Tales Of Interest

Has it really been this long?

2011-12-31T14:35:00.000-08:00

Yup, it sure has been ages. This was an unusual year in the context of the last 10 - I won't get deeply into why, since that's not important and besides, who cares. What IS important is, I have a new place and a studio room with a view for a change! Though the photo doesn't really show it, I have a nice city view and this makes me happy.

What's going on currently: Still cranking on the Seekret iPad Projekt™ with the guys, though it's recently kicked into higher gear with the additional of another talented contributor, which is very exciting. I'm also finishing music with Sussan Deyhim and starting music with Anton Sanko. Sussan and I have a great working relationship, and I did some parts on her cover of Dylan's "All I Really Want To Do" for an Amnesty International album of Dylan covers by some famous people a few months ago. Got some new software tools, but sad to report that yet again, nothing's as exciting as The 'Clav. Seeing as my hatred for bad interface design (as personified mainly by The Monome) has abated not at all, I figured I may do one last rant on the subject before I vow to give it a rest. Must exorcise those demons in an appropriately articulate way, so if you're a fan of that sort of thing, stay tuned.

Other than all that, I am getting over being sick for nearly a month-
The combined stress of moving house and building my new studio, plus a particularly virulent strain of whatever it is that's going around at the moment, pretty much laid me out for weeks on end.
It's nearly gone, but wow. This was the longest I can recall being sick pretty much ever. Not recommended.

Son Of "On The Radar Currently"

2011-03-14T07:03:00.000-07:00

Way back a few years ago when I started this...whatever this is, I posted a collection of things that were on my radar at that moment. I suppose this is pure indulgence, but so be it. I think I may resurrect this practice, starting now.

...Pretty much the same pop culture profile as always, and some new instrumental obsession in there as well.

News scraps, endorsements and secret goings-on

2011-03-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

Current/recent:

I played on the score to a film called The Lincoln Lawyer- It comes out 3/18/11 in North America. The composer was Cliff Martinez, who's great to work with and makes really evocative music- I was a fan of his work on the Solaris remake and Traffic before we met. We worked together briefly once before, on a small documentary called Severe Clear, though on that project I provided textures via the internet rather than in-person sessions. I contributed processed guitar to the score.

I also played on one of the last episodes of the TV series "Big Love", which I've worked on in the past (as followers of this blog may know) and is just about to reach the end of its run. It was one of the first times I've used my new electric upright bass on a session, and we got some very good stuff.

I'd like to do something I pretty much never do here: Mention (endorse?) a specific product. I'm a big user of Alessandro Petrolati's Density 2; It's a gem. There, I said it.

Vague references to exciting things:

There is a very interesting new musical collaboration in the offing at the moment, but I don't want to get more specific than that just now...Suffice it to say that something great is very likely to result if this situation materializes the way it seems to be. More later.

On another front, I'm designing an iPad app that is being coded and implemented by a small group of very accomplished, talented friends. It's a recording tool which I hope will help facilitate the creative process for a lot of musicians. Details as we get closer to the release date.

Last thing I'll mention for now,

Jon Hassell's "Last Night The Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes In The Street" (ECM 2077) was recently released in Europe as a double album on 180-gram audiophile vinyl. I think it may be destined for wider worldwide release as well. As I mentioned when the original CD was released awhile back, I'm proud of this record and the added bonus of seeing it in my favorite format is a nice development.

The new guy

2010-11-21T23:47:00.000-08:00

Sufficiently awesome. Must live up to challenge presented by pricey wooden/carbon fiber object.

Meaning-Object

2010-10-10T05:16:00.000-07:00

From deep in my past, this radiates significance in a way that I can't touch directly...Sadly, this is not a photo of something I own, but rather something I very much want to own, and it seems that is no longer possible. At this late date it would be more an exercise in nostalgia-pursuit than anything more practical, but I don't care.

Capture-riffic

2010-09-30T03:46:00.000-07:00

Better living through technology.

I see...

2010-08-06T23:00:00.000-07:00

The Horror, The Horror

2010-08-02T02:55:00.000-07:00

After this many of these, it really _is_ like Groundhog Day, except with a lot more blood. Surprisingly, still creatively fun.

Goings-on

2010-07-29T00:06:00.000-07:00

...somewhere between what was, what is and what will be soon enough.

"...Since this is an exceptionally bad case of 'old'..."

2010-05-11T00:24:00.000-07:00

My Mirage better appreciate the effort it took to get this SE/30's RAM upgraded to a whopping 32mb, PRAM battery changed, HD replaced, System 7.5.3 and Sound Designer Universal installed, just so I can send tiny samples down to it. That's all I have to say.

Mmmmmm, functional

2010-04-23T23:02:00.001-07:00

Normally I'd put this in the "who the hell cares?" column, but after searching for an accurately-tracking bass octave divider pedal recently, I came to the rather shocking realization that there appears to be only one on the market currently, despite the fact that this tech has been around for decades at this point. Worth the dosh, this MXR is. Keith Barr originally founded MXR and went on to develop some great things for Alesis in their early days (namely the Midiverb and Midifex)...Even though Dunlop apparently owns the MXR name and products now, this thing lives up to the quality of their classic stuff.

Fail

2010-03-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

I suppose if you're gonna have 3 important pieces of gear all fail at
once, it might as well be when you're in between projects, right?

