December 31sts
12/31/1999
Today is the defining moment as to whether our lives are truly pervaded by the computer age, and if something goes awry in Russia the world will be toast tomorrow.
President Yeltsin abruptly resigns. Putin, a former KGB agent, takes over. Disturbing.
The “brand new day”. Honeymoon will last for a while, but will it withstand the vagaries of real life?
[12/31/2024: It’s interesting to reflect after 25 years. I was skeptical of the “brand new day” zeitgeist even then, although the next few years were indeed an internet zeitgeist. Many feel we are entering a new dark age, or are already in it].
12/31/2000
Show on TV about Alzheimer’s patient, at age 80 started painting and drawing, showing awesome talent. Was it always there, and activated by disease, or does disease create a brain state on the fly? Also, the choir director who couldn’t remember his name, but remembered musical pieces.
12/31/2004
Out with new SLR. Richard Bock boulder sculptures at Wright Home and Studio.
12/31/2010
Title: Telephone to God
12/31/2022
The current album I’ve been working on has the tentative working title of "Nostalgia Galaxies". It will be part of the In Sum series which started with these diaries and are calendrical--meaning that they’re calendar-based, e.g. there’s a diary for January, a diary for February, and so on, and they are organized by day of the month--all the January 1sts in history--not only mine but from diaries of other people.
One of the early ideas was to include things like vocoded voices, but as I was listening to some of the things that people have been doing I realized there’s so much junk out there that it is not even usable. There’s a YouTube channel called “Melobytes Radio” that I was listening to for perhaps 30 seconds.
12/31/2023
As I've been reading sections of Geddy Lee's memoir My Effin' Life, I realized that his experiences as a young musician were a common experience among a lot of musicians from that time. We all played along with the radio and records as the then form of emulation. You'd find that in any generation when the youth rally around new forms of art and music, a process of emulation begins: the fashion, the slang, and particularly the instruments. One of Geddy's heroes was Chris Squire, so the Rickenbacker 4001 was a part of the cosplay. It's also remarkable that the emulation continues to this day with younger people still emulating Rush and using the same instrument. The actual beginning of that emulation is Paul McCartney's use of the Rickenbacker bass beginning around 1966. But Chris Squire's use of it was related to the sound of what John Entwistle was doing with a Fender Precision, not a Rickenbacker.
12/31/2024
Video for Poette (AI version). Wanted to get a reversed version as a "countdown" but it never gets the rhythm and phrasing correct. AI music can sometimes be like a slot machine. Since the re-writing process is quick, you keep doing it to get what you want, walking away disappointed or settling for something you don't really like. Manual creativity is like this too.
Apparently, a blackout in Puerto Rico, almost the entire island. (Y2K delayed by 25 years)
12/31/2025
2025 Photographs
Truly the end of an era. MTV shuts down its 24-hour broadcast channel, although it will always exist as a cultural monument. It was even somewhat over in the early 90s. AI will redefine it with fake artists.
Excerpt Library (Music I): "Discuss the history of MTV"
Apparently 2 R&B groups canceled shows at the Kennedy Center on claims of "overt racism and deliberate destruction of African American music and culture. Political cultists don't understand the idea of "soul". Artist expression must come from sincerity, and perhaps solemnity, as an individual, not as a tribe.
***
If there was a robot that I could program to dance to my rhythms I think I'd consider having one. It's also a way to teach rhythms because it would demonstrate with gestures how a rhythm is played or danced to, so you can put accents on any note value and make it do “apoplectic” dances.
Comments
Post a Comment