Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Or at least, be kind of...sobered and solemn.

James Carroll says, "The religious tradition of Christian fundamentalism is one thing; the tradition of American exceptionalism another. They both have their roots in the same experience. They were separated. Under George Bush they’ve been brought together."

Read the whole interview here.

Alex the African Grey passes on

Just 31 when he died suddenly this past weekend, Alex the African Grey parrot taught everyone just how blindingly smart his people are. I'm sure his person, Dr. Irene Pepperberg, and her staff and students are devastated.

"Alex was in good health at his most recent annual physical about two weeks ago," says blogger GrrlScientist. "According to the vet who conducted his necropsy, there was no obvious cause of death."

Of Alex GrrlScientist also reports, "As early as 1999, he was able to "identify 50 different objects and understand quantities up to 6; he could distinguish 7 colors and 5 shapes, and understand the concepts of 'bigger', 'smaller', 'same', and 'different', and he was learning 'over' and 'under'," according to the New York Times. By 2002, Alex had a vocabulary of more than 100 words."

Gifts in his memory may be made to:

The Alex Foundation
c/o Dr. Irene Pepperberg
Department of Psychology/MS-062
415 South Street
Brandeis University
Waltham, MA 02454
781-736-2195
alex@alexfoundation.org

Don't reply to my Quechup invite

It's not that I don't wanna be your friend.

But if you got a Quechup invite from me, it was unintentional.

I signed up because I got an invite of my own (unintentional, I now realize) from somebody who didn't know Quechup would automatically email everybody in her address book when she searched for contacts.

I've since deleted my account.

Read more about this insidious social networking site here:

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/09/04/quechup-is-rotten-do.html

and here:

http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/archives/2007/09/spam_alert_just_say_no_to_quechup_1.html

Apologies to everyone who may have gotten such a spam invite purporting to be from me!

60 x 60 double CD release

I'm having lunch with The Wonder That Is Daniel today, and I'm bringing him a copy of the new 60x60 CD. Thinking about it, I decided I should tell all of you about it too, again, so you can get one.

It's a double CD, containing both the 2004 and the 2005 60 x 60 international mixes. The 2005 CD is the one featuring my piece, "Cold Blood". Vox Novus and artistic director Rob Voisey did a great job of compiling a mix of styles, and perhaps the coolest thing about it is, if you don't like any particular track, you know it's going to be over in 60 seconds or less. If you're a new music connoisseur you will probably recognize many of the composers involved. So go over to CD Baby and get one!

Greetings from Albuquerque

Tonight I'm in Albuquerque on the night before the National Flute Association's 35th Annual Convention. Dinner was at Fei's Cafe across the street from the University of New Mexico campus, voted Best Vegetarian Restaurant by the readers of the Daily Lobo in 2006. And it was indeed tasty. There was hot & sour soup, pot stickers, veggie stew and curry stew.

I'm here to promote my flute quartet, "Remove Before Flight", which is being read on Saturday and which is available at the ALRY Publications booth in the exhibit hall. I'm also here to promote "Not Made of Stone", which is available at the Flute World booth, also in the exhibit hall. And, to reconnect with flutists I know but haven't seen in awhile. And, further, to hike at Petroglyph National Monument!

Also, on Friday and Saturday morning. I'll be trying yoga for the first time, courtesy of Laura Dwyer.

"Not Made of Stone" now available

Greetings everyone!

“Not Made of Stone” is the debut album by Polly Moller & Company, and the fourth album of my original work. It's full of flutistry, space stations, spoken words, the souls of airplanes, singing, artificial hearts, chiming guitar, brain surgery, driving rhythms, desert road trips, virtuosic solos, and otherworldly atmosphere all lovingly served up by Polly, John, Dan, Will, Jim, and Jeff.

It's now available from Silver Wheel Music, CD Baby, and iTunes.

If you've pre-ordered and therefore already own this album, consider yourself encouraged to write a review for the CD Baby or iTunes page.

Thanks for listening!