Thank fucking god

2010-03-16T06:15:00.000-07:00

It's a pretty barren landscape in the world of high-end hardware reverbs at the moment. Lexicon is now essentially Digitech, it's hard to get parts for a 480, the 960 and TC M6000 are out of production and almost nobody is stepping up to fill the vacuum, except these guys. This is the real, built and priced for professionals and it sounds fantastic.

Let me say this about that

2010-03-16T05:49:00.000-07:00

I've always tried to look out for the possibility of new creative/collaborative situations where I saw the opportunity, the underlying idea being that if one can manage to produce some genuinely good work once in awhile, it will somehow balance out the uninspiring bullshit one has to put up with the other 98% of the time. It's a sad moment when your first thought of a potentially exciting collaborative circumstance is immediately quashed by the realization that the person you have in mind has, after many years, finally managed to piss you off to the degree that even your relentlessly idealistic desire to make something good can't overpower the weight of history any longer. It's a threshold I never thought anyone could really make me cross.

I know this isn't exactly a news flash, but it's true-
Humans are poorly designed.

Digital Flotsam

2010-02-17T02:39:00.000-08:00

...I just finished a significant amount of work. Now to send it where it's going and start the next chapter of things. In the meantime, it's time for (you guessed it) another narrowly-targeted technology mini-ramble.

It's interesting when random technological detritus from the "obsolete" pile of history can be repurposed in a modern context. Case in point:

Please find enclosed one Oberheim Systemizer. An obscure MIDI box from the late 80s, it allowed an entire studio full of MIDI instruments to be marshaled conveniently and powerfully under the control of one MIDI controller, no matter how unsophisticated that controller was. For up to 16 MIDI instruments you could layer, create keyboard splits, positional and velocity and aftertouch crossfades, as well as a host of other musically powerful functions such as having each successive note you played be sent to a different instrument, just to name one example.

These devices never really caught on at the time- While undeniably powerful, their cryptic programming method (via a cheap two-digit LED display that was common at the time for low-end MIDI devices) and dubious plastic hardware neither won friends nor influenced people. However, this quirky little box has proven interestingly useful lately when brought into the modern world of software instruments- It allows for some fascinating and unpredictable sonic possibilities, and cost precisely $40 on Craigslist. And interestingly, there is no readily available way to achieve the Systemizer's functionality these days without a significant amount of custom programming, which results in a certain potential for interest and uniqueness. Everything old is new again (again.)

Soon the beast will live...

2010-02-13T03:02:00.000-08:00

The saga continues.

More is more.

2010-01-16T22:10:00.000-08:00

...innit?

Good exists

2009-12-14T02:23:00.001-08:00

You just have to wonder what Nikolais would do with today's tech.
Whatever the case, this is fantastic.

..oh.

2009-11-17T04:49:00.000-08:00

In the center of this photo is my friend Huanita, surrounded by a few of her friends.They live in Rio- This was taken on the beach at 7am or thereabouts. What does this have to do with anything? Strictly speaking, nothing...but as I've been living the vampire nocturnal ivory tower existence lately, the sheer "otherness" compared to my current day-to-day almost shocked me somehow. Her smile speaks volumes. Apparently they had me in mind (I'm told) when this was taken. Hu, if you're reading this, thanks for the window into an alternate reality.

The future of the past is getting scary

2009-11-17T04:03:00.000-08:00

Depending on how long you've been reading this...whatever-this-is, you may or may not know that I tend to collect vintage gear which gets used heavily in my work. Unfortunately, it is becoming harder and more expensive to keep some of this stuff running these days due to a combination of parts becoming scarce and/or obsolete, lack of skilled techs around who are versed in the care and feeding of these devices and a number of other factors. It's on the verge of becoming a crisis now though, and there are a lot of people using a handful of industry-standard "staple" pieces for which this situation is the case. Strange as it may seem, as advanced as modern software has become lately, the sound of these older hardware machines (from the 80s and beyond) simply hasn't been replicated by plug-ins, at least not yet. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, but for the moment it looks a bit grim.

Shameless, outdated self-promotion

2009-11-10T19:07:00.001-08:00

I really, _really_ hate it when people use things like Facebook status updates to promote themselves. Wake up, idiots! It's not your website, and people aren't going there specifically to hear about your little career moments, so why annoy everyone? This blog, however, _is_ mine, it's about me and particularly since I never use it to "promote" anything, I figure an occasional me-related link falls firmly within the realm of the appropriate for a forum such at this.

This is old - from earlier this year - but I figured what the hell. The print edition was scarce (ironic, since I wrote for this mag for years and never had trouble finding it on newsstands until I'm finally in the damn thing), so for anyone that missed it and is interested, here you go.

Hit it

Laurie

2009-11-03T00:14:00.000-08:00

Electronic music is a bit like sci-fi; The good seems modern forever, while the bad becomes laughable in a cruelly short time. So in keeping with the general intent of this "blog" (ick), here's a reminder of someone doing some great things over 30 years ago on a then-experimental instrument that still sounds fantastic. Watch the performance clip, then the interview- Laurie Spiegel is a thoughtful, articulate speaker and she crystallizes some important aspects of computer music that are still relevant today, 25 years on.

Performance

Interview

Yes, another obso-elite post

2009-10-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

This was 16Mb of RAM. Actually, it still is- It's just that this sort of thing has gotten rather considerably smaller in the past 25 years, not to mention cheaper. Still, a fine example of brute-force, macho problem-solving of yesteryear.

