Category Archives: Music

Flute this!

I was having a discussion with my Dad today about what DNA is. He asked for a specific definition and I said, “D-Something Nucleic Acid.” But as I thought about it, that definition is almost meaningless to me. I don’t even know the D word, I don’t know what nucleic means (something about the nucleus of cells?) and I don’t really know what acid means since I think of it as something that burns up things (as in “flesh eating acid.”)

This got me thinking about what it means to really know information. Say someone wants to know what a flute is. You can say it’s a “metal cylindrical musical instrument played by blowing air into it.” That’s technically correct from a dictionary definitional viewpoint but do you really “know” what a flute is at that point? I think you probably need some understanding of the different sounds a flute can make, some understanding of the kind of music (Western Classical) it’s historically part of, perhaps knowledge that it plays a prominent role in the beginning parts of the children’s classical piece “Peter and the Wolf” and the fact that it’s a feminine instrument and that male flute players can be presumed to be homosexuals. (Of course, at that point I’m hinting at the phallic nature of flutes which gets into needing additional knowledge about penises, blowjobs, semen etc…)

At what point in this cornucopia of facts can we say we “know” what a flute is? Never, it’s an ever changing definition, ever fleeing our grasp.

Fueling the creative spark.

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Lately, a topic percolating in my mind has to do with the question of how to keep the creative embers burning. I have some sense, as I enter into my fourth decade, that this is becoming more difficult.

I’ve mentioned in the past how, when I was in the midst of the lethargy and dizziness brought about by my labyrinthitis type symptoms, I underwent something of a creative surge. I was depressed, fatigued, and constantly anxious, but I also composed what is without doubt the most sophisticated music I’ve ever written (soon to be available on my upcoming CD release) while also writing what I think is some of my best acid logic material. I had a sense of an increased ability to connect disparate properties found in both music and writing; in terms of writing, I had an ability to chase tangential ruminations down labyrinthine mental corridors to their fruition (I’m not sure what that means either, but I like how it’s phrased.)

Now, two or three years later, the fatigue, dizziness and anxiety are largely gone. But so is a certain creative spark.

I don’t think it’s simply that the creativity followed the disappearing anxiety of illness off into the sunset. I think getting older is part of it too. There’s a certain cliché, though no less true for being cliché, that the hunger, desire and ability to achieve artistic success tends to diminish with age (I’m aware of the numerous exceptions to this, but as a general rule, I think it does stand.)

However, at least in terms of guitar playing, I actually think I’m becoming more finessed a player, and am increasing my technical mastery of the instrument. This reminds me of players I used to see up in the Americana scene in Los Angeles — guys in their 40s, 50s and 60s who were absolute masters of the instrument. However, as I look back on it, I realized there was very little risk or experimentation in their playing. You didn’t have the sense they were particularly excited by what they were doing, you did have the sense that they were playing riffs and solos and ideas they had played 1000 times before. Now, there was a certain advantage to this repetition — they were capable of playing these parts very well, and the audience rightfully took pleasure at that. But you didn’t get the sense that this performer was playing all that differently than they had five years previous, or would be five years in the future. And there’s something dead about that to me.

One can theorize about the neurological or hormonal reasons for this. As people get older, maybe they experience a decrease in neurotransmitters or hormones that fuel creativity. It’s an interesting area of exploration, but not directly pertinent here.

So the question becomes, how does maintain one’s youthful hunger for experimentation? Perhaps by studying the exceptions to the rule — the Picassos, the Beethovens? Perhaps by forcing a steady diet of novel stimulus into one’s brain? Perhaps by consuming vast amounts of LSD and cocaine? I’m not sure.

As a somewhat ironic way to end this, I should note that I wrote a piece wrestling with many of these very same issues close to 10 years ago. So maybe it’s just all in my head.

New Van Halen

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I tend to agree with this guy that the new Van Halen single is a snoozer. However the video (viewable at the link) reminds me just how great David Lee Roth is as a front man. His lexicon of stage moves is a cornucopia of 20th century pop culture, from Charlie Chaplin to kitsch Hawaiiana to Disco. I’ve always dug his beatnik, half-spoken lyrics as well.

The Circus on Christmas Day

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War against digital pirates heats up

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I’ve mentioned in the past my belief that the advent of digital piracy and its ability to suck profits from almost any creative endeavor — music, film, books — will result in an artless (and subsequently heartless) society which will descend into cannibalistic savagery. At this point in history, I see this argument as irrefutable.

Perhaps we’re beginning to see the dark at the end of the tunnel. The LA Times reports…

Film director Penelope Spheeris’ new comedy, “Balls to the Wall,” had barely premiered in Europe when bootleg copies started popping up on the Internet, throwing its U.S. release into jeopardy. A Spheeris assistant sent out as many as 30 cease-and-desist notices a day in a desperate, but failed, attempt to halt the piracy.

…
That helps explain why Spheeris and other filmmakers are backing tough new legislation making its way through Congress that would give the Justice Department broad powers to shut down websites that host pirated material and would open the door for movie studios, music companies and other copyright holders to seek court injunctions against Internet companies they believe are aiding in copyright theft, which amounts to $58 billion a year.

…
The fight is curiously nonpartisan, with conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats teamed on both sides of the issue. Some of the split is based on which industry is more dominant in a lawmaker’s region. Many Southern California representatives back Hollywood’s position, and most Northern California members side with the Internet companies. But political philosophy also plays a role, leading anti-big-government conservatives to join with liberal civil libertarians in opposition to giving Washington what they fear would be broad censorship power over websites.

The following quote, illustrates what I’ve always viewed to be the issue.

“It’s the No. 1 issue for us,” said Scott Harbinson, international representative for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which has 113,000 members in the U.S. and Canada. “If people aren’t investing in motion picture production because of piracy, our guys don’t work.”

And why invest in making movies if they’re just going to end up on the Internet for free? And thus you see the clear path towards cannibalistic savagery.

That said, this bill looks troubling to me. Particularly this part…

The pending bills in the House and Senate would give the Justice Department power to seek court orders requiring U.S. search engines and Internet sites to block access to foreign websites hawking pirated material. Private companies such as Paramount Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment would also be able to seek court orders preventing such sites from receiving ads and payments services from the U.S.

That grates against my libertarian tendencies by putting the onus of the crime not on the person who clicks a link to a pirate site, but on the person or company hosting the website or search engine which links to the pirate site.

By the way, Penelope Spheeris was profiled at acid logic here.

Moog artist Tomita

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I’ve just discovered the work of a Japanese fellow named Tomita who, in the 1970s, released several albums interpreting pop and classical music via the Moog synthesizer. I find it definitely makes a lot of classical music more “digestible.” Here’s a sample; you can find more at YouTube by searching “Tomita.”