peru

Rants and Writings

The Opening Act.
Some things I don't like about theater (2009 version).
Brazil.
20 Questions.
Year Zero.
Earworms.
How to run a fan club.
How to run an online store.
WYSNM,WYSFM, WI44?: Part 2
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 44?
An anonymous but rewarding pastime.
Passing of another mentor.
Nurturing your inner geek.
The new Neil Gaiman novel is dedicated to me.
Old Friends
Skunk Works
Robert Moog
Hidden Songs on Compact Discs

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3/15/2010: The Opening Act

"We're the opening act / We can't come back / You gets no more / We gets no encore ". That's a line from Get Dressed, one of my favorite George Clinton songs. It's a funny tune about the life of the opening band, and it got me thinking about being the band no one came to see. I guess that's not always true - I've certainly gone to see shows just to see the opening bands (or mostly because of the opening bands) - but it's certainly true more often than not that no-one really cares about the opener. Sometimes the headliner actually chooses the opener but often it's shared management or a label deal that determines the pairing, and that obviously affects the odds of fans liking both groups. I don't think I've ever seen a group who's gone on to huge success ( "I saw U2 when they opened for Peaches and Herb back in '80..." ) but I have seen some bands that were totally new to me and now number among my favorite bands. I've left off anyone who is opener quality acting as an opener (i.e. Robert Fripp opening for Porcupine Tree, Opeth opening for Dream Theater, etc).

  1. Starcastle. They were the opening act for the first big rock shows I saw, Todd Rundgren's Utopia. They were a Yes-like prog band whose lead singer had been one of the founding members of REO Speedwagon (!). Although they were talented musicians, they came at the wrong time (as punk was kicking everyone's ass) and never saw much fame , breaking up after four albums if I remember correctly. I think at that time I didn't realize that the opener was generally a throwaway and just expected they would be great. They were opening for Todd for Pete's sake. Perhaps that colored my experience to the end that I am always willing to give the opener the benefit of the doubt - I never come late just to see the headliner. I still have the first three Starcastle albums on vinyl.
  2. Cheap Trick. The first time I saw these guys I was already a big fan. They were the opener for Blue Oyster Cult and were just on the verge of their insanely successful Live At Budokan album. The next time I saw them that album had busted free and they were headliners. Their first four albums are among the best rock albums of the 1970s but I'm not clear why everything they released after that has never measured up. BOC was still riding the wave of Don't Fear The Reaper and at the peak of their powers, which is probably why Cheap Trick didn't completely blow them off the stage. This is the way a concert should be: two great bands tearing it up.
  3. Jules And The Polar Bears. I saw these guys open for Peter Gabriel on his second tour and given their name, I didn't have high hopes. They are still one of my favorite obscure bands. Leader Jules Shear has continued to be one of the great songwriters of our generation though he has never quite broken into the limelight. Even MTV UNPLUGGED, which he created and hosted for the first few episodes, was taken from him and its fame is all post-Jules. The band released two albums and an EP -- a third album finally saw the light of day about ten years ago after sitting in the vaults for fifteen years -- and they are chock full of catchy songs and insanely wonderful lyrics.
  4. Firehose. Mike Watts' 90s band was the opener's opener on a 3 band bill. The hardest working blue collar bar band came out and blew away the next band, Stone Temple Pilots, who due to a surprise hit "Plush", were the most commercial band on the bill. They didn't have a chance following the 'hose...
  5. California Guitar Trio. Hard to believe I saw theses guys almost 20 years ago opening for King Crimson (they were all students of Fripp in the Guitar Craft classes). There is probably no other group that could have opened for KC. I last saw them in 2008 and they still stun.
  6. John Paul Jones. Not sure if he counts as a true opener since he was a quarter of the greatest rock band of the 70s. But how many members of super-groups have tanked on their own? And how many members of Zep have done total crap since Bonham died? JPJ is an extraordinary musician and his band kicked ass, even with one of them wearing a kilt.



    03/9/2009: Some things I don't like about theater (2009 version).

    1. Greek drama. Why do theater practitioners think it is necessary and important to perform Greek drama? Let me reposition that question. Historical significance isn't part of this -- there are hundreds of plays (and genres of theater) that have historical significance that don't get the attention Greek drama gets. Obviously there is the positioning of the Greeks in the birth of the Dramatic Art Form (or DAF) and the first live portrayal of archetypal story lines, but nothing is artistically significant solely due to its historical significance. There are very few existing works - twenty or so as I recall -- which students of the genre assume are exemplary due to the fact that those texts have survived where the majority of the canon is lost -- although there is nothing but conjecture and some few historical references to back this stance. The question in the first sentence comes from a simple observation: the texts are clunky linguistically when translated into any language but the original and the demands and conventions of the style are foreign and meaningless to contemporary audiences. Call a spade a spade: they are boring.

      I have never seen a production of a Greek play that didn't bore me to tears. In one case I had an epiphany as to why a captured animal will chew off its own foot to escape a trap. I've worked on my fair share of these plays (a dozen I think) and worked as hard as anyone on the team to make the shows relevant and artistically compelling. The intrinsic problem is that the mode of telling the story -- the words and process by which action unfolds -- is dull. The poetic conventions make no sense to modern audiences. They are the Beowolf of the theater world: great story, historical significance, mind-numbingly boring to experience, deified to the point that they are almost teflon-coated toward criticism (see the next entry for a better example).

      I understand the hope and desire -- the notion of a work so moving a viewer so as to cause a emotional release and thus an intellectual shift of seismic proportions: The Catharsis. Although I think this is the goal of all theater ultimately, it is especially focused on with the Greeks. The closest I've ever come to this experience of a Greek Drama is the Korean film OLDBOY. At the end of that movie I felt emotionally crushed and ground out, my heart was broken and I spent days thinking about the fall of the protagonist, whether or not he deserved his Fate, whether the justice of the gods (or God) was meted fairly or with caprice. Whether or not that film should have even been made -- is the topic appropriate -- do audiences need to see that played out in front of their eyes? That experience helped me understand what people tell me I'm supposed to get from the Greeks. That's a tall order and it's not going to be helped by any trappings of the Greek dramatic style. Honestly. Barthes suggests that the closest contemporary entertainment to Greek drama are bullfighting and wrestling (what he calls amateur wrestling)-- the stories are known, the characters are archetypes, the battle is the experience we go for -- watching the outcome play out in front of our eyes. (He also makes a devastatingly provocative observation about the important role of full-on sunlight --" light with no shadow" -- in the viewing of these spectacles). Okay. I see how this wants to work but these vehicles don't work that way anymore.

      There are two Greek plays on the docket for next season at school. Both were introduced with the promise to investigate how to make them "work" for a modern audience and to show how the stories are still relevant to a current audience. They are going to wrestle with how to deal with the Chorus and those annoy choral odes. They are going to wrestle with how to integrate (or not) the precise movement and singing of the chorus. They are going to decide how much to pay homage or utilize or ignore the masks, the amplification, the elevated shoes, the number of characters on the stage at a given time and the unit set (with or without alter). I don't think these productions are going to change my disinterest in the Greeks. It's not about doing them "as the Greeks would have done it" (GOD NO! No Museum Pieces please!) but it's also not about figuring out how to make them compelling. They just aren't interesting any more.