How The Mighty Have Fallen

2009-10-21T03:04:00.001-07:00

This is a 16-track digital recorder. It weighs hundreds of pounds, is over 5 feet tall and requires its own dedicated power and cooling. It cost over $100,000 in the early 90s. Nowadays, its functions can be eclipsed by your average PC from Best Buy (though admittedly not with the same stellar sound quality), rendering it worthless to pretty much anyone except obsessive eccentrics. Like me. I nearly herniated my entire body moving it.

Speaking of Awesomeness That's Back...

2009-10-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

Wal basses are back as well. Fuck yeah. It's rare that anyone bothers or even knows how to make The Real Shit these days, and even rarer that it comes back after going away. Super turbo.

Awesome.

2009-10-13T19:40:00.000-07:00

Looks like reports of the SX-70's demise were greatly exaggerated.
These guys seem to have succeeded, at least for now. Click...

Tinkering

2009-10-11T03:27:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, surplus electronics. I found an Ensoniq Mirage - an ancient low-fi sampler from about 1985- at a local electronics graveyard for $15, dead. An easy fix and some internet-ordered OS disks later, and I soon had a charmingly grainy, wonderfully limited machine sitting atop my considerably more expensive but equally-ancient Synclavier (see previous post.) The Mirage worked as it should, but I decided to do a mod which would allow it to have multiple outputs, since it was originally a mono-out machine. Several hours, a trip to an electronics shop and a lot of solder connections later, it works; I now have fake stereo! This basically means that the machine's 8 voices will randomly appear on either of between two and eight outputs, depending on what kind of multi-pin connectors I feel like wiring up, which adds A LOT to its usefulness. So while I'm only using the two-output ("stereo") version at the moment, it's a vast improvement. An added bonus of this mod is that it bypasses the Mirage's noisy output summing and taps directly off its eight CEM filter chips, which dramatically reduces the hiss level.

Encouraging.
I'll probably do this mod next.

Photos: Mirage atop Synclavier, Mirage multi-output mod detail.

Profoundly Quaint or Quaintly Profound?

2009-08-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

Behold. Astronomically expensive in days of old, this instrument is a gloriously anachronistic testament to an era when men were men and 8-bit FM/Additive Synthesizers were 8-bit FM/Additive Synthesizers. It doesn't get more "base model", primitive or tragically beautiful than a 16-voice Synclav with no sampling or hard disk recording. Totally uncompromising design, great interface, the Big Dog of its time. They don't, wouldn't and simply couldn't afford to make 'em like this anymore.

Pioneering

2009-06-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

I first saw this piece called "Sunstone" by Ed Emshwiller back when I was about 15, at the home of a family friend called Howard Wise. I didn't know it at the time, but Howard was an important and forward-looking patron of video artists in NYC; He founded Electronic Arts Intermix in 1971. I'd never seen anything like the piece before; It was my first exposure to pure video art that affected me in a meaningful way, its imagery iconic, dreamlike and memorable. Like electronic music, video art is inexorably linked to fast-evolving technology and as such it is very often prone to becoming hopelessly dated in the wrong hands (there's a quote that reads "Nothing is sadder than yesterday's vision of tomorrow"), but this was different. It was clearly the work of an artist, someone who had a real idea and wasn't just playing around with the newest gear of the day.

I later saw an excerpt of Emshwiller's "Scape-Mates" on PBS around 1981, which I also found evocative and riveting. Worth seeking out if you're into the aesthetic...

There is a Sunstone page by Alvy Ray Smith, one of the creators of the piece's CG, here.

Well?

2009-04-20T04:56:00.001-07:00

One of those periods where all seems quiet on the surface, but...etc.
I'm composing for me, mixing for someone else and working on a video game for a High Profile Company™ with an excellent friend.

On another subject, long ago someone warned me, "Never work with your heroes- You'll always end up disappointed for one reason or the other."

Welp, it turned out to be the other.

Anyway. Time to focus on helpful people in my life instead, by way of a random shoutout:

Big up to my homeboy MJ at That Death Star Music Tech Company for years of good-natured support, and to CC for equally good-natured generosity. Much appreciated, y'all.

Old hobbies die hard

2009-03-24T18:15:00.000-07:00

It recently occurred to me that handgun and amateur radio enthusiasts generally tend not to fit my political or occupational profile, let alone come from my background. I'm not exactly sure what this means, but it is and has always been a bit weird.

Fuck You, Waves

2009-03-04T02:54:00.000-08:00

So.
I recently had a bad experience: I lost a USB copy-protection key containing software authorizations for many of the programs I rely on for my work. Or maybe it was stolen;
This has not yet been determined. The net result was that I was in an unfortunate position -
I had to contact all of the software companies whose product authorizations were contained on the key and see about obtaining replacement authorizations (worth thousands of dollars in total) for my hurriedly-purchased replacement key. My point? It's worth noting that all of the companies were willing to provide replacements for prices ranging from free to modest. All, that is, except for one:

A company called Waves.

I had previously bought one of their packages, costing about $1200, and they of course had a record of this on file. I had reported my lost key missing to the company which makes the key and handles all the coordination of software authorizations to and from their users' keys, and notified Waves of this. However, I was informed that the best they could do on a replacement authorization (which costs them nothing, as it is not a physical product but merely a one-time electronic process) would cost me 50% of the list price of the product I'd purchased ($2000). In other words, $1000. My only recourse, I was told, would be to have already purchased Waves' own insurance policy against key loss or damage, which of course I hadn't known about. What a fucking racket.

