October 9ths

 

10/9/1914

Wittgenstein hears continuous cannon fire in the distance for 12 hours.

[A cinematic audio treatment from Rings of Saturn that could underscore this moment, although they’re different World Wars]      

10/9/1997            

Classical music stations should have programs or specials where they play only adagio movements or scherzos, allegrettos, etc. Adagios could be played late in the evening for example.    

10/9/1998

Andrew Vachss, legal advocate, crime novelist, blues musician writes essay in Pulse magazine, “Can music be a vehicle for social change?” He makes a valid point that song lyrics are generally innocuous. The power of text (McLuhan: the invention of the alphabet) is somehow tamed when combined with music, not as powerful. (Does anyone really pay attention to the lyrics?) The real vehicle for social change is visual media because it has the capacity to simulate reality. Music is more a “passenger” than a vehicle. It’s a manifestation of worlds created by things we see with our eyes. But the power of pop music is largely dependent on whose ears are hearing it. The message is subjective, even if it’s specific.

[Discuss the use of music for social change] 

10/9/2003            

Chicago Cubs in playoffs for first time since the 1940s. The last time they won the pennant was almost 100 years ago in 1908. 

10/9/2007            

It’s interesting what Radiohead is doing, offering a “beta” version of their new music. We should be applying the metaphors of software (versions, upgrades) or of a TV series (soap opera, reality TV), or like artwork (series, editions, diptychs, triptychs). The music industry has always only used big business as a model and the actual artists and artisans were never included in the process.            

[10/9/2025: The recent case of Blue Oyster Cult objecting to use of “Reaper” in an AI-generated video is an example of “not being included” in the assertion of rights. But satire and parody are fair use. If corporations are people, so could be songs, which can have rights. We often say songs are our “babies”]

10/9/2010          

85 degrees            

Lennon’s 70th birthday. Thoughts: Lennon attached new meaning to the word “imagine”. Too bad the social movements circa 1970 were not aimed towards climate change, as that was the point that we could have made a difference. This idea was extrapolated many times through MTV, We Are the World, and Live Aid. We have used our imaginations to envision the future, but have had a hard time making the transition from ideas as slogans (“Imagine” or “Change”) into tangible outcomes.    

[10/9/2025: Lennon would have been 85 today. After watching some of the UN 80 speeches, I realized the postwar zeitgeist is coming to a close].         

10/9/2025

Lyric ideas:

Kintsugi
Fill the breaches and breaks with gold
Keep our gaze on the bandaged place
Not seeing that it's old

**

For he who has a why to live
Can bear most any how 

The new Rush drummer is quite impressive and has great technical ability, but it begs the question whether that's what they need at this particular moment, in deference to the life of Neil Peart. and the way that he approached music and the drums, and life in general. A successor has to respect the whole body of work of who they're replacing. Neil Peart was elementally a philosopher and a writer first, and a drummer and musician second, so his entire approach to the drums was based on the things that he was influenced by in the books that he was reading. I don't know if she has a similar background. I don't think she does. Peart was influenced by Buddy Rich and other jazz drummers,  Apparently her primary influence is Jeff Porcaro so there's  a jazz thread there.

Another example is in classical music, where a conductor might pass away, and the successor would have to pay homage or deference to the predecessor. It wouldn't be a case where they would reinterpret all the scores without looking to see what their predecessor had done, and work from a blank slate. 

Also, the social media element is both interesting and disturbing. By the time the tour starts she will have become the star in the Limelight, perhaps overshadowing two old guys that some young people might nave never heard of. let alone Neil Peart. There will be many audiences at those shows, which is inevitable once a band has been around across four generations. People will be focusing on different things, mostly their phones, and the amount of content that is going to be uploaded will require 10 new data centers. The things we do for nostalgia...#riff

If most bands write songs as collaborations where is the copyright holding in terms of certain tiffs being used?

Beautiful bass improv: A013 Lydian modes