Friday


Some shit never changes.

Dresses like a roadie.

Money is time.

Time is money.

The waiting kills.

Tuning.

Load in.

Good roadies/techs are hard to find.
Studio Diary - Discussions



A Four-Way:



Although I’ve gained a newfound appreciation for the song (the craft, hooks, construction, etc.), I cannot remove myself from the album. The big piece, the opera, the whole rodeo. It’s like continents fitting together to form a planet, or better, finding the right planets to construct the perfect solar system. Song = hard. Album = impossible. Why sell your art short?



I just had a complete shift in thought. I have always been pro-album. As in the songs should be taken in context, the album as "whole," etc, that kind of shit, you know what I mean.



Noise, amp buzz, street sounds, it's all part of the final package.



You’re right about wanting that message in a bottle to come back to you. I mean, what do you put in a bottle you throw in the ocean? Your address so you can get it back. But getting it back isn't the important thing, it's the person bringing it back - you FOUND that person. You and this person are now connected in a way you aren't with anyone else. Possibly this is the person you were looking for? Or maybe it's to see if you can effect change over great distances in space or time. Yeah, that too.



For example, I prefer headphones and conceptual, obtusely narrative albums because those aid me in the hijacking. The experiences I create are intended for full immersion rather than background or sing along music. And it's has more than a little to do with the fact that I don't perform live anymore. And the experience, if successful, should continue after listening by posing questions, leaving messages, creating mysteries, and establishing a compelling and reflective (if imaginary) world to be considered between listenings.



Being half white/half black, I’ve always felt comfortable making both highly uncomfortable. That’s why I drove people like R.J. crazy. Not from a race perspective, but they can’t comprehend what I’m doing or what I’ll do next.



I’ve always wrapped my art around the conceptual. As far as audiences, I maintain that I make stuff for a limited audience, but I really make stuff for me to rediscover many years in the future, what I call future gifting. I’ve spent most of my adult life stumbling across future gifts. It’s like finding stash from last winter in your heavy coat.



I wish I had a pony.



We, the family, were talking over the holiday about the supposed demise of albums (CDs, etc.) because, as we are being told by some pundits, everything will be available electronically and everyone will just go out and download (buy or not) what they want to hear, etc. We all agreed that this won't happen as quickly as some say (some are saying by the end of this year). As I was listening to "The Wall" (the album), one of Petey's presents, I realized another reason it won't happen that easily: many albums exist in their form for a reason. Albums are wholes with the parts generally in intentional arrangements. Infinite mixing, unlimited electronic shuffling would be tantamount for many albums, many artists, to shuffle reading a novel -- chapter 12, chapter 3, chapter 43, chapter 8, chapter 34. (Of course, I suppose albums can become single files -- i.e., a single "son.")



Anyhow, good you're working on this. Must be a creative thing in the air. About a month ago I began working on a bread cookbook that I have been mulling over for years (I do a lot of bread baking - have published many recipes). Something in the air?


So now it begins. It's wonderful how easily the mind slips back into create mode.

Studio Diary - THREE

Devil Music

Thursday


Studio Diary - two



Yeah, I've had a similar shift too.



I enjoy songs. If a group is not up to an album, they make two good songs and fill with shit.



I've just started a new project. I'll know when I'm finished. Maybe a couple long songs, or an album. I don't know yet.



But, it won't contain a bunch of filler since I'm not making it for a corporation and have "contractual obligations."



But, there are still classic and perfect albums; full pieces that deserve the room.



But, yeah the fucking devil. Great title, by the way: "The Fucking Devil"

Studio Diary - two

Wednesday

STUDIO DIARY - one



Excuses behind me, loads of work before me.



Department of Experimental Accounting.



Drums

Guitar - acoustic

Guitar - electric

Piano - baby grand, out of tune

Keyboard

Toy piano

Soprano Ukulele

Bass - electro/acoustic

Years of recorded samples and field recordings

Bunch of other shit



Tsunami



I'm getting kind of old to again make the best album ever. This might be it. You know, "it."



The Floods of Lexington Pacheco



Music to Nod-off to



Funeral



Dark



Joyous



Stolen Democracy



Here we go...all these ideas I've incubated (all somehow magically lost right now) over the years are ready to do something.



The best thing about this effort will be getting it out of my head.

Tuesday

Thursday

[Post Originally Untitled]

They say write [about] what you know
But what if you know very little or practically nothing?

What if the only thing you know about
Makes little or no sense to anyone – including yourself sometimes?

There are the absolutes

I know that fire is hot; it also burns and you can cook with it
I know I cannot breathe under water

I know that if my heart stops beating, I’ll die
I know if I don’t eat, I get awfully hungry

My intestines work involuntarily

But about the pain and confusion
About the pondering and observations?

And the loss of vocabulary regarding
Banal discussions about lines or weather?

Does anyone really care?

I know about the urges and the want
Bottlenecks of energies unfulfilled

I know that it’s all make believe
The politics the religions and the careers

Smokes and mirrors – sleight of hand - knots

The arts and some crafts make happiness
As do simple moments unspoken unpromised

I know it’s all going to come to an abrupt and brutal end
I know, I know, it’s all so depressing

I suppose the answer it to not write - this I know

Sunday

Step Aside, Clyde



It's complex, really

Chemistry of the brain

and the tweaks and nudges

We add

50 milligrams, or so, at a time



Confidence sans agression

Socialization sans pretense

You will know -- you will know

Since we are still unlike the rest



Get over your disrespect

Educate yourself

This is it

And we're all in the together

in this short, short life



Make fun not wars

Vacations for the arts

Inorganic in conjunction with the organic

I suffer no trauma, doll

Saturday

Deep, very deep

Inside the brain



There's a place I go

A space I go



In the middle

You get the drift



The middlespaces

of middlespace



Cellular

microbiotic

the DNA

Sunday

Half-lives and dangerous buildups.



To that end, it was crucial to curb formal education and abstract thinking.



 Binge over, of sorts, I've been to the top. The core.