    2. Shakespeare. See above. I have never not been bored at a Shakespeare production. Again I've certainly designed more than my share of them and I teach the texts yearly. And I can't see the point. Yes, it's great literature and writing (Beowolf, Paradise Lost, The Faire Queene) but it's boring. I spent a summer of my life at Oxford studying Milton and Shakespeare and I learned I could appreciate something great and at the same time be bored to tears. Again, it's not the stories per se -- like the Greeks, they are the ur-texts and archetypal stories we still love and tell. I have just not ever seen a Shakespeare play "come to life". The language always weighs it down like a leaden bodice. You can't get around it. Actors always sound like they are working so hard to get the language out and the plot understandable that there is noting to connect to in the character. I worked with Vanessa Redgrave on two Shakespeare shows and I will say without qualification she is the finest actor I've had the pleasure of working with. Her performances were effortless and engaging and captivating and mysterious. And those two Shakespeare productions were relentlessly boring, even with a super-fine group of talented, skilled actors and designers helping them along.

      Changing the time period doesn't help. Making obvious allusions to modern situations doesn't help. The language is impossible to penetrate and make people care.

    3. Theater is the collaborative art. It is, but not in the way most think or the way people teach. The important collaboration isn't with the creators -- almost every art form that involves more than one person is collaborative in exactly the same way. You can't tell me that the 1000s of people working on the film I just saw weren't as collaborative and in fact, probably weren't more collaborative than any theater production I've ever seen. Or any symphony I've ever heard played wasn't a collaboration between the composer's notes, the conductor's guidance and the musician's performance. Etc. Etc. Etc.

      The collaboration that is unique to drama is the collaboration between the live performance and the audience. Live performers communicating an experience/story through manipulations of space, physicality, text, ideas, sound, light all converging to facilitate an emotional reaction in a live audience creating a feedback loop of action and reaction. That's the collaboration that is unique to Drama. No other art form does it with the same potential for depth of aesthetic experience and profound emotional impact. Music can create emotional impact but has no meaning divorced from the subjective experience, so while it can be a more profound emotional experience, it hasn't the aspect of creating aesthetic meaning to the degree that Drama can. Film isn't a live collaboration so while it can likewise achieve the same result as Drama, it has a sense of removal that even the most formal drama production doesn't have. Dance is like music but substitutes the movement of the body in space for text and musical performance (i.e. a dancer is like a solo trumpet player, a dance troupe is like a string quartet, etc.).

      It's a niggling difference but I think if you've missed this point, you've missed the point of doing theater.

    4. "We're going to put a contemporary spin on this to make it relevant to today's audiences." Don't bother. Then it will have to be a video game that you can pause at any point, talk and text over with your cell phone and have a break for food or potty every 15 minutes. Sorry but that's what will make it relevant to today's audiences -- not relevant but tolerable. Relevant is harder to come by since some much of what passes for entertainment is truly irrelevant : culturally, artistically, aesthetically. Theater needs to reinvent itself and tarting it up in new clothes or a modern spin isn't any more appealing than a 65 year old prostitute made up to look like a 20 year old. And it's just as pathetic to see happening. No amount of technology or modern thought is going to make things relevant. There are a few examples in recent history but they were make by people more brilliant (and lucky) than you or I. If you have to spin or rework for relevance, it's probably not worth doing. I'm not advocating Museum Pieces but I'm also not advocating Plastic Surgery. You can always tell the boobs are fake and there is a desperation that is hard to hide.

    5. Ticket prices. I paid to see around a dozen plays last year. Total ticket cost was close to $800. That is fucking insane. Only one of those shows was on Broadway (The 39 Steps) and one was in Vegas (Love). Those two accounted for about $250 of that total amount. The other $550 was at the regional and local level -- works out to about $55 a ticket. And I didn't count the other three Cirque shows I saw for free. Compare that to the live music I saw last year -- $260 for 24 bands which is about $10 a ticket. At the "Broadway level" it included two festivals with big name artists (one of which was a two day event) and one of the biggest tours out last year (Nine Inch Nails). The rest were local venues and smaller non-stadium tours. I don't know what that means but I'm getting more bang for my artistic buck from live music than from live theater. I understand economics and all that -- I get paid for working in this industry -- but it's just wrong. What's the problem? I can't afford to go to theater right now. How can anyone less motivated than I, an industry professional, afford and justify it?

    6. Technology vs. ideas.
      • "I've been doing my own sound design on my computer with GarageBand."
      • "Can you help me find some sound effects online? I have Audacity and so I'm doing my own sound designs now and running them off my laptop in QLab."
      • "I just need someone to point me in the right direction to get some music and sound effects -- I have stuff on my computer to make the sound design myself."
      • "My friend is a composer so she's going to do the sound design for my show."

      There is no way to respond to these kinds of comments/questions without sounding arrogant and elitist. As I've long said (and apparently often been quoted):
      • "Everyone who owns a record thinks they are a sound designer"
        and its corollary statement
      • "Everyone who knows something about music thinks they are a sound designer".
        In my more cynical moments I've even said
      • "Everyone who has ears thinks they are a sound designer (or thinks they are suitable to be a critic of sound design)."
        There is a popular theaterism that relates to this last one–
      • "Everyone in theater is an expert at two things: the thing they do and Sound Design."

      I'm tired of justifying what I do to people who aren't smart enough to see the added value to the whole, or aren't discerning enough to see the difference between a design and a utilitarian assembly of sound files. Lately I feel I'm often being patronized by people who don't believe what I do has value -- and I'm talking about people who should know better: people in this profession, people making theater, people who consider themselves artists. I'm sure other designs face this also to some extent -- costume design comes right to mind ("I buy clothes and wear clothes, so I should be able to pull some stuff together for this modern kitchen comedy...") and I know I've heard this from composers ("Everyone thinks because they have a sound set on their computer and a little software that they can write music") -- but I'm feeling particularly singled out lately.

      I'm not a sound designer because I know how to use software, because I know how to use hardware, because I know a lot about popular music, because I know where and how to find historically accurate sounds or sounds that create a visual verisimilitude. I hope I'm a sound designer because I am an artist and the medium with which I a) communicate ideas, b)evoke emotions and c) provoke audiences to create aesthetic meaning, is Sound.





      06/30/08: Brazil.

      After standing in two wrong lines, Joe approaches the DMV woman.
      JOE: Hi, I need to get a replacement for a lost driver's license.
      DMV: Fine. I'll need to see your picture ID.
      JOE: Well, my driver's license was my picture ID.
      DMV: I'm sorry, I can't do anything without a picture ID.
      JOE: I have a university ID....
      DMV: No, it has to be a State issued.
      JOE: ...Like a driver's license....?
      DMV: Or a state ID.
      JOE: Can you get a state ID if you have a driver's license?
      DMV: No. You can only have one or the other. If you don't have a valid picture ID you'll have to send a form into Harrisburg to get your replacement.
      JOE: Just this form?
      DMV: Yes sir.
      JOE: Just so I'm sure I'm clear, to get a replacement license here, I need a photo ID. To get one from Harrisburg, I just need to send in this form.
      DMV: And your $10 check.
      JOE: Any chance my picture is on file here from when I got my last license?
      DMV: Yes sir.
      JOE: Can you bring that up and use that as a picture ID?
      DMV: No sir.
      JOE: Even though it is identical to the photo ID I'd have if I hadn't lost my license?
      DMV: Yes sir.
      JOE: Okay. Thanks.





