amy, my wife, got me the new oliver sacks book musicophilia and it’s really incredible. i’ve just started reading it, but the book grabs you at the preface. i’ve read one other sacks book, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood, which was really great. sacks is an amazing writer and quite a scientist (he’s a neurologist). i think about how the brain reacts to music almost daily. i’ve also often wondered why humans seem to have some primal instinct that draws them towards music/rhythms and the reason why some people have a greater ability to “just get it” and a “brain” for it. oliver sacks covers this in an amazing fashion. if you love both science and music, this thing is a must read. it’s quite inspiring.

there are some videos of sacks talking about a few of the subjects in the book:

Oliver Sacks Videos

there is a fantastic david byrne article over at wired magazine’s site. i love pretty much everything david byrne does, yes, even that crazy french shit on one of his recent albums. he’s always been an incredibly insightful person with regards to the music industry and this article is no different. i have to say that his outlook on this whole craptastic music industry is quite inspiring and i hope he’s right. this is the stuff i am most interested in with regards to what “models” work in this day and age.

DAVID BYRNE: What is called the music business today, however, is not the business of producing music. At some point it became the business of selling CDs in plastic cases, and that business will soon be over. But that’s not bad news for music, and it’s certainly not bad news for musicians. Indeed, with all the ways to reach an audience, there have never been more opportunities for artists.

wouldn’t it be extremely great to have david as your uncle?

okay, tad turned me onto this and now i have to send someone over to snuff him out. it’s goddamn addictive. this is a warning to you all. absolutely do not download this.

actually,go ahead…download it and ruin your life. thinking about going to the museum this weekend? how about meeting up with friends for a drink? perhaps you want to go check out that band you’ve been reluctant to go see because you’ve heard they have a drummer who thinks he’s in some mid-70’s prog band. well, forget about all of that shit. the physics of the armadillo run have got you by the privates, my friends.

Armadillo Run

okay…daniel, our son, loves making drawings and painting like most 4 year olds. he also likes stuff we don’t need to be spending money on, therefore he’s decided he would like to put up his drawings and paintings on my site to see if anyone would like to maybe buy one or two so he can save some money in his pirate or giraffe bank. you know, earn and save money for things that aren’t necessity.

so, head over to daniel’s art page and take a look. these newest ones are made with pen, crayon, stamps and these bad ass pens that have a paintbrush end. he’s in a skeleton phase. at least i’m one of the skeleton’s.