Congratulations to Jason and Tamara Koransky on the birth of their son Abraham!

Because not a week can go by...

Asher's latest ailment is bronchitis.

And now he's on antibiotics for the fourth time in five months.

Why It's Good That I'm Going Back To School In The Fall

I titled the Little Willies/Neko Case review: At Play In the Fields Of Pathos

From a 700-word review, written between meetings today:

The Fox Confessor Brings The Flood (Anti – 5 stars) abruptly raises the bar to a breed of latter-day country that’s not about loss, but rather what’s used to fill the void after the pain of that loss has long since faded. Case’s narrators, trapped by life, seek solace in dime-store remedies like envy, beauty, memory, lust, and tin-pot religion. And through it all, there’s a dim thread of self-awareness casting a melancholic shadow. But, the world of The Fox Confessor is not all vertigo and false anodyne; there’s redemption in the last two songs, though more through steely-eyed acceptance than any sort of deus ex machina.

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes - The Latest Edition

WASHINGTON Apr 25, 2006 (AP)— President Bush on Tuesday ordered a temporary suspension of environmental rules for gasoline, making it easier for refiners to meet demand and possibly dampen prices at the pump.

Yeah, that's what's been driving those gas prices up - those pesky environmental controls on oil companies!

So, I'm closing down my applications for the day, and I come across a still-running Rhapsody... open to the Captain & Tennile page with "Love Will Bring Us Together" in the playlist. I'm horrified, and what's worse, I can't remember why I would have gone to that page. Did I listen to them at some point today?!

This is the musical equivalent of waking up next to an ugly girl after a hard night of drinking, and thinking, "Oh my god, what did I do?"

Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago

The moving thing came up again this weekend. Classic reasons - We eventually want more kids than we can fit in our 1,100 square foot apartment. We can't afford to stay in Park Slope. We can't afford to - and we're not sure we want to - move to a nearby suburb, or any suburb for that matter.

Sure, we're at least a couple of years away from being forced to make any sort of decision, but it's great to worry about it now cuz well, I don't have enough to worry about as it is.

Cities currently being discussed:

Philadelphia
Chicago
Washington D.C.
Boston
Providence

Jobs, social opportunities, proximity to outdoor stuff, and nearness to Sarah's family are also huge factors.

Thoughts, anyone?

It's 420 again, so Happy Birthday to Bernadine, Naomi and Karyn!

And now, for a Ted Nugent break...

From the "Where Are They Now" Files

This guy was my summer camp counselor, long ago. Back in the day, the most felonious thing he ever came close to was his penchant for slightly underaged female campers. Now, it sounds like he's graduated to stealing money from poor black communities.

I'm writing a Down Beat article that pits the new Neko Case record against the debut from the Little Willies, a solid Norah Jones side project that covers classics from Townes Van Zandt, Willie Nelson and others in a roots-rock-sort-of way.

At it's core, the review will probably be a Neko vs. Norah matchup. Two great vocalists. Two different styles. I'm not sure what I'm going to write yet, but I AM sure it's going to be fun.

Any suggestions?

10:15 On A Saturday Night

And actually, the tap is indeed dripping under a strip light. I keep meaning to fix that damn faucet in the bathroom.

I barely need to note it, but Asher's sick. Again.

Sarah's friend Lea calls him the welcome wagon for germs. We don't know any other little kid who gets sick as much as he does.

This time, it's a derivation of coxsackie, a nasty little virus that results in dozens of little sores on the tongue and throat. Suffice to say, eating and drinking are no fun. And as if that's not enough, this latest ditty comes complete with congestion and fever. Wow, has it been a fun couple of days. We tried to take him for a walk today - it was sunny and 80 degrees. He lasted ten minutes, before we retreated back to the confines of the home, the couch, and the Sesame Street Tel Aviv videos that seem to be a preferred solace these days.

On a related note, Asher has recently learned how to blow his nose. Sort of. And while we weren't looking today (and even after we were, but rendered helpless by hysterics), he emptied half a box of tissues, blowing his nose once each time in each tissue even though nothing was coming out. I guess he thought it was funny too, because it was about the only thing that made him laugh today other than the Israeli Oscar the Grouch.

Hey - I'm quoted in the Washington Post today!

I showed up in the press a lot more last year. Getting interviewed as the industry expert was one of my favorite unofficial parts of the job. Sadly, my ad hoc press efforts were so successful that the company decided to hire someone full-time to do press relations.

But, that person's on vacation right now, so I'm fielding press requests. Stay tuned next Friday for a Billboard article in which Isaac pontificates about the growth in sales of Latin music to non-Hispanics, and uses Sarah as an example.

Dear Friends/Family/Co-Workers,

I'd like to thank each and every one of you for the link to the matza rap film. I had not seen it since each and every one of you sent it to me last year. Aren't Jewish things funny?

I have some non-Jewish things that are also funny. Have you seen them?

Here's a story about Neiman-Marcus charging someone $250 for a cookie recipe, so the person decided to pass the recipe around the web to everyone. Hah!

And here's a funny animated movie about the President and a guy that's running for President, and how they are singing a take-off on "This Land Was Made For You And Me."

Oh yes, here is a very funny video - another animation of poor quality. In this one, potty-mouthed lads watch on as Santa Claus and Jesus engage in a violent duel that's ultimately resolved by the benevolent and famous ice skater Brian Boitano.

Happy Passover,
Isaac

Checking In

I'm feeling better, though not 100% healthy, yet. Predictably, Sarah and Asher are now battling stuffed noses and coughs.

