It's not rare to see former Major League sons in Major League uniforms, but is it unusual to find four in one clubhouse?

Compulsive purchases are so often wrong that I nearly put this one back on the shelf. I'm glad I didn't....

Video: The Hard Quartet – “Rio’s Song”

Directed by Jared Sherbert. From The Hard Quartet, out October 4 on Matador.

The whole idea of an indie rock supergroup is kind of ridiculous but here we are. The Hard Quartet is Stephen Malkmus from Pavement and Matt Sweeney from Chavez, both on Matador Records, plus Drag City’s Emmett Kelly and Jim White. Put ’em together and what have you got? Skibidi-Bobbidi-Boo!

The song’s good (we love the 90s!) but the video’s great. Especially if you’re familiar with the Stones’ 1981 “Waiting On A Friend” promo. They went to great lengths to capture the vibe. Director Jared Sherbert told Pitchfork, “The original staircase is now surrounded by businesses, so we shot at the nearly identical staircase next door. The St. Marks Bar & Grill is gone, and, although there was another bar in the neighborhood with almost the exact same layout, International Bar was incredibly accommodating and encouraged us to shoot there, which just felt right for this. The apartment window with the guy daydreaming has changed, but a neighbor a few doors down let us use hers.”

Sweeney captures Mick’s aura without stooping to an impression while Malkmus totally nails Keith’s elegantly wasted swagger.

Read more at Glorious Noise...

[Afropop] Mali's Habib Koité has led a storied career since he burst onto the scene with his award-winning debut album Musa Ko in 1995. Now, eight albums later, he's returning to our shores with a quartet in a unique show to celebrate Mande Sila: the way of the Mandingo empire, symbolizing languages, cultures and music of West Africa. Koité, on guitar, will be joined by kora player Lamine Cissokho, balafon master Aly Keita and percussionist Mama Koné. Tour dates here. The tour includes a

 I ’m in an impromptu drag race against a 19-year-old Honda City and I’m losing. A hint of smoke from that car’s tailpipe tells me the engine has crossed 5,500rpm and found its second wind. I can almost see the grin on Hormazd’s face as that happens.

A short run and a couple of gears later, we slow down and resume adult behaviour. This is only the customary four generations of Honda City photo shoot in Noida – the cars have a 6,000km road trip ahead of them.

Why are we going on a 6,000km road trip? Well, it has been 20 years since the Honda City first showed up on Indian roads. 20 years since a sea change happened to how we look at cars and what we expect from them. In these 20 years, we also started getting the roads to drive these cars on; and the first one of those roads was the Golden Quadrilateral.

The planning for this mother road, which links the four big metropolitan cities in India, was completed in 1999 – a year after the Honda City came to India. Construction of the road started in 2001, but then it took another eleven years to complete. In that time, Honda reinvented the City many times. From starting out as a simple, low-slung family car powered by the first 100hp motor in the country, the City went from first-generation swan to second-generation ugly duckling, and back to swan for the third generation. All of this happened while the government was still looking for funds and facing problems with land acquisition to complete a six-year project that ended up taking many more. Oh well, nothing new there.

To celebrate two decades of Citys, we are going to drive four generations of the Honda City along the length of the Golden Quadrilateral. For us, this is both, a documentary and a trip down memory lane. It is a documentary of the state the Golden Quadrilateral is in all its time of existence. The trip down memory lane? That’s just an excuse for a road trip.

Capital to financial capital
You forget how low old cars are; and so, when I drop into generation one’s seats, I let myself drop a couple of milliseconds early. The seat is lower than where I expect it to be. So a clumsy fall and a small wince later, I swing my legs in, slide the analogue, ‘browned-from-wear’ key into the starter and give it a twist. This 80,000km-run, 1999 City EXi has no trouble starting. MH-01-Y-9111 is Parsi-owned and according to its owner, is used twice a week to get his aged relatives to Bombay Gymkhana and back home. Asking it to do a cross-country run at this age seems absurd, until you actually drive it. It runs like it left the showroom recently – the dampers have spring in them, the engine still has the energy of a teenager and in no way does it feel like it left the production line nearly two decades ago.

