The Phoenix Trap

Code, music, philosophy, etc.

Category: Music

  • Tony Levin and Stick Men

    Tony Levin is far and away my favorite musi­cian. Even before I picked up the bass gui­tar, I kept find­ing his name in the lin­er notes of my most-​liked albums. I’ve seen him play with Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Stick Men, and with his broth­er Pete play­ing in their Levin Brothers jazz combo.

    And of course, once I did start study­ing his bass (and Chapman Stick) lines, they were a rev­e­la­tion. Endlessly cre­ative, both dri­ving and being dri­ven by the song, only showy when the moment called for it, flu­id, some­times fierce, always the per­fect mix­ture of tech­nique and emotion.

    I’m due to see Stick Men when they swing down to Houston in two months. Until then, here’s their lat­est EP:

  • Happy birthday to me

    I turn 49 today, so I asked Siri to play me some birth­day music. She imme­di­ate­ly launched into this cheer­ful 1998 tune by The Jesus and Mary Chain. I’m not complaining.

  • New music page

    I’ve added a music page link­ing to the band The Phoenix Trap’s self-​titled CD, in case any­one was look­ing for that.

  • Hello world!

    I’ve had blogs in the past, going back over twen­ty years ago. This time I’m try­ing WordPress as a blog­ging engine, since that seems to be the pop­u­lar option these days.

    Speaking of the dis­tant past, you might be won­der­ing what ​“The Phoenix Trap” is. It was the name of the rock band I was in from the late ​’90s to the ear­ly 2000s. I kept the domain name phoenixtrap.com long after we dis­band­ed, and fig­ure it’s as good a name as any for a blog.