
- pan american
- parchman farm
- patrick county
- phonograph
- poca river
- police dog
- police sergeant
- pony
- poor boy
- poor girl’s
- poor jane
- port arthur
- pot licker
- pouring down
- prison cell
- puckett
- quill
- rabbit foot
- radar
- railroad
- railroad hammer
- ramblin’
- red night gown
- reno
- restraining order
- rheumatism
- richmond
- rip van winkle
- rising river
- rising sun
- river
- rock style
- rollin’ dough
- rolling log
- roll my
- rooster
- rotten world
- rowdy
- rub alcohol
- salt lake city
- salty dog
- san francisco bay
- seattle rainy day
- shaking wee
- showers of rain
- sisco harmonica
- situation comedy
- skool dinner
- sobbin’ woman
- sonny’s
- spanish
- spike driver
- starvation farm
- statesboro
- station
- steel rail
- stockade
- stove pipe
- strawberry
- string band
- subterranean homesick
- sugar
- suits crybaby
- sundown
- sven
- sweet woman
- talking dust bowl
- talking fishing
- talking world war iii
- talkin’ hard luck
- talkin’ woody, bob, bruce & dan
- tallahatchie river
- teasin’ brown
- tennessee river bottom
- tequila hop
- terraplane
- testosterone
- the france
- three ball
- tinker’s
- tipple
- toby woman
- tokyo business
- tombstone
- tough luck
- train
- trane’s slo
- travelin’
- travelin’ railroad man
- triangle
- t&t
- turtle
- tuxedo
- two-timing
- unexplained
- unknown
- up country
- upside down church
- v.b.
- violin
- walking
- wang wang harmonica
- washington
- washington talkin’
- way down yonder
- wayward girl
- weeping willow
- west carey street
- whiskey & gin
- white flag
- white house
- white-shoe
- wilkes county
- window pane
- winnsboro cotton mill
- working girl
- workingman
- worried
- worried man
- xmas prison
- yodeling
- yodeling fiddling
- young girl
And yes, I excluded I Guess That’s Why They Call It The …
mandolin strata
January 1st, 2009
I spent a great couple of hours with Mike Dulak of Big Muddy Mandolins. Mike’s been making instruments for years, and is the largest industry in Rocheport. I caught him in the middle of moving his shop, so things were a little chaotic. The above pile of part-finished, discarded or otherwise parts summed up the state of the workshop as I saw it. And yes, that is a uke body.
Mike’s really refined his workflow. He’s built a nifty broach to cut all the string slots in a nut in one swipe. He has a fretting jig that cuts all the slots in one pass (hey, mandolin fretboards are quite short). But to make up for that, he shapes heel necks by hand using a rasp and sandpaper.
I’m really glad I visited, and makes my mandolin a little bit more special to know who made it, and see where it was made.
a green Scottish New Year dilemma
January 1st, 2009I can’t really wish that Lang May Your Lum Reek if I’m concerned about CO2 and smog emissions, can I?
chris coole at the local
December 27th, 2008Chris Coole - The Local, Toronto - 7 December 02008:
First Set
- Sail Away Ladies - medley
- John Henry Blues
- Hey Porter
- John Hartford intro
- Let Him Go On Mama, Don’t Put Him Down For It Now
- Chilly Wind Blues
- beautician’s school - cold guitar tuning
- Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright
- I Know What I Know
- The Bandit Cole Younger
- Walking Boss intro - gourd tuning
- Walking Boss
- Little Sadie Intro - more tuning
- Little Sadie
- There’ll Be Hell To Pay intro
- There’ll Be Hell To Pay
- one more tune - tip jar - Slurf Song intro
- Slurf Song
Second Set
- Bonaparte’s Retreat
- re-intro
- Big Steel Rail
- John Hartford - batman cape anecdote
- Wish We Had Our Time Again
- recyclable banjo tuning
- Six Days On The Road
- Civil War Medley
- Introduction to Townes van Zandt
- Pancho & Lefty
- Railroad Blues
- Shelter from the Storm
- Old Dog
- Medley intro
- Turkey in the Straw, Soldier’s Joy
- tip jar - Uncloudy Day intro
- The Uncloudy Day
- tuning
- Lonesome Whistle
- thanks - and buy banjo CDs
- Cannonball Blues
i remember that ben elton back when he was funny
December 21st, 2008Mr Butcher: [sits down on a bollard, then jumps up in disgust] Eurgh, I’ve just sat on something horrible and smelly!
Mr Baker: What was it?
Mr Butcher: My bottom.