 Anyway, you realise how much a modern car pampers you only when you step back a couple of decades. I have no clue how anyone ever reversed a car without a reverse camera or, at the very least, parking sensors. I also soon realise that all the connectivity I have is through the steering wheel, the pedals and the seat of my pants. There are no distractions in here – the simple dials light up in the same shade of tungsten yellow as the analogue dials of a 1990’s hi-fis (remember those?), voice commands come in the form of you singing ‘Another day in Paradise’, and you actually have to rotate a dial to vaguely set the air conditioning somewhere between red, blue and comfortable. This lack of distraction is good because this bit of GQ that runs through Haryana demands you pay attention.

Through the many villages that line the road are oblivious bikers, lazy cattle and swerving multi-axle trucks. In fact, the absolute lack of in-built safety is the one consistent thing we will see all through the rest of the drive. I will blow a gasket about this, later.

Anyway, the oldest City is still such a hoot. Because you sit so low to the ground, the sense of speed is enhanced and 100kph feels like 150! The engine snarls when you’re in low gear and high revs, the linear throttle response – it is all there!

Take the rose-tinted glasses off for a second, though. This is a family car that we considered sporty because when it came to India, the competition was still fighting about leaf spring settings! You also feel a bit unprotected. Two decades ago, you probably had to buy an S-class to get ABS and airbags as standard; and two decades ago, A-pillars were slimmer than a Victoria’s Secret model and the tyres were narrower than her waist. Out on a six-lane unpoliced highway, all of this leaves you feeling rather naked.

But you forget all that the minute you cross over into Rajasthan. Here, there’s ample space to wind out that 16-valve engine. The wide, open corners remind you why a low centre of gravity is so important in carrying big cornering speeds and the new MRF rubber we’ve fitted on the car keeps it secure.

Also helping our cause are the roads through Rajasthan and Gujarat – wide open stretches, six-lanes, and that odd blithering idiot on a motorcycle to keep you on your toes. The old City runs beautifully all the way and we arrive in Mumbai to swap into the second-generation car.    

Financial capital to traffic jam central
Blasphemy. The fans were up in arms. Honda had forced the Fonz to return as a college professor for season two. The second-generation City lost 23hp to the old car, looked almost as proportional as a Picasso painting and was about as exciting to drive as a white refrigerator – but Honda knew that the mid-sized customer’s needs had changed. He now had two kids, parents who were getting on in age and a wife who no longer enjoyed bouncing off the 7,000rpm limiter on the way to the supermarket.

 The second-generation City brought in practicality and (at a later stage) ABS and airbags. The old parents could now slide into the higher seats easily, three weeks of toys and diapers would fit in the big boot and the wife stuck it in fourth gear and smiled all the way to the kitty party.

I will agree with how practical it is. Leaving Mumbai during packed traffic, I appreciate the light clutch, the utterly light steering and the easy gearshift. For the 40-odd kilometres to Panvel, I am entirely happy to be ensconced in the ungainly proportions because it feels like I’m driving a toy.

Then we hit the six-lane Mumbai-Pune Expressway leg of the Golden Quadrilateral. I wind out the engine (it doesn’t complain), I lean on the skinny tyres (they protest loudly), I look for some excitement (there’s none). My pulse rate slows and I ask my colleague to take over the wheel. The back seat, I find, is the best place to be in this car. It is really comfortable and as different as night and day from the low-slung dungeon that the first-generation car’s rear seat is.

It is impossible to fall asleep, however, because once we cross Pune and get on the Bengaluru stretch, this bit of the GQ deteriorates. The tarmac is lumpy and Maharashtra easily outguns all other states when it comes to the league of oblivious motorcyclists/pedestrians. Joy has to punch the brakes often, swerve to avoid the drunk ‘bhau’ heading home and, overall, it is chaos all the way to Kolhapur. Then, as we approach Karnataka, the traffic thins out, the road widens and the feeling of space increases. This directly influences everyone on the road. Since they no longer have to jostle for space, everyone is calmer.

