Year: 2009

banjo apostrophe catastrophe

Oh dear, Gold Tone – you should really learn about apostrophes:

gold tone ad with no apostrophesI hereby provide all the missing punctuation, just to prove that banjo players aren’t all a bunch of snaggle-toothed illiterates:

””””””””’

2009 contenders

This year, I can revert to my own slightly unusual system of the music that found me during the year. I listened to a lot in 2009:

  • Délivrance — A Hawk And A Hacksaw
  • Reservoir — Ah Holly Faml’y
  • How To Get To Heaven From Scotland — Aidan Moffat + The Best Ofs
  • Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free — Akron/Family
  • Spoils — Alasdair Roberts
  • The Wyrd Meme — Alasdair Roberts
  • Alela & Alina — Alela Diane featuring Alina Hardin
  • The Pirate’s Gospel — Alela Diane
  • To Be Still — Alela Diane
  • Old Crows / Young Cardinals — Alexisonfire
  • Danse Manatee — Animal Collective
  • Merriweather Post Pavilion — Animal Collective
  • Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’re Vanished — Animal Collective
  • Monday At The Hug And Pint — Arab Strap
  • Calling Out of Context — Arthur Russell
  • Springfield — Arthur Russell
  • Litany — Arvo Pärt
  • March of the Zapotec & Realpeople: Holland — Beirut
  • Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant — Belle and Sebastian
  • The Life Pursuit — Belle and Sebastian
  • Both Sides Of The Gun — Ben Harper
  • let’s do something… — Bill Evans & Megan Lynch
  • Banjo — Billy Faier
  • Banjos, Birdsong, and Mother Earth — Billy Faier
  • Live at the Cafe Lena — Billy Faier
  • The Art of the Five String Banjo — Billy Faier
  • The Beast of Billy Faier — Billy Faier
  • Travelin’ Man — Billy Faier
  • In The Future — Black Mountain
  • Together Through Life — Bob Dylan
  • Blood Bank — Bon Iver
  • For Emma, Forever Ago — Bon Iver
  • The Very Best Of Booker T. & The MG’s — Booker T. & The MG’s
  • Words of Wisdom — Brian Dewan
  • Another Green World — Brian Eno
  • I Just Wasn’t Meant For These Times — Brian Wilson
  • Gold — Buddy Holly
  • My Maudlin Career — Camera Obscura
  • Underachievers Please Try Harder — Camera Obscura
  • Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) — Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band
  • Modern Silence — Casper & The Cookies
  • Jukebox — Cat Power
  • Bird and Diz — Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie
  • Old Dog — Chris Coole
  • Inside Views — Circulatory System
  • Signal Morning — Circulatory System
  • Bring Me Your Love — City And Colour
  • Clifton Hicks — Clifton Hicks
  • Outer South — Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
  • Superfly — Curtis Mayfield
  • Hey Everyone — Dananananaykroyd
  • 1990 — Daniel Johnston
  • Dirt of the Angel — Danny Barnes
  • The Folkways Years 1959-61 — Dave Van Ronk
  • Curse Your Branches — David Bazan
  • David Henman Band — David Henman Band
  • …For The Whole World To See — Death
  • Venus on Earth — Dengue Fever
  • Pioneers Who Got Scalped: The Anthology — Devo
  • Fly — Dixie Chicks
  • Home — Dixie Chicks
  • At Newport — Dizzy Gillespie
  • Heavy Ghost — DM Stith
  • Hombre Lobo — Eels
  • Mountain Meadows — Elliott Brood
  • Elvis Perkins In Dearland — Elvis Perkins In Dearland
  • What Is Free To A Good Home? — Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton
  • Watch The Fireworks — Emma Pollock
  • Dead Relatives — Emm Gryner
  • The Summer Of High Hopes — Emm Gryner
  • hydrophobia — entertainment for the braindead
  • Hypersomnia — entertainment for the braindead
  • Raw Timber EP — entertainment for the braindead
  • seven (+1) [aaahh.005] — entertainment for the braindead
  • Distillation — Erin McKeown
  • Sing You Sinners — Erin McKeown
  • We Will Become Like Birds — Erin McKeown
  • Liege & Lief — Fairport Convention
  • Reservoir — Fanfarlo
  • Fleet Foxes — Fleet Foxes
  • Flight Of The Conchords — Flight Of The Conchords
  • Lungs — Florence and The Machine
  • Folk Uke — Folk Uke
  • Roughin’ It — Fred Spek’s Camp Combo
  • Quietly Now! — Frightened Rabbit
  • Sing the Greys — Frightened Rabbit
  • Swim Until You Can’t See Land — Frightened Rabbit
  • The Midnight Organ Fight — Frightened Rabbit
  • St. Elsewhere — Gnarls Barkley
  • Felt Mountain — Goldfrapp
  • Seventh Tree — Goldfrapp
  • Supernature — Goldfrapp
  • Veckatimest — Grizzly Bear
  • Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill — Grouper
  • Ellipse — Imogen Heap
  • Speak for Yourself — Imogen Heap
  • The Creek Drank the Cradle — Iron & Wine
  • Keep Me In Mind Sweetheart EP — Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
  • Privilege — Ivor Cutler
  • The Inspiration Of William Blake — Jah Wobble
  • The Glass Bead Game — James Blackshaw
