Last night at APT, a cosy upscale lounge in Manhattan's Meatpacking
District, Wired.com threw a bash for Leander Kahney's new book The Cult of Mac, DJed by the mysterious ultra-geeks Andrew Andrew.
"We're the laziest DJs in New York," said Andrew (or was it Andrew?) as
he turned over the duo's two fully-loaded iPods and cross-fader to the
partygoers: take a number, DJ for seven minutes. (Or longer, in the
case of an editor of Sync Magazine who couldn't get anyone to tag in.)
[ Read more for details and photos; click to enlarge photos ]
Music is a big part of the appeal of the Mac, Kahney told me. "How can
you beat music?" he said, gesturing at the two-iPod DJ rig. He's an
amateur musician himself, though he admitted he was such an awful
singer he even got kicked out of his friends' punk band. His kids, on
the other hand, have mastered GarageBand, even at age eight. (Maybe
they can tutor me on Apple Logic?) Kahney says he's gotten hate mail,
though, from Mac fans who don't appreciate the term cult. My
prediction: many more will wear it as a badge of honor and buy the book.
In between flipping through the new book, which looks absolutely
gorgeous in glossy color and ought to make a fantastic Christmas gift
for your favorite Mac lover, Andrew Andrew offered their favorite
reading tips. Instead of the tech magazines, they prefer Harper's, The
New Yorker, National Geographic, and — most of all — World of
Interiors.
It's amazing how the Apple specialty drink (something with Apple
pucker) will get people chatting. Kahney says he still doesn't quite
get the extreme Mac brand loyalty, and iPod gurus Andrew Andrew
admitted they thought the iPod Photo was overkill. But they bought one,
didn't they?
More on the book once I get a copy. Thus inspired, I may have to throw
myself a party when my book gets printed. Be real nice if you want a
VIP entry.
[More on Andrew Andrew from MacDirectory]
Cheaper than a laptop and Ableton Live but maybe just as much fun for the audience.
BTW, Peter, have you used Live 4.0? Have you already written about it? Have you sampled its impact at a party or club?
If my rabid love of Live 4 hasn't shown yet, something's wrong. :p
As for its impact at a party or club, well, that is greatly dependent on who is using it; it really is like using an instrument. It's great for DJing, though; you have real flexibility in terms of what you can do.
Do you have evaluations, descriptions or vignettes concerning Live4 in your archives or anyplace I can read your writing?
t
The product images on CDM are balanced by your available light captures. Thanx.
There's nothing I love more than capturing light from the source, as opposed to simply taking someone else's light from an, er, product website!
My review of Live 4 is in this month's Macworld Magazine. They usually delay the online version by one month; I'll post that then. Feel free to hit contact and we can chat about it, too, however, and now that the Macworld review is out I hope to do some other Live coverage. Same bat channel.