The SoupASonic

Dear Whole Foods,

My name is Lev Zhurbin, and I'm a dad of two boys, living on the Upper West Side with my wife.
We shop at Whole Foods often -- it's very convenient for us - and we find that the prices, for the most part, are reasonable -- some items are more expensive, and some are cheaper than a competing super market - but overall, the quality is much better.  And you make the best diapers.

However, I take issue with the lack of plastic bags available at the register.  I am not a packaging advocate, and if there were such a choice, I wouldn't use any bags at all.

You have to realize, that unlike most other places where Whole Foods operates stores, the overwhelming majority of Manhattan customers, like myself, do not drive. We either walk, take public transportation, push a stroller, or bike. We do not wheel a shopping cart into a parking lot and stack our bags into a trunk.  In that we don't drive, Whole Foods shoppers in Manhattan are already a lot more "green" than others nationwide.

Whole Food Market's insistence on paper bags place Manhattan customers at a disadvantage. 

Here's why:
-- the handles of a paper bag routinely break - especially if you're holding more than one in the same hand. 
-- paper bags get wet in the rain. If you are walking home from Whole Foods on a rainy day, your products will get wet and ruined.
-- if you put a paper bag onto a wet surface, while waiting for a bus, or on a slushy subway platform, the products will also get ruined

In contrast:
-- you can use plastic bags to take out the trash -- and save on buying other "garbage" bags. they are small enough to go down the compactor (trash) chute with a whole day's trash.
-- plastic bags can be used to pack up liquid waste, household dust, and other products.
-- plastic bags can be cinched up pretty tight at the top.
-- plastic bags are smaller, more durable, and have more uses.  As such, plastic bags are more reusable than paper.

Yes, the reusable bags you sell are fine - but they are also bulky, and I would not want to walk around with them all day, just to make a trip to Whole Foods on the way home.

I urge you to consider giving Manhattan customers the option, and offer plastic bags at your checkout registers.  Paper or plastic should be a choice. (Trader Joe's offers just that.)

Sincerely,

Lev Zhurbin      

One of the least gratifying aspects of my experience as a father has been an increasingly cumbersome sense of OCD.  Never leave home without a phone charger, checking all the faucets, checking the lock twice, and so on.

Perhaps it's not fatherhood's fault -- it's just that, if you're a guy shopping for gadgets, you want to be 100% sure that you bought the right thing.  Luckily, there are many stores that support you in this quest, by offering 7-day, 15-day or 30-day return policies. Some stores (Bed Bath & Beyond, for instance) let you return items even 5 years later. (I wish they sold more gear!) Some stores charge restocking fees, some don't. 

And then, an epiphany - neckband (a.k.a. "Street style", a.k.a. "behind the neck") headphones were my ticket, because then I could wear a winter hat on top.

(Русский текст ниже)

Alexander Zhurbin / Irena Ginzburg 
with special guests Inna Barmash & Ljova (a.k.a. Barmaljova)
Sunday, January 15, 2012 at 9.30pm
JOE’s PUB
425 Lafayette Street
New York NY 10003
Tickets: $15 in advance / 20 at the door - buy online or call 212-539-8778

Alexander Zhurbin is Russia's pre-eminent composer of musical theatre, film soundtracks and popular song. His career launched overnight in 1975, when he wrote Russia's first rock-opera, "Orpheus & Eurydice", which went on to be the longest continuously running theatrical production in Russia, after 2500 performances.  Since that day, he has written scores to over 60 films, 6 operas, 45 musicals, symphonies, ballets and concert works.  Thanks to his wide-ranging output and activity, he has often been compared to the "Russian Leonard Bernstein".

Together with his wife, Irena Ginzburg-Zhurbin, they have been co-writing songs and performing internationally for over 30 years -- Alexander at the piano, and Irena singing. 

For this extremely rare New York appearance, Alexander and Irena will be joined on stage by their son Lev Zhurbin (better known in New York as Ljova, leader of his ensemble Ljova and the Kontraband), their daughter-in-law Inna Barmash, as well as special guests.

Александр Журбин, Ирина Гинзбург-Журбина
Лев Журбин и Инна Бармаш (Бармалёва)
15 января 2012 года в 21:30
Joe’s Pub
425 Lafayette Street
New York City
Билеты - 15 долларов, возможно бронировать online, или по телефону 212-539-8778

Александр Журбин - известный российский композитор, автор многих произведений в жанре музыкального театра, саундтреков для кинофильмов, популярных песен.
Его карьера началась в 1975 году, когда он написал первую советскую рок-оперу «Орфей и Эвридика», и, как говорит пословица, «на следующее утро проснулся знаменитым». “Орфей и Эвридика” оказался самым долгоиграющим проектом за всю историю музыкального театра, эту оперу играют и сейчас в том же коллективе, через 36 лет после премьеры. С тех пор Александр Журбин написал музыку к 60 фильмам, 6 опер, 45 мюзиклов, симфонии, балеты, концерты. Благодаря необыкновенному разнообразию и разножанровости его творчества, многие газеты мира называли его «русским Леонардом Бернстайном».
Вместе с женой, Ириной Гинзбург-Журбиной, Александр уже более 30 лет пишет песни, и они вместе исполняют их по всему миру.