The stretch of GQ after Kolhapur, all the way to Bengaluru is mile-munching paradise. Since there’s little traffic and the road has broad shoulders, you can maintain consistently high average speeds without breaking speed limits. We are in Bengaluru just in time for rush-hour traffic – Google Maps tells us that it will take us 45 minutes to cover the 6km to the hotel! The second-generation car reminds me why it is the way it is, again in this bumper-to-bumper jostle for inches of space. It’s been a good drive but I’m glad to jump into the more exciting generation three City.

Traffic jam central to the City of Joy
On a morning when most Honda Citys are on the school run or on their way to the office, there was one hooning around on a racetrack. See, the GQ happens to run past my favourite Indian racetrack – and what better way to prove the third-generation City’s practical and fun credentials than a flat-out run on a track with a boot full of luggage. We’ve also fitted the car with wider 195-section MRF Perfinzas which should take care of our original grouse with the car – its narrow, fuel efficiency-biased tyres. I go in for a couple of laps and discover that the engine likes being wrung out, and that the tyres allow for much higher cornering speeds than I remember.

Just as I’m getting into the groove again, the officials tell us that our time is up and we need to get a move on. I promise you, the luggage in the boot stayed ironed.

We have a long way to go in addition to the mad run we’ve had on the superb stretch from Bengaluru. We’re going up the east coast and come across the best stretch of the GQ we’ve run so far – the bit before Vijayawada. I say it is great not only because it is six-lane perfection but because it is well-marked and well-lit, as well. There still are no real safety measures in place and this has been a constant through our drive. I feel they have built this fantastic road that allows for high speeds; but have left safety in the hands of the nimbu-mirchi, and the deity on the dashboard. Every village along the way has direct access to this road. There are few barriers to prevent out-of-control vehicles from careening off the road or jumping the median into your lane. There is no one to stop people from driving down the wrong side of the road; and animals freely roam this highway. It blows your mind when you actually drive down this otherwise modern road and see the number of unnecessary accidents and roadkill. It turns what should be a relaxing drive into an on-your-guard drive.

The generation three City, however, is a great long-distance car as long as you are not pushing it. That CVT gearbox (never my favourite) is great at cruising – but when you need to power out of a situation, it simply makes the engine feel strained. That aside, I’m enjoying the ability to listen to all the songs on my iPod (this generation was one of the first cars in India to altogether delete the CD player from the options list) and the seats are great, too. We make it to the Howrah Bridge and somehow land up in a hotel that serves only vegetarian fare. Picture eyes rolling.

To the capital
That bit about the GQ being completed in 2012 is not entirely true and we discover it just as we cross the Bihar border into Uttar Pradesh. For about 100-odd kilometres, all the way past Varanasi, the road is full of diversions past yet-to-be-constructed flyovers. In fact, it reminds me of how the rest of the GQ was, a decade ago. This whole belt is dismal. All the way from Jharkhand, through Bihar and UP, is one big dustbowl, and I’m quite glad I’m in the fourth-generation City, for this one. The seats are supremely comfortable and the superb sound system helps me ignore the slightly intrusive drone from the diesel engine. Once past Varanasi though, UP’s GQ improves considerably – although to no better standard than the rest of the country; or so I thought. We cheat a bit on the way back and take a part of the new Lucknow-Agra Expressway. This is a road that you could compare to anything you would drive on in a developed country. Properly barricaded, well marked with reflective signs  and lane markings, it makes the Golden Quadrilateral seem, well, a bit last-century.

The fourth-generation City is superb here. It is a fantastic cruiser and I love the way it delivers power – it is responsive and also so fuel-efficient, it easily covers the distance between Kanpur and Noida on a tankful of diesel. When Honda introduced this engine in the City back in 2014, it was way the last entrant in the segment, but it was worth the wait. What a nice engine this is! We surf along the diesel’s wave of torque on the Taj Expressway, and we are in Noida before we know it.

The end
Ultimately, there’s so much you learn from a trip like this. One, India has done the typical thing of going ahead and making a great road; and lost interest in building the rest of what such roads need to keep them safe. Two, our driving standards need to improve – the general Indian has no idea how to use a road like this and they need to be educated in etiquette. We saw a man meditating cross-legged in the fast lane in Bihar, we saw another who thought it was ok to ride flat-out in the middle lane in the wrong direction. We had truckers veering into the fast lane for no reason, cows chewing the cud around fast, blind corners, cyclists, poorly marked diversions – and the works. It is high time we did something about this callous attitude to life.

