Friday  25 Nov 2011           1 comment

Wednesday  23 Nov 2011           4 comments

I have friends visiting. At one point this evening, conversation turned to whether their teenage son might be gay:

friend:	He had a boy stay overnight and they weren't just sleeping in the same bed. They were spooning.
Tommy:	They did this where you could see?
friend:	They were in his room.
Tommy:	With the door open?
friend:	The door was closed. I opened it to let the dog in. I'm not interested in his sexual habits.
Tommy:	But you're going to tell us about them.
friend:	He hasn't been interested in girls since then.
Tommy:	A night with a boy will do that to you.

Tuesday  22 Nov 2011           comment?

Sometimes good things come in pairs. Two YouTube performances of songs with lyrics in non-Indo-European languages came to my attention yesterday, both fun although in quite different ways:

• in Finnish: Popsi, Popsi, Porkkanaa
• (partly) in Tamil: Why This Kolaveri Di.

Of the latter, the Wall Street Journal smugly tells us, "the song is so catchy most people are willing to overlook the fact its lyrics make a mockery of their intelligence." Popsi, Popsi, Porkkanaa would presumably be inoculated against any such derision by virtue of being known as a children's song.

Monday  21 Nov 2011           comment?

Sunday  20 Nov 2011           1 comment

The Hollywood branch of the LA Public Library had a book about poisons that they kept behind the desk. When I asked for it, the librarian asked me who I wanted to kill.

I only took out one book (not about poisons) from there. I told myself I didn't have to return it when the library burned down (in 1982). Such transparent rationalization.

---

The theft detection gates at the CU Boulder library in the 1980s made four short electromagnetic pulses when you walked through. A Walkman could detect them; they'd sound like like col legno notes in the same tempo as a rhythmic motive in a Bartók piece I liked.

I no longer have a Walkman and that library is no longer open to the general public.

---

I had a dream last night where a friend and I accidentally got locked inside a college library building when it closed at midnight. I didn't want to wait until morning and saw a door I thought I could force open. My friend told me I might not like that, as the door led to the roof and was alarmed. I stopped trying to figure out what to do when I realized it was a dream and would either transmute into some other situation or would just end.

Tuesday  15 Nov 2011           comment?

Joshua tree sculpture by Skip Gorman
horseshoes and pointy pieces of sheet metal

Located here. Other people's pics here and here.

Sunday  13 Nov 2011           2 comments

Friday  eleven-eleven-eleven           2 comments

Sunday  06 Nov 2011           comment?

Robert Fripp's online diary was one of the earliest blogs I read, and Tommyjournal has linked to it since month one. From reading Mr. Fripp, I have learned about music, about writing, about psychology, and about the (unsavory) workings of the music business.

Pretty much any time I've liked someone's music enough to also want to read about them, I end up seeing how the music industry screwed them over at one point or another. The business provides instructive examples of the sheer size of corporations conferring power, in this case power over musicians who, as individuals, have neither the experience nor means that come with corporate scale.

Among the various changes the Internet has brought to the music business, it is helping to lay bare the details of how artists get screwed over. Because Mr. Fripp's reports have been noticed and linked to, they come up in the first page of results when you Google the names of some music business people, who thereby get some of the infamy they deserve: rough music, as Mr. Fripp puts it. I'm quoting and linking to him (below) not just because I like his writing but also to support his efforts.

Why aren't there more detailed, first-hand accounts like those from Robert Fripp? From reading his blog for ten years, I've seen that it takes molto time and effort to get satisfaction; record companies know that most musicians won't bother. And those musicians who do fight often agree to keep silent when they settle. Robert Fripp can tell his war stories because he has refused to accept such terms.

Now, the quotes I said I wanted to post.

remarking on a letter from Paul Geller, a VP at Grooveshark:

I find these words are difficult to accept from Mr. Geller: The truth is.  Although I agree with him:  the Truth is.

to Brian Howard (counsel for UMG):

Your client has achieved the impressive feat of alienating all three of [myself and two associates].

more on Grooveshark:

Sam Tarantino
Sam Tarantino is the Founder and CEO of Grooveshark. He is a musician, an entrepreneur, and a visionary. His intent is to fix the world's problems, but for now is settling on fixing the music industry.

RF Interjection: I have considerable sympathy with Mr. Tarentino's intent, both of fixing the world and the music industry. Regrettably, this product of his labours has significantly increased the problems in my world, of which the music industry is part. Better just go back to fixing the world's problems?

and just because I liked seeing the word ipseity in email to a lawyer:

as a point of interest, in the Guitar Craft and Guitar Circle series of seminars, now over 26 years, much attention is paid to naming. this is also a feature of many cultures. the basic notion is that in taking a name, we are recognising our identity, the ipseity of our nature, and presenting to the world the essence of what we are.

in this respect, may i congratulate Grooveshark on exemplifying the notion.

Saturday  05 Nov 2011           1 comment