February 5ths

2/5/2005

The Eno album I’ve always liked is On Land, but I also like his pop material, e.g. Before and After Science. Like Cage, he melded the philosophical and conceptual with music. What I used later on was the idea of “avoiding” music, but ultimately I became a “born again” musician. I suppose I just like playing. But the way I write and record was heavily influenced by Eno. This is what Eno would have said about Cage. 

Interesting: Black MIDI is a way to use something for it wasn’t originally intended for special effects. The main purpose is to introduce extreme ideas as brute force to heave oneself out of ruts. (Go to an extreme and retreat to a more useful position). It’s also another form of slippage—using the punched hole as the printer dot. 

 

 

 

 

2/5/2011

Prediction: By 2016, the Internet of Things will have grown exponentially and will pervade social media. Text messaging will become automatic and will obviate the need to type into a mobile device. Messaging will be done through a combination of voice control or sent automatically according to your preset rules. People will be able to 'ping' instead of manually composing text messages or Twitter posts. They will join 'flocks' that are organized to self-evolve and self-direct based on The Rules. Swarming and emergence will be at the vanguard of social media and may influence the 2016 presidential campaign. 

[2/5/2025: The thing about making good predictions is that you have to keep making them. This was at least partially right. In retrospect, 2011 was the year flocks lost their way].

2/5/2022
            
I still like the idea of the “Audio Snapshot” and would be an interesting exhibition if it hasn’t already been done. It would involve hypersonic speakers mounted just above and in front of the photographs. This is a situation where you have to be in a gallery space, and isn’t something you can view online and have the same experience, although you could approximate it online with headphones. I initially got the idea from Ed Ruscha, who once commented that Walker Evans photos have an “audio” to them. 

2/5/2025

You can go your own way... 

No One Will

Who are all the no ones
Who never will?
Doing all the things
That no one will?

When push comes to shove
You'll do the things that everyone does
No ones will
And someones won't
Do the things
That others don't

There's no one Will
We can return to now
So make it free
And make it now

Others think
Others won't
Do the things
Others don't 

(AI-generated music, photos by Cindy Sherman)

Feeling confident about an idea is hugely important. The way I find confidence is to start lots of projects, then follow the one that feels warmer, or is closer to being resolved, or can be a part of a system. The “Songdays” is this kind of system.