15 января в Joe’s Pub произойдет крайне редкое событие: Александр Журбин и Ирина Гинзбург-Журбина будут исполнять свои произведения, а также в концерте примет участие их сын Лев Журбин ( известный в Нью-Йорке как Ljova, создатель ансмбля “Ljova and the Kontraband”) и его жена Инна Бармаш, a также специальные гости.

Shortly after writing my previous post last year, about using Sibelius on a laptop, I went on a tour with Alondra de la Parra and the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, during which I had to orchestrate a number of songs rapidly, often in tight spaces, such as buses and planes. There was no space to use a keypad (as suggested in the previous post), and the lapdesk was weighing down my bag.

As such, in part by suggestion of Daniel Spreadbury of SibeliusBlog -- I tweaked a solution for working with Sibelius on a MacBook Pro, without extraneous numeric keypads, lapdesks or other accessories except headphones.

This necessitated remapping certain shortcuts into something that works well under one hand, though gratefully the "option" key on the Mac is present on both the left and right.

Here are my modifications - see how they work for you:

Before you read this, please note that I'm using a MacBook Pro with a US English keyboard layout.
Also, this refers to the mapping of the first keypad set, the "common notes" - obviously, it's mirrored on the subsequent keypad sets as well.

Option-1 - Accent
Option-2 - Dot
Option-3 - Tenuto
Option Q - Natural
Option W - Sharp
Option E - Flat
Option A - 1/4 note (crotchet)
Option S - 1/2 note (minim)
Option D - whole note (semibreve)
Option Z - 1/32 note (demisemiquaver)
Option X - 1/16 note (semiquaver)
Option C - 1/8th note (quaver)

Programming such shortcuts necessitated moving other shortcuts around. For example, I had to switch the "Voice 1 / Voice 2 / Voice 3", which would typically be accessed by Option-1/Option-2/Option-3, to Command-Option-1 / Command-Option-2 / Command-Option-3.

In addition to these modifications, here are some other modifications I've made that I find extremely useful in working with full scores:

Option-Command-S -- optimize staff spacing - very useful for full scores and parts alike
Option-Shift-S - select/filter slurs
Option-Shift-D - select/filter dynamics
Option-Shift-R - Rehearsal Mark text (very useful for custom rehearsal marks like "V1", i.e. verse 1)

Hope this works for you - let me know!

As per those arrangements I had to finish on tour, many of them can be seen and heard in this YouTube playlist -- enjoy!

best,
Ljova

I've been a user of the notation program Sibelius since its very first version, having won a copy of it in a raffle at Juilliard, at least 10 years ago.

In recent times, I spend 5 to 15 hours a day composing or arranging scores in Sibelius, whether it's for one of my film score, a concert piece, or an arrangement. Working in Sibelius has become somewhat of a second nature to me, and notating music in Sibelius is much faster for me than with pen[cil]. (Though, for the record - I still use the Moleskine Music Notebook for sketching.)

I've been using Sibelius on a laptop for several years, and have just recently figured out a really comfortable mobile setup, which makes my relationship with Sibelius a lot more productive, at a cumulative cost of approximately $35. There are two principal items you should consider buying --

1) NUMERIC KEYPAD As many users know, many of Sibelius's principal features are tucked into shortcuts that correspond with the functions of a numeric keypad. While the numeric keypad exists on full computer keyboards, you can rarely find it on a laptop keyboard.

To complicate matters, Sibelius's keypad functions are mapped by default to an 18-key keypad that was popular 10 years ago and is scarcely available today. On their website, Sibelius recommends 3 keypads, two of which are $59. There are, however, a couple of cheaper alternatives that work just as well:

a) If you own an iPod or an iPod Touch, you may want to check out the apps NumberKey and NumPad, both of which give you access to an 18-key keypad. Numpad in particular could be convenient, because it has several screens dedicated to specific Sibelius functions. There are two downsides with both programs -- they work over wifi, which creates a slight but gnawing delay between the time you press a keypad button and it registers on the screen, especially if you're on a public wifi network at a college library, for instance. The other downside is that you have no tactile response - you have to look at the pad to make sure you're pressing the right button.

b) If you don't own an iPod/iPhone, or you simply want a tactile response from your keyboard, then you should consider buying this cheap keypad on Ebay, for $5.95 (which includes shipping). This is my personal favorite - it's extremely thin & light, the buttons have great response, and the cord is retractable. It costs 10% of the keypads Sibelius recommends, and does the same thing. This keypad isn't perfect - you'll have to reprogram the top 3 keys to correspond to Sibelius's commands via the Preferences -> Menus & Shortcuts -- but this takes 2 minutes.

2) PORTABLE LAPDESK: If you're going to use a numeric keypad (or an iThing) to speed notation in Sibelius while on-the-go, then you'll need to grow a third leg -- it takes two to hold a laptop, and another to hold your keypad.

My solution, which I found only recently, is the Logitech Portable Lapdesk N315 -- not only does it hold the laptop, but it has a retractable area specifically for a numeric keypad. It's simple, durable and elegant, and affords me to notate in places where a proper table is lacking.

Here's a picture of my setup in action - notice the cheapo numeric keypad on the right, seated on top of the Logitech Lapdesk.

I hope you find this useful, and of course, would love to hear your thoughts.

thank you & all the best,
Ljova
check out my music on myspace, soundcloud and bandcamp
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