September 5ths

 

9/5/2002

Article in Tribune about 9/11 experiences of journalists (could use as a poem or lyric): “I hear this freight train, look up, this thing coming down, street filled with shoes, people have literally run out of their shoes, I ran into a subway station, ran into a shoe place, asked if I could use the phone, called Dan Rather, he put me live on the air.”

Through the AI mill:

 

9/5/2005

Wynton Marsalis on Nightline talking about the cultural importance of New Orleans on the development of music. We sometimes see it as a strictly American phenomenon, when in fact it is a melange of influences from around the world. It is decidedly American in that it was considered “the sound of democracy—with everyone swinging, drums and bass grooving together."    

9/5/2024
            
Playing versus using music: We don’t “make” AI art or music. We “use” it. When we go to websites to generate it we are not musicians with an instrument; we are users on a website. We don’t “use” a musical instrument; we play it. However, the internet is now an instrument as a recording studio is, and we use the mixing desk, the effects, and so on. But we’re really not playing anything. Also, where is the skill?

[9/5/2025: With all the people who are now generating AI music, what skills have you honed and use on a daily basis, as generative AI requires almost no skill? You can say having any “eye” is a skill, but is rather a talent for observation and the ability to synthesize observation into objects and processes. Curation is skill and a talent because it requires an “eye” or “ear”, not unlike what a producer does. The advent of AI begs all kinds of questions about “using” versus craft. Curation can be seen as a craft, but not really. Curation is a function of convergence, whereas creating is divergent most of the time, with many unfinished things yet to take shape].