October 11ths

10/11/2010

Weather continued summery. 

Dream: Someone commissioned me to do a piece of art. I was taken to a market that apparently was in the southwest somewhere, like Santa Fe. We stopped at a shop that was selling animal skins and he bought me a bolt of chamois that he wanted it painted on. I was thinking, "How does the surface and material inform the art? I envisioned a Clifford Still.

Interesting idea: To lessen the annoyance of wind turbines, assign musical pitches.            

10/11/2011            

Weather continued summery.            

Protests continue at LaSalle and Jackson. The energy here is amazing at both ends of the spectrum, with people looking downtrodden or completely electric. There’s a very loud drum circle grooving away, with car horns providing melody. [Listen to a field recording taken simultaneously]

Transcribed drum:

 

10/11/2015            

It was the MP3 file that killed music. It reduced music to a shareable file, first through emails, then on the Internet. It made music “good enough” as a freebie, disincentivized it, and placed too much value on recording technology. Music was once a wonder of the world.     
       
The thing that killed music wasn’t equal temperament. It was the recording. But who knew in 1970 that this would happen? Technology is weird in that it giveth and taketh away.

[10/11/2025: You could conclude that AI is still killing it. But it won’t lie down. What dies is effort and skill. AI music is a listener’s activity, just as eating in a restaurant is a customer’s activity, not a cook’s activity].