This is unacceptable.

In the process of obtaining the replacement authorizations from the various companies, I was warned by many people that Waves would be hardasses and impossible to reason with in my situation, and this proved quite true. As it happens, they are infamous in the industry for this, and now I see why. This approach has made them universally reviled as a company, despite the fact that they make very good products. A lot of people hate them and have subsequently refused to deal with them further. In fact, I was told by my local music shop about a customer of theirs who'd bought $7000 worth of Waves software and had lost his key like I had. The company refused to do anything for him, so he'd given up in disgust and switched to a "cracked" version of the software. While I don't advocate this sort of thing in general, it's not hard to understand in this scenario- A legitimate customer, having paid full price for a completely non-physical product, being treated with absolutely no respect or courtesy whatsoever by the manufacturer.

I believe this attitude will ultimately be Waves' undoing in the long run. You can't survive long-term if your customers hate you, and they've done a lot to create ill will among their user base. The moral of this particular story, however, is insure your damn iLok and try not to lose the fucking thing.

And don't buy Waves products.

Not even a little recession-friendly

2009-03-03T22:51:00.000-08:00

These guys are not fucking around. They're going for the jugular-
making THE BEST chocolate ice cream ever made. It's worth noting that they've lost distribution at most supermarkets around town
due to not moving enough units, even the high-end joints, probably
because people have a) never heard of it and b) get instant sticker shock. In fact, the only place you can get it here now is Bristol Farms, which is strictly for the "money no object" set. It's $7 a pint and the most complex, near-hallucinatory chocolate ice cream experience it's possible to have without the addition of actual hallucinogens.
I know the picture shows vanilla, but trust me, it's all about their chocolate varieties. Given the current economic climate, they're probably not long for this world, so track some down before it's too late.

Lately

2009-03-03T22:36:00.000-08:00

This is a good record.
It took a lot of work.
Worth it though- Go get it.

This is a good television show.
Been contributing a few overdubs on various instruments for the composer, Anton Sanko, a longtime friend. I think his scoring on this show is fantastic and has real musical substance, unlike much of what one hears on TV.

Merry Xmas to me

2008-12-11T17:07:00.001-08:00

1976, Hughes Aircraft module inside, NOS.
Yeah.

Preoccupied

2008-12-03T13:43:00.000-08:00

NYC/NJ Nov 2k8

2008-12-03T13:27:00.001-08:00

Four-day whirlwind Thanksgiving trip. From top: Visions of loveliness Arielle and Vicki, the brilliant, beautiful and photogenic KG (and the decidedly less beautiful and photogenic I), rock n' roll übergeek overlord Richard Factor in a serious moment in his office at Eventide.

London Punkt

2008-11-24T14:48:00.000-08:00

For those not familiar with the Punkt Festival concept, briefly it's this:
One artist/group does a performance in the "main" space and then right afterwards,
another artist/group does a remix of said performance in front of the same crowd who saw the first one, in another room. So we did a remix of someone else's concert which (in my opinion) felt better and more interesting to me than our own concert. Weird.
Photos: Guy Sigsworth, a very knackered me and Mileece, right after the end of the whole thing, a West London nighttime view from Guy's studio, the excellent and unique
Helge Norbakken playing drums at soundcheck and me in direct sunlight at the home of some longtime family friends.

chickmagnet

2008-11-14T04:05:00.000-08:00

What to do when too tired and jetlagged for much else.

Czech the wackiness

2008-11-09T00:32:00.000-08:00

This would be just another nice, modern radio/tv tower in Prague, if it weren't for the GIANT BLACK PLASTIC BABIES CLIMBING UP IT.

More Evidence

2008-11-08T23:55:00.001-08:00

...and we're done with this lil' jaunt.
Top to bottom: "Stabbing or bludgeoning, sir?" at a castle entrance,
the venue, another view of one of the many castles in Prague,
a junk shop window, an interestingly-named energy drink,
a soundcheck photo, yet another castle view and another soundcheck shot.

This particular story so far...

2008-11-03T22:05:00.000-08:00

On tour in EU for the nth time. As of now: Oslo, Torino, Reggio Emilia and tonight,
Manerbio. Soon: Prague, Warsaw. Highlights thus far include the group itself
(the great J.A. Deane is back with JH for the first time in 20 years, and this trio
config works well) and of course, Italian food. Lowlights have mostly to do with airlines, as per usual. May they all die.

Never saw this before....

2008-10-22T10:10:00.001-07:00

...Interesting to see a trailer for a film so deeply-ingrained in one's consciousness for the first time.

Make your own nostalgia- It's fun and easy to do!

2008-10-20T03:51:00.000-07:00

Somehow, it all got compressed down to this. At least for now.

It was a fairly long time between the realization that one can make it happen anywhere, and the realization that when it comes to "anywhere", more is more.

greetings from the eye of the storm

2008-10-20T03:37:00.000-07:00

"...She's just a girl...a girl u want"

2008-10-20T03:29:00.001-07:00

It doesn't "mean" anything.

2008-10-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

Belated Pix

2008-09-28T23:31:00.001-07:00

This is a blog update

2008-09-08T03:00:00.000-07:00

A week in Norway. Lost luggage (never recovered), rain, installations by JH and BE,
food and a whole bunch of concerts, ours included.
Photos: Bustling metropolis Kristiansand during the day, the church bells that were processed by JH for his installation piece, some moments from Brian's "77 Million Paintings for Punkt"
installation.