The Honda City, on the other hand, has progressed with the times. A trip like this shows you how diverse India is and developing a car that pleases everyone, is quite the task. The first generation introduced us to what good engines should be like, the second generation showed how good thinking out of the conventional three-box sedan can be, the third generation mixed everything the first two generations had and wrapped it in a good-looking suit, and the fourth generation added a layer of finesse to the third generation’s quality. It’s also impressive that no matter what their age, all four (well-maintained cars, mind you) ran faultlessly. So, like we said, it is extremely difficult to build a car that suits everyone’s needs; but a drive like this shows that the City’s wide range of talents help it do a pretty good job of that. 

OUSEPH CHACKO

Big Richard formed to play a one-off festival gig, then the quartet fell in love with playing together.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Radiant Rose Quartet by Brian Davis is a(n) Limited Edition. The Edition is Limited to Limited Edition of 295 pcs

While there's always an impressive power hearing a full symphony fill a room with sound, there's a stirring subtlety that can only be achieved via classic music on a smaller scale.  That's a sonic itch that the Spokane String Quartet is always happy to scratch. Before the Spokane String Quartet takes the stage at The Fox this Sunday for a program featuring special guest pianist Archie Chen, we caught up with violinist Amanda Howard-Phillips—who has played with the quartet since 2011 and  is also second violin in the Spokane Symphony — to chat about the communal expression of string quartet music, SSQ's upcoming shows, and the unique place the group occupies in Spokane…

I am currently trying to start a GarageBand project on a Mac, but am having problems with the AVID Quartet preamp (?) on this computer. (This is a borrowed computer and I can't disconnect the Quartet.) Is there anyone in the Back Bay/Copley area who can come in for an hour or two and help me get this set up so I can record?

From working as a cloakroom attendant at Ronnie Scott's in jny: London to performing on the club stage to a sellout audience with one's own quartet is quite a journey. It might sound like a corny plot from a TV series, but since playing their first show in 2021, Finn Carter and his quartet have gone from strength to strength with a string of sold-out shows, including playing the main show at the venerated Ronnie Scott's and headlining the Brick Lane Festival... [ read more ]

Echoes of the ballroom, barroom, bordello, circus, concert hall, and jazz club intermingle with folk traditions from around the world to create a new hybrid form. Step right up! Step right in… to Little Big Top, the charming debut album from a new quartet led by accordion legend Guy Klucevsek (kloo-SEH-vik) with visionary trumpeter Volker Goetze...

The jazz great evokes this music’s golden era on a new set of live songs.

Truffaz remains one of the most consistently creative trumpeters around.

[Written by Stephen Wright] Muay Thai fighter Ashton Bell will be eyeing his second title at the Tournament of Champions at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio, next week. Bell [10-2] claimed the super-middleweight crown in the Novice Division when he debuted at the tournament in Des Moines, Iowa, in 2021. The 29-year-old, who […]

Wednesday, November 20, 2024 7-8:30PM: Speed Dating 9PM: Concert featuring the Isidore String Quartet Find your perfect harmony among music-loving singles* in your age group by participating in 8-minute speed dates while enjoying catered appetizers on the historic Princeton University campus! Everyone will then head over to the concert hall to experience the trailblazing Isidore String Quartet. May you enjoy Isidore with a fellow music-lover you adore! Age Groups: Group Do: 24-39 Group Re: 40-59 Group Mi: 60+ Tickets for the full evening—admission to both the Do-Re-Meet event and the ensuing concert—are $50 General/$25 Student (an $80 value). If you already have a ticket to the concert and want to add on this experience, please contact us. *This event is designated for individuals seeking heterosexual connections. There will be an LGBTQIA+ and Allies Mingle on Saturday, December 7, 2024. To learn more about the Do-Re-Meet program and see more of Princeton University Concerts' social events for music lovers, click here. This event is presented by Princeton University Concerts. For a full event listing and tickets, please visit this link. Presented in partnership with TheSinglesGroup.com and Olsson's Fine Foods.