  • Yours Truly, The Commuter — Jason Lytle
  • The Utmost — Jayme Stone
  • Riceboy Sleeps — Jónsi & Alex
  • Ramblin’ Son — Julian Fauth
  • Autobahn — Kraftwerk
  • Tour De France — Kraftwerk
  • World of Goo Soundtrack — Kyle Gabler
  • Of Whales and Woe — Les Claypool
  • Alright, Still — Lily Allen
  • It’s Not Me, It’s You — Lily Allen
  • Lord Cut-Glass — Lord Cut-Glass
  • The Liberty of Norton Folgate — Madness
  • Snakebite — Magic Slim & The Teardrops
  • Kiss Me Quick — Makita Hack And The Log Rollers
  • 5:14 Fluoxytine Seagull Alcohol John Nicotine — Malcolm Middleton
  • A Brighter Beat — Malcolm Middleton
  • Sleight Of Heart — Malcolm Middleton
  • Waxing Gibbous — Malcolm Middleton
  • Dibango: Rough Guide to Manu Dibango — Manu Dibango
  • Little Hells — Marissa Nadler
  • Youth — Matisyahu
  • Big Meal Time! — Max & Frank Evans with the Family Supper Stringband
  • Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? — Metric
  • Oracular Spectacular — MGMT
  • Armchair Boogie — Michael Hurley
  • Ida Con Snock — Michael Hurley
  • Singing Insects of Missouri — Missouri Department of Conservation
  • Toads and Frogs in Missouri — Missouri Department of Conservation
  • The Hawk Is Howling — Mogwai
  • Hold Time — M. Ward
  • Love It Love It — Nana Grizol
  • “Ruth” — Nana Grizol
  • Middle Cyclone — Neko Case
  • Obligatory Villagers — Nellie McKay
  • Lipstick Killers — New York Dolls
  • At My Age — Nick Lowe
  • Chelsea Girl — Nico
  • Hymns and Hers — Oliver Schroer
  • Achilles’ Heel — Pedro The Lion
  • At 89 — Pete Seeger
  • Wonderland — Pogo
  • Like Hearts Swelling — Polmo Polpo
  • Porn Sword Tobacco — Porn Sword Tobacco
  • The Rubber Room — Porter Wagoner
  • Tales From The Punchbowl — Primus
  • Different Class — Pulp
  • The Essential Ramblin’ Jack Elliot — Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
  • Raising Sand — Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
  • Goodnight Oslo — Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3
  • Exit Strategy Of The Soul — Ron Sexsmith
  • Time Being — Ron Sexsmith
  • Sam Hinton Sings the Song of Men — Sam Hinton
  • Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts — Sam Hinton
  • Smokin’ and Drinkin’ — Scotty Campbell and His Wardenaires
  • Secret Machines — Secret Machines
  • Never Mind The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols — Sex Pistols
  • The Remix Album…Diamonds Are Forever — Shirley Bassey
  • Color Voice — Sinkane
  • Stand! — Sly and the Family Stone
  • Love.Life.Ukulele — Sophie Madeleine
  • African Spirit — Soweto Gospel Choir
  • Tres Tres Fort — Staff Benda Bilili
  • Telescope — Steve Dawson
  • Let’s Get Small — Steve Martin
  • The Crow — Steve Martin
  • Never Gonna Touch the Ground — Still Flyin’
  • Barn Yard Banjo Pickin’ — Stringbean
  • The BQE — Sufjan Stevens
  • 25 O’Clock (Remastered) — The Dukes of Stratosphear
  • Psonic Psunspot (Remastered) — The Dukes of Stratosphear
  • Buddha Electrostorm — Thee American Revolution
  • I Thought You Knew — The Ebony Hillbillies
  • Sabrina’s Holiday — The Ebony Hillbillies
  • Hex Enduction Hour — The Fall
  • Are You Sleepy? — The Gerbils
  • Shout Monah — The Haints Old Time Stringband
  • The Smell Of Our Own — The Hidden Cameras
  • Tyrannosaurus Hives — The Hives
  • 21 Singles — The Jesus & Mary Chain
  • At Large — The Kingston Trio
  • Something Else by The Kinks — The Kinks
  • Monk’s Music — Thelonious Monk
  • Bootleg Six-Pack — The Mammals
  • Evolver — The Mammals
  • Mount Eerie — The Microphones
  • Thieves — The Organ
  • The Phonemes — The Phonemes
  • There’s Something We’ve Been Meaning to Do — The Phonemes
  • The End of the World — The Real Tuesday Weld
  • England’s Newest Hit Makers — The Rolling Stones
  • New Seasons — The Sadies
  • Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters — The Twilight Sad
  • The Flat Earth (Collector’s Edition) — Thomas Dolby
  • The Golden Age Of Wireless (Collector’s Edition) — Thomas Dolby
  • The Singular Thomas Dolby — Thomas Dolby
  • FeelingPulledApartByHorses — Thom Yorke
  • O — Tilly and the Wall
  • Music for Spaceships and Forests — twi the humble feather
  • Introducing Vakoka — Vakoka
  • Tight Knit — Vetiver
  • At the Cut — Vic Chesnutt
  • Unmap — Volcano Choir
  • How Can I Keep From Singing — Wendi Hunter
  • Seeds of Fools — Wendy Arrowsmith
  • These Four Walls — We Were Promised Jetpacks
  • Let’s Talk About It — White Denim
  • Dos — Wooden Shjips
  • Fever To Tell — Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  • It’s Blitz! — Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  • Show Your Bones — Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  • Crusp Srexstling — Zumm Zumm

