Rain

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... ?

That time the (ex) wife and I went to see the Addams on Broadway. Usher: I'm sorry, the seats are odd. Me: That's ok, so are we...

I would Uber to the strip and put $5 in a slot machine. I might be on a winning streak - anybody knows the odds?

This one actually gave me goosebumps when they hit the chorus. I love the original but this is a nice twist on it.

I love it. I am a huge fan of the style, too...

I know some fans cringe when they hear Dynasty, but I actually really like it (as I do Unmasked, even if it's so commercial). Dirty Livin' is probably my favorite Peter Criss song. There is something about it that just gets me. And Charisma... I've always wanted to cover that one, but in a very twisted, dark electro, Nine Inch Nails sort of way. Maybe someday.

It is absolutely gorgeous. And I love the rosewood fretboard. I can imagine it mustn't have been a cheap one.... My best friend and I both got our first guitar on Christmas in 85. I got that awful Les Paul copy and my buddy got an olympic white Harmony strat copy with the maple neck from Sears. Come to think of it, that's probably the reason why I also wanted I white strat - because his was so much better. Another older friend got a candy red one, also maple neck. Those Harmony were so much easier to play - they felt like high quality instrument compared to my guitar. The irony is that my mother paid more for the piece of junk than she would have for a Harmony. Not to mention that a sunburst LP didn't exactly spell metal... I developed a profound dislike for the model and for rosewood fretboards. And that aversion lasted for decades. At least I had my Iron Maiden t-shirt to try and look metal, depsite the short hair and what I felt looked like a cowboy guitar... ?

I can hear the moderators...

I thought humanity ended on May 6, 1937, no?

? That must be the David Gilmour in Live at Pompeii influence (another factor that reinforced the black Strat status as my holy grail back then).