      04/07/07: 20 Questions.

      Here are twenty things I want to know about you. There are many about music but what would you expect?

      1. If I could look at your CD collection, what would I see? What music do you like to listen to? What music don't you like to listen to?
      2. Tell me about your first kiss.
      3. Talk about your oldest memory, the first thing you remember from your childhood.
      4. What are your Favorite colors? How long have these been your favorites?
      5. What's a book you've read more than a few times? Why? What do you find new each time you go back?
      6. What is a song that is connected forever in your mind to something happy? To something sad?
      7. What is your favorite spice? Who is your favorite Spice Girl? What do you think the connection is?
      8. What is a good book about music?
      9. What is an album that you love that will surprise me?
      10. Who do you think is a completely underrated musician?
      11. What is an album that you think should be known by everyone - should have been a commercial smash or that anyone would have a better life if they owned this album?
      12. Who is your favorite drummer and to what should I listen to know why you think they are great?
      13. What book do you think I need to read? Why should I bother? How will it make me better?
      14. If I came to your house to eat, what would you cook for me? What is the best thing you cook? What do you think I would most like to eat of what you could offer?
      15. What name would you choose if you were to take the option of re-christening yourself?
      16. If you could give me one part of yourself - an ability or a specific skill or knowledge or a body part - what would you enhance me with?
      17. What would you like your tombstone to say about you?
      18. If you could regain the time you spent on any one thing you've ever done in your life, what moment would you take back and how much time would it gain you (i.e. "That's an hour of my life I'll never get back" X 10000)?
      19. If I only had one sense to experience you and get to know you, what sense would I need to have? Why is that the best way to experience you?
      20. What changed your life toward what you are now? Person, event, place, experience, whatever.
      21. What question do you want to ask me?




      03/13/07: Year Zero.

      I guess it was early February that I got an email from Nine Inch Nails (thank you MySpace friends network) announcing the release of Year Zero in April. Pretty exciting news for the NIN fans as it has only been two years since [with_teeth] - a major achievement for a band that has averaged five years between albums up till now. Standard release news with all the common accouterments like the track list and a bit about it being a concept album about a totalitarian distopia in the near future. This last bit was a bit of a surprise to me as there aren't too many concept albums in the genre of metal that NIN inhabits. I can think of a couple in the realm of more mainstream metal -- Operation: Mindcrime and Scenes From A Memory for example -- but those albums are more along the lines of "progressive rock", where the whole notion of the grand scale, storytelling Concept Album was perfected.

      But then it got more interesting. On February 12, fans noted that the new shirts being sold on the current European tour had printing with an occasional letter highlighted. Putting all the letters together gave the phrase "I am trying to believe" which lead to a website being uncovered: iamtryingtobelieve.com. A few days later a phone number was spotted on another souvenir shirt which led to another website. Once people figured this out, various sleuths uncovered other sites through searches based on the song titles and IP address and clues on each site. Then a track was leaked online two weeks before the official release of the first single "Survivalism". Someone figured out that the text fragments on one of the websites were from THE HOBBIT. Further analysis identified other text fragments as being from SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE. Then, in the bathroom at a NIN show in Barcelona, a fan found a thumb drive with another new song and a coded image. More thumb drives have been uncovered with items like the new video, links to more websites and more songs on them. Two days ago three new websites were discovered.

      Ladies and gents, THIS is how to release an album.

      A couple of hours ago it was announced that a multitrack Garageband file with the audio tracks for "Survivalism" is available for download at the NIN website. AND that the entire album will be eventually available for fan download and remixing. Think about that: he's giving away the multitrack audio files that make each song. And he's leaking all the tracks to the album (one guesses - maybe he's going to stop at four, but I doubt it) which are being posted online everywhere. The video is available for download. And he still plans to sell actual copies of the disc. If he wasn't controlling his own distribution, his record company would be crapping in their pants. But I think his fans will still buy the album. They will turn out in record numbers to his shows (which they pretty much already do). There will be websites devoted entirely to analyzing the disc and the marketing (there already is a wiki) and more websites devoted to posting the gazillion remixes that people will create on their laptops.

      My hat is once more off to you, Mr. Reznor. I am along for the ride where ever it ends up.





      02/21/07: Earworms.
      I have a condition. There are two songs that are stuck in my head and each day they make an appearance, at roughly the same time. Every morning for at least a week, I've discovered George Harrison's "What Is Life?" in my head; driving home from work each night "The Chamber Of 32 Doors" by Genesis suddenly appears. I can't figure out what triggers them and what's more, why these two particular songs? While I like these songs, neither would be in a list of top 10 or even top 100 songs I love, although I guess that isn't exactly a criteria for earworms

      Everyone has songs that get stuck in their heads, a phenomenon that has been given the lovely and evocative appellation earworms. Generally an earworm is a song recently heard that has either a simple, catchy melody or a highly repetitive structure. "The Macarana". "Y.M.C.A.". "The Baby-Back Rib Song." "It's a Small World". "The Gilligan's Island Theme". "Who Let The Dogs Out?". The lists go on and on, with different researchers coming up with surprisingly similar lists of songs. Almost as if there is a sonic virus contained in certain tunes that anyone with ears can catch. Besides the "collective unconscious" earworms, there are also the "personal demon" earworms - the inexplicable song that infects your mind and which seems impossible to eradicate.

      But this condition isn't really like that.

      This is not in any way unpleasant and is more like a subtle soundtrack that fades in quietly and stealthily, often when I'm doing mundane things like washing dishes or in the case of "Chamber", driving home from work and approaching the corner of Forbes and Shady. Once I'm conscious of it I can get rid of it pretty quickly, unlike traditional earworms. Since I like these songs I usually opt to let them play out in their own time. But I can't stop wondering "Why?".

      "What Is Life?" I've played pretty recently- the version haunting me is Neal Morse cover of the song which was originally on the the bonus disc with his 2004 album One. It's been collected onto his Cover To Cover disc, which has gotten pretty heavy airplay in my life since I got it late last fall. It's absolutely one of the best post-Beatles songs by any of the Fab Four and among the top two or three penned by George in his career (which, as a side bar, seems to be a grossly underestimated body of tunes - he wrote less prolifically than John and Paul, but his level of quality is extraordinarily consistent). The Genesis song I don't know that I've heard in a year. It's from The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway which is not a disc I frequently play and it's at the end of the first disc, which means I don't always get that far, especially in these days of a child and the seeming impossibility of having an hour to myself. I downloaded the live version from iTunes about a year ago, and it is in my iTunes library but not on any of the current playlists.

