Elaine profile picture

Elaine

And it really was a kitten after all.

About Me


You have been marked on my profile map!
I'm newly unemployed after working as Studio Manager over at Airshow Mastering, a mastering studio based here in Boulder. Also former KGNU Music Director. I've been working in one form or another at KGNU Radio for more years than I like to admit. I'm a fan of music, skiing, biking, movies, anusara yoga and living here in Colorado!

My Interests

Enjoying Colorado be it skiing, biking, hiking, or traveling. Music, of course. And sometimes a nice quiet evening with a friend and a bottle of wine.

I'd like to meet:

More of my friends here!

Music:

Almost too much to mention. I love great guitarists like Robert Fripp, Nels Cline, and Adrian Belew. Also wonderful violins like Carla Kihlstedt and the Kronos Quartet. I finally saw them one summer with my mom. Who knew she'd so love John Zorn!? And the Steve Reich piece, Different Trains, was so powerful.

World music is a huge passion, I miss going to WOMAD events up in Seattle, thankfully got to Caceres for WOMAD in May. WOMAD exposed me to Ensemble Tartit, cementing my fascination with the Tuareg culture. Listening to Tinariwen a lot now. They finally came through Colorado so I did a KGNU special on Tuareg music.

Also a fan of Manu Chao, Ali Farka Toure, Baaba Maal, SambaSunda, Ivo Papasov, Jaune Toufours...

One of my last exciting moments from being a staff member at KGNU was the chance to interview Zakir Hussain. He was very warm and kind and enjoyable to speak with. I hope not everyone asks him about the Beatles, but it seemed a good starting place to me. I don't know how I would have encountered Indian music but for them

I enjoyed working at Airshow Mastering where we worked on people like Ron Miles, Norman and Nancy Blake, Charley Patton, Beausoleil, Laura Love, the Hellboys, Otis Taylor, Dan Bern, Nawang Khechog, Tim O'Brien, Orbit Service, County Road X, and more. Jim Wilson there is an amazing engineer and it was especially fun to be involved with projects by Richard Thompson, Asylum Street Spankers, and those from Arclight Records.

Tune in to me on the air, I'll be doing various shows including Musica Mundi , Jazz and Beyond , and the Morning Sound Alternative on KGNU 88.5fm Boulder, 1390am Denver and online via KGNU.org

Movies:

Where does one start. Some of my favorite movies are: The Year of Living Dangerously and most films by Peter Weir, the Wizard of Oz, Apocalypse Now, almost any Cary Grant film, Thelma and Louise, Spinal Tap, Blazing Saddles. Best movie I recently rented was the US vs. John Lennon. It's got great historical value and good footage of Lennon, as well as a nod to John Sinclair.

Television:

I'm stealing my friend Etan's comment, they're a great band!

Books:

I love to read.
Highlights of 2007 include Joe Boyd's White Bicycles which captures a special place and time in the music business. In studying the Tuareg I discovered the book Men of Salt by Michael Benanev. It's a great travelogue, view of a certain place and time, as well as snapshot of the nearly forgotten desert caravan.
The Lake, the River and the Other Lake by Steve Amick,was a must read for a native Michigander. What a great set of characters with their oddities and some good curveballs at the end to reach a sort of resolution.
The Geographer's Libaray is a fun bounce between contemporary and historic settings.
I did a study group with my yoga teacher on the Bhagavad Gita which I hadn't read since high school. The Easwaran version is quite readable but William Sargeant takes you back to the original text very well.
Last summer I read The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart. It's an older book about the legend of Merlin and the birth of King Arthur. This was a gift from a friend. Later in the year I continued the series, but I've still got one to go!
Also recently I've read John Fowles' The Magus and from Juliet Marillier, The Dark Mirror. I thoroughly enjoyed Jasper Fforde's Something Wicked and I can't figure out how he isn't as well known as Douglas Adams. They share a delicious and intelligent irreverance.
The Daily Adventures of Mixerman may well be required reading for people who think they know the music industry. I've known enough radio people at labels, but to get to know those behind the scenes, the true side of musicians, and what really seems to matter in the biz is just great. Thanks Mixerman for a book that was as educational as it was entertaining.
Every year of late I seem to read a book about the Sahara (previously it was Skeletons on the Zahara about the ship Commerce that ran aground in west Africa in 1815) so another recent read was about Michael Palin's journey through the Sahara.
I also try to get a book about water or fish each year. Most recently I am working through The Philosopher Fish, a very well written update on the Sturgeon.
Another fun read in my geography vein is Longitude, about the quest to determine longitude at sea. How fun that a friend had just been to Greenwich, England where the very watch created is kept.
Generally I like good fiction that carries me away, sometimes fantasies, mysteries, but also books about other places, I am a geographer by education after all. The Kite Runner may well be the best book I read in 2005.

Heroes:

Michael Franti: "How ya feelin?"

Hunter S. Thompson: "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side. "

John Friend: Breathe

My Blog

campus politics

The latest hot issue in Boulder is the selection by the University of Colorado (CU) board of regents of one final candidate, Bruce D. Benson, to be new campus president. University rules require that...
Posted by Elaine on Sat, 16 Feb 2008 09:10:00 PST

Move On for Barack

I just saw the landslide results, Move On members overwhelmingly support Barack Obama for president. And I'm happy to be on the boat.Wednesday morning I had to get up disgustingly early for me. Off ...
Posted by Elaine on Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:18:00 PST

the wandering soul

I've had the last month off and I can't tell you how great it's felt to have some time. For a while at work I just kept thinking, oh, what I'd do with a month off.Actually Airshow and I parted ways b...
Posted by Elaine on Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:16:00 PST

Music faves of 07

I've been working on my list of faves for a while. It's nice to create the list then sit on it a bit and see if it still holds up.So here we go:Richard Thompson - Sweet Warrior, Shout Factory Records...
Posted by Elaine on Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:48:00 PST

Tis the Season

It's finally December and time to be thinking about the end of year holiday exchanges.For so many reasons, I find it harder yet to get into the spirit of buying this season. Today I went to a store t...
Posted by Elaine on Sun, 02 Dec 2007 08:40:00 PST

Culture Collision

These last few weeks I have been immersing myself in the music and stories of the Tuareg people, aka Kel Tamashek - those who speak Tamashek, aka Kel Tagelmoust - those who wear the veil, aka Imishage...
Posted by Elaine on Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:34:00 PST

Happiness Is....

It doesn't quite feel right to automatically categorize my recent happiness. Happiness comes in so many forms. Every day that we wake up. The cat coming by for scritches. The sun coming from behin...
Posted by Elaine on Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:11:00 PST

a case of organic peaches

It seemed like a great deal at the time. Fresh peaches, organic, delivered directly from the western slope. Pay less than at the farmer's market, pick them up on the same day delivered, why not?60 p...
Posted by Elaine on Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:41:00 PST

Keepin Cool

It's interesting to think how reliant we are on our modern appliances when it really wasn't that long ago most of what we own today did not even exist. After all, I've had a cell phone for just over ...
Posted by Elaine on Sat, 28 Jul 2007 09:27:00 PST

Local Eats

Summer time, so many distractions, they've kept me from posting as regularly as I would like on the blog. I realized today I had not spent any time sharing thoughts on the latest book from Barbara K...
Posted by Elaine on Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:51:00 PST