Outside of existence, there is nobody

django — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:40:49 +0000

I don’t feel so compelled to talk about what happened. At least, this isn’t something that feels like it should be a blog post. I haven’t stopped talking about it, or thinking about it. But how do I talk about something this personal and unexplainable here? What do I talk about when all my thoughts are unutterable? Do I just post some reviews for one of my albums? Talk about music or politics? I suppose this blog, like anything, is what I make of it. But how do I describe something that’s gone missing? Something I could barely understand when it was there. I’ll never get used to missing him. Although, I’m getting more comfortable with to not getting used to things. Ambiguity is both incredibly difficult and simple. I think when buddhists speak of Nirvana they’re talking about finally accepting ambiguity. And maybe the key to understanding is realizing that you can never truly understand it. How do I explain emptiness? I can’t. I miss my friend.

…

Phenomenology, Relativisim, and Cows

django — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:07:35 +0000

Is Jacques Derrida the original Gary Larson?

Taste

django — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:33:06 +0000

Behold! Recent Work. Award-Winning no less!

Taste from Yvonne Grzenkowicz on Vimeo

Same, Difference

django — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:54:56 +0000

Today I was watching a sexy dude on youtube talk about the Kalam cosmological argument. Basically it’s this: because something has a beginning something else must have caused it to begin.This argument is used primarily to make a case for God, though it’s not very sophisticated or well thought out (which is so typical of theology:/). More rhetorical, I suppose, than applicable. I mean first of all the idea that something can cause something that does not exist to then exist is senseless. For something that exists to have influence over something that does not is a logical meltdown. Much like Dualism, it’s flighty, mystical, and pretty annoying.

Besides that the big problem, I think, is that it relies on the assumption that things come to be. As if the parts that make the thing did not previously exist. Which, we can be pretty sure, they did. So the thing isn’t so much a new thing, but new arrangement of things. When I write a peice of music, I’m not creating anything really. I’m simply arranging things that already exist into something new (hopefully!).

So when we listen to Lady Gaga, or when we look at a new Peter Coffin, we’re not looking for new creations, but new arrangments of things we already know about. In fact “new creations” is a bit of paradox, yeah? For us anyway. Maybe once you reach the level of God it really is possible to make a square with a radius or a circle with right angles. But for us, here on the ground, our circles stay round and our squares stay square. So what’s there to do then? Are we just doomed to endlessly build and destroy, stacking materials and breaking them down again? Are we just a bunch of Doozers? And if so, who’s eating all our sticks???

The Grammaphonies

django — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:33:02 +0000

After watching the Grammys last night I wondered: can you be successful without being famous?

correlation does not imply causation

Nobody wants to starve to death. And nobody wants to live their lives working for someone else. But where do we find our bread? How do we earn a living?

As the feudal system disintegrated the resources available to musicians began to disappear along with it. No longer the mouth piece of a baron or duke, musicians found themselves suddenly emancipated. And broke. So rather than starve to death they hooked up with a sexy new class on the scene: The Merchants. The great thing about hanging out with the merchants was that you could come from anywhere. The poor, homeless minstrels or the pampered court troubadours were both in a position to make some cash from their work. They just had to make a deal. And they did!

That’s what I saw last night while watching the Grammys. Contractual obligations were being fulfilled. Instead of praising the conquests of some lord or lady, our modern minstrels are hired to parade the glories of their newest patron. The hot products, the hit archetypes, the latest JaQuel Knight moves, the sexy new diet soda. I kept waiting for Lady Gaga to stop in the middle of her Elton John disaster/mannequin orgy, take a big swig from a can of Diet Pepsi and go “Ahhh!…now THAT’S refreshing”.

False dicotomy?

Of course there’s always the underground right?

A Message, With Release

django — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:09:15 +0000

100m records has released it’s new compilation, celebrating it’s 10th release so far. Aside from yours truly the compilation will also feature my fellow Fates, PJ Norman (Iamprimate) and the kinetic Moritz Wettstein

A Predilection for Prediction

django — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:27:38 +0000

An interesting paper is out that talks about how we listen to music. And, like most things enjoyable, its all about expectations. The funny thing about expectations is that, while we are all built with the mechanics for them and base most of our actions on them, we each have our own particular configuration. A John Cage fan takes the Boredoms in stride, an Enya lover would not (nay, could not. at least not at first). We are pattern making machines with an emphasis on predictions. Feeding music into our brains is like putting Flubber™ in a model-T.

BUT, regardless of our preferences and references, it’s really the un-predictable parts in the pattern that turn us on the most. Not knowing how the pattern connects within itself starts our neurons chattering like a billion switchboard operators.

Pushing buttons

django — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:37:56 +0000

I don’t like making decisions and I’ll tell you why: Too Many Options.

Sometimes backwards IS forward.

Anyway, now that the band is roasting away in a hot little room on Broadway it’s time for PHASE II. Now, how do I show the music? How do I create a magical space? Should I? Can I? How do I ‘keep it real’? It’s ok to confuse you but I don’t want to lose you. What’s my brand? Am I a brand? What kind of lighting should i use? I don’t want to manipulate a bunch of drunk, horny monkey brains. I want them to have fun. And we are all monkeys after all.

Ah hell, I’ll just use the synth patch on my keyboard and wear my fake glasses. Maybe I can convince Jason to wear a bad wig…

It’s Official

django — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:10:01 +0000

The line up is:


Django : Keys and Voice	Jason : Bass and Effects	Pete : Kit and Percussion

No word yet from corporate about a name. DV3? The Public Squares? Hokey Pokey and The Hot Pokers? Should we have a vote? Dear God no.