Bio: Sandy Greene
Being into high-end audio gear is but a portion of my time with music… about the size of a slice of pie.
As a teenager, I was quite into the Who, The Clash (long live Joe Strummer), English Beat, REM, Minutemen, etc. While in college in Pittsburgh, I dropped into the whole "College Music" scene with the likes of Dumptruck, Chameleons UK, Feelies, etc. I was in my first band in college with two friends from art school. We were called the "Stinky Bovines" and we were two guitarists, a bass player, and a drum machine playing at parties and the like... heavily influenced by REM, The Feelies, VU, Camper Van Beethoven, The Jazz Butcher, Lloyd Cole, etc.
When I graduated and moved to NYC, I was very deeply into the Brit music scene with the Sundays, Stone Roses, The Jam, etc. Joined my first band as a guitar player in NYC, then called "Feast Of Saints," now called "Scout." Female-led lite-goth. Played all the local city and some of the east coast venues.
Soon decided it was more fun to be in a band and spend all that time with close friends, so I started another band with a bunch of my friends from Carnegie-Mellon. We were called "Ms. Lum," and we ended up getting a record contract with Bar-None Records in Hoboken; home of They Might Be Giants, Yo La Tengo, Freedy Johnston, etc. We did pretty well... of course it didn't last forever. There were some other bands afterwards, but then I had my first child (son) and playing music took a back seat to listening to music. For a while I was making electronic-based music solo at home and was very into the likes of Underworld, Laika, DJ Shadow, etc. Currently, I am still following the indie music scene. Some of my recent favorites: The Strokes, Kings of Leon, Stephen Malkmus (of Pavement), the Montreal music scene with the likes of: Arcade Fire, The Still and Stars… the list goes on and on. My 20 gig iPod is full!
My obsession with musical equipment and recording transformed into a mild and cost-constrained (due to the kid) obsession with audio equipment.
When we moved from Brooklyn to Philly, I decided I was going to dedicate a room in my new house to 2-channel audio. My system started out modest and has grown from there. It’s still not extravagant by high-end audio standards, but I am quite proud of it. I am a user experience designer by profession and worked with some of the companies listed in barter for some of my gear… that made the wife quite happy and eliminated any sort of buyer’s remorse.
The current system consists of: a Rogue Audio Stereo 90 stereo tube amplifier, their 99 Magnum preamplifier, Bel Canto M300 amps and Pre3 preamp, and Meadowlark Kestrel II Audio Note An/E-LX speakers. My front-end consists of a Rega p25 turntable with Dynavector 10x5 Rega Exact cart into a Gram Amp II phono preamplifier. I love my relatively new Eastern Electric Minimax tube CD player, I am reviewing a Naim CD-5i cd player and I have a vintage KLH model 18 fm tuner. My cables are Shunyata for power, Van Den Hul for interconnects and Straightwire for the speakers. The system is the centerpiece of our living room and always on. When we entertain, it’s often about throwing on a vintage album (more about that later), drinking some good beers or wine and great conversation, which always leads to, “Who’s that? That sounds amazing!”
I still play guitar once in a while, especially with my 8 10 year old son who is getting quite good. We have a drum kit in my basement that I play once in a blue moon... but listening to great sounding music is my release these days.
After setting up the system I fell in love with simple jazz. Named my second child (daughter), after the "First Lady of Song" herself, and really became obsessed with small group jazz from the late 50's and early 60's... Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, etc. Have a couple dozen jazz cd's and building a nice collection of Jazz vinyl... my latest and favorite hobby.
Anyway, being a dad of two, it's hard to get to concerts, but my favorite dates are nights out with the wife or friends to the classic Ortlieb's Jazz House in the Northern Liberties... my favorite part of Philly!
Currently I work up in New York City in Wilmington, DE (thrillsville) with a big financial institution as their User Experience Director trying to improve wholesale banking applications websites. Needless to say, music is what keeps me sane. With all the travel, my most recent obsession is my iPod, Shure headphones and Mac powerbook. More on that another time.
I guess it’s a natural progression: music-crazed, hormone-phased teenager to insomniac-rocker in NYC to vintage jazz album-collecting audiophile. It’s been fun the whole way!
Thanks,
-Sandy Greene.
