February 18ths

2/18/1978

From Confession of an Elitist:

"I've always thought there was a lot of England 1890s about you as well. Beardsley and Wilde, etc.
Oh, yes! That was a very strong influence, the idea of the aesthete, the elitist (laughs) - a point which Brian (Eno) and I share. I think there's a large snob factor in what I do. You once said to me, "I'm an actor, not an intellectual," and yet critics see in your records ideas rather than emotions.

I've decided I'm a Generalist now!

A Generalist?

Yes. I thought that just about covered all grounds. It encompasses anything I wish to do, really. I find, for instance, I really want to paint seriously now, and not toy with it, and I am painting very seriously now, every available moment.

[2/18/2025: Once you've been doing something for a long time, in any domain, you can alternate between styles. For example, now I'm experimenting with AI in music, and at the same time writing string quartets. If you've developed any kind of a skill, you don't want to let it go to seed while you explore new technologies. What you want is to set up two poles or two extremes and you can work within that range. For example, one extreme is writing in a 19th century style in music notation, and the other extreme using AI.]

2/18/1998

In 1972 the Voyager spacecraft was launched with a gold-plated vinyl LP with rock and classical music on it. So the assumption is that someone light years away is going to find this record and say, “Damn, I just sold my turntable!”