banjer banjer banjer

Music in the Wood

I trekked out to Music In The Wood, the music shop in Rockwood that’s just been opened by Hugh, Wendi and Mac Hunter. It’s a nice drive out there, certainly once you’re past the 407/401 mess. Norval, Georgetown and Acton still have some small-town charm amidst the stripmalls.

It seems I had a lucky escape, as Bill Rickard was to be bringing in some of his much discussed Dobson banjo kits. Had he been there, I would have bought one on the spot. The price is fantastic, and y’know, I really need a fretless …

All of Hugh’s banjos were sold, but he had five of Bill’s in the store. Two of them were the gorgeous spun-over rim types, a kind which hasn’t been made properly in the last century or so, until Bill started last year.

Bill Rickard banjosBill Rickard spun-over Dobson banjosThe grand opening of the shop isn’t until next Saturday. I can’t make it, alas.

cheque bookmark

helie1

Found in a library book. Had it been a higher denomination or not so old, I would have found a way to return it.

manifold: ur doin it wrong

This is supposed to be a nice site map, but Manifold GIS has this impenetrable and counter-intuitive user interface. No wonder it has such an active user community; they’ve all paid for it and are desperately trying to get some value out of it.

Stuck at the Border / Unexpected Spector

So I was at The Dakota Tavern last night, expecting to see nana grizol with Colleen and Paul. I got there far too early, and notice that there was no sign of Theo Hilton or the rest of the band. I learned from Colleen (whom I’d met before) that they’d been stopped at the border, so Colleen and Paul were playing a longer set, and Colleen’s partner Ron Sexsmith would play later.

Immigration for musicians annoys me. The costs of visas, and the processing time required, basically means that most bands I’d want to see risk getting turned away at the border. Since touring is how these bands make their living, everybody loses.

