Pianist d'Aurellius

Currently, the 'headboard' part of the bed is completely vertical and we have no idea how to flatten it again. Presumably, once that's done, you just lift the side to turn it back into a couch. The problem is that there are no levers, buttons, catches etc. that we can find. Anyone know how to release the headboard to flatten the damn thing?

I'm moving to NYC in late August, and I hope to get an apartment somewhere in Harlem or on the Upper West side, near the music schools (sort of between 80th street and Columbia U). As much as I'd like to get something locked down right away, it seems like renters are in and out so often it might not even be possible to start looking until much closer to August. Also, I find a good listing today, would it even be worth calling and trying to get it starting in August, or would most landlords only deal with people interested in renting immediately?

How should I go about this? I've heard it's a good idea to buy a pay-as-you-go plan from Orange that can be used in all the places I'm going to (London, Paris, Pisa, Florence). I've been thinking, however, of just turning off the data on my phone (unless I get stranded and really need it) and just relying on wi-fi. Why might this be a bad idea? I suppose calling and texting would be outrageously expensive? Any advice appreciated.

Just got an unlocked iPhone 4 built to the Verizon specs thinking I would be switching to Verizon. Now I might be sticking with AT&T, so I'm wondering if I can stick a SIM card in it and use it? Also, might I be able to do the same thing in Europe on the Orange network?

I'll be visiting some schools in London this summer, and I've been asked to provide some sort of 'police check' before coming. The best I can find online is that you have to go to a UK police station and ask for a background check. I live in the US, though, so is there any way to request one, and to have it sent to the people who asked for it?

That's right; I want to know about that club that you only tell your friends about, that loft where the next generation of painters or musicians is getting their lives' worth of undeserved neglect, that spot that only you know about. Anything that you know of which is off the beaten path, either unfairly underreported or a well-kept secret. Restaurants, shops, parks, galleries, music venues, great parties that have been going non-stop since 1966 etc. Thanks!

Can someone please explain the implications of this clause in the Uniform Commercial Code? It's article 1, section 207:

§ 1-207. Performance or Acceptance Under Reservation of Rights.

(1) A party who with explicit reservation of rights performs or promises performance or assents to performance in a manner demanded or offered by the other party does not thereby prejudice the rights reserved. Such words as "without prejudice", "under protest" or the like are sufficient.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to an accord and satisfaction.

What does this entail in practical terms?

I am putting on a concert series featuring two piano works. The first concerto with feature the following program:

Adams - Hallelujah Junction

Poulenc- Sonata for Two Pianos (NOT the four-hands sonata)

Rachmaninoff- Symphonic Dances

Lutoslawski- Variations on a Theme of Paganini

We're looking for as many interesting pieces as we can to fill a few other recitals; the criteria is that they must have been written for two pianos or arranged and published for that ensemble by the composer (discounting piano concertos with the orchestra arranged for piano II). For example, Beethoven's Grosse Fugue would qualify, but we're not going to subject an audiance to that particular masterpiece.

Here are things we've already thought of:

Copland- Danzon Cubano and El Salon Mexico

Liszt- Concerto Pathetique

Ravel- Sites Auriclares

Brahms- Haydn Variations, Sonata Op. 34b

Any other suggestion?

Despite the fact that I agree with alot of what they say, this year I will be satirizing the Occupy Wall Street protesters' general lack of any idea what they're doing in a protest in my hotly anticipated 2011 halloween costume. I'd like to have as many signs plastered on myself as possible, none of which should give the reader any idea of what I'm angry about or what I want changed. Feel free to give as many as you can think of. No need for them to make sense as a set; I'll just put them on different parts of my body :).

Lots of things in quotations, I know. 'Complete' of course, because a complete tree would be ridiculously complex, and because some so-called species are not always so discreet as we would like to think of them. Family Tree is in quotes just because this implies a pretty complete genealogical chart with all the blanks filled in, which I know is not entirely possible.

You see, I'm reading The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins, and he gives a great piece-by-piece account of every species that has led to us, homo sapiens, as he goes backwards in time. Consequently, every chapter in the book has a nice family tree showing where a particular species' ancestors 'meet' (i.e. were the same as) our own ancestors. This is great, but it's necessarily restrained to the humans' lineage. I'd very much like to see a more complete version of the tree that gave rise to modern species. I know it'd be vague and incomplete in places, but does something like this exist anywhere?

There are two notes that seem to be in strong contention in the fugue here, and they're both B-sharps. The first one is the fifth note of the subject where it appears in m. 32, altering the g-sharp minor framework of that measure in a characteristic Bach tradition of moving briefly towards the subdominant near the end of a piece. It should be noted that this isn't the only B-sharp in that measure, it's just sometimes played as a B-natural to maintain the original form of the subject. The other B-sharp is, of course, the Piccardy third at the end that some performers to and others don't. I'll admit that I have only really listened (i.e. repeatedly) to recordings by Gould, Tureck and Hewitt, my favorite Bach interpreters. Here's how they fall on these issues:

Gould: Altered subject (B#) and no piccardy third (B-natural)

Tureck: Original subject (B-natural) and piccardy third (B#)

Hewitt: Altered subject (B#) and piccardy third (B#)

Clearly, with so much dissent (or confusion) on the part of my idols, it's impossible for me to decide. I lean towards the same choices as Gould, since I feel they make the most sense musically (piccardy thirds should have ended with just-intonation, or even with motet-writing), but my urtext (Baerenreiter) gives it the way Hewitt plays it. Since hers is the most modern interpretation and my urtext is relatively current, logic tells me this may be the way it's meant to be.

