March 15ths

3/15/2021

On being interested in things other than music:

When Geddy Lee was writing his bass book he had interviewed Bill Wyman, who didn’t even want to talk about basses because he’s been into other things like archaeology and writing his own books. It’s natural to want to explore the world broadly; one thing is going to lead to another. It works the other way around as well:  Rock ‘n’ roll in the 60s was largely written by kids who were in art school.

“Slashing” domains allows one to identify common elements which a singular focus may obscure or push away as being irrelevant. In fact, it may be a more efficient way to work because it may allow the hemispheres of the brain to rest, and be more effective in problem solving or putting them into an incubation mode.

3/15/2024

Ever since humans have been making machines they’ve been captivated by them. In the early 20th century music started to sound like a machine and continues on to today where things look or sound like they’re made by a machine, and actually are. In photography, there’s “ruin porn” where people go to old abandoned factories and take photographs and is a cool look to some people. But it’s become cliche over the years. Like disaster films, there’s a comfortable distance from it so it doesn’t affect us emotionally. These days people are more triggered emotionally by so many things that I don’t think ruin porn would have the same allure. The look of machines and factories, a la Charles Sheeler, has become somewhat old hat.