- and that, kids, was the essence of alternative comedy.
emusic’s precious censoring
December 21st, 2008
emusic really must not like Dick Gaughan.
Stewart & His Constant Search for Patterns in Randomness
December 19th, 2008Three consecutive tracks in today’s the automatic podcast from “& His” artists:
- May Flower — Mike Shaw & His Alabama Entertainers
- Call On Me — Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
- Reset — Casper Fandango & His Tiny Sick Tears
no, I don’t have one. yes, I want one …
December 17th, 2008One of these turned up in our office today - the semi-legendary Lego #4999 Vestas wind turbine:
Operations guys need Lego too, y’know …
ttc kalimba again
December 16th, 2008I love this busker’s sound.
ttc_kalimba-081215-083745
best of 2008
December 13th, 2008Best albums; and yeah, even in order of preference:
- Shall Noise Upon — Apollo Sunshine: came to this completely cold, having never even heard of them. Stylistically all over the place: whisky and hellfire on one track giving way to mellow dippiness that I think even McCa would blanch at. Ultimately, it’s Singing To The Earth (To Thank Her For You) that sold it to me.
- Funplex — The B-52’s: worth the wait from 1992. Fun dance music with gleefully smutty lyrics. Now my very favourite B-52’s album.
- Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes — The Music Tapes: look, it’s got Freeing Song By Reindeer on it. If it doesn’t make you shed tears of joy while you caterwaul Ride the elves’ cloven-hooved horsey … along with Julian, there’s something wrong with you.
- Proof of Love — Old Man Luedecke: Chris Luedecke just gets better and better as a songwriter, and his self-deprecating stage persona as Old Man Luedecke is a hoot.
- Recapturing the Banjo — Otis Taylor: great banjo work from this bluesman.
- Everytime! —Sheesham & Lotus: the high-steppin’, cake-walkin’ fiddle, banjo and harmonica duo release their first official album, recorded in crackly faux-78 “Sepiatone”. Almost as much fun as seeing them live.
- Earth Sciences — Laura Barrett: Toronto’s queen of the kalimba’s second EP wins out over her full length release (Victory Garden), in that the EP has Robot Ponies, and doesn’t have the annoying final track which appears to be all of the other tracks layered on top of one another.
- Luna — The Aliens: Piper-era Floyd mixed with the Beach Boys, all fed through a special Fife filter.
- Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust — Sigur Rós: I still have no idea what they’re singing about, but I wish they’d keep doing it.
- Then We Were Older — Ideal Free Distribution: another slab of catchy psych-pop from Kentucky.
Near Miss: Holler and Stomp — Dressy Bessy: angular bubblegum pop, quite delightful.
Definitely Demented: Live! From CarnEGGy Hall — Orriel Smith: seriously, coloratura chicken impersonations. Beyond weird, and beyond brilliant.
It Came Out Last Year, So Now It’s All Car Ads: Oh, My Darling — Basia Bulat: despite that, it’s great. And she plays autoharp.
Wind, water and sun beat other energy alternatives, study finds
December 12th, 200820000th track
December 12th, 2008My music archive just hit 20K. The lucky track is Momus‘ I was a Maoist Intellectual.
Momus is giving away his albums that he did for Creation as an advent calendar. So far, he’s released The Poison Boyfriend and Tender Pervert; more to follow.
oliver postgate’s world
December 9th, 2008Sad to hear that Oliver Postgate passed away. Bagpuss was my series; it started just as I started school, and I caught the first episodes. I spent the whole evening learning the theme on the mandolin, and watched a couple of episodes, half-teary. Was it really nearly 35 years ago?
The music and sounds are what stuck with me. I didn’t know it at the time - but did as soon as I picked one up - that the Bagpuss waking up magic sound is a slow upwards glissando on an autoharp. Similarly, the falling asleep sound is an autoharp strumed slowly downwards. Gabriel’s instrument confused me for years - I now see it has a 5 string banjo neck, but no fifth string (like someone else I could name). To add further confusion, it’s really a mandolin that’s Gabriel’s sound.
i was the sound man (kinda)
December 8th, 2008I went to hear Chris Coole yesterday at The Local, and got pressed into the not-very-arduous duty of looking after the levels. With only voice and instrument, it’s not that hard, and I only once managed to produce an ear-splitting blast of feedback. There was a slight ring if Chris leaned forward and his guitar started to feed back a couple of times.