      What's going on? I feel like there should be a good answer for this, which will perhaps give me some insight into my life / my mental state / my thought processes. But there doesn't appear to be. Maybe there is something poking just the right collection of nerves, generating the right amount of electricity, creating just the right combination of chemicals that trigger these in my brain. Certainly that's conceivable for Chamber which always appears under the same circumstances. Perplexing.

      In any case, I'm paying more attention to my earworms and maybe if I start mapping them out, I'll figure out why these things are in the soundtrack to my life. The tracking is here.





      7/20/06: How to run a fan club.

      I don't know if you've ever been in a fan club but I've been in a few in my life and they are mostly disappointing experiences. One joins a fan club, assuming other's motives are the same as mine, because of an obsession with some artist or group: the desire to get inside information, to be closer to the artist than the average fan, to be in the know, to get cool stuff. It never seems to work out, I guess because it takes a lot of work to accomplish those objectives and the people who start fan clubs either don't have the time to follow through or, in the case of corporate run clubs, they just don't care to follow through.

      I think the first fan club I officially belonged to was The Residents first fan club, W.E.I.R.D. in the late 1970s. It was a gallant effort and lasted about two years as I recall. For my money, I got a couple of newsletters, a "biography" of the Residents (written by a young guy named Matt Groening), an official membership certificate, a photo of the Rez (that's in my office right now) and maybe something else. Mostly it was well-intentioned but spotty in delivering anything really great.

      A few years later I was also a charter member of the second Residents Fan Club, Uncle Willie's Eyeball Buddies more commonly known as UWEB. A better run venture, I got a CD, a vinyl ep, some buttons, more regular newsletters and the opportunity to buy exclusive club releases from the Rez. It was okay but not worth the money so I eventually let my membership lapse. It seemed like most of the membership fee was to entitle me to buy exclusive stuff and I couldn't really afford that - it strikes me now it was a bit like a very nitch-market Sam's Club or Costco. And a few years later the club dissolved anyway.

      That's about my total experience of being in fan clubs as far as I remember.

      I've been tempted to join other times but generally the offerings for membership are lame - autographed headshot, publicity releases masquerading as newsletters, overpriced exclusive clothing and nicknacks. Never worth the money and always discouraging because the stuff takes forever to arrive and the promised communication is so infrequent it becomes disappointing; you end up getting bitter and hating the artist you were once so fond of.

      Last year I got an e-mail about a fan club forming for Neal Morse, an artist of whom I'm particularly fond - I had bought a number of things from his website/label so I was "on the list" I suppose. It sounded different, geared more toward the adult fan I've become, and it seemed to have a lot of energy and potential behind it. And it was being run by Neal and his wife!?! Here's their proposal:

      The member pays a monthly membership fee, which is deducted directly from a credit card or bank account. Every other month the member receives either a CD or DVD with exclusive material as a primary benefit. There would also be online material for members and a personal newsletter from Neal.

      That sounds promising. And expensive. You can probably tell that this is substantially more expensive than your standard fan club. I debated with myself a lot but eventually realized it was equal to about three magazine subscriptions that I never have time to read, so upon canceling those I could justify the expenditure.

      What makes it worthwhile? Well, here's a list of the first fourteen month's benefits:

      • Six exclusive CDs of demos, live cuts, and new material
      • Two DVDs of exclusive live footage from recent concerts
      • A nice Christmas card from Neal and his family
      • Access to a special website which has exclusive downloadable movies featuring things like Neal teaching how to play various songs requested by members
      • An e-mail newsletter written by Neal that comes once a month
      • Additional e-mails from his wife announcing concert dates and venues, album releases, and things of possible interest to fans

      Now THAT'S what I call a fan club.

      The material on the CDs is exactly what a fan wants from an artist. The first cd had live solo recordings from concerts the month before and a bunch of demos from earlier in his career. The second CD was a Berlin concert from a few months before. The third CD was a really entertaining collection of demos for a Broadway-type musical Neal wrote in the early 1990's, complete with narration telling the story not only of the show but of the process of writing and recording the demos. Next was a recording of improvisations done at home, giving a very intimate and informative glimpse into his writing technique. The fifth CD was a hilarious collection of demos from his various 1980's bands - talk about exposing the wound and putting salt in it! The most recent CD included a bunch of solo live stuff from Calprog, some more demos and a trio of duets recorded with Phil Keaggy during the writing/recording period of Neal's 2005 album One.

      The DVDs are home DV quality, single camera footage of concerts, performances and even stuff around his house, like him and his equally talented brothers playing around the dinner table. The highlight of the second DVD is a video of a high school band playing Spock's Beard .

      The newsletters are personable and touch on both his work and his life. Lots of details about the progress of albums from the writing through the recording and the release. Stories about mishaps on tour. Spiritual musings. Family anecdotes. Bragging about his kids. Sort of like getting a Christmas letter every month. And what can you say about learning to play songs from the person who wrote them except "Where's my guitar?"

      Obviously Neal cares a lot about his fans and I'm sure this is a steady, welcome source of reliable income for him, but he and his wife go above and beyond to deliver really good benefits. It's certainly not a club for everyone, but fan is short for fanatic, and if you're that devoted to an artist's work, this sort of fan club is heavenly.





      7/10/06: How to run an online store.

      These days, like many reading this, I do a lot of online shopping. Sometimes out of necessity - lots of the music I enjoy listening to is not available at Best Buy or the mall CD store. Sometimes out of convenience - it's just easier to order a book at midnight online than to try and find the time to drive out to the Barnes and Noble in the middle of a hectic week (and they might not even have it in stock). The thing missing from most online vendors is the sense of their existence, which is to say: since there is no physical store and no physical contact, transactions are reduced to their most basic element - the exchange of money for goods.

      Maybe that's all it needs to be in this fast paced world where we need instant gratification in everything from shopping to entertainment. I'm not so sure. In class today, a student asked me where I buy music. My first stop is a local shop. I like supporting a local store, especially when it's worth supporting. I like being able to go into a store and buy the new Meshuggah CD and an old Kate Bush disc without the clerk treating me like I'm an idiot. I like the fact that the clerks know what they sell and maybe more important, that they aren't shy about admitting they don't know something. They look stuff up. They take it as a challenge to get something odd or unusual from their suppliers. They tell you up front that the $20 import you're about to buy will be out in a domestic $12 version in two weeks. I like the fact that they include the tax in the marked price, so you just add up the total as you pick up the discs and there's nothing additional. Paul's CDs in the Bloomfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh: a good shopping experience, a good neighborhood store.

      Does that kind of store exist online? Surprisingly, yes. The best online store I've shopped at is The Didjshop , which is located in Kuranda, Queensland, Australia. What makes a store selling native Australian musical instruments and art like the shop across the street? Well...