Scandinaviosity Redux...

2008-09-01T01:42:00.000-07:00

...hopefully not National Lampoon's Norwegian Vacation.
I don't know why I post gear pr0n before I go places (and in this case
it's not even SEZY gear pr0n) but here it is again, for lack of anything else photo-worthy at this point. Actually, stuff is happening but none of it is yet ready for these pages. So this will have to do for the moment. More over the course of this coming week...

indispensible...

2008-08-07T04:36:00.000-07:00

Nothing else exists.

2008-07-30T03:02:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the concern everyone, but this is the second
earthquake I've missed. Last time, I was in the shower.
This time, asleep. I guess this means that with the law of
averages, I'll be present and correct when the big one hits.
For the moment, I'm busy.

Buzz...

2008-07-26T14:44:00.000-07:00

This looks promising...

..and since I'm now fixated (again):

2008-07-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

In case you're 12 years old and/or were born in a barn,
here 's some background.
Tangentially-related: You'll probably end up
reading this eventually.

Photo from wright-house.com.

Why it would be nice to have ridiculous amounts of money...

2008-07-11T11:53:00.001-07:00

Not the sort of thing I'd normally post or even think about, but this speaks for itself.

Even more exclusionary retro-technofetishism

2008-07-03T01:15:00.000-07:00

All that was old is new again.

Bergen

2008-05-30T09:06:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I actually agreed to this, but I took a 3 day trip to play ONE HOUR in Bergen, Norway and fly right back home to LA. Ridiculous. Nice town though, and it went well.
From top down:
After 3 planes and a day of traveling, sunglasses hide a multitude of evils. Outside the hotel. The venue (a former sardine packing plant). Another view outside the venue. View flying into Bergen from Oslo. Yet another view of the Bergen hills. I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen these with my own eyes, but straight from the Simpsons it's bacon-wrapped sausages. "Bacon up that sausage, boy!" "But dad, my heart hurts!" Me in all my fried, severe wrinkly-shirted glory in my sunny hotel room. And finally, a shot of us during the gig taken from this blog.

Norwich

2008-05-19T14:51:00.000-07:00

Summary: More stressful than usual, due to very poor organization (not ours, theirs) but the concert actually went pretty well. There's something amazing about hearing 100 human voices in unison that is unlike any other sound on earth. And while I hate anything to do with religion, it must be said that the cathedral is an amazing space.

Botanic Gardens

2008-04-23T00:48:00.000-07:00

Couldn't resist these blogtacular shots I took earlier today.
Note the MOTHER-HUGE bats- they're called Flying Foxes, and
are actually fruitbats
(thank god). UNNERVINGLY big. Also, as exotic as those Rainbow Lorikeets look, they're actually very common here, I was surprised to learn. Ditto for the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos, seen here posing like celebritards in a tree at the Gardens. And finally, the hibiscus shot, looking alarmingly like some generic stock photo.

Mountains of Blue

2008-04-21T01:31:00.000-07:00

...it looked to be a case of Complete Weather Sabotage™,
but there was a clear bit and I managed to get some photos through the mist in spite of the grey. Behold the Three Sisters.

Back From France

2008-04-14T07:26:00.000-07:00

After an insane, densely-packed 4 days,
we're back from recording for ECM in Provence.
We spent 3 days in the studio with Manfred Eicher,
which was an amazing experience.
A lot of great material got recorded, and I feel we have
the makings of a fantastic record now.

...From the betting-on-the-wrong-horse dept.

2008-02-29T03:47:00.001-08:00

This isn't exactly an original sentiment,
but in this case it is very apt:
FUCK BIG CORPORATIONS WITH A POINTED STICK. I figured I'd done my due diligence a few months ago when I researched HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray and went with HD-DVD. Everything made sense- More mature format (versus Blu-Ray's spec changing every year or less), cheaper players, and Sony's miserable track record of format introduction (Betamax, DAT, MD). Well, looks like I (and a few hundred thousand others) lost. As it happens, I bought a Blu-Ray player as well awhile back because Sunshine came out in that format (see my comments on that film in an earlier post) and I quite rightly felt it would be quite an experience in HD. I also bought the Blade Runner Comic Book Guy Special Edition (again, see below) in HD-DVD. Sigh. Oh well, whatever. Both formats look great, and now at least the war is over, but the whole thing just grosses me out.

Yet more predictable vintageness

2008-02-29T00:42:00.000-08:00

I realize it's been a long silence around here, but that's only because I have nothing suitable for semi-public consumption to report. I wish I had a mind-bendingly earth-shattering post with which to break the silence, but alas, it's just more vintage technofetishism (so stop reading now if that sort of thing sends you to sleep.)

I have an AMS RMX16 and DMX-1580S which I love dearly and use on most projects. However, being over 25 years old, they are starting to show their age (worn keypads, broken switch caps and switches, etc...) so it was time to spruce them up with
some spare parts from these guys.

So far, the tally is 1 new keypad and two new (repro'd) nudge caps on the DMX. Left to go: a switch replacement on the RMX and a repair of its rare and fabulous remote (not shown), which came with an actual barcode reader and barcode program cards to allow extra reverb algorithms to be downloaded into the RMX! (This is 1984
state of the art we're talking about here, kids..)

