Rain

I'm not sure how random, but there was a drive-by just down the street from here a few years ago - a couple hundred ft from my doorstep. And this is a very quiet neighborhood. So I have remained very much aware that this can happen. I've seen pictures of stray bullets in walls and appliances on Nextdoor in nearby parts of town. One guy had a bullet that went through a wall and lodged itself in the fridge door. Imagine going to the bathroom during the night then making a quick stop to grab a glass of milk from the fridge - and poof, you are no more... I don't worry about it, but it wasn't really a shock to read about Lee. It is a crazy world. Also reminded me of another rock guitar great/fellow Las Vegan who got hit a few decades ago in L.A. https://ultimateclassicrock.com/kiss-bruce-kulick-shot/

Well, not literally, but, close enough... https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/entertainment-columns/kats/rock-icon-injured-in-las-vegas-shooting-3190085/ I often go out to take pictures of the night sky in the middle of the night, or jogging just before dawn and think something like that could happen - just a random drive by, and poof, you're gone. Who'll feed my cat? Anyway, I am glad to know that Lee will recover fully.

I believe that's where I got mine from! I don't have the receipt but according to the Fedex info, they were shipped from Macomb, MI. Not that I would normally remember but I ordered them exactly 10 years ago after I repainted the room and that popped up in my Facebook memories. I got a bunch of those square ones that I placed on the side walls, a few of their bass/broadband absorbers, and a large piece (6 x 4 ish) that I placed behind the desk. I had thick black curtains hanging on the front and back walls and every few feet on the side walls, and the floor was carpeted, so the room was not that bright to begin with. Anyway, I was happy with the result, but I'm no Ethan Winer. In 2021 a few months before moving out, my ex brought this huge panel that she'd inherited from a customer. She left it behind because she had no room for it in her new home, so I agreed to keep it for her with some of her stuff in the garage. But every time I went downstairs and saw it it felt like such a waste. Seeing that it's unlikely that she'll have room for it any time soon, we agreed that I could use it for as long as I need it, although it technically remains hers. It weights a ton and it was a pain to carry this thing through tiny corridors and upstairs all by myself and then to install it, in the July heat, but after a couple of hours and a few splinters in my fingers, it was finally in its rightful place, replacing the large bit of acoustic foam. And it does a good job of absorbing frequencies. (You can see a few of those broadband absorbers above it. I couldn't fit them in the corners anymore so I decided to put them wherever - there is no actual reasoning behind their placement).

I'm from Canada. I see no hole, only Timbits, eh...

It struck me pretty early on that our limitations as musicians (and human beings) define us, and that sometimes, your best attempt at emulating someone or tipping your hat to them will be unrecognizable to anyone else. If you're lucky enough, that singular mixture will be recognized as your own style or voice - even though it is in fact a failure. But regardless... Our perception of things are usually vastly different. The first time I went into a recording studio, the producer complimented me on an orthodox guitar part I'd written to embellish a G chord - "it sounds like something Steve Morse could have come up with". I'd never heard Steve Morse. Actually, I don't think I have yet. It may not have been Steve Morse - but it was some dude I didn't know anyway. Point is, I thought I was stealing from Jimmy Page and the way he messes around within chords. And I've been through that kind of scenario a number of times... While going through the archives tonight I found this. It was recorded in 2015 while I was working on a slow blues-ish sort of thing, and trying to figure out parts. I played it for a few friends and they kept naming different guys - every one but... The sounds is awful, as this was captured by the MacBook mic - this was just before I figured out how to use the little Mackie board to make my videos. But I am curious to know who you guys hear - if anything. I apologize in advance for my rudimentary skills and playing - I suffer from a weird condition which affects fine motor skills, so anything that requires stretching my fingers requires tremendous efforts to control tremors - especially with my wrist at an angle... Mother smoked during pregnancy, so, there's that. Anyway...

Thank you guys! You're the best! I celebrated bigly... I'd been wanting a doughnut for over a year. I might even have a burger later this week. And French fries. Man I've been dying for some of those.

The explanation I've seen is that this is the temperature registered at the airport. It can vary across the valley... Me, I am glad I don't have kids and that the bulk of my existence is behind me at this point. Whether human history is rewritten or forgotten or coming to an end... I don't really have a dog in this fight anymore. I am the end of my line (as far as I know.) Makes me sad that there won't be people around to appreciate the Beethoven's Late String Quartets, but I'm not sure that even that makes humanity worth saving...