What this all boils down to is more simple than I've made it, then; does anyone know where the common (apparent) misconception comes from that 863 is one of the few fugues that Bach chose to end in the minor mode? And/or if there's a similar situation with the raised third degree of the subject?

I was reading Midnight's Children and I came across this paragraph:

"My uncle Hanif played rummy dedicatedly; but he was in the thrall of a curious obsession--namely, that he was determined never to lay down a hand until he completed a thirteen-card sequence in hearts. Always hearts; all the hearts, and nothing but the hearts would do. In his quest for this unattainable perfection, my uncle would discard perfectly good threes-of-a-kind, and whole sequences of spaces clubs diamonds, to the raucous amusement of his friends. I heard the renowned shehnai-player Ustad Changez Khan (who dyed his hair, so that on hot evenings the tops of his ears were discolored by running black fluid) tell my uncle; "Come on, mister; leave this heart business, and just play like the rest of us fellows." My uncle confronted temptation; then boomed above the din, "no, dammit, go to the devil and leave me to my game!" He played cards like a fool; but I, who had never seen such singleness of purpose, felt like clapping."

I kind felt like I'd been punched in the stomach and I had to re-read it a few times. What's your favorite passage that just makes your eyes light up?

My laptop has a webcam button, and I can see the little camera, but I can't figure out how to turn it on! Is there some special program I need to run or something? The laptop is custom built, but I'm hoping there's some universal, sensible process to using the camera.

My license is being suspended by the Oregon DMV for the month of October, but I don't live in Oregon. The letter I got from their DMV says that I must give my license to a DMV office and that my OREGON driving privileges are revoked for the time period. Does this mean that I just can't drive in Oregon? Do I have to mail them my license or something? Any detailed explanation of what I'm allowed and required to do is greatly appreciated.

I'm always seeing recordings that claim to be an authentic performance by the composer or by some great artist, preserved on Welte-Mignon type piano rolls from the 1900s-1930s. I've heard, however, that these are not always completely 'accurate' in their reproductions, and that sometimes the only thing that makes the performance sound even acceptable is the work of sound engineers post-performance, sometimes many years after. Does anyone know to what extent a piano roll recording is an accurate reproduction of the original playing? How far should I trust these in terms of dynamics, tempo etc.?

If your dignity is offended by being forced to choose just one, feel free to list several, but I'd like to hear your justifications for at least one with respect to:

-Musical/Harmonic language

-Technical writing for the soloist

-Technical writing for the orchestra

-Balance between piano and orchestra

-Innovative or creative form

I am perfectly aware of the above information on most of the really-standard repertoire concerti (e.g. the Beethoven, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Grieg, Saint-Saens, Prokofiev concerti), so I'd really like to hear something about some lesser known pieces (for example, I ask this question with the concerti of Vaughan Williams, Scriabin and Respighi in mind). Of course, I will still appreciate your answer if it details one of the more 'standard' pieces above.

I have one of those radio consoles that slides down to let you put in CDs behind it; the other day the entire setup just stopped working while I was listening to a CD, which is now stuck, as far as I can tell, in the reader. I can still slide the console up and down OK, but the audio system itself won't turn on at all. Even the eject function, which used to work even without the keys in the ignition, is dead. Any ideas on what's wrong with my radio, how I can fix it, or how I can at least salvage my CD?

My LaCie external hard drive won't let me edit or delete files or their contents; I've traced this to the fact that the 'read only' box is checked on the Properties menu. When I uncheck the box and click apply, the computer says it's applying changes to all my folders and files and the hard drive whirs for about thirty seconds as if it's doing so. However, when I close and re-open the Properties box, that option is still checked, and files still cannot be edited. I am an administrator on my computer already, so what else can I do to fix this?

My old computer is totally useless now, and I've moved all my files to an external hard drive so that I can easily access them from my new computer or any other computer. However, I've found that I can view but not edit all files saved onto the drive from the old computer. I cannot delete files or folders or edit any information within said files if they were created via the old computer. Files saved onto the hard drive from the new computer do not have this problem. How can I grant editing rights to the new computer so that I can delete and edit old files on the hard drive?

What is your favourite (piano) piece that you've ever heard done, or would like to have heard done, as an encore to a good performance? I particularly enjoyed Garrick Ohlsson's playing of a Rachmaninoff prelude after one of his concerts (eight ovations and three encores!), and it got me wondering what pieces people generally like to hear, or would like to hear...