A recent New York Times article describes new inroads in the idea of music as medicine.  One study cited proffers the claim that listening to classical music and attending classical concerts will shave four years off your physical age! And it may sound a little goofy but a doctor in Austria has proclaimed herself the first musical pharmacologist.  I think it’s safe to say that most people agree that music can change one’s mood, calm you down or rev you up but she has taken the concept to new places.  Vera Brandes and her team have developed a line of musical prescriptions for patients based on their specific ailments. Patients are sent home with an iPod-like device filled with original music that is chosen and arranged in such a way as to be healthful.  Interestingly, Brandes is also the CEO of a company that provides a kind of Muzak for hospitals.  More reasons to listen constantly to KDFC!

"Oy"

Since the Conficker-C virus is set to take over millions of computers April 1st we’ve put a link on the KDFC Morning Show blog. Click here for a free computer cleaning.

You’re welcome.

Seriously, here are some tools you can use to battle the virus:

Latest Windows software update: http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us

Get a free PC Safety Scan: http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm

More information about how to protect yourself from Conficker can be found at: http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/worms/conficker.mspx

Help protect windows from Conficker here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/dd452420.aspx

Get a free PC Safety Scan here: http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm

Also you might consider switching to the Firefox browser from Mozilla.

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And what fine hair it is.  A lock of light brown hair streaked with gray and encased in a locket of glass is the highlight of San Jose’s Beethoven Center but there are countless other fascinating reasons to check out this unique place located in the Martin Luther King Jr. Library of  San Jose State University.  Hoyt Smith and I visited the Center on Saturday and were treated to a VIP tour from Center Director Bill Meredith.  Bill is one of those desert island guys.  By that I mean someone who can regale you with stories of Beethoven and his times for, I’m guessing, weeks on end or at least until you’re rescued.  He started by demonstrating the four beautiful keyboard instruments on display.  A clavichord, a harpsichord, and 2 early pianos, exact matches to those that Beethoven would have known and played.  Next we saw the only extant life mask of Beethoven.  The bronze mask pictures Beethoven frowning but, as Bill points out, you would frown too if you had plaster all over your face!  But the thing is that this image became the basis for just about every painting or sketch of Beethoven from then on.  Thus a scowling Beethoven lives forever in our imaginations.  The Beethoven Center was founded by Ira Brilliant based on his remarkable collection of Beethoven first editions.  Worth a trip to San Jose State anytime. Check the hours and more here.

When you look up “identical” in the dictionary there is a photo of the Katona Twins.  Boy, these guys are impossible to tell apart. They dress alike (at least they did last night), they talk alike and  I’m pretty sure they walk alike too.  ‘Course that’s not the most remakable thing about them.  The most remakable thing is their amazing artistry.  The KDFC Intimate Concert #7 happened last night in our lovely and spacious lobby with a mini-concert by these guitar-playing brothers from Budapest. Check out KDFC Videos page for highlights from their concert.

SURPRISE AT 5

Thanks for the overwhelming response to the Surprise at 5. We’re onto something here. The Surprise has that “Oh WOW” factor we were looking for at the end of the work day.

We’ve featured a Gregorian Chant, the singing group il Divo which was created by American Idol’s Simon Cowell, Bela Fleck playing Bach on the banjo, a whimsical arrangement of Tea for Two called the Tahiti Trot, the Sabre Dance played on handbells of all things and a piece by a Mexican composer that is so popular, it’s often referred to the second Mexican national anthem. Good stuff. What’s coming? Well, I really can’t wait to play Friday’s piece for the first day of Spring. You’ll have to tune in to find out for yourself.

The Surprise is a collaborative effort. We’ve been receiving many great suggestions from you. Program Director Bill Lueth, Music Director Rik Malone and I have been having fun listening to music together and making new discoveries and rediscovering some old favorites we’d forgotten about.

We’re providing links to purchase the pieces, and in some cases, download them from iTunes. Your feedback is always welcome at the feedback page or email me directly at  johnevans at kdfc.com.

ERIK SATIE

We’re featuring a double CD as our CD(s) of the Week. I’m loving this one having been a champion of Erik Satie for many years. What a bizarre and interesting man he was. French pianist Alexandre Tharaud gives such an honest and heartfelt performance of his works on his new CD. Tharaud is a man to watch. He’s one of the hot young stars of France with 11 CDs to his credit already. An amazing output so far. I’ve included a video of him playing Satie which you can find on the home page Video player.

Satie lived in 19th and 20th century Paris and shunned the term “musician.” He referred to himself as a “phonometrograph” or “phonometrician” which are terms describing a person who measures and writes down sounds.

THE TECH

We hope to see at the Tech in downtown San Jose Saturday from 10am-1pm. This will be our third annual live broadcast. The turnout is always phenomenal and remember…if you mention KDFC, you and your family get in for FREE. Free’s good!!