Incidentally, replacing the parts on the DMX took about 5 minutes, but getting the screws back into the chassis (because of the horribly awkward internal layout of the unit) was a lengthy nightmare. Be warned in the unlikely event that you ever decide to undertake working on one of these yourself!

Get yer spend on

2007-12-03T12:27:00.000-08:00

'Nuff said.

End Of Tour Party, Los Angeles

2007-11-26T06:02:00.000-08:00

...Not at the Sunset Hyatt though, sadly.
The past few days were a bit rugged- played in Kourtrijk then left at 4am or so for 2 planes to Bari. Played that evening after a typically hellish Italian soundcheck/gear experience (and typically amazing food followed), only to leave at 5am for 3 more planes home. Normally we'd have taken a direct Frankfurt-LA flight on Lufthansa, but this wasn't possible due to the scheduling, so it meant an awful YouNighted "Airlines" experience and a layover in Dulles. Next time we'll stay the extra day to make the nonstop possible. In any case, Kourtrijk and Bari were ok gig-wise, though Bari suffered from a very boomy hall, along with all the other problems. I think it's pretty much impossible to have a smooth concert experience in Italy unless you eliminate the Italians themselves from at least 90% of the production process. They've still got it goin' on in the food department though, which goes part of the way toward making up for the other glaring shortcomings one always encounters there in the concert world. In a general sense however, for a group like this where a significant amount of technology and logistics (and not enough money) are involved, playing live these days is pretty difficult. The combination of lack of money for a road crew (despite the Herculean efforts of our fantastic tour manager/FOH man Arnaud "Arnocito" Mercier) and the draconian airline overweight baggage policies and their attendant costs makes for grim scenarios pretty much every time. Photos from top: Johan (left) from Einsturzende Neubaten, who's a big JH fan, turned up to see us in Kourtrijk. Bottom: Me at soundcheck in Bari.

The video show...

2007-11-22T10:46:00.000-08:00

People keep sending photos of our shows over the past few days, and while some of them
are (IMNSHO) truly horrible, there are the occasional good ones that seem postworthy.
We are actually doing two different shows on this mini-tour: The main JH music one and another which is "live scoring"
to the video of Belgian video artist Kurt d'Haeseleer. We've did one performance of each in Genk (the other concerts
have all been the normal music set), and we're doing the second tomorrow here in Kortrijk.
The photo above is from the Genk video performance.

Kortrijk

2007-11-22T06:11:00.000-08:00

Day off, thank Jeebus. From top: Street scene, one of the venues used by the festival (not the one we played at, though), an astonishing warm goat cheese salad, chocolate mousse.

Uppsala post-mortem

2007-11-20T14:57:00.000-08:00

The Uppsala gig was good- nice reaction from the audience. Spanking-new venue with great gear as well. However, the building was severely overdesigned in the tech department. The CCTV flatscreen view of the stage (top photo) was nice, and the electronic sign next to the dressing room (second photo down) was cool as well, but the dressing rooms had card-key entrance and immediately started locking us out for no readily apparent reason. You really have to wonder why a dressing room needs card key entrance- So unnecessary. They ended up calling the maintenance guy in charge of the system to get us sorted out. Anyway, not a bad gig at all. Back to Belgium tomorrow.

Last London stuff (no, really!)

2007-11-19T16:11:00.000-08:00

Right as we were about to leave the hotel to fly to Sweden, I managed to organize the first in-person meeting between myself and my friend Rainer Brüninghaus. I've been a fan of his work since about 1980, first interviewed him for a magazine in '87 and kept in touch sporadically since then. However, he never comes to the USA on tour anymore, and I wasn't over in Europe all that much so we never actually met face-to-face. It turned into a fun little "ECM summit" of sorts when JH and Jan Garbarek turned up.
From top: Rainer and I, Jon/Jan/Rainer, Jon and Rainer.

Last Day in London...

2007-11-18T17:08:00.001-08:00

From top: The hotel, my old hero Rainer Brüninghaus playing with Jan Garbarek, my friends Andy and Guy working on A Major Record Project™.

Random Londonology

2007-11-18T00:47:00.000-08:00

The QEH London gig went very well.
From top: The QEH stage setup (sorry 'bout the blur), the giant sightseeing-ferris-wheel thing, Steve and Jan, Brian after the show.

...and we're off.

2007-11-12T02:00:00.000-08:00

The view from the hotel. Genk, Belgium.

Off again...soon.....

2007-11-09T03:29:00.001-08:00

Jet lag here I come....

Food Pr0n

2007-10-31T07:10:00.001-07:00

Clockwise from upper left:
Dried cantaloupe, Unie Kaas Robusto cheese (it's an aged Gouda), dried figs and Mitica Marcona almonds.
Credz to Jessica Grindstaff (link at right), who inspired this basic combination.

Whole Foods pwnz me.
Yes yes, they're killing local small shops and producers, blah blah blah corporate behemoth etc etc and so forth but it's NOT MY FAULT. I'm sick of people whining about this- I feel as bad about it as anyone, but WF offers something that's hard to compete with: A gigantic selection of Really Good Stuff™ under one roof, so take it up with them, not me. There, I said it.

