Alfred Schnittke scores a ballerina on a boat

I've now been living at home in The Concord for 2 weeks, maybe more? I've mostly been in a responsibility-free coma so it's hard to keep track of time. During my occasional waking hours I plot my escape to Alaska, take naps, gorge on music and books, and I've also been blog surfing. The Bad Plus pianist, Ethan Iverson, keeps a pretty rad blog that has all sorts of youtube nuggets and interesting bits on music.

Some links courtesy of Mr. Plus:

This soviet-era cartoon is terrific.













The music is by Alfred Schnittke, who has become my latest Russian love interest.












A fascinating profile by the Times on giant record producer Rick Rubin and his thoughts on the future of the music industry. Please, Mr. Rubin, save Metallica...