About the Event Part of the Princeton University Concerts (PUC) Performances Up Close series, audience is seated onstage alongside the musicians in an hour-long program. Winners of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022, the New York City-based Isidore String Quartet was formed in 2019 with a vision to revisit, rediscover, and reinvigorate the repertory. The young ensemble will do just that when they make their Princeton debuts in a program featuring a recent string quartet by multiple GRAMMY-winner Billy Childs; Henri Dutilleux’s fascinating Ainsi la nuit (“Thus the Night”); and W.A. Mozart’s forward-thinking “Dissonance” quartet. This event is presented by Princeton University Concerts. For a full event listing and tickets, please visit this link.

"When the first notes of [the music] threaded their way into my consciousness, they seemed to come from inside me…music wound its way through me as sound turned pure sensation." —The New York Times on PUC's Live Music Meditation About the Event Breathe in sound and silence through guided meditation as you listen to music more viscerally than ever before, meditating to the playing of the Isidore String Quartet, guided by Matthew Weiner, Associate Dean in the Princeton University Office of Religious Life. This is a FREE, unticketed opportunity to indulge in attentive, focused, and mindful listening. No prior experience with meditation necessary. Capacity is limited, and we advise participants to arrive early—although the event officially begins at 12:30PM, doors to the hall will open and meditation instruction will begin at 12:00PM (noon). The event will conclude by 1:30PM. If desired, attendees may bring floor seating (mat/cushion/etc); seating will be on stage, with chairs provided. For more information about the Live Music Meditation experience, check out this New York Times feature and Performance Today segment. About the Musicians: Winners of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022, the New York City-based Isidore String Quartet was formed in 2019 with a vision to revisit, rediscover, and reinvigorate the repertory. The quartet is heavily influenced by the Juilliard String Quartet and the idea of ‘approaching the established as if it were brand new, and the new as if it were firmly established.’ The quartet began as an ensemble at the Juilliard School. They are currently completing their final year as Peak Fellowship Ensemble-in-Residence at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Additional Evening Concerts: The Isidore Quartet will also perform in the evening as part of the Performances Up Close series at 6PM & 9PM, with audience seated onstage. Concert info & tickets This event is presented by Princeton University Concerts. For a full event listing and tickets, please visit this link.

About the Event Two of today’s finest string quartets become even more than the sum of their parts in octets by Felix Mendelssohn and George Enescu as they return to Princeton University Concerts the evening prior to heading to Carnegie Hall. These monumental works—each, incredibly, written by the prodigious composers in their teens—are quintessential representations of the form, showcasing the sonic power and rich, multilayered possibilities of an octet configuration. This event is presented by Princeton University Concerts. For a full event listing and tickets, please visit this link.

Jagyaseni Chatterjee goes on the trail of Bharatanatyam's roots

IT'S only rock n roll, but I like it.

There are celebrations of Beethoven's 250th birthday all over the world this year, but close to home, Musical Masterworks in Old Lyme is presenting every string quartet by Beethoven in two sets of three evening performances by the Ehnes Quartet beginning on Friday, March 13th. Kate Remington talks with series Artistic Director Edward Aaron about the concerts, which he'll be experiencing from the inside out as the cellist with the Ehnes Quartet.

For almost a year, my chamber group worked on a piece meant to be performed in complete darkness. When the coronavirus put our plans on hold, our mentor told us we would keep growing even though the world would never be the same.

The Dallas String Quartet will deliver its passionate fusion of classical and contemporary music to the Community Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 19.

Groundbreaking, Grammy-winning quartet Béla Fleck & The Flecktones is celebrating its 30th anniversary with an extended tour that will stop by the Community Arts Center on Tuesday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m.

The International Crisis Group congratulates the members of the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet as this year’s recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. It is an apt recognition of its achievement in allowing the spirit of inclusion and compromise to triumph over the polarisation and violence that has been all too prevalent in the region, and of the central role civil society can play at moments of crisis.

G-quadruplex, assembled from a square array of guanine (G) molecules, is an important structure with crucial biological roles in vivo but also a versatile template for ordered functional materials. Although the understanding of G-quadruplex structures is the focus of numerous studies, little is known regarding the control of G-quartet stacking...