Frankfurt

2007-10-28T23:43:00.000-07:00

....was good. Great venue and crew, good sellout crowd. The concert was simulcast on Frankfurt radio, apparently in Dolby surround. Also, I got a chance to see the Gaudi Unseen show at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum, which is quite a good document of the ongoing construction of the Sagrada Familia. In an unrelated note, I was totally smitten by these awesome Saab ethanol concept station wagons that the company (being one of the Jazz Festival's corporate sponsors this year) lent to the festival for shuttling the artists to and from the venue. Absolutely fantastic, and maddeningly unavailable in North America. Anyway, a few video stills:

From top: Rick and Jamie at soundcheck, the hall- (Hessischen Rundfunk) and the audience view of soundcheck.

Might be time for another one of these...

2007-10-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

About ten years ago, I bought a NeXT Color Turbostation and it became my main machine at home for about five years thereafter. Performance-wise, it was basically the equivalent of a Mac Quadra 650 (also a good machine for its time) but with a futuristic, beautiful and rock-solid Unix-based OS. I only sold it because I was moving to LA and needed to lighten the load, but I never lost admiration for the NeXT design aesthetic and elegant user experience. I think it may be time to get another one of these...NeXTstep has an enduring brilliance, and is in some ways more elegant than its descendant, Mac OS X. If you're into computers (particularly if you're a Mac enthusiast) and are not familiar with the NeXT story, check out the above link. The machine was another example of Steve Jobs's vision and taste, qualities all too rare in the computer business. Also, it seems someone's managed to get OpenStep running on an Intel MacBook Pro. Gotta love Parallels Desktop. Considering how zippy OpenStep was on a PII/300 PC, I'd imagine this scenario would perform quite well, even with the virtualization overhead...

Back To Work...

2007-10-16T03:04:00.000-07:00

It's the usual combo platter of TV/film with Charlie (Las Vegas and Numb3rs are back) and some JH group stuff at the moment.
JH, Jamie Muhoberac and I rehearsed today for the upcoming Frankfurt concert (jonhassell.com for details) in my front room, as evidenced by the poorly-lit vidcap.
Gonna be fun though...

Beware, I Live

2007-09-19T01:31:00.000-07:00

So I've had this Atari Major Havoc since 1995, when it was originally a Tempest. Everyone loves Tempest, but I eventually got tired of it and installed a factory Havoc conversion kit. MH is, after all, the best color vector game and one of the greatest classic video games of all time. Possessed of a rich gameplay unmatched by any other vectors (and few raster classics), it exemplifies all that was fantastic and special about the "golden age" (1977-84) games. It's fun, it's challenging and it clearly pointed to the way things could have gone if the video game industry hadn't unceremoniously crashed in '84.

Mine worked swimmingly until a few years ago, when it suddenly, catastrophically didn't anymore.

Stumped, I sent the board to my learned and esteemed friend Jeff, world-renowned expert on "the bideo games" who bafflingly determined that nothing was wrong with the board after all. I'd already tested the power supply, so this left only one other possible culprit: The actual wiring harness in the cabinet. This seemed highly unlikely, as a harness actually going bad is pretty much unheard of, but Jeff supplied me with a known good harness anyway as an experiment. And after an unreasonably long (> one year) interval, I finally installed it, and wouldn't you know, IT WORKS. There was much rejoicing.

Giant

2007-09-12T01:14:00.001-07:00

Joe Zawinul died today. He was one of the most important and influential musicians of our time, and a huge inspiration to me and countless others. I possibly can't express how much Weather Report's music affected me during their heyday.
It's important to mention that I am not a jazz musician; The group's appeal was wide-ranging and their music transcended the artificial constructs of "style" and "genre". If you've never heard their music, or weren't fortunate enough to have seen them live in their prime, go get a copy of one (or all) of these:

SX-70

2007-09-10T15:42:00.000-07:00

I am an SX-70 fanatic. They've always been dead cool as both an engineering marvel for their time and a snapshot (sorry) of quintessentially early-70s design aesthetics. Oh, and they take cool-looking photos that one could manipulate by hand during that brief period between taking the photo and before the emulsions fixed by exposure to the air. The thing that rekindled my interest, though, was their "SX-70" promotional film, which can be seen as part of this collection. Made by the legendary design couple Charles and Ray Eames (check the 'leet MySpace friends!) in 1972 to coincide with Polaroid's release of the SX-70, it is itself a work of considerable artistry. The good news is that SX-70s aren't hard to find in good shape these days, and that Polaroid has started making viable SX-70 film again after a disappointing lapse for awhile.

Otherworldly

2007-08-30T01:01:00.000-07:00

Screensavers are generally awful, not to mention pointless.
This one, however, is noteworthy for a number of reasons. First, it's open-source and there's a sizable community of people writing modules for it. Second, the modules are fractal flames-
They can be very hypnotic. Get it now, it's free.

Beautiful genius

2007-08-20T19:06:00.000-07:00

I've just added a link over on the right of this page to the site of my dear and brilliant friend, Victoria Faust. She is simply the most fantastic, evocative visual artist I know, and one of the most important people in my life. Go look.

UI Design Didn't Always Suck

2007-08-18T01:34:00.000-07:00

I hate the fact that people using technology to make music these days have simultaneously more creative and transformative power and fewer well-designed physical instrument interfaces at our fingertips than ever before. This is due to a number of factors, chiefly money. It costs considerably less to make any software than hardware, so now we have this design philosophy permeating the industry of "Fuck 'em, we'll put every possible feature we can into the software- Let THEM make the interface they want!" So we've ended up with a world of cheap, plastic MIDI controllers with tons of assignable knobs, pads, buttons and sliders, but very few actual self-contained, well-thought-out hardware musical instruments that are physically satisfying to play and don't force the musician to design their own interface.