Hope you’ll join me and the whole KDFC gang this Saturday as we trek down to the Tech.  That’s the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose.  We’ll be broadcasting live from 10am until 1pm and the best part is that admission is free all day.  If you’ve never been to the Tech this is the perfect opportunity to check out all the great hands-on exhibits that painlessly teach as they entertain.  The Tech is also home to an Imax Theatre  (separate admission). The museum is located right in the middle of user-friendly downtown San Jose.  Don’t miss a live orchestra concert by the KDFC Classical Invasion Orchestra led by our good friend,  Eugene. It all happens this Saturday.  

A slick website can be such a great addition to any product or company these days and our current CD of the Week label, Harmonia Mundi, has put together a beaut for the French keyboardist Alexandre Tharaud’s latest CD of works by eccentric composer Erik Satie, Avant-dernières pensées (Next-to-last thoughts). Follow the links and you’ll make some interesting discoveries.

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If opera is your thing, here’s something pretty cool for you. Camera Cinema 7 in San Jose is presenting a series of opera performances from the world’s great opera houses, recorded live and shown in HD Digital Projection and Dolby sound. Experience opera from the Glyndebourne and Salzburg Festivals, La Scala, and other European companies without having to pack your bags. Click here

Rigoletto

One of the exasperating experiences of modern life is trying to track down the answers to questions on the phone. I was mentioning the other day about my hour or so spent on the phone Monday night with technical crews for AT&T who were trying to sort out some DSL trouble. To be fair I’ve had excellent service from the DSL line for around eight years or so. Monday night they transferred me all over the country and finally made an appointment to have someone come out today and check all the connections. KDFC listener Mike Fischer  from Palo Alto emailed me some tech suggestions and, more importantly reminded me of a great website to help get faster action from big corporations and their infamous “phone trees“.  It’s  Gethuman.com and on it you have all the proper combinations of phone buttons to hit for various companies phone trees to get , well, a human. Check it out here and then enjoy a cold one as you celebrate “On Hold Month”. whoopee.

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We’re really shaking things up at KDFC, kdfc.com and on my show.   I’m extremely excited about the many changes and by the feedback we’re getting, apparently so are you.

Last week, we inaugurated our latest feature called the Surprise at 5.    We’ve had so much fun planning this.  The Surprise is a piece of music that you may have never heard before, or never heard on KDFC before.  It could be a piece with a fascinating story, an interesting twist, it could even be a VOCAL.   We’ve been asking for your feedback and suggestions and the emails are pouring in.

Several weeks ago, we launched a new feature at kdfc.com.  It’s the video player which is located on the home page, bottom right corner.  Every week I check out youtube and various other sites and find engaging and fun videos of your favorite classical performers.  It’s one thing to hear them play but to watch them and hear in their own words what inspires them really showcases their talent in a whole new way.   We’re also inviting stars into the KDFC studios for one-on-one chats with our on-air hosts and uploading the video to the player.  For example, you can view Hoyt Smith’s recent conversation with German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.  She reveals that she loves San Francisco, that her son will go to college here and that one of her favorite movies of the year was “Milk.”

The KDFC Intimate Lobby Concert Series began a year and a half ago when French-Canadian (now American) pianist Marc-Andre Haemlin came to San Francisco for a recital.  We invited him and two dozen listeners to KDFC where he played a private concert in our lobby.  It was a fantastic night.  Since, several other artists have come by for Intimate Lobby Concerts including pianist Christopher O’Reilly, pianist Ludovico Einaudi, cellist Zuill Bailey, violinist Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott.  Next week, the guitar playing brothers, the Katona Twins are stopping by.

Following their sets in the lobby, the performers walk down the hall and join me for a live on-air chat.    Then we feature a live-recording of a piece that they just performed in the lobby.   It truly is an intimate experience.

Last year, we began spotlighting new CDs which stand out head and shoulders above the countless others that cross our desks every week.  Tracks from the CD of the Week are featured throughout the work day and I always kick off my show weekdays at 4pm with a piece.  Make an appointment to join me.

We continue to make it easy for you to buy the music we play on the air.   From the home page, access SEARCH KDFC PLAYLIST and look up pieces by time and date, or search by composer and/or performer.

For those of you with iPods, we now have a fantastic new partnership with the folks at Apple and are providing mp3 downloads.    We’re offering a free download of the week AND now have links to specific works featured on the Surprise at 5.   This is my favorite feature as I take my iPod everywhere…BART, on my hikes, the gym, doing yardwork…you name it.   There’s nothing like some Bach or a Shostakovich Piano Concerto while mowing the grass, hiking the trails of Mt. Tam or riding your bike across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Finally, we’ve extended the Island of Sanity to a full half hour each weeknight at 7.   And we’ve retooled the Big Island on Sundays.  It’s still commercial-free and now the sets of music are even longer without interruption.  It makes for an even more soothing way to ease into Sunday.

Your feedback is always welcome!