Just returned from a weekend in Boston, where I witnessed a spirited evening of new-ish music courtesy of Dinosaur Annex, and had a revelatory Chinese meal courtesy of the Peach Farm. I also took lots of photographs for a class I’m starting, and was eagerly importing them when my Aperture library decided to collapse in a heap of corruption. And of course I’d already erased my camera, but hadn’t backed up, so I lost them all. I was especially sorry because there was one of a tub of eels.

In the excitement over the actual content of New York Phil’s season announcement, I missed that they also unveiled a totally new identity! This makes me indescribably happy. Their old logo and graphics were so generic I actually had to remind myself what they looked like— oh, right:

A swoosh. A musical staff, sure, but still trite, corporate, and completely bland, not to mention poorly executed.

The new logo is the polar opposite. The roles of the graphic and the type are reversed; now, the letterforms themselves create a sense of motion and excitement, and the red line is the anchor (like a baton! I get it). The typography is certainly unconventional (it reminds me of a circular saw blade) but I think that’s kind of what the Phil needs right now— an antidote to years of staid, uninspired administration. (Take a look at some beautiful logo treatments at Pentagram’s blog.)

Anyone checked www.whitehouse.gov lately? Change in the air, for sure. There’s even a blog of sorts! The first thing I noticed, I’ll admit, was the font choice: the more elegant and traditional Hoefler Text has replaced Gotham as the Obama campaign becomes the Obama administration. Gosh, it seems like H&FJ are the official unofficial first typographers! (Also, unrelated, but a funny coincidence: the main headings on this site are set in Gotham and Hoefler Text.)

I remarked to Martin this morning that, of all the historical-ness (histrionics?) of the occasion, the most remarkable thing to me is: this is the first time in my life that the president of my country is someone who I can look up to, in a very real way. In addition to the intelligence and charisma so evident when he first entered my consciousness, Obama seems like an almost impossible good person, in that everything he says and does is derived from a solid, fibrous moral core. And not the pandering, one-sided “morals” the right-wing is so fond of, either, but the real meaning of “morals”: the ability to weigh all the elements of an issue, to see different perspectives all at once, and distinguish not just between “right and wrong” but see the gradations between those poles.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, I could really imagine being friends with him.

Also (and I’m really grateful for this level of transparency): the inaugural lunch menu. Mmm, a brace!

Fig. 1: Dave contemplates my choice of Stone Serif.

Happy new year, rabbit rabbit, everyone. I just tore apart the most delicious döner sandwich here in Berlin, where the inimitable David Kaplan and I are re-tackling Shy and Mighty. We’ve been holing up at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule (whose logo actually did fool me into thinking it was a bad steakhouse) where I derive pleasure from playing long stretches of repeated minor chords while our neighbors practice Bach and Chopin.

The closest I’ve found to contemporary music here was watching the Philharmonic (with Mehta) rehearse Carter’s Three Illusions. Who knew that even the Berlin Philharmonic struggles to keep Carter’s unpredictable hockets from spinning off into oblivion? They had less trouble with Strauss and Beethoven (backing up Murray Perahia, who played with impeccable limpidness. No, really, that’s actually how he played!). I just wanted a behind-the-scenes tour of their recording setup; there were something like 40 microphones hanging over the stage, which were controlled by a tech wielding a boom-box-sized remote.

I love the Berlin subway system. Somehow the lack of turnstiles makes it seem that much easier to hop on and off (passengers are instead subjected to random ticket inspections on board). There are LED displays at many stations that tell you how many minutes until the next two trains (though the older, flip-card ones are more beautiful, if not as useful). I (often) wonder if anyone at MTA reads this blog.