Commercial

Some people say that the mainstream media are dead, or at least dying. And to those people I say: Really?! Shut up! I don't want to hear about it!

I love the mainstream media. What other non-specific, amorphous, and quite possibly imaginary entity could generate 100,000 hits in 12 hours for an online piece about soundproofing your apartment? Come on! If this thing ever really does go up in smoke, I'm going to be super depressed. (By the way, even though this section is labeled "Commercial," some of the news organizations listed here are technically nonprofits. So sue me.)

I've written about travel for The New York Times and the The Boston Globe; covered science and technology for The Economist, Wired.com, Technology Review, and Discover; played music critic for The Village Voice, The Albany Times Union, DownBeat, Jazziz, The Forward, and Tablet Magazine; scribbled about home improvement for The Chicago Tribune; and penned pieces on the teaching trade for The Chronicle of Higher Education. I've even written about drugs and music for The Walrus, the leading glossy in my native land (what, you didn't notice the Canadian accent?)—though not, admittedly, in the same piece.

Scroll and click for clips.

• Basya Schechter Sculpts World Music
  The buzz-worthy singer's latest album features poetry by the late theologian and civil rights activist Abraham Joshua Heschel, who was born in Warsaw and marched alongside Martin Luther King, Jr.
  The Forward

• Jews Try To Ban Offensive Music
  It's easy to laugh at reports of music-banning in China or by fundamentalists groups. But ultra-Orthodox Jewish rabbis have also sought to ban music they find distasteful.
  The Forward

• Lost Music of Istanbul's Sephardic Jews
  How a panoply of sounds scattered to a new diaspora.
  The Forward

• Barbadian Wonders Coax Kids Out of Their Shells
  Calm waters, green monkeys, and giant caves: Barbados has something for everyone, no matter how young.
  The Boston Globe

• H2Blow
  Trombonist Rafi Malkiel finds inspiration in water.
  Tablet Magazine

• Ocean Pew
  Though only a tiny fraction of what it was in the 18th century, Barbados's Jewish community—and its 1750 synagogue—still stand proud.
  Tablet Magazine

• 3-D Scanning: How to Put the Real World Into Your Computer
  12 new scanning technologies bring amazing 3-D images into Hollywood, medical care—and home PCs.
  Discover Magazine

• Device Offers a Roadside Dope Test
  Philips introduces a handheld drug tester that uses magnetic nanoparticles to detect traces of cocaine, heroin, cannabis, and methamphetamine.
  Technology Review

• Art Pop Indie Rock Meets Midrash
  A tough room, lousy sound, and half a band.
  The Forward

• Spinning a Good Tale
  A quantum-mechanical effect used in hard disks may hold the key to the development of a hand-held biology laboratory. (Listen to a woman with a posh British accent reading the piece aloud in a Technology Quarterly podcast.)
  The Economist

• Jazzed Up
  Former poet laureate Robert Pinsky gets a rhythm section.
  Tablet Magazine

• In the Spirit
  If you've never understood Kabbalah, music might be the way in.
  Tablet Magazine

• Selective Testing
  Does Big Pharma stand to gain the most from new genetic tests for drug therapy?
  The Walrus

• Speaking in Tongues
  A new technology to help the disabled use the tongue to control machinery.
  The Economist

• Bending Traditions in Ghana
  I was once an African drummer.
  The Forward

• Ukelele Madness
  "It turned into a horrible—well, not horrible ... let's call it a beautiful train wreck of sound."
  Jazziz

• Long-Promised, Voice Commands Are Finally Going Mainstream
  Advances in computing power make voice recognition the next big thing in electronic security and user-interface design.
  Wired.com

• Put a Lid on It!
  Sound advice for making a home quieter.
  The Chicago Tribune

• Microsoft Promises Not to Hoard Crypto-Based ID Protection
  Microsoft has picked up a powerful new online-privacy technology that it says it wants to share ... eventually.
  Wired.com

• To Test or Not to Test? (PDF)
  Navigating the minefield of prenatal testing.
  Parent:Wise Austin

• Symposium Seeks To Save Yiddish Dance
  Scholars take to the dance floor, emboldened by cold beer and hot pirogi.
  The Forward

• Startup Plans to Solve Online Identity Theft, But Does Anyone Care?
  A Montreal startup has a plan to make online identity theft a thing of the past. The only problem? No one cares.
  Wired.com

