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how Z100 ruined my life

Ljova's Blog - the SoupaSonic - March 20, 2012 - 5:29pm

Age is just a number, and you’re only as old as you feel.  Though my dad has recently celebrated his 65th birthday, he is still acting 20.

But me? I have not aged since sixth grade.

It was in sixth grade “art” class at Columbia Middle School, that I -- a 12-year old scholarship student freshly arrived from Russia with very limited English -- and my classmates, were asked to vote on a radio station to listen to during class. Everyone wanted to listen to Z100  -- everyone but me.

That very moment has remained in my memory for ages, and is easily the root of my dislike of all things pop. I am still that kid, the sole person in the room who wanted to listen to the classical station, instead of Z100.  (This was 1990 -- we didn’t have internet or web radio, but we did have WNCN. )

My understanding of pop music hasn’t matured much since then. To be sure, I’ve heard things that I’ve loved forever -- The Who’s Tommy, The Beatles, King Crimson, Björk’s Vespertine, even some songs by Billy Joel -- but on the whole, I’d sooner listen to Webern’s Bagetelles or Mahler's Symphonies than whatever latest pop thing people can’t get enough of.  

Almost every time I go into a store, I hear muzak and promptly put on headphones, load the SimplyNoise app and pump up my favorite jam - “brown noise”.  The SimplyNoise app has saved me from a good deal of Michael Bolton and Rod Stewart’s greatest hits.

Clearly, I should listen to more music and try harder. But finding good pop music is even harder than finding decent “new” (contemporary, classical, Q2-type) music.  The stuff that plays on commercial pop radio is certifiably horrific, whereas the music on classical/contemporary/jazz/college radio is at the minimum listenable. There’s a certain conception that pop music must be “bad” (as in 80s bad).. perhaps that’s what makes it un-classical.  

My sixth-grade education is holding me back. I crave things that are challenging and cheeky, complex but not poppy.  If there was a genre tag  called “un-poppy”, I would own the entire collection.

To be apprehensive about pop is to be forever socially awkward; to embrace pop is to admit that cooties are healthy (when we all know that they are gross); to stand idly, as I have ever since sixth grade, is polite but ineffective. If listening to pop music scares me, then writing something in that direction scares me even more.  At this point, there’s no way that I can write a straight song in 4/4.

And yet, I feel that it is wrong to hide behind “Classical”, “World Music” and “Jazz” labels. We should all strive to write “pop” music - music that is personal and expressive, creative and current, music that communicates and infects the listener.  It doesn’t have to be pop in the Lite-FM sense, the Z100 sense, or underground sense.  It just has to be good. Smart. Not in the 80s sense.

talking my way out of a Whole Foods paper bag

Ljova's Blog - the SoupaSonic - January 24, 2012 - 1:18pm

Dear Whole Foods,

My name is Lev Zhurbin, and I'm a dad of two boys, living on the Upper West Side with my wife.
We shop at Whole Foods often -- it's very convenient for us - and we find that the prices, for the most part, are reasonable -- some items are more expensive, and some are cheaper than a competing super market - but overall, the quality is much better.  And you make the best diapers.

However, I take issue with the lack of plastic bags available at the register.  I am not a packaging advocate, and if there were such a choice, I wouldn't use any bags at all.

You have to realize, that unlike most other places where Whole Foods operates stores, the overwhelming majority of Manhattan customers, like myself, do not drive. We either walk, take public transportation, push a stroller, or bike. We do not wheel a shopping cart into a parking lot and stack our bags into a trunk.  In that we don't drive, Whole Foods shoppers in Manhattan are already a lot more "green" than others nationwide.

Whole Food Market's insistence on paper bags place Manhattan customers at a disadvantage. 

Here's why:
-- the handles of a paper bag routinely break - especially if you're holding more than one in the same hand. 
-- paper bags get wet in the rain. If you are walking home from Whole Foods on a rainy day, your products will get wet and ruined.
-- if you put a paper bag onto a wet surface, while waiting for a bus, or on a slushy subway platform, the products will also get ruined

In contrast:
-- you can use plastic bags to take out the trash -- and save on buying other "garbage" bags. they are small enough to go down the compactor (trash) chute with a whole day's trash.
-- plastic bags can be used to pack up liquid waste, household dust, and other products.
-- plastic bags can be cinched up pretty tight at the top.
-- plastic bags are smaller, more durable, and have more uses.  As such, plastic bags are more reusable than paper.

Yes, the reusable bags you sell are fine - but they are also bulky, and I would not want to walk around with them all day, just to make a trip to Whole Foods on the way home.

I urge you to consider giving Manhattan customers the option, and offer plastic bags at your checkout registers.  Paper or plastic should be a choice. (Trader Joe's offers just that.)

Sincerely,

Lev Zhurbin      

hooked on ack!

Ljova's Blog - the SoupaSonic - January 10, 2012 - 10:58pm

One of the least gratifying aspects of my experience as a father has been an increasingly cumbersome sense of OCD.  Never leave home without a phone charger, checking all the faucets, checking the lock twice, and so on.

Perhaps it's not fatherhood's fault -- it's just that, if you're a guy shopping for gadgets, you want to be 100% sure that you bought the right thing.  Luckily, there are many stores that support you in this quest, by offering 7-day, 15-day or 30-day return policies. Some stores (Bed Bath & Beyond, for instance) let you return items even 5 years later. (I wish they sold more gear!) Some stores charge restocking fees, some don't. 

However, retail shopping "your local neighborhood" mega-chain-store is limited to the selection at hand - and we all know that the best selection and prices in the world are at Amazon.com -- why would you ever want to spend $50 on an HDMI cable at Best Buy when you can buy it on Amazon for about $3?