Asher is walking! It's more like a Charlie Chaplin wobble at this point, but there's balance and uninterrupted forward motion. He's pleased and I'm delighted. I could watch him walk all day.

Sarah got offered a full-time seven week edit for a long-form documentary on crystal meth use in the inner city. The gig starts in early May, and I might be taking every Friday off for two months to plug the childcare hole. That would be a dream come true - spending Fridays in the late Spring/early Summer with Asher.

Thanks to Jessica in the office and that germ-infested toddler playground in Park Slope, I'm laid out with the nastiest cold in recent memory.

Sarah has all but quarantined me from anything that she or Asher touches. I'm thinking it's a futile gesture, but hoping it's not.

So, today, I'm sucking down orange juice (grimacing at every swallow), limping through some work, and taking long breaks in bed with a crappy old sci fi book.

And That's When I Realized Starbucks Had My Number

When I was a teenager, I got into Gram Parsons and Merle Haggard through the Grateful Dead's rendition of "Sing Me Back Home." In my twenties, the Talking Heads' Remain In Light became one of my faves after hearing Phish cover the whole thing in concert. And I started listening to 1950s do-wop with a whole new perspective after Spiritualized's Jason Pierce spent 10 minutes gushing to me about the genre during an interview.

One of the best ways to discover new music is through the recommendations of artists whose musical leanings you already trust. Enter the Artist's Choice series produced by Universal Music's special projects division (UMe) and distributed through Starbucks/Hear Music.

I came across this series while waiting for my grande soy mocha (no whip) this morning, and was pleasantly surprised - not only by the artists doing the choosing, but also by the songs that they selected. On the racks were mixes created by venerable artists like Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, and the late, great Johnny Cash. The songs were the perfect combination of the familiar and the untested, the old and the new (Rilo Kiley, Mr Costello?!). The packaging was compelling, and the price - at $12.95 - was right.

Of course, I didn't buy anything, since my degree of music snobbery and my access to all of the songs on Rhapsody overrode the impulse to plunk down cash for what was essentially a greatest hits collection. But the desire was definitely there.

This isn't a new idea, these artists' picks collections. In fact, the iTunes Music Store has an entire selection dedicated to it. But their artists and their artists' picks are, for the most part, pathetic pop culture tripe - cobbled together from what the iTunes staff perceives to be the tastes of 15-year-old boys and marginally involved fortysomethings, neither of which is the store's primary audience (trust me - it's my job to know that). I mean, who really gives a shit that the guy who plays Monk on the TV show has an assistant named Natalie and that's why he likes the Killers song "Believe Me Natalie?" And is it any surprise that Courtney Cox likes "Free Bird?"

Even the actual musical artists that iTunes got to play ball are not exactly engendering respect for the section or for their own person with the songs they chose (though Ashlee Simpson gets grudging props for checking Jeff Buckley).

Let me break it down:

Contrary to popular perception, teens are actually coming back to the music market in a big way. In 2005, they bought more CD's than they had since 2002, and they were the only age group to increase the amount they spent on music overall (including digital). By comparison, the 36+ age group - the industry's largest buying segment - slashed the hell out of their spending.

If the music industry wants to recover - or at least speed this metamorphisis into a digital distribution model that may have thinner margins but is certainly more stable than the physical market which has been dropping like a lead zeppelin for the past five years - they need to focus not on the kids (who are all right), but on the moms and pops who still love music (In fact, they cling to it as the last remaining tendrils of a less stressful past). And they're not going to do it by pinging Keifer Sutherland about his love for the pop punk band Snow Patrol.

Starbucks and UMe are onto something with their Artist's Choice series. Elvis Costello's picks will not only appeal to a generation of formerly angry young men (and formerly active music buyers) now collecting their vente lattes and ignoring their Blackberrys for two minutes. But the inclusion of fledgling artist Rilo Kiley in the collection might just send them back to the record store to pick up the band's 2004 release More Adventurous. I know I did.

I got hooked on Arvo Part a little more than three years ago, after reading a profile in the New Yorker. Listening to "Tabula Rasa" today reminded me of that profile and how its without a doubt the most compelling piece of modern classical music journalism I've ever read. If you have 5 minutes, check it out.

Dispatches From Small-Town Urban USA

The Josephson family belongs to the Park Slope Food Co-Op.

It's the oldest food co-op in the country. Only members can shop there, and to be a member, you have to work one shift a month - stocking shelves, mopping floors, packaging cheese, or something of that ilk. My shift is maintenance. Sarah used to put loose tea and spices in baggies, but now she answers phones in the office.

This morning, I dressed Asher in the required Brookyn baby attire (Beastie Boys t-shirt, jeans and a hoodie) and we went to the food co-op to pick up bananas (his new-old fave cuisine). While we were at the checkout, one of the folks working the register cranked up an old Parliament record, got on the intercom and announced, "Today may be April first, but there are no fools in this co-op. Right here, right now, it is April FUNK day!"

Asher, sitting in the front of the cart, stuck a finger in the air and began to bounce in time to the beat. A customer noticed, and called out, laughing, "Hey, that baby's dancing!" Everyone else looked over, saw him and cheered in unison. Musta been 50 people hollering for Asher. He was, of course, oblivious to the attention, and focused solely on the tunes.

Sarah met us afterwards, and we went up to 7th Avenue to take in the little league baseball parade. No matter where you live, the team names are cut from the same cloth - local business establishments who sponsor them. We watched as J&R Television Repair strutted by, punching their mitts. Oscar's Pizza and Warren Lewis Realtors followed in a less orderly fashion; three of their team members were getting into a scuffle over what looked like a giant baseball balloon.