I resent this.

While it is a valid approach on one hand (since most professional music software has many more possible onscreen controls than any single piece of hardware could feasibly be equipped with), it falls apart with things like softsynths and samplers, where you really benefit from being able to simply grab one parameter knob with one hand and another control with the other and see what happens if you twist them in opposite directions while the sound is being played.

Fuck these people and their lack of commitment to inspiring creativity (you remember "musicians", don't you? The people who actually have to use your products, ultimately?) Don't force me to be an interface designer. If you really want to make inspiring instruments that are fun to play, do the work, think it through, build the hardware and make it simple, seductive and easy to use, like the venerable, fantastic Sequential Prophet T8 pictured above.

Fortunately, some modern designers do occasionally get it right:

Red Meat Nirvana

2007-08-16T00:29:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles is a surprisingly difficult city for great late-night food.
If you are a vegetarian, just go ahead and skip to the next post-
Nothing to see here. If not, I'll keep this short:
24/7, fantastic beef aged in-house, impeccable old-school service,
consistently wonderful food. I have no affiliation with them other than fandom.

Rumi

2007-08-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

I never realized how many Rumi sites there actually are out there.
I first heard about his works from my friend Sussan Deyhim
(see "Queen of the Galaxy" link on the right of this page),
and later from Mr Fourth World (ditto).

Olditude

2007-08-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

I love and collect late 70's/early 80's classic video arcade games.
Not consoles, but actual full-size upright arcade machines.
I've been collecting the bloody things for years, but somehow my interest in the hobby remains as keen as ever.

Fantastic Planet

2007-08-14T03:31:00.000-07:00

...is still beautiful.

I first saw it in NY in '73, when it was released domestically after it won the Jury Prize that year at Cannes. I saw it again in '76. Recently, a "UK Special Edition" was released which has a better anamorphic transfer, a much more in-depth booklet, the ability to disable subtitles and a choice of English (the USA theatrical dub, featuring Barry Bostwick of all people) or the original French.

The Wiki is here.

I thought you knew!

C Bass

2007-08-13T19:47:00.000-07:00

Back in 1985, a boutique UK bass company called Overwater produced an innovative instrument called the C Bass, a four-string bass tuned C F Bflat Eflat. This was before 5-string basses became ubiquitous, and bassists needed an instrument that would go down low enough to allow them to compete with the rampant synth basslines that were sweeping the music world at the time. The C Bass was a good interim solution, but it didn't catch on particularly well and was soon discontinued.

I bought a 5-string bass in 1993 and it soon became my mainstay. However, I've often wondered if I'd be able to find a C Bass one day, because of their sheer uniqueness.
So recently, I called Overwater and simply asked if they'd make me one to order, completely custom. They said no problem, and we designed my dream C Bass.

The image above is a a shot of the almost-finished instrument I ordered.

Horology

2007-08-13T04:04:00.000-07:00

I love vintage LED watches from the 70s.
My pride and joy is a Pulsar "Bigtime" rather like the one above.
Though not strictly digital watches, this guy
has some great vintage stuff.

Perfection

2007-08-12T23:47:00.001-07:00

When I was in Sydney awhile back, I ate at Tetsuya's with my friend Allie. Without exaggeration, it was the best, most elaborate, subtle, imaginative, phenomenally expensive lunch I have ever had. It required reservations over a month in advance, and even then I had to sweet-talk the lovely female reservations agent from across the Pacific. Indescribably fantastic food. We had the degustation menu- read it and weep. Go there if you're in town and looking to get spendtacular.

Sunshine

2007-08-12T21:38:00.001-07:00

...not a perfect film, but we live in a depressingly bleak age for visionary sci-fi films and this is a visually gorgeous piece of work. It has a couple of moments that are obvious nods (read "ripoffs") of 2001, but maybe it's been long enough that that's ok now. Besides, it's kind of touching. Anyway, the whole thing goes sideways during the last third or so, but I recommend it if you are interested in good science fiction.

Rediscovery

2007-08-12T21:18:00.000-07:00

Being of the X generation, I grew up with (among other things) Star Trek syndicated reruns on TV in the 70s. However, there was also an animated ST series which, though by no means great from an animation standpoint, had some brilliant writing that equalled the original live-action series and featured all the voices of its original actors. Thanks to this site, I've rediscovered them lately, and it's been a nice relaxing diversion.

Blade Runner: Deluxe "Not-Getting-Laid" Edition

2007-08-12T17:05:00.001-07:00

Blade Runner is about to be released in a definitive, uber-comprehensive, super-deluxe DVD box set that my ever-astute friend Jamie Muhoberac referred to as the "not-getting-laid pack". Jeff Albertson would be first in line at the store for this one.

On the radar currently...

2007-08-12T15:47:00.000-07:00

This looks like a much better-funded, more sophisticated and generally more satisfying version of this. I applaud the DIY/indie ethos, but some things need real behemoth-grade funding to see the light of day properly.

it begins...

2007-08-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

...for some reason, I've decided to use this as a temporary waystation-slash-home for things I find interesting on the interwebs and elsewhere, until my proper site is done.
Translation: A random collection of things I find interesting.