Thank you, my friend!

But... Gal Gadot. (Actually I've not watched that one.)

I work nights, so I "missed it" because I sleep all day, but, still... I ordered sushi for breakfast tonight when I got up at around 7 pm. When I went outside to meet the driver, I felt that it was surprisingly hot, even by our standards here. At first I imagined it was because I usually never go out before sunset when I go pick up my mail during my break... But then I saw this on Facebook. Way to kick off my vacation week - and celebrate my the beginning of my 53rd ride around the sun. Although right now it feels more like we're riding into it than around it...

I can see the parallel. (Even if I can't park in parallel.) Although one could argue that even if you own a car, you still depend on "subscriptions" - license, registrations, insurance, fuel, and nowadays, even software in the form of apps providing access to certain options for your car that often require subscriptions... They always find a way...

I had no idea. Yay for Zimmer! I don't either. Back home when I grew up, with the mandatory lessons, you were looking at around $1000 to get your license. That's at a time when the minimum wage was $4.75. It was a very small town and I could walk anywhere, so I never bothered. When my parents were a little less strapped for cash and my mother offered to help, I told her I wanted a better guitar instead. And then classical guitar lessons. It has been a pain on occasions, but for the most part, it's never been a real issue. Actually, not owning a vehicle has spared me a lot of headaches through the years. Just ask anyone living in a city like Montreal about owning a car in the winter... And nowadays with Uber, and Postmates, and Prime, it's even less of a problem. My transportation budget for the month is between $80 and $100 - and that's because I insist on doing groceries myself instead of ordering. Sometimes I've been made feel like I should feel bad not to have a license... People who'd imply that women had less respect for a guy who doesn't drive. So occasionally, I would wonder whether I should feel inadequate or something. But in practical terms, the numbers seemed to indicate that I really did not need a car to enjoy all the feminine company that I could, uh, accommodate. In my experience, guitars and long hair work just as well as a car. ?

According to Ann Rice, vampires are often quite fond of crucifixes. I've always been told I looked like a vampire. I fought against it for years and did all I could to get rid of the image. I'd be at work and someone would tell me the ladies across the hall referred to me as Dracula. So I figured it was easier to just embrace it. It makes people happy to be able to put a label on you, it reassures them. They've figured you out. As a result, they start believing that you have social skills so you don't really need to pay attention anymore.

Thanks guys. Craig - Good memory, my friend. Would you believe I only have one cat left? Time flies. A lot of those were older cats and rescues. Grem - Yup. After the ex left, I redecorated mostly with whatever she left - which really wasn't much. And stuff that I had in my studio, like the torches and the portraits of Beethoven and Nietzsche... Not sure why she left that horse head behind. The rent costs me a fortune so I really don't have much money for decorations. I bought cheap rugs and curtains and tried to be creative with what was left.

One computer provides all the most current technology, bells and whistles, including the so-called AI players (that I really have no use for but, still...). So far, I've been using it to mix existing projects, and create instrument patches, but I've not written anything. The other provides the last solid release of the previous version - and access to Z3t4+ (on screen) and Dimension Pro. I have a hard time imagining the moment when I finally lose access to these forever. So far, I've been very lucky. Cakewalk released Mac versions shortly after I made the switch. And now, because I installed the last version on those old computers before the installers disappeared, I can still use them. But I dread the day... There are far better instruments out there, but these have been part of my workflow for so long now... When I think of my favorite instruments, it's my Les Paul Studio, then these Cakewalk synths and EXS24 (Logic's own sampler). If there was a fire and they were actual instruments, I'd grab Dimension Pro and Z3t4 before my Gibson SG. Anyway... The last one provides access to what remains my favorite DAW of all time almost 15 years later - as well as access to older incarnations of Cakewalk's Dimension Pro and Rapture, which I happen to be very fond of. Every time I take the laptop and the keyboard downstairs to work in the living room, I load my default template which is just an instrument track running Dimension with a customized Piano patch. And hitting one key is usually enough to get the ideas rolling. It's almost shocking. In an ideal world, I would find a PC that can run XP + Sonar 8.5 and all my old favorite softsynths, like those old RGC synths, and HG Fortune's Protoplasm and STS-21, and maybe use it as a live instrument. But the idea of dealing with a bulky tower and literally installing a soundcard... Uhg. I do have an old Alienware running the last Windows version of Logic and Sonar (and even Cakewalk Pro Audio 9), but it's not really in working order. I only use it to open up old Cakewalk projects and bundles and prepare them for transfer. I miss a lot of plugins and the simplicity of software like Sound Forge 4, and in my book, Sonar 8.5 is still one of the finest DAWs ever, but the gymnastics involved in adding RAM or a PCI card and the trips into the BIOS to troubleshoot IRQ conflicts I do not miss at all. Or the bulkiness. And the noise those old machines made... I'd sooner deal with my old reel to reel. That one I actually genuinely miss.