      1. They sell high quality items that are, in fact, only Aboriginal Australian made products. The main attraction is 100% authentic, termite-bored, Native Australian harvested didgeridoos. Almost all the work on the instruments, including painted artwork, is by Aboriginal artists. According to Svargo Freitag, the manager of The Didjshop, "[Aboriginal people] do the harvesting and basic manufacture (e.g. de-barking and sanding and initial sealing), but we (mostly white fellas) do some or all of the finer finishing and tuning and sound grading (these processes could be done by Aboriginal or white people)."
      2. They have pictures of all the items they sell - if it makes a sound, they have recordings to download or stream. Recordings of the actual item you are looking to buy - not a generic file but the actual item you see pictured.
      3. The prices are very reasonable. Not cheap. Reasonable, especially given the quality of the items.
      4. They have online conversion of most currencies to Australian Dollars, so there are no surprises down the road.
      5. They ship DHL which is fast and safe.
      6. They email you at every step along the way: order confirmation, order completion, item shipped.
      7. They have a great newsletter with information about their products, Australia, and a host of other things.
      8. Their website is smartly organized and easy to navigate. They have taken the time to eliminate many annoying problems found in other web stores, esp. things like Flash, which, while attractive eye-candy, makes viewing for dial up customers a nightmare. This is a good example of taste, good design and care equaling the fanciest programing money can buy.
      9. They obviously care very deeply about people. The Aboriginal people, their customers, the world at large. You need only read a few bits on the website to see how much their heart is in their work.
      10. Their website is a repository of information related to Australia, Aboriginal people, didgeridoos (making, playing, meditating with, healing with, spiritual aspects of). Tons of info. If you can't make an informed decision after browsing their resources, you're an idiot. Sorry to be so blunt.

      I like shopping from them. I like browsing their shop. I've bought a large, concert grade didj, Aboriginal artwork, a number of Aboriginal jewelry pieces, several sets of clap sticks, two boomerangs and a handmade carrying bag for the didj. I like the high quality of the items. I like the fact that the owners are highly concerned with my satisfaction. I like the way they make me feel like I'm their most valued customer. I like the feeling that even though I'm really shopping in Australia, I'm feel like I'm going to the neighborhood store for some bread.

      I'm not sure why they work so hard and others don't. Maybe it's because a didgeridoo is a relatively specialized item, whereas a book or CD is more common.

      Take a spin through their site. If you're inclined, buy something - clap sticks are nice and inexpensive (sort of an Aboriginal clave made of iron wood, which has a lovely resonance), as are boomerangs and bull-roarers. The art and painted shields are more expensive but very unique and attractive. I highly recommend the experience. The Didjshop : a good shopping experience, a good neighborhood store.





      7/3/06: Will you still need me....blah blah blah : Part 2

      I saw my second concert in two days last night and it couldn't have been more different from the show Friday.

      I went by myself (again) and showed up a little early as that part of town (Bloomfield) is known for zero parking availability. The venue, Garfield Artworks, was actually a snap to find and as I approached the doors I recognized the four members of Guapo standing outside. I resisted the urge to say something, though in retrospect I probably should have as I bet they don't often get recognized in the street. Anyway, on entering I was surprised to find myself in a makeshift performance space/gallery the likes of which I haven't been in since I was in college. Garfield Artworks is a typical Bloomfield storefront - the venue is probably 60 feet by 20 feet with a 20 foot high ceiling. The bands were set up at the far end of the room and there were about 40 folding chairs set up for seating. The guy taking the money at the door made no attempt to hide the fact that I was a completely unexpected audience member.

      "Ah, you're here for the Guapo show?" (read: "Are you in the right place?")
      "Yep."
      "Oh right, $7. Um, you know there's going to be some jazz first." (read: "You can go away and come back if you want.")

      I was far and away the oldest person in the room, the next oldest was probably in his mid-20s. I thought I was self-conscious at the NIN show - it had nothing on this. The saving grace was the fact that there weren't many people at the show. By the time the first band started up, a local jazz quartet with a definite Bill Frisell influence, there were probably about 25 people in the room, including the four members of Guapo and the two members of Zombi (the other band on the main bill). There wasn't really any attempt to mic anything other than the saxophone, which doubled as the mic for talking between the songs. And it sounded pretty good - the band seemed comfortable playing this way, probably more like a practice room than a performance.

      The crowd thinned down to about 12 for the second band, an interesting 3 piece from NYC that, oddly, also had a pronounced Bill Frisell influence - cello, guitar, trumpet. They were quite good and played a fun, entertaining set.

      Then Guapo. The band set up their own gear. We jam econo. Again, not many mics and some direct feeds from the bands amps. I should mention the venue lighting which was two gooseneck desk lamps with 60w incandescent bulbs. Seriously. The crowd expanded slightly to about 25 when Guapo started playing. The room was hot and everyone was drenched in sweat. The band played a merciless set of high intensity music for around an hour. I'd forgotten the urgency of seeing a band this close in a room with this few people. I noted that a good half the audience was wearing hearing protection (including some members of the various bands). The playing was relentless and stunning.

      Finally Zombi. They generally are billed on this tour as the opening act for Guapo, but since Pittsburgh is their home town (and ,I suspect, the reason this show even got here) they played last. Various resources online describe Zombi as "Rush without Alex Lifeson" but they sound to me more like vintage Tangerine Dream with a large dose of Heldon. The audience expanded a bit for the home town band, maybe 40 people. A thoroughly enjoyable set. More sweating.

      I left the show soaking wet with clothes and hair sticking to my skin and feeling like I would have spent the same $25 I paid Friday for this little monster show I got for $18 dollars less. I actually did talk a bit to Daniel O'Sullivan, the Guapo keyboard player, after the show (he's very nice) and on my way out the door guy said "Hey, man, thanks for coming!"

      I'll have to remember this show the next time I start talking myself out of going to a concert.





      7/1/06: Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 44?
      I find myself being cognizant of my age(ing) more and more these days. Aches that last a bit longer than they used to, going to bed as early as 10p.m., discovering why old people have such a love affair with prunes (er... dried plums as they are now called). A few hours ago I went to see Nine Inch Nails perform. A few observations:

