Friday, October 29, 2004

Podcast: Ottmar Liebert and Luna Negra This recording of Duende del Amor is a soundcheck from September 24, 2004 at National Public Radio in Washington D. C. Ottmar Liebert - Flamenco Guitar, Jon Gagan - Fretless Electric Bass Guitar and Robby Rothschild - Cajon. Ottmar Liebert and Luna Negra - http://www.LunaNegra.com 10:54:30 PM

Vizcarra Negra Guitar Vizcarra Negra. The photo shows the back of my Vizcarra Negra, which I sold to a private collector today. This guitar has a very interesting story: Remember the Pimentel Guitar that turned up on Ebay a few months ago? Well, this Negra is related to that guitar. In 1990 I had two Pimentel guitars. The first one played better and was used on Borrasca and some of NF. The second one had a most gorgeous body made from old, old Brazilian Rosewood. Señor Pimentel told me he found the wood in his attic when he moved to a new home sometime in 1989 or thereabout. He said he had aquired the wood in the mid-Sixties and had simply forgotten about it. When my first Pimentel was broken to pieces by an Airline around 1994 or 1995, I approached Keith Vizcarra and we worked out this plan: he was to attach the neck of the second Pimentel to the body of the first Pimentel - because that neck was completely broken - and then rebuild the body of the second Pimentel completely, adding a new Vizcarra neck and his V-pegs. I played this new Negra on every track of Leaning into the Night, except for The Winding Road/La Primavera. I also played the guitar on some of the pieces for christmas + santa fe. I haven't played the guitar in over a year and had promised myself that if I did not play a guitar for a year I would sell it. Maybe the next guitarist will put it to some use. I am not a collector, it seems. There is one more guitar I might sell next year. The one-year mark is approaching for a Blanca by Eric Sahlin, which he made for me in 1995 and which was used on every single recording since then - up until La Semana that is... If you are interested in the Sahlin, look to these pages in January or February. I will put up a notice and a photo of the guitar at that time. Eric has a six year waiting list, I might add, and this guitar is in great condition. [Ottmar Liebert] 10:24:04 PM

Advance of the Lunar Umbra The lunar eclipse of night before last is plotted here against the stars: The white section in the lower right-hand portion of the diagram is an inverted version of the near star field photograph from the eclipse set. The eclipse photograph is overlayed on a scan of map 10 of Wil Tirion's Sky Atlas 2000.0 The program, Sky (for the HP-48) calculated the position of the eclipse maximum to be lamda=73.7792, beta=0.06, which translates to western Aries at R.A. = 2h 10" 33.6' and decl. = +13.44°. The second contact, which is the moment represented by the star field photo occured 41 minutes before the eclipse max. As the moon advances on the 'fixed stars at a rate of 360° every 28 days, the 41 minutes of lunar advance add 1.46 minutes to the Right Ascention. So, the penciled in circle is this new predicted location for the second contact. By comparing this to the photograph (the two reference stars have light gray circles around them) the moon was observed about three quarters of a degree the the west of the predicted location. The major source for this error is most likely my failure to take the advance of the umbra into account. Also, I used Ephemeris 1950.0 numbers for the Sky program so that may be the source of some error. [101-365] 10:16:56 PM

Abstract Dynamics From Ohio Four More Days. In Ohio via D4D. Things are hardcore, swift boat veterans on TV as I write this. I've met about as many Bush as Kerry supporters, true swing. Still there are a lot of us here on the ground working hard. The air is confident yet tense. We will win this thing. More to come. [Abstract Dynamics] 10:11:42 PM

Rottweiler Call Dog dials 911, unlocks door to help owner with seizures. RICHLAND, Wash. - Faith, a 4-year-old Rottweiler, phoned 911 when owner Leana Beasley fell out of her wheelchair and barked urgently into the receiver until a dispatcher sent help. Then the service dog unlocked the front door for the police officer. [azcentral.com | thebuzz] 6:11:15 PM

Civilian Deaths 100,000 civilians may have died in Iraq conflict. Study suggests most of those killed were women and children. [news@nature.com] 8:11:58 AM

Northern AZ Flagstaff blanketed in white. Flagstaff has 9 more inches of snow on Thursday, guaranteeing that it will have the snowiest October in 30 years. {s} Snow, rain in state Flagstaff gets heavy snowfall [azcentral.com | republicfront] 7:16:31 AM

from firemind Sundial. firemind posted a photo: In a garden on the Legislature grounds. By (firemind). [words - Everyone's Tagged Photos] 6:57:55 AM