Still, Amazon has its downsides -- primarily, you can't touch your product until it's arrived. You can't have it same-day. And, unlike taking the item back to BestBuy, you have to mail it back and, in most cases, pay shipping costs.  Pay? just for trying something? Excuse me, why would I do that? 

So it is with this predicament, and my dose of OCD, that I set out to buy headphones, one pair for myself, and another for my wife.  As a composer and performer who has released three albums on my own, I have heard my share of rough mixes, pre-masters, finals, and I know what a good record sounds like -- therefore I should deserve better than the earbuds that came with my iPhone.  (Though, the thinking goes, it should sound at least half-decent on the iPhone earbuds, as half the world is listening through them anyway.)

I saw people on the subway with the "Beats By Dr. Dre" phones, people who are not musicians, but who clearly care about sound.  However,  in testing, I could not bear to carry the bulk.  Those things take up half the bag, and the mid-range is muddy. I didn't want in-ears. I wanted something light, collapsible, packable, and something that sounded good. Something that preferably had a microphone, so I could take calls in the rain. 

And then, an epiphany - neckband (a.k.a. "Street style", a.k.a. "behind the neck") headphones were my ticket, because then I could wear a winter hat on top.

For the next week or so, I obsessed over neckband headphones, checking out the stock at B&H, Apple Store and Best Buy, any store that had a favorable return policy.   I tried out the Sony MDRG45LP (not collapsible, no microphone, but very cheap), the New Balance NB464B (collapsible and with a microphone, but terrible construction, design and sound for the price), and the Sennheiser MM100, which I returned because they are bluetooth, and that meant charging them every few hours.  

Eventually, I settled on the Sony MDR-G75LW, which have excellent sound and a zippy retractable cord, and only cost $30. I then reasoned that I could get the now-discontinued Audio Technica AT-MP100 Music Phone Headphone Adapter, which would let me convert any headphone into a headset by adding a remote control and a microphone in a cable...

But as I was trying all of this out, I realized -- my head is too wide for all these neckbands. I was getting a headache just from trying them out.  And I couldn't get my winter hat to fit over them. (Should I buy a new hat?)

For me, the lesson here is that the iPhone earbuds are a good compromise.   I'm not a guy who actually listens to music on the go -- I most frequently listen to the SimpleNoise App, to something called "Brown Noise", so as to drown out the music around me, and think about my own.  

Still, if Brown Noise sounds medicore on iPhone headphones, just imagine what it would sound like on those Dr Dre's...  I'd have to give that a try... with the discontinued headset adapter, just to take calls in the rain.  After all, I'm a musician, and I need to listen to things as close to what the artist intended.  Except, please give me a break.  

DISCLAIMER -- if you buy anything using the Amazon links above, I will get some sort of a measly commission. It won't go a long way towards paying our rent, but every penny helps.. especially after all this "research".

January 15, 2012 -- Alexander Zhurbin and Irena Ginzburg at Joe's Pub

Ljova's Blog - the SoupaSonic - December 29, 2011 - 12:43pm

(Русский текст ниже)

Alexander Zhurbin / Irena Ginzburg 
with special guests Inna Barmash & Ljova (a.k.a. Barmaljova)
Sunday, January 15, 2012 at 9.30pm
JOE’s PUB
425 Lafayette Street
New York NY 10003
Tickets: $15 in advance / 20 at the door - buy online or call 212-539-8778

Alexander Zhurbin is Russia's pre-eminent composer of musical theatre, film soundtracks and popular song. His career launched overnight in 1975, when he wrote Russia's first rock-opera, "Orpheus & Eurydice", which went on to be the longest continuously running theatrical production in Russia, after 2500 performances.  Since that day, he has written scores to over 60 films, 6 operas, 45 musicals, symphonies, ballets and concert works.  Thanks to his wide-ranging output and activity, he has often been compared to the "Russian Leonard Bernstein".

Together with his wife, Irena Ginzburg-Zhurbin, they have been co-writing songs and performing internationally for over 30 years -- Alexander at the piano, and Irena singing. 

For this extremely rare New York appearance, Alexander and Irena will be joined on stage by their son Lev Zhurbin (better known in New York as Ljova, leader of his ensemble Ljova and the Kontraband), their daughter-in-law Inna Barmash, as well as special guests.

Александр Журбин, Ирина Гинзбург-Журбина
Лев Журбин и Инна Бармаш (Бармалёва)
15 января 2012 года в 21:30
Joe’s Pub
425 Lafayette Street
New York City
Билеты - 15 долларов, возможно бронировать online, или по телефону 212-539-8778

Александр Журбин - известный российский композитор, автор многих произведений в жанре музыкального театра, саундтреков для кинофильмов, популярных песен.
Его карьера началась в 1975 году, когда он написал первую советскую рок-оперу «Орфей и Эвридика», и, как говорит пословица, «на следующее утро проснулся знаменитым». “Орфей и Эвридика” оказался самым долгоиграющим проектом за всю историю музыкального театра, эту оперу играют и сейчас в том же коллективе, через 36 лет после премьеры. С тех пор Александр Журбин написал музыку к 60 фильмам, 6 опер, 45 мюзиклов, симфонии, балеты, концерты. Благодаря необыкновенному разнообразию и разножанровости его творчества, многие газеты мира называли его «русским Леонардом Бернстайном».
Вместе с женой, Ириной Гинзбург-Журбиной, Александр уже более 30 лет пишет песни, и они вместе исполняют их по всему миру.

15 января в Joe’s Pub произойдет крайне редкое событие: Александр Журбин и Ирина Гинзбург-Журбина будут исполнять свои произведения, а также в концерте примет участие их сын Лев Журбин ( известный в Нью-Йорке как Ljova, создатель ансмбля “Ljova and the Kontraband”) и его жена Инна Бармаш, a также специальные гости.