Fallout

Came across this today by accident. Why should this information be kept private? I realize that it’s part of the language in the test ban treaty, but come on, that’s ridiculous. The public has a right to know. Air quality and radiation readings should be available everywhere! I imagine a website that any person can access to look at current readings across the country, and in fact the world. Could be something on the U.N. website, or a new project for Mr. Gates. http://air.com would be a catchy and memorable URL. What do you think?

Radiation Reaches California: But Don’t Rush for the Iodide Tabs
Minuscule amounts of radiation – “about a billion times beneath levels that would be health threatening” – have been detected in Southern California, fallout from the developing nuclear disaster in Japan. The U.N. keeps many measuring stations throughout the world, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, which keeps all its test results private, detected radiation Friday in a California station. The diplomat who released the news asked for anonymity.

The CTBTO stations run by the U.N. are interesting, set up around the world to monitor atmospheric nuclear testing. Those that have capability to detect radionuclides are scattered throughout the world, from Tahiti to Sand Point, Alaska to Macquarie Island, south of New Zealand, to St. Johns, Newfoundland.

Santa Fe

DigiPak Outside:

DigiPak Inside:

Just the front:

Red and yellow are the colors of the New Mexican flag. Greg Gorman took the photographs of me in Forrest Moses’ house in 2002 or 2003. It was a wonderful photo shoot. Just the two of us and a bottle of wine. No assistants, no make-up person, and no record company people!

It is looking like we shouldn’t have any problems getting the CDs in time for the May tour. And we are still on course for a Summer release of this album by this company, although they will likely design a different cover and use a jewel case.

Orlando, second half

You can download this file here.

This is the second half of the concert in Orlando on January 20th.

We had a trio rehearsal this morning, because Houman already flew to Germany to get his visa. If all goes well, he will join us in Riga on Sunday.

I might not have a lot of access to update this Journal in the next three weeks, but opened a new Twitter account to tell you about our journey as it unfolds. You don’t have to join Twitter to read my posts at http://twitter.com/ottmarliebert. If you are on Twitter you can follow @ottmarliebert. I have had a sleeper account (((meaning I have never posted there))) under an alias for a while and have been following the tragedy in Japan and the events in the Middle East via Twitter. I was impressed with the information I was able to glean. Much of it was of higher quality, and was spread faster, than what was available from the disgustingly sensationalist American news TV channels.

PS: Really, I can play that first piece, a duet with Houman, much better than that. Damn, I choked a few times that evening… I look forward to working on this piece with Houman during the coming weeks. Before this Journal comes to an end at the end of May I shall upload a much improved version.

Tour News

The concert in Trento was moved from April 5th to April 6th.
We are adding Chicago after Minneapolis in May. Details to follow.