SmithAntics

What’s in your CD and DVD players these days?

I’ve got the Descendants’ Milo Goes to College in the CD player right now. In my opinion, Bill Stevenson is the undisputed king of surf-punk drumming. Not to get too "tech" as Underhill might say, but I can hear a strong Bill Stevenson influence in the drumming of Josh Freese.

As for DVDs, I’m just finishing up Ken Burns’ 10-DVD, over 20-hour Jazz documentary, which Amy got me for my birthday back in August. Burns has been criticized for his "classicist" history of jazz and his neglect of important jazz artists and developments in the late sixties and beyond, but I absolutely love this DVD set -- especially the last few DVDS, which focus on Parker, Gillespie, Miles, Monk, and Coltrane. I've been escaping into these 2-hour episodes for the past several nights and just loving them -- except they make me want to go back to New York so badly.

What are you digging these days?