      1. Rationally, there should be no reason to feed dumb going to see NIN. I bought their first album 17 years ago right after it came out; I've followed them since. They are more a band of my age-group than the twenty-somethings. Heck, Trent Reznor is only 3 years younger than me. So why do I feel so self-conscious going to shows like this? Part of it may be going alone, which I do more and more often these days. My friend Dave goes with me to most shows I've seen in the last few years, but he's unavailable a lot of nights , so I go alone. It's not so bad in a club but at a stadium show like this, with probably 10000 people, you feel pretty self-conscious about being by yourself - the fact that it is lawn seating means you can't even pretend you're with the people sitting next to you because they are on their own blanket. It feels worse when you're also 20 years older than everyone else.
      2. Something about middle age makes you more approachable to younger people. At least 10 people asked me if I had a lighter. Two people asked me for directions for getting back to Pittsburgh. Several people asked me where the bathrooms were. I must have answered the question "Do you know what time it is, sir?" twenty times. One person asked me if I knew the score of the Pirate game. I was asked for a bottle opener. Where do they sell ice cream? Anyone want help finding Waldo?
      3. The young people, they like the Led Zeppelin band. I think I saw more Led Zep shirts than I have since.... Led Zep played at Three Rivers Stadium in 1979.
      4. The fine people from Trojan were there giving out free condoms to everyone attending the show. The guy sized me up and hesitated for a nanosecond before handing one to me - I guess his orders were "everyone gets a condom" so he gamely pressed one into my hand. Most of the condoms got blown up into balloons and bounced around during the show. In my day people brought beach balls...
      5. I was going to point out that there was more black clothing than at any event I've ever attended, but I realized I wore a black shirt too. I will point out instead that nothing puts a smile on my face like a nice goth couple, she in her torn fishnets and "Pierced for your Pleasure" tee-shirt and he in his black leather pants and full-back tattoo of the Grim Reaper, sitting in the grass sharing a funnel cake. (Yes, they sold funnel cakes at the NIN show.)
      6. People talk on their cell phones too much. During the concert. I swear on my dear dead grandmother's grave about a minute into the show I hear behind me: "HEY DUDE, WHAT'S UP? I'M AT THE NAILS SHOW! I'M A T T H E N I N E I N C H N A I L S S H O W! WHAT? I DUNNO MAN! WANT ME TO CALL YOU AFTER THE SHOW! WE'LL HOOK UP. WORD OUT." This was all screamed at the top of his lungs into his cell. Um, you don't have to answer your cell when it rings... it's okay to let the message kick in and call back later. It wasn't an isolated incident. Someone around me was talking or texting the entire show. About four songs in, it occurred to me that there was one person I could text-message that wouldn't think I was totally insane and would probably appreciate the subtle irony of me texting during a NIN concert, so I did. Just to see if there was some added value I was missing that everyone else was getting. There isn't, as far as I can tell. [But thanks for the reply, Cait; it was nice to hear from you but it didn't add value to the show, if you get my point. No offense.]
      7. Trent Reznor kept throwing bottles of water into the mosh pit. I thought: "That's pretty nice of him. There's no reason I can think of to do it except to a) give people a souvenir and/or b) give them something to drink in the hottest sweatiest section of the venue." After I thought this, I felt really old.
      8. I wasn't the oldest person there of course. It's an interesting sort of "club", kind of like what I imagine when bikers talk about how other motorcyclists greet them on the road. The Nod. The sheepish smile w/nod. The Head Incline. Also, lots of obvious chaperones bringing their younglings to the big rock show and feeling even more out of place because they don't even know the band or like them. I'm expecting that to be me in a few years.
      9. The young people, they like their fire. Lots of ground fires - people burning the newsprint freebees they handed out and then dancing around the fire. We used to bounce the beach ball around the stadium....
      10. Near the end of the show I thought: "Why would anyone pay $25 more to be crowded and squished down in the front of the venue?" Then I felt really really old.

      I'm glad I went. I enjoyed the show, even with all the angst-ing I was doing. And given the fact that NIN has released an album every 4-5 years, at 50 I'd probably be much less likely to go to a show like this. Or, maybe not.





      1/23/06: An anonymous but rewarding pastime.
      When Miranda was a toddler, I became aware of two facts: 1) kids look at the world two feet from the ground and 2) kids love finding stuff. So I started leaving "presents" for kids to find, first just for Miranda, then for anyone. I don't often see the results of my efforts but just imagining the reactions is reward enough. Here's a list of things to do to make your day just a wee bit more fun:

      • Look for kid friendly places to put coins, like the lowest shelf in the grocery store, under rocks at the park, on posts or walls around your neighborhood, in little nooks and crannies, balanced on chair rail, etc. Small coins are just as effective as large ones, so don't bother leaving pennies in those little dishes by the cash register, save them for the kids.
      • Leave marbles on the walking path in Frick Park.
      • Put stickers inside of young kids books in the library.
      • Put a coin in a gumball machine at the grocery store and turn the handle part way.
      • Buy a Pez dispenser at Target and ask the cashier to give it to the next child that comes through the line.
      • Buy a bag of polished rocks and leave them in the same knee high places you'd leave coins.

      It doesn't take much to bring a little joy to a child's day.





      12/30/05: Passing of another mentor.
      John Simonton died November 25th after a long battle with throat cancer. Mr. Simonton was the founder of PAiA Electronics, a company dedicated to D.I.Y. electronic kits. Mr. Simonton's many designs include one of the first MIDI/CV converters, the first commercially available programmable percussion box (used by Peter Gabriel among others), the Theremax Theremin, a collection of tube amplifiers and effects, and a long-running series of modular synthesizer components. His computer store in Oklahoma was the first store to sell Apple computers back in 1977. He published a magazine called Polyphony , dedicated to making electronic music in 1975; in 1985 this magazine became Electronic Musician, the monthly bible for the home recordist.

      I built a number of projects from Mr. Simonton's designs over the years: the programmable drum machine (sadly lost), a guitar preamp (25 yrs. old and still in use), a headphone amp, several power supplies (which I've been using to power the theremins I build), a phonograph preamp (15 yrs. old and still in use), and on my desk in my studio I have the plans for his Theremax, which is on my list of future projects. I subscribed to Polyphony and later Electronic Musician for fifteen years -- I still have a number of back issues which I reference periodically.

      Though he never knew it, John Simonton mentored me in electronics, circuit design, and sound theory while continually exciting me with his brilliant projects and kits. I never met him though I talked to him on the phone a number of times - as near as I could tell, he was not only the owner and designer of PAiA, he was also customer service. He seemed to me like a very nice man and from the testimony of others following his death, I guess he was. I'm sure there are hundreds of people like me whose lives were incalculably enriched because of this inspirational man from Oklahoma.

      Thanks John. Rest in peace.





      10/20/05: Nurturing your inner geek.
      I don't read a lot of magazines. I find they just pile up and suddenly there is a year of something I paid $30 for cluttering up my studio. I was enjoying ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY for a while, mostly to see what movies were coming out, what DVDs were coming out and to read Stephen King's editorials. I can get the same info on my Yahoo home page, and the Stephen King editorial isn't critical to me, so that very expensive little magazine no longer comes to the house. Occasionally I'll look at the news stand to see if any of the music magazines have articles about bands I like (rare) or to marvel at the incredible niche marketing of magazines these days (When did tattoos become "lifestyle"? Do we need to have a monthly magazine about cooking with cheese? I couldn't bring myself to open "Chins Magazine" to see what it was about.) Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of magazines - I'm reminded of it every time Miranda receives her copy of SPIDER or DISNEY MONTHLY and gets all giddy, plops on the couch and pours over the pages for hours.

      Today I was wandering around Barnes and Noble waiting for the bank to open and I spied a magazine called MAKE. The cover lists the following articles:

      - Mr. Jalopy Teaches Welding
      - Basement Cold Fusion
      - Stunning Spud Gun
      - Building a Geeked-out Haunted House

      Hmmmm. Let's check the Table of Contents

      - Go, Cart: Putting a gasoline engine in a shopping cart
      - VCR cat feeder
      - Mod your Rod: Control your car by computer, integrate an iPod into your stereo, become a Wi-Fi hotspot on wheels, make a liter of biodiesel, and more
      - Hack-o-lanterns: extreme pumpkin carving
      - Single use digital camera hack
      - Custom Stink Blaster pods
      - Recreating an Apple I

      By the time I got to extreme pumpkin carving, I was in line at the register.

