These links have gotten very old, sorry about that. I'll update soon. In the meantime, hope you find something interesting or useful.
Summary in French of NY Times article on shale-gas drilling
NY Times shale-gas article French summary (copyright NYTimes)
Guitar amplifier information.
Fender transformer cross reference
Recording: Studios, Resources, etc.
Sound Investments is an amazingly good studio in the unlikely location of Scranton, Pennsylvania. SI has great equipment, a fantastic staff and a very unpressured vibe that makes for very satisfying recording and mixing. The owner, Tom Borthwick, also runs a first-class mastering operation. Highly recommended, and only two hours outside NYC.
Digital Domain (Bob Katz)
Bob Katz runs Digital Domain, a mastering house in Florida, and has an incredible web site with exhaustive information about how to (and how not to) make digital recording sound good.
The Ampex list is one of the coolest places around. In addition to expertise on Ampex recorders (my 440C-4 is in storage until I have a place to put it), you'll learn all you ever wanted to know about steam trains and Norwegian elkhounds.
The Audio Engineering Society
A wealth of information from the logical source. Check out the section on the historical committee, with which I'm working on their oral history project.
Tape Op Magazine
A good source of interesting engineering tips and techniques, from a decidedly non-mainstream perspective.
Music: Clubs, Resources, etc.
Virtually Acoustic
An impressive resource for solo-ish performers in London, with info on clubs ranging from when open mike nights are to the quality of the PA as well as (shock horror) phone numbers and emails for bookers. Something desperately needed in New York.
CD Baby
The premier resource for independent musicians selling CD's and other stuff on the Internet and at gigs. A great source of tips, advice and recommendations of what and what not to do. Good people.
Artists
Marc Teamaker is a singer-songwriter based in Connecticut. He and I have been musical compatriots for many years, and he's put out three excellent CDs which show off his great songwriting and singing as well as his brilliant engineering and production skills. A cool combination of Neil Finn and Paul Weller, via a kid from Yonkers. Definitely worth a listen.
Big Lazy
Big Lazy is a three-piece instrumental band in New York. Music pundits have taxed their taxonomies trying to categorize these guys. "Surf-noir" was one result. Regardless, Steven, Paul and Tamir have one of the coolest collective sensibilities around, and, while they're all sensitive young men, they rock with ease and abandon.
Brona McVittie
Brona is an Irish singer/songwriter who lives in London. She is part of several different musical ventures through a collective called forestbrook. Brona writes songs that don't sound like other peoples' songs, has a voice that many would commit at least minor felonies to have, and generally has an interesting approach to things. Working with her collaborator Alastair Dant, she is turning out some very worthwhile music.
Wiggy is a brilliant engineer who works out of Sound Investments. Jugdish is his band.
Skanatra/POS Records/The Gefkens (Mo and Chris)
Mo and Chris are part of the Hoboken music mob, playing in a bunch of different bands, all good. Skanatra (the name says it all) is a favorite of mine.
Lisa Germano
A marvelously talented writer and singer of songs, as well as a fiddlist of no mean repute most recently on Neil Finn's tour. Also accused of being a little on the, uh, less than cheerful side.
Neil Finn
He might not be the best songwriter in the world, but then again, he might.
Los Lobos
Just another band from East L.A. ...sorta.
Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters led the electrification of Delta blues from his emigrant home of Chicago. The sides he turned out for Chess Records in the late 40's have the sound that started a revolution.
Hank Williams
Hank Williams pretty much defined the prodigiously-talented, hard-drinking, early-dying country singer/songwriter as he dominated country and pop charts from 1949 to 1953, when he died at age 30. He was reintroduced to the world through the use of his songs in Peter Bogdanovich's wonderful film "The Last Picture Show" in 1971.
Bill Monroe
"The man who invented bluegrass", Bill Monroe came from western Kentucky and created a new kind of music with his bands in the 40's and 50's. A dazzling mandolin player with the original "high lonesome" tenor voice, Monroe's songs, and his interpretation of the songs he heard around him, are something to behold. Like Miles Davis in jazz, many of the best bluegrass players got their start or passed through his band at some point. Ambitious, proud, and relentlessly hard-working.
Charlie Parker
Along with Muddy Waters, Hank Williams and Bill Monroe, Charlie Parker is the fourth piece of the argument that the late 1940's and early 1950's were one of the most important periods in American music. Charismatic, mind-blowingly gifted and seemingly bent on self-destruction, Bird's legend was strong even before his premature death. While the life makes for morbidly fascinating reading, the music will take you places you've never been before.
Recording Equipment
The Mic Shop (Bill Bradley)
The Mic Shop is the premier source for beautiful old and new microphones. The really expensive ones are still less than a cheesy car, and much more fun. Bill is also one of the best people to do business with I've come across.
Jensen have been making the best transformers in the U.S. for years. Their site has lots of good DIY information.
David Josephson builds what might be the world's best microphones. He's the authority on all things microphonic, being Chairman of the AES committee actually trying to develop measurement standards for mics. His server hosts the Ampex and Pro Audio mailing lists, along with other stuff we don't even know about.
Pro-Audio Marketplace is the only decent place to buy and sell recording gear.
Royer makes the first new ribbon microphone in years, and it's great.
John Klett runs a group of businesses in New York that build, maintain, install and repair real recording equipment.
Geoff used to work at Neve. Now, he operates the source for info, parts and advice about the venerable grey and blue beasts.
Mercenary Audio
One of the best sources for good new recording equipment in the U.S. Excellent advice, and they stand behind what they sell. Plus, Fletcher's good for a laugh or two.
Guitar Stuff
Tubesville Thermionics
Tubesville is the home of Blackie Pagano, ampmeister to the stars and all-around nice guy. The place to get your amp fixed in New York.
This site is the best on the web for unbiased (and comprehensive) information on old guitars.
London Resonator Centre
A wonderful shop and very cool site devoted to old and new Nationals and Dobros, as well as the new crop of resonator guitar builders, many of them European. Also a lovely selection of "reg'lar" guitars, as well.
Computers and the Internet
Langa.com
Fred Langa puts out a great newsletter about making your computer work. An excellent resource for those who, through choice or necessity, operate these headstrong and dangerous machines.
Miscellaneous, Interesting, Puzzling...
Snarg
Consistently among the the coolest, most beautiful, most disorienting experiences on the Web. Be careful, be patient -- you can lose a few hours here.
