Are you kiddin’ me? I’m not totally buying into the Selig =Fox = Evil, talk radio scenario, but Bud, please, you should have told us! If it can’t end in a rain-shortened game, then TELL US IN ADVANCE. If there’s some transparency, then MLB won’t get treated like the Bush administration.
And tonight, it looks like we’re in for more rain. Lovely…
If you look at Dr Fusion and T.U.B.E., each makes reference to a multitude of other ‘music blogs’. Many of them are through Google/Blogger (as is Blogerantz) and the have a pretty uniform, no-nonsense design. As I look at the archive spreadsheet – disc inventory – I wonder if I could put a version of that list online, as an Excel doc, where you could tidily scroll through? I’m picturing a facebook-esq widget or something. I’m sure it could be easily done.
The more important question is, then what? Is everything going to get loaded onto Mpomy.com, as well as going to DVD archive, iPod and iTunes Library? I don’t imagine that there’s that much call for everything on that growing list – not because it’s not good music, but because there simply aren’t that many people passing through Mpomy land. I’d like to keep it that way.
So the plan would be to have some fancy widget or other method to synchronize data entry on Excel with publishing on mpomy.com. I simply refuse to believe that task will prove difficult. The next fun thing is to get into other Excel tools to hide certain selections. Even though the list will only be seen by those with knowledge of mpomy-world, I want to treat the appearance as if the thing were open to the public. The idea, then, is make a permanent link to blogerantz from mpomy, and then to use data entry on Excel to update the mpomy page. If someone makes a request for a certain item, then it would be become ‘available’ (as mp3 only) on blogerantz (via RapidSHare?).
Fun with Excel. I can hardly wait.
We let Flickr go dormant for a while, but Emily just reactivated us and she’s uploading a ton of great pictures from the last eight months. Check it out here and enjoy.
Here’s the thing – if I start out as a veg, there’s a lot of food everywhere, but I end up being meek and small. This character is a carnivore, but I’m not thrilled about going around and killing everything I see. That’s not very nice, but it’s the only way to survive.
This nice-looking herbivore can sing and dance and has even successfully defended the beach from a hostile predator. So things are going well in Spore-land. the hope is to push evolution as far as possible in the creature stage, because I think the time lapse slows way down and evolution basically ends by the time I get to the Tribe phase. That’s according to what I’ve read.
So this link goes here:
Looking more like Simon Pegg than ever!
October 27, 2008
‘Just a Souvenir’
Listen to
at the Warp Label MySpace Page. OH BOY, that sounds good!!!
There’s something very nice about coming home from work and just going at the guitar and effects with no plan, no agenda, no assignment, no key or time signature. Just plug in and see what happens. Let the music play you, as Fripp says. Last night that worked to good effect. Seeing Liam Finn go to town on the loopers has helped get me excited about this process, but I need to get better at cutting the loop at the right place so that the time signature matches up. Despite his age, Liam is a master at that. You can see for yourself:
In recent weeks, I’ve committed myself to utilizing the various composition tools at my disposal, especially this computer. So I’ve been mucking about a lot in an effort to basically duplicate the experience I had with iMovie. While that has worked out well, I’m not satisfied with the limitations of the software. Having to go to the previous version to create clips with video manipulation and different speeds has been a chore, even though it has added more visual options. However, when push comes to shove, I would gladly give up the visual spfx and just enjoy the simplicity and effectiveness of the new program’s interface. In a way, that’s the most important feature of all, and not all those bells and whistles.
So this brings me to the Native Instruments I/O box and the midi controller for software instruments, and now it’s all about GarageBand. Lots of tracks, beautiful interface, loops galore for all instruments and voice. It’s plenty of bells and whistles with a (now that I got the hardware interfaces) friendly and inviting interface. I’m getting pretty comfortable pretty quickly, but I still haven’t done a ‘mic’d up recording’. That will have to wait till I address the issue of getting started.
So the options put me in mind of a complex dance. I can let the machine lead me, more so than in a long time when I just recorded to four track live with a drum pattern generated by a Zoom multi-effects pedal. Now, I can sequence directly, but it’s clumsy. The software is really encouraging loop development and provides numerous grooves, tempos, kits, fills, and everything else you could hope for.
My most successful compositions have been developed so that they would sound full and complete, even if only played by a single, six-string guitar. No effects, no amp, perhaps no pick. That, to me, was the DNA of a composition. I could then layer, overdub and jam at will.
Another decision is whether to begin with something (simple) and new, or try to create, from the ground up, a performance of a song for which I’ve (basically) decoded that musical DNA. I have started that process already, just to have a canvas from which to work. I’m bothered by having to hunt and hunt for exactly the right rhythm part for songs that I’m already acquainted with. I’m guessing that hunting will go easier when I’m doing that while conjuring a new composition. There are a few contenders for this, but so far nothing I’ve played while plugged into the I/O box.
And then there’s the bass…
So I have a ways to go, but I have gotten started.