January 2nds
1/2/2005
They’re razing the old Sun-Times building in the Loop, and when I pass by it I always tune into the sound of jackhammers echoing through the empty space. [Now site of Trump Tower]
Ambient Audio:
[1/2/2025: Little did we know how that eponymous tower would represent the end of American democracy as we knew it. Perhaps it was always fragile and we naively thought, even after 9/11, that it would be razed].
1/2/2007
Projects for 2007: Music For Places, Highway Cinema.
[1/2/2026: Resolutions actually do work, but it can take sometimes a decade to see the results. What's important are "seeds"]
1/2/2012
James Howard Kunstler’s prediction/forecast:
“Vlad Putin has held things together there impressively after the meltdown of the 1990s, but apparently the tranquil veneer is thin. Except for two big cities, the sprawling nation is broke and decrepitating, with little to offer the world but oil and gas - not an inconsiderable offering, but one with certain limits especially as they drain their oil fields for export cash. The rule of law is also pretty sketchy there. The government, as ever, is a kind of gangster affair, only this time one that allows some people to get really rich, not just connected.
[1/2/2026: The rule of law is also pretty sketchy in the United States. The government, as ever, is a kind of gangster affair, only this time one that allows some people to get really rich, not just connected].
1/2/2017
I wouldn’t want to bring back Classical music, simply for the fact that there’s no possibility for real innovation there. If some of the ideas were theoretically innovative, it wouldn’t necessarily sound that way. Innovation in music has historically been in electronics and the textural or timbral aspects, through Pop music. I have personally been more interested in rhythmic innovation, and the psychoacoustics of sound, and the uses of it as “signal” (data).
David Bowie made the comment that he was more interested in the top-level system in which music is created rather than the “software” that runs on it. Using the metaphor of boats on a river, he didn’t want to just make more “canoes” (songs), but rather re-shape the landscape such that the river flows in another direction, or simply build out new infrastructure to extend the possibilities.
[1/2/2026: Now with AI more in the loop for content creators, those canoes will completely jam the waterways, which creates the need for re-engineering infrastructure, as China needed to do in the 90s with Three Gorges Dam. The energy demands of AI will create a similar situation. Systems can be generative but not necessarily efficient. As it relates to generativity, a good system can create lots of possibilities, but ultimately things have to be pared down. With the Songdays series, I can generate lots of ideas (canoes) every day but there’s only going to be a few that get to “float”. What’s great about systems and frameworks is that once you’ve created them it’s easy to generate material, but perhaps too easy, but you'll never have a blank canvas moment].
“Discuss Efficiency” In Technology and Creativity
1/2/2022
Podcast Episode: Do We Own Ideas?
1/2/2023
Was thinking of Neom, the dystopian city right out of a dystopian movie, and I feel like that it’s the pervasive mental model of what the future is supposed to look like.
Reading the excellent book, Ecology of Fear : Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster (1998), about how Southern California had become the “set” for both utopia and dystopia, how William Gibson’s three-dimensional computer interfaces will someday allow “postmodern flaneurs” to stroll through urban cyberspace, which is what I’ve now experienced in real life.
1/2/2024
Sometimes I’m of two minds about New Year’s resolutions. I think they’re useful for some people, but I like the idea of continuation, literally as continua. The things I do overlay yearly boundaries so I don’t need resolutions. But I suppose in some instances it would be very helpful, especially if you’re in some kind of a pattern that you need to break, and who isn’t? I think using both of those approaches can be good around the new year. There are some routines that I continue to do that aren’t continuations of other things—they’re continuations of things that I’m used to. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to break some of those patterns.
1/2/2025
AI music seems to work top-down, creating vocals over existing riffs or beats—as opposed to generating music based on the rhythms of the words. Consequently the “singers” are always getting the phrasing wrong. But sometimes “they” do it perfectly but can never do it twice. Also, are the developers actually musicians, and if they are, why would they choose programming over music? The tasks use different parts of the brain. The idea that one domain informs the other is a myth, until the results have some aesthetic and/or emotional qualities that appeal to the right hemisphere, although left-hemisphere art is good as well. It’s “design” rather than fine art.
1/2/2026
Sabrina Carpenter contests the use of Juno by the Regime. Actually, it's fair use. Regardless of whether they understand the lyrics or not, artists are always compensated because the venues that they perform in pay a blanket license to the performing rights organizations. It's nice if someone uses your song and respects its meaning, but it’s not necessary under the copyright law.
Language will “speak for itself” in its interpretation, even if distorted. Fascists will appropriate it as they see fit. There's really nothing artists can do other than rant about it, and hopefully they'll back off in the future. We make what we've intended to make in hopes people will resonate with it. It's naive to think that artists are making art for general audiences--that we are just sock puppets with no integrity or values. As to the Kennedy Center boycott, there are missed opportunities for stunts like ripping up photos of people that they militate against. But the KC was always a "PG" venue, so “activist” artists would never perform there in the first place.
I think it's probably a good idea that people in government have some connection with the Arts or have been involved in the Arts at some point in their lives because they have the sensitivities. But even then, there's the Sonny Bonos, who left music for a career in politics, and once they make the switch, they’re really not an artist anymore. Your integrity can shift as well, but ideally, what you want is to retain your sense of integrity and defend it. #riff
1/2/2047
(Anthony Townes Diary from Reset 2046)
Sera Lockmore came in to talk about her “Reflection Zone” light sculpture. Someone came up to me (“Neone”) and said she knew me and that I was her boyfriend. Very bizarre. I didn’t recognize her face, yet some of the features look familiar. Being concussed is like intentionally blurry photography, which seems natural and not that there’s something wrong. Ventured out for a short walk on the Strip and into Gates Park. Memories coming back—kind of like dreams.
Comments
Post a Comment