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Paul Taylor, It's A Brand New Day was released on Jan 24, 2025. "Saxophonist Paul Taylor’s anticipated new recording and Shanachie debut, It’s A Brand New Day, is his thirteenth recording as a leader. The charming and down-to-earth saxman reveals, “This album in some ways signifies a new cycle for me, as this is my first new recording in three years. The title speaks to my desire to give my fans an optimistic outlook as we approach every brand new day.” The chart-topping saxophonist has enjoyed an enviable career with a string of Billboard#1 hits and collaborations with a genre-crossing list of musicians including Regina Belle, Maxi Priest, Peabo Bryson, Keiko Matsui, The Rippingtons, Peter White, Euge Groove, Michael Lington, Jamie Jones and Marion Meadows. Taylor confesses, “I simply love creating and making my own music. I am the happiest when I am doing just this. It never gets old.” You can read the rest of the review here...

I have had the L’s, L2’s, Cam Pro, K’s. In my opinion the L2’s were the best. When doing the surrounds I used a CD with a 30 hz frequency which plays for 3 minutes. You can spread the glue and let it get tacky then turn on the CD and start to adhere the surround to the frame. It will rattle if it’s off center. You can just push it around to eliminate the rattling. Good job restoring these. They look to be in very good condition. Worth the money to upgrade.

If we are going to chat about “limited series” shows, I’d be remiss if I did not mention HBO’s spectacular series Chernobyl. It’s only five (5) episodes, which is a shame, as I could have watched 10 or more. I remember when the Chernobyl disaster happened - I was in high school. I also remember joking about it with my friends at the time. After watching this impeccably created documentary-drama, I have to admit that I feel like an ass for joking about this horrific event. the entire series is a master class - from the depiction of the initial explosion, to the political ramifications, to the depiction of death by radiation sickness (that will haunt me for the rest of my days), to the second-by-second breakdown in the final episode of what happened that night to lead to the explosion… All of the performances are fantastic, but Stellan Skarsgard flat-out steals the show. He portrays Boris Shcherbina, and his character arc is off the charts - from the ignorant party line bureaucrat to the most touching end scene - he’s excellent. I can’t recommend this series highly enough…

Finished and sounds pretty nice. Beautiful cabinets - real walnut veneer even behind the grill cloth. I think if these were mine, I'd leave the grills off and remove the velcro. I'll shoot some video of the second speakers to share. Owner has me doing one at a time so he can still listen to something

I didn't know where to share this - so we'll call it a cinema experience. For my birthday, we trekked down to the Adler Planetarium for the Pink Floyd 50th anniversary airing of a new 30-minute, four song, US-re-launch event of the album. I noted earlier that I was pretty bored with the story line of Top Gun, (graphics good, but not enough to carry it for me). My wife and I both agreed that the 30 minutes in the dome-theater was light years of travel and graphics. BTW, Planetarium's "Dome Theater" design is like I-Max on steroids!, it's like being immersed in the visuals. We used this multi-camera-perspectives in Imaginarium-style computer generated subservice modeling O&G exploration - but not to this level of quality. I tried to find more about the redo, and information was limited. I even asked the guy in the back of the planetarium running the show - and all he knew was that the cinema/video showed up a couple of months earlier, and they just play it. Apparently, this new piece has only been played in the London Planetarium Dome Theater and the one here, Adler, in Chicago. I presume it would make the rounds - and if you get a chance to see it, I liked it, and thought it a good value for the $20 a seat. The quality of the graphics and movement had to be done with something like Maya - it was just awesome, to me. Could it be better? Sure, more songs, longer..., and reclining chairs. Hint - Sit in the BACK, or you'll miss half the dome-theater-screen experience. There are a couple of scenes that are memorable, including the lunar launch and landing and the fly-through of the Space Station. Here's some extra information I was able to dig up, trailer, etc., - but a small-computer-screen is nothing like the multiple-projector, 18-channel sound, custom-mastered music that they played in the planetarium's dome theater. It's a bit nostalgic, as 50 years ago (video below) they did something like this, at planetariums around the world, by just adding a turntable to a 2-channel PA system designed for a professor to talk about the stars... CBS story on the Adler presentation. https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/inside-pink-floyd-dark-side-of-the-moon-adler-planetarium/ which has some information on it's origin, and the idea that PF had for it, started about 2 years ago. Official Trailer from Adler Planetarium. If you search on YouTube, there are clips of the original launch video, very different technologically, but still pretty cool, from 50 years ago.

OK, Keanu Reeves fans... I saw this movie last night. "Siberia" starring Reeves, Ana Alaru, directed by Matthew Ross. And,..., I'm still trying to figure it out. Pretty deep, intense, best with subtitles and a few rewinds here and there to catch all the dialog. Lots of Russian language. Released just 4 years ago in 2018. If you saw it, what did you think?