I also ran my first soundboard-audience matrix recording rig, with the PMD620 recording off the board, and my old minidisc recording from my table. The Local’s not short of ambient noise, so it’s nice to control it. The board gives a clean but rather dead mono recording, while the audience mics pick up lots of colour (and dropped plates, door chimes, …)
I haven’t put the full matrix together yet, but tried it on one excerpted song. Once you know what you’re doing, aligning tracks in Audacity is pretty simple - just find a clear note or beat in each track, get the tracks roughly aligned with the Time Shift tool, then zoom in as close as you can to refine the match. I suppose I should have delayed the audience track by about 0.01s to mimic the distance from the stage, but that’s a bit nerdy. Limiting the audience to 25% of the final mix, I get a great warm sound, but one that’s unfortunately almost entirely monaural.
a brief note on Julian Koster’s banjo playing style
December 7th, 2008Having had a chance to watch Julian play at close range, he plays a regular five string with the fifth removed. It sounds like he tunes DGBD, but I could be wrong.
His strum style is almost like a jazz banjo rhythm, but done without a pick. The one song he played used a familiar progression: first and fourth strings fretted at the 5th, then both down to 4th, to 2nd, then up to 3rd. Try it - it’s fun!
the little computer that should
December 7th, 2008My home server went phut last week. There was a brief power outage, and everything else came back on — except the server. It was a three year old Mini-ITX box, and I’m casting about for ways to replace it.
To serve my immediate music serving and podcasting needs, I have pressed The Only Computer That Runs Windows into service, running Ubuntu using Wubi. Unfortunately, I do still occasionally need to run Garmin Mapsource, which only runs on Windows, and also The Only Computer That Runs Windows is also rather too nice a laptop to be sat doing server duty.
I have some options:
- Get a new motherboard for the mini-itx box. Via still has some crazy ideas about pricing (over $200 for a fanless C7?) but maybe I’ll go for Intel’s snappily-named D945GCLF, which looks okay for what I need and is only $80.
- I could resurrect the old Athlon box I got in 2002, but it’s big, loud, and its components are probably near end of life. Also, why disturb a mature spider habitat?
What I was really looking for was one of those tiny fanless internet appliance boxes that were so 2007 (like the Koolu and the Zonbu, both of which have moved on to other things), but such units, without the tied storage service contract, are upwards of $500.
My needs are simple:
- run Firefly to feed the Soundbridges;
- generate the automatic podcast every day, which realistically means a linux box with Perl, sqlite and the like;
- have something to ssh into when boredom strikes the need arises. Perhaps unwise having an open machine sitting directly on the internet, but only the ssh port will be open.
I really also need to get rid of all the computer junk in the basement. It now includes two fritzed mini-ITX systems and the world’s slowest PostScript laser printer. Such fun.
AWS OpenWIND
December 6th, 2008AWS OpenWIND is a free wind farm design tool. It’s from people who know what they’re doing. I’m intrigued.
my browser knows about toronto highways
December 3rd, 2008
Thank you, I’m here all week …
2008 contenders
December 2nd, 2008I fear I may have to play by the “best of” rules that everyone else plays by this year. As I have had to rip and encode all of my albums this year, I can’t tell which older releases I bought this year. So here are the 2008 releases:
- A Sound Legacy: 60 Years of Folkways Records and 20 Years of Smithsonian Folkways
- Accelerate — R.E.M.
- April — Sun Kil Moon
- Bad Case of History — Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians
- Cheap — Seasick Steve
- Como Now: The Voices of Panola Co., Mississippi
- Conor Oberst — Conor Oberst
- Devotion — Beach House
- Earth Sciences — Laura Barrett
- Electronic Projects for Musicians — The Apples in Stereo
- Everytime! — Sheesham and Lotus
- Funplex — The B-52’s
- Holler and Stomp — Dressy Bessy
- In a Cave — Elf Power
- Live at the Moonshine Café — Steve Payne with Al Lerman
- Live! From CarnEGGy Hall — Orriel Smith
- Luna — The Aliens
- Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust — Sigur Rós
- Modern Guilt — Beck
- Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes — The Music Tapes
- Proof of Love — Old Man Luedecke
- Recapturing The Banjo — Otis Taylor
- Sea Lion — The Ruby Suns
- Shadow Cat — Robyn Hitchcock
- Shall Noise Upon — Apollo Sunshine
- Skeletal Lamping — Of Montreal
- Soft Airplane — Chad Van Gaalen
- Spectrum 14th century — Final Fantasy
- That Lucky Old Sun — Brian Wilson
- The Living and The Dead — Jolie Holland
- The Singing Saw At Christmastime — Julian Koster
- Then We Were Older — Ideal Free Distribution
- Third — Portishead
- Turn the Water on, Boy! — The Coal Porters
- Victory Garden — Laura Barrett
- Volume One — She & Him