Huge Elvis fan, but I had no idea the same man wrote those two songs. RIP.

I was thinking about this whole "creating your own music" paradigm, and there's one thing... People have a strong need for attention and external validation. And I am not sure how much people will enjoy their own "creation" unless they get to share it. I am guessing that they will be hoping to accomplish that via social media. The issue at this point becomes over-saturation. A point where so much content is generated that it seems it'll be impossible for any of it to make any headway. If anyone thought the market was saturated now they have no idea what they are in for. Can you imagine a point where it's even impossible for anything to go viral because everything is instantly drowned out in background noise, and no one is consuming but everyone is generating? At any rate, as a musician, I don't see the future as a very happy place...

I can recognize anything with vocals on the spot, even though I cannot seem to formulate exactly what it is. But it's a matter of time until it fools me... And in a sense, a lot of humans are already doing the same thing - creating with prompts. What if this artist had written that artist's song? It's also something I've always liked doing, but I've always mostly felt that this was training. It was a means for me to forge my own vocabulary and do my own thing. And doing my own thing has never been contingent upon whether people would hear it or not. I guess that the literary background provided me with a solid sense of disillusionment - most of my heroes were ignored during their lifetime and died miserable deaths. So I write, regardless... But I don't envy people who made a career writing and performing music. I've done it here and there for short spells for fun, but I like a steady paycheck too much for that. I can't imagine how I would feel with AI taking over. That being said, AI won't stop there, so most of us are at risk one way or another, anyway. I can't imagine myself prompting software to generate my playlists though. I don't even like playlists. I am an album guy. And if there is no human connection, there is no music - it's just organized noises. I'll pull out Kind of Blue or Rush 2112 and listen to that until I am done down here...

And then you put a hockey stick in our hands...

Yesterday I dug up an old project of mine, a song I first published on MySpace in 2007 around this time of the year. A DJ featured it on his MySpace page, and thanks to the extraordinary chain of events and encounters that followed, here I am today. My now defunct marriage, all the traveling, moving to Vegas - none of that would have happened if not for that song. But a quick audition on my iPhone was enough for me to realize that song would never have stood a chance in today's world where most of the people who listen to music online do so on their phone. Granted, it was a very poor mix, but it still "worked" on computer speakers and earbuds. Against everything inside me that balks at the notion, I now always check mixes on my phone. Not to make any decision, but I know that the people who hear my music, usually on Facebook, will be listening on their phone, and I want to have some sort of idea of what they will hear. I've done so for a number of years. Actually, I started checking mixes on the MacBook's speakers years before that. I've also realized in recent years that I tend to factor in the shortened attention span. Whenever I put something online, most of the time, it is a short edit that gets straight to the point. I'm not sure why, because I'm not competing against anything else. I don't need clicks or whatever to generate income. And I write this stuff for myself, not to please others. But paradoxically, it's almost as if I worry that I might be imposing on the good people who are kind enough to check my stuff if I don't cut directly to the chase and give them the abridged version. Maybe I'm too polite. I mean, I am Canadian after all...

Get well soon, Dave!

Soulless. But I bet the casual listener couldn't tell the difference. Honestly, if I am stuck in a public place where I am forced to hear music I didn't choose, this probably would not bother me as much as the crap they usually play. I heard Beyoncé in a mall in Russia once in 2012 and I still have nightmares about it.

Sorry I'm just getting to this, man. But - outstanding job as always.

For a second I thought I'd be able to upgrade my old Alienware running XP + Sonar 8.5... ?