      MAKE is not a cheap magazine - it's $15 - but it's a thick little digest clocking in at almost 200 pages. For those old enough to remember "Build your own helicopter" plans in POPULAR MECHANICS, this is the modern version. It seems mostly to be about hacks and modifications, with a good bit of DIY project information. Full too overflowing with pictures and plans and schematics. It is geek heaven in a 6x9 glossy package.

      The first thing I opened to after purchasing it was an article about nixie clocks (a nixie tube is a neon tube that used to be used for numeric displays before there were LED/LCDs. A very popular D.I.Y. project is building a clock that uses nixie tubes - it's sort of the baptism of fire or first rite for a serious D.I.Y.-er.) On the page opposite was a article about the Househole, an art object that's a few blocks from where I lived in Houston - a sort of wormhole sculpture made out of a demolished house. A quick flip through the rest of the magazine on the way to the bank and I've got a month of projects that will be competing with my family, my reading list, my listening list and life in general for my bits of spare time. On the way to the car, I'm looking for the subscription card. $35 for a year - four quarterly issues.

      I hope my issues come the same day as SPIDER so I can flop on the couch with Miranda and lose a few hours together.





      9/30/05: The new Neil Gaiman novel is dedicated to me.
      Really. ANANSI BOYS, which came out last week and is a sort of sequel to one of my favorite novels - AMERICAN GODS - is dedicated to me. Joe Pino. I was stunned. I ordered the book from Dreamhaven Books in Minneapolis this summer when I was visiting my sisters. It's a really amazing science fiction / fantasy / comic book store and I noticed they were taking pre-orders for Mr. Gaiman's new novel, so I ordered one. Now, Mr. G lives in Minneapolis and Dreamhaven is sort of the official unofficial Neil Gaiman bookstore. You can usually get autographed copies of any of his books from them and they often have hard to find or exclusive items related to his work. In fact, I bought an autographed copy of STARDUST when I was there. So I wasn't surprised that my copy from them was autographed. But I was surprised to read the dedication page, which goes like this [italics is hand written by Mr. Gaiman]:

      "Joe-
      YOU KNOW HOW IT IS. You pick up a book, flip to the dedication, and find that, once again, the author has dedicated a book to someone else and not to you.
      Not this time.
      Because we haven't yet met/have only a glancing acquaintance/are just crazy about each other/haven't seen each other in much too long/are in some way related/will never meet, but will, I trust, despite that, always think fondly of each other....
      This one's for you.
      With you know what, and you probably know why.
      Neil Gaiman "

      Well, gee. Thank you. I'm touched and honored and a little embarrassed. But I really appreciate the sentiment.

      And the book is pretty darn good to boot.





      8/9/05: Old Friends
      I just visited with some old friends. Actually the parents of a friend of mine from second grade - a friend who was probably my first "best friend". Now, I don't know that I've seen David since the mid-1970s. I think I last saw his parents about 20 years ago, in the early 1980s. I felt like I'd just seen them a week ago.

      Those of you that know me know I'm pretty quiet in public situations unless I'm very comfortable with the people around me. Shy or introverted or a wallflower, whatever you want to call it. I was therefore surprised today when I found myself chatting away with these folks I haven't seen in years. Now it's true I was in their house, which is still very recognizable as the house where we played so often. But I was surprised at how easy it was feel comfortable.

      I guess that would be my definition of a friend: those for whom time and distance make no difference. I like my friends. I'm glad I have them. I wish I saw them more, but deep down I like knowing it doesn't really matter.







      8/6/05: Skunk Works
      People often wonder about my screen saver, which is made up of images of the SR-71, F-117A, and U2 airplanes. Or about the SR-71 and F-117A die-cast models in my office. Or the various pictures and models of same in my studio. Besides the fact that they are the three coolest airplanes ever invented, besides the fact that for four years I watched (and heard) SR-71s take off, land and break the sound barrier on a daily basis, besides the fact that my Dad worked with the SR-71 most of his career in the Air Force, besides all those facts, the reason I keep the images around me is to remind myself that there is a creative solution to every problem, and sometimes the right solution is the most illogical and counterintuitive idea you've considered.

      The three planes mentioned above were all designed and built by Lockheed Aircraft, specifically by the Lockheed Advanced Development Company , aka The Skunk Works. AKA Black Ops. Led by the visionary designer Kelly Johnson from 1952 until his death in 1974, and then by his assistant Ben Rich , the Skunk Works produced the world's most innovative aircraft not once, not twice but three times. In the 1950's they built the U2, a reconnoissance plane that flew so high it was almost impossible to spot on radar much less destroy because it flew on the the edges of outer space. In the 1960's they built the SR-71, a reconnaissance plane that flew so fast it was impossible to catch or bring down by any conventional planes or defense systems. In the 1980's they produced the F-117A, aka the Stealth Bomber - a fighter plane that was radar invisible. "Three impossible things before breakfast" as Mr. Dodgson might say.

      The term "skunk works" comes from Al Capp's Lil Abner comic. A character named Injun Joe had a still for making "kickapoo joy juice" which was referred to as "the skonk works" due to the fact that the moonshine was distilled from dead skunks and smelly old shoes. I first heard about the Skunk Works when I was about 8 or 9. We were living on Beale Air Force Base, near Marysville California, which was the home airfield for the SR-71. My father was a mission planner in Air Intelligence and he worked on reconnaissance missions to be flown by the SR. The SR-71 was and still is an extraordinary looking plane and so it was easy for a 8 year old to be completely obsessed with it. It looked like a space ship. It flew at least 3 times faster than the speed of sound (actual speed at that time was top secret). It took pictures while flying fast and high. I probably knew as much as was allowed to be known about the plane at that time, which wasn't a lot of specifics except for the name of the designer(s): Kelly Johnson and his Skunk Works team. I loved to go the the airfield on the occasional "open house" days, where you could get pretty close (but not too close) to the planes. They also had a tour that gave info about the pilots and flight suits , which were basically space suits but orange, and I did that as often as possible.

      So what does this have to do with sound design I hear you asking (at least, those of you that have bothered to read this far). As a designer, the most fascinating aspect of all three of these planes is that from aircraft design practices, they defy all conventional logic.

      For example, the SR-71 presented an extraordinary set of problems due to the speed at which it was to travel - the exterior temperature of the plane would be in the neighborhood of 900 degrees Fahrenheit. No conventional construction material could withstand that heat except stainless steel which was too heavy. So they decided to use titanium. That decision required them to manufacture their own tools to work the titanium (conventional drills etc. couldn't penetrate the metal) and their own screws and fasteners . The incredible heat would expand the plane's surface over an inch, so the panels had be gapped to allow for expansion. This makes the plane leak fuel like a sieve until the speed of the plane is such that it seals itself. So, in order to make the fastest plane in the world, it needs to be made of a material that is near impossible to work with, the plane has to leak fuel on the runway, the pilot has to be cooled to a temperature that won't cook him (remember the 900 degree temperatures outside?), etc., etc., etc.