• Rising Rents Give Rise to Shrinking Audio Studios
  Rising rents and new technology are cramming recording studios into ever-smaller spaces. Welcome to the vest-pocket studio.
  Wired.com

• Lenny Bruce's Mild-Mannered Heirs
  They've got the words, but not the music.
  The Forward

• Hot Cameras, Big Lenses Dominate PDN PhotoPlus Expo
  Thousands of pro photographers and gear-addled amateurs descend on New York City.
  Wired.com

• Audio Forensics Experts Reveal (Some) Secrets
  CSI for audiophiles at the 123rd Audio Engineering Society Convention.
  Wired.com

• Visiting the Hamptons, but Not Paying the Price
  For resort chic on a budget, pitch a tent and sort of rough it among otherwise outrageously expensive seasonal rentals.
  The New York Times

• How to Soundproof an Apartment to Muffle Your Wife's Drumming
  The headline pretty much says it all.
  Wired.com

• Jazz Is the Drug
  The only thing jazz can't sell is itself.
  Jazziz

• The Sounds of Science
  Computer music moves out of the lab.
  The Walrus

• A Plan to Build a Giant Liquid Telescope on the Moon
  Could a lunar liquid-mirror telescope be the next big thing in astronomy?
  Wired.com

• Your Face, Immortalized
  Ever dreamed of being made into a statue? 3-D scanners may soon make your fantasy a cheap reality. (View the accompanying photo gallery.)
  Wired.com

• Toy Fair Resembles CES for Kids
  The big trend at the 2007 American International Toy Fair? Mature technology for young users. (Listen to me discussing this topic on NPR's Talk of the Nation.)
  Wired.com

• A Food Tour of Montreal's Plateau
  Bingeing on Jewish delicacies in my hometown.
  The Forward

• These Elves Are Computerized
  Toy design is going exclusively digital thanks to advances in haptic sculpting tools.
  Wired.com

• The Sound of Hacked Dolls' Heads
  Dan Farkas subjects kids' toys to Borg-like modifications, then makes music with them.
  Wired.com

• The Israel Lobby Debate
  It's either really bad, or it doesn't exist.
  The Jewish Chronicle

• The Sweet Sound of Lapsed Time
  Composer and computer programmer R. Luke DuBois finds a way to traverse 42 years of pop music history in 37 minutes.
  Wired.com

• Life After the Death of Jazz
  Is jazz dead? How can we tell?
  The Walrus

• From Crypto to Jazz
  A new jazz album draws on cryptography and number theory for its riffs and rhythms.
  Wired.com

• Alt-Klez With Oblique, Demented Class
  Clarinetist David Krakauer has a few things going for him that most klezmer musicians don't.
  The Village Voice

• Remembering How the Jewish Theater Turned Into Broadway
  Mr. Spock remembers his career on the Yiddish stage.
  The Forward

• The New Crooners
  Can Rod Stewart save jazz?
  Jazziz

• Sherry (PDF)
  This Spanish import is a world of wine unto itself.
  Bartender Magazine

• West African Blues Eulogy Conjures Desert Lightning
  Malian guitar master Ali Farka Toure recorded one last album before his death from bone cancer, and it was a doozy.
  The Village Voice

• This Pen for Hire
  Trading academia for copywriting.
  The Chronicle of Higher Education

• It Takes a Village
  Neighborhood profile of Greenwich Village.
  The Cooperator

• Great New Bottle for Old Wine
  Satellite radio hits the air.
  Jazziz

• Too Many Dissonant Notes
  Prof. Gelfand gets an "F" in classroom management.
  The Chronicle of Higher Education

• Quiet on the Set
  Soundproofing made simple. Or not.
  The Cooperator

• Two Albums Offer Gems of Gypsy Melodies
  Two bands with a new take on Old World music.
  The Forward

• Brooklyn Bound
  Brooklyn real estate goes through the roof.
  The Cooperator

• A Few Good Men
  Music that doesn't fit the mold.
  Jazziz

• A Gem Among Giants
  Why you've never heard of composer Irving Fine.
  The Forward

• Jazz on Campus
  Middle-school swing.
  Down Beat

• Access Property Management
  All Wayde Scheffer wanted was decent property management. Ultimately, that meant doing it himself.
  The New Jersey Cooperator

• The Role of Your HOA Accountant
  The money minders.
  The New Jersey Cooperator

• Insurance Upgrades
  Switching carriers for better coverage.
  The New Jersey Cooperator

• The Great White Hype?
  She's the queen of the jungle. But can Jane Monheit sing?
  Jazziz