Still, Colleen and Paul – assisted by a couple of Colleen’s friends – ended their set with a lovely version of Jeff Mangum’s arrangement of I Love How You Love Me [mp3, lo-fi phone recording].

wrong in every possible (good) way

deathchase on rockbox on sansaI found my bricked Sandisk Sansa E250 in a pile in the basement. I thought I’d give it one last try to get it going. After much faffing about, I found that applying this fix – Corrupted version.txt/Fw update not working in recovery mode? The solution !!! – Sansa e200 FAQ – abi>>forums (which resulted in a failed boot saying something about an mi4 not being found) followed by Recovering a bricked Sansa had it working with the fairly awful Sandisk firmware. So it was off to Rockbox for the latest version.

I have to say, Rockbox 3.4 is pretty neat. They’ve now got proper USB reading/writing/charging, so that you never have to see the clunky Sandisk UI again. When plugged in, the player acts as a USB keyboard for controlling your music. Apparently the E250 can now support MicroSDHC cards, which it couldn’t before. But best (and least useful) of all, is that you can play 3D Deathchase and other ZX Spectrum games on it …

Calculating the second last Friday of the month

My boss, bless ‘im (no really, do; he’s a sound bloke, great guy to work for, and is just getting through some serious health problems), needs a monthly status report on the second last Friday of every month. I live by my calendar applications reminding me to do things, so I thought it’d be no problem getting Outlook to set up a reminder.

No dice; it will only set up appointments on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc., starting from the beginning of the month. I did a web search, and really thought I’d found a solution for iCal. It was not to be; this was for a Unix program called ICal; dratted case-insensitive search. Curiously, it appears that the ics spec might support a second-from-last syntax, but Outlook and iCal (and Google Calendar) can’t create them. Phooey.

So I tried excel; and really thought I’d found the basis of an answer: Last Friday of the month. And indeed, most of their assumptions are right; the code

DATE(year,month+1,1)-WEEKDAY(DATE(year,month+1,1),1)

really does give you the date of the last Saturday in the month. But you can’t assume that the day before the last Saturday is the last Friday – it is the second last, if the month ends on a Friday (April 2010 is a test case).

So I tried the Swiss Army chainsaw of brute-force date calculation: Perl with Date::Calc. What I do here is create an array of every Friday in the month, then print the second last member; never known to fail:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
# second_last_friday.pl - show date of 2nd last friday
use strict;
use Date::Calc qw(Today
  Nth_Weekday_of_Month_Year
  Add_Delta_YMD);
my ( $new_year, $new_month ) = 0;

my ( $year, $month, $day ) = Today;
foreach ( 1 .. 24 ) {
    my @fridays = ();   # for every friday in this month
    foreach my $week ( 1 .. 5 ) {
        if (
            ( $new_year, $new_month, $day ) =
            Nth_Weekday_of_Month_Year(
                $year, $month, 5, $week
            )
          )
        {               # day of week 5 is Friday
            push @fridays, $day;
        }
        else {
            last;       # not a valid Friday
        }
    }
    printf( "%4d/%02d/%02d\n",
        $year, $month, $fridays[-2] );
    ( $year, $month, $day ) =
      Add_Delta_YMD( $year, $month, 1, 0, 1, 0 )
      ;                 # month++
}
exit;

and this gives


2009/11/20
2009/12/18
2010/01/22
2010/02/19
2010/03/19
2010/04/23
2010/05/21

...

See, notice the tricksy 23 April 2010, which – considering thirty days hath April et al – ends on a Friday and threw that simple Excel calculation off.

I’m disappointed that all these new applications like Outlook and iCal don’t seem to handle dates as elegantly as the old unix programs I used to use. pcal, in particular, could generate incredibly complex date formulae. I must dig around to solve this problem – and for now, actually have to remember to write that report on the second last Friday of this month …

wordpress visual editor not working?

If it always doesn’t work, go to Users -> Edit Profile, then check ‘Disable the visual editor when writing’, then update profile. Now go back and uncheck ‘Disable the visual editor when writing’, and resave your settings.

This worked for Catherine under 2.8.5. I’ve never had this problem myself.