      The radar absorbing/confusing structure of the F-117A makes it the most un-aerodynamic airplane ever flown. The shape is necessary to keep it radar invisible, so to make it flyable they developed a complex computer system to help the pilot keep it airborne. So, in order to make the plane stealthy, it needs a shape that won't fly.

      What The Skunkworks excelled in was figuring out the best solution to the problem, then finding a way to make the solution work. No compromise with a good solution, or the best solution that is reasonable, or the most workable solution. The Best Solution, no matter how cock-eyed or crazy it appears. Ben Rich's book "Skunk Works" is well worth a read to get some insight into this process.

      In my design work, I strive for identifying the Best Solution, then making the solution work rather than finding the most workable solution or the best solution within reason. I won't say I'm skilled enough or imaginative enough to be as successful as Skunk Works, but it sure leads me down some interesting paths.





      07/14/05: Dr. Moog
      I am unexpectedly troubled. Last week I got an e-mail through the MiniMoog list to which I subscribe that Robert Moog was very ill. For some reason this has hit me very hard. I've never met the man and he doesn't know me from a hole in the ground, but he has been an important influence in my life - enough that I am profoundly saddened by his illness.

      Dr. Moog has an inoperable tumor that has left him bedridden and has effected his ability to move his left side - he is currently receiving radiation therapy. I guess this resonates with me because of my Dad's effected left side (post-stroke two and a half years ago) and my Mom's recent radiation therapy after her cancer operation.

      I can connect many defining moments in my life to Dr. Moog:

      • the first time I heard SWITCHED-ON BACH, which changed the sonic landscape in my brain completely
      • the first time I saw a modular synthesizer- a picture of Keith Emerson's Moog in some music magazine and all those wonderful patch cords hanging from the panel
      • the first time I played a synthesizer (a MicroMoog that our student teacher in band brought to school when I was in 10th grade - thanks Mr. Ludy, wherever you are...)
      • hours spent playing with Chip's CRUMAR synthesizer (which is an Italian integrated circuit version of the Mini)
      • finally being able to afford to buy a MiniMoog of my own - I was thirty-one
      • building my first theremin from Dr. Moog's design
      • realizing that the filter section of my sonic tool of choice, the AKAI sampler, was based entirely on that of my beloved Mini.

      A lot of what I do, how I do it, and - I suppose - who I am has some peripheral connection with Bob Moog and his work.

      If you haven't seen the MOOG documentary that came out last year, you really owe it to yourself to get the DVD and watch it. Dr. Moog is everything one hopes their heroes to be - a humorous, kind man with an deep love for his family and friends, a brilliant engineer and designer who speaks of the spiritual aspects of designing his circuitry as if it were the only way to discuss electronics, a man highly respected yet also adored by his peers and clients.

      I hope he overcomes his health troubles and stays with us for many more years. The world needs more people like Bob Moog.

      Robert Moog died at his home surrounded by his family on August 15, 2005. Heaven just became a much more interesting place.





      07/12/05: Not-so-hidden songs
      There is only one way to hide a song on a compact disc, which is to put the song at Index 0 on Track 1. Period. Compact Disc players start playing from Track 1 Index 1, so the song is completely hidden. There is no other way to hide a song 'cause there are frankly no other hiding places on a CD. What people continue to call "hidden", much to my obvious annoyance, is a variation on the "unlisted song". These songs are not hidden, they are merely not listed . Hiding implies you can only find it by looking and revealing itself by playing through the CD in a normal fashion is just not a hidden song. When you put the CD in the player and it says 13 tracks even though the song listing only has 12, that's already told you there is an unlisted track - so there is nothing hidden here. Or if you notice the last song is listed as 4:15 long but the CD player tells you that the track is 12:37 that's not really hidden, it's just not mentioned. Or maybe you don't clue into either of the above and just pop the disc in for a listen- after the last track there is a space, maybe you don't notice the CD is still running, and suddenly another song announces itself. Still not hidden by my definition. This is the musical equivalent of a Baker's Dozen - you buy 12 donuts and when you get home and start eating, you notice there are actually thirteen. And if you don't bother to count them, you don't even know there are 13 - just as if you didn't look at the song listing to know there were only supposed to be 12 tracks. The extra is not a hidden donut, just a donut you didn't know was there, an extra bonus donut.

      Examples of discs with bonus unlisted tracks:

      1. BROKEN by Nine Inch Nails was originally a six song disc packaged with a two song bonus disc. After main NIN Trent Reznor got wind of the fact that record stores were breaking up the pair and selling them separately, the material was repackaged on one disc. This version has six songs, 91 blank tracks and then two songs not listed on the packaging. When you play the CD, after the first six tracks the CD player sequentially plays though the empty tracks until it gets to the two with music. Unlisted, not hidden. When you put the CD in the player, it tells you there are 99 tracks. The case tells you there are six. Hmmmm, must be something unlisted happening....
      2. JAGGED LITTLE PILL by Alanis Morrisette, which has an early/alternate version of "You Oughta Know" which shows up after a space in the last song. It is followed by a bit of a cappella singing. The only way you wouldn't "find" this is by stopping your CD player manually after the finish of the last listed song.

      Unlisted tracks have been around since at least SGT. PEPPER, which has the famous dogs-only sine wave followed by the cutup nonsense in the LP's run out groove. I suppose if your turntable needle picked up before it hit the run out groove, this could be considered a hidden track. Another album that comes to mind is XTC's GO TO, which has a song called "Red" unlisted on side one between two other listed tracks. And the infamous MATCHING TIE AND HANDKERCHIEF from Monty Python that has two concurrent grooves on the second side, each with a different collection of skits -- depending on where the needle comes down, you get one or the other sets (and I honestly didn't find the second one for several weeks).


      There is only one CD I'm aware of that actually has a hidden track - GREYFOLDED by John Oswald. The second disc has a four minute track hidden in TR1 index 0 which can only be accessed by starting to play the disc , then scanning backwards -4:00. If you never performed this action, you would never ever hear this track. It is hidden.

      Other discs of note, with clever manipulation of the CD delivery media:

      1. DISCOSPHERE, also by John Oswald, which has audio material placed in track indexes, so if you play the disc straight through, you hear everything on the disc. But if you shuffle play or program play the tracks, the indexes don't play. This is about as close as one can get to double grooved LPs, like the aforementioned Monty Python's MATCHING TIE AND HANDKERCHIEF.
      2. PLUNDERPHONIC 69, again by John Oswald (see a pattern developing?) takes advantage of a little know loophole of the Compact Disc formatting protocol, which allows for discs to start numbering tracks at any number. Thus the first disc of the set has tracks 1-24 and when you pop the second CD in the player reads tracks 25-50. Neat.
      3. A BRAINLESS DECONSTRUCTION OF THE POPULAR SONG by Yukio Yung (aka Terry Burrows) has 25 tracks that are exactly 2 minutes long, which means that the indexes fall pretty randomly among the fifty songs. Some "tracks" have three or four songs included, some songs are spread over two or more sequential tracks. So, not only a deconstruction of the popular song, but of the delivery media for the popular song.

      If you know of another discs with truly hidden tracks let me know.

      And don't get me started about DVDs that advertise "Easter Eggs" on the case or in the menus....