July 2nds

7/2/1994 

Bought Ensoniq TS-12 synth. 

[I loved this quirky synth with its alternate tunings keyboard and great keytar sound, but alas, was stolen]. 

7/2/2002 

What a critic said about John Entwistle: “He was unique and replaceable (sic) all in one.” 

7/2/2005

Live 8 concerts around the world for aid to Africa. Bob Geldolf: “Poetry, not politics”  

7/2/2014

W.G. Sebald’s Rings of Saturn is a book for places, both actual and imaginary. Next project might be to sonify some of those places.

7/2/2016

On the “focus” of composition: If it is philosophical in nature, then focus on the strategies, the things you can or can’t do artistically or culturally, how to reconcile what you’ve done before and what you want to do, and so on. On the level of craft, it’s knowing the capabilities of the people you are writing for (players and audience), which informs the choice of meter, key, tempo, etc. At the theoretical level, one could be intellectually challenged by the arcane, just for the sake of itself, but in the end it redounds to the philosophical, and begs the question of whether music should even involve philosophy. Obviously it has for many composers in the past, and even in the present. For the pop artist, they might wrestle with some of these issues at some point, if in fact the work incorporates the abstract and conceptual. 

[7/2/2025: Now with AI in the fold, you have to think about the philosophical implications. My current bugaboo is how it makes the artist a ventriloquist, something they never had to consider. There can be an art to that as well: When everyone is a ventriloquist you have to do it in a unique way that is less generic in its approach. Anyone can buy a dummy and put on a show].

7/2/2023

The paying of musical respect is different now. Musicians used to play along with records of artists they admired. Now they make documentaries and reaction videos. (It would be like me making a film about Mingus in 1978—I wasn’t into jazz yet at that point). But If you like someone’s music why not attempt to learn it? 

7/2/2024

Another bit of prose that works almost perfectly as a lyric.

7/2/1907, Tuesday (Paris)

(Harry Kessler Diary)

Visited Renoir with Vollard this afternoon in Montmartre, rue Caulaincourt...Renoir sat on a rolling chair and painted a long, life-size blond nude, a replica of the nude at Gallimard’s. His black-haired model Gabrielle, in a loose yellow calico blouse, cleaned his brushes afterward. He had her bring out a nude of her, as she lay on the sofa with her mature, rather round form...

Verse 1

Renoir sat on a rolling chair
And painted a life-size blonde
A replica of the nude at Gallimard’s
His black-haired Gabrielle
In a loose calico blouse

Verse 2

Had her bring out a nude of her
A painted life-size blonde
Paul lives close to the studio
He arrives before everyone else
His black-haired Gabrielle
In a loose calico blouse
 

This is probably the painting, Reclining Nude (La Source), c.1895, The Barnes Foundation

Also on 7/2:

7/2/1969

(Beatles Studio Diary)

Studio 2, Golden Slumbers. Paul lives close to the studio so he arrives before everyone else and works on Her Majesty.

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A short quartet ("Shortet"):

Shortet No. 10 ("Gabrielle") by meta4s_