A Runway too Short

Ever feel like your life is a plane on a runway that is too short? I flew today. I flew Delta. I flew on a Comjet. I flew to Atlanta, and lived. Not the same for 49 people flying out of Kentucky. There had to be a reason our flight attendants were pale and nervous. They also didn't know that the plane took off on the wrong runway, which was too short, slamming the plane into the woods, bursting into flames, burning everyone alive, kind of like hell. I knew there was a reason I couldn't shake this feeling. Ernesto hits the Florida Keys Tuesday. Does the bad news ever stop?

Sex Sells but its all @#$%^ed Up!

The only conclusion I can cum too is, if America really was founded on purist fundamentalist roots, then we figured out really fast what to sell. The VH-1 special on the origins of the Jackson Five was very telling. In my eyes it summed up a lot of what our youth must be going through. I mean not everyone is in a family like the Jacksons. Whereas once many heralded them and aspired to be like them, now it just seems obvious the bad influences of the "show biz" life. That is unfortunate. Similarly the excesses of the 80's hair bands gave Rock 'n' Roll a bad name. Sex isn't bad. Who knows if prostitution is the oldest profession? If we live in a Capitalist nation, then confusion is being created over the whole process of companionship and marriage. Romance is it? Is that the traditional title for the process of not being alone? If we live in a Capitalist society where that is our socio-economic structure, then why can't I go to the mall and buy a wife? You can buy sex in many other places, including the outskirts of Las Vegas. It seems countries that have been around longer than use don't see that as detrimental. I don't either, because without a clear process being outlined in society for acquiring a mate, I am losing sight of the process myself. It is not being represented well in the public eye through our media systems. First of all we all know SEX SELLS. I fundamentally hate this concept. I can't think of anything more asexual than this. It is drastically different from SELLING SEX, of which I don't see problems. Using sex to sell is derivative. It is simply disrespectful. Now if, like in the Jackson family, our mother is telling us sex is bad and a sin, and on the other hand Jermaine and his daddy are pokin' the groupies in their hotel room, what kind of message does that send to little Michael? Well, he's @#$%^ed up, and now we know what did it. Think of millions of America youth that have no functional families to speak of. Movies and TV are violent and misogynistic. Public schools have spiraled into gang wars. Where are we getting our perceptions of love and marriage? Are they even important anymore to American society? It doesn't seem so. As I wrote earlier, the feeling of happiness and freedom for me is feeling the way I see fit. That for me is heterosexual. (no jeers to others) What makes me feel happy is an underlying feeling of knowing I like women and eventually I would like to live a life with a woman as a companion. That is my peacemaker. That feeling is what puts me at rest. I don't have to think about Armageddon. I don't have to think about the end of the world. I don't have to think about Osama Bin Hollywood. There is one thing, and only one spiritual thing (other than the presence of God) that completes me. I don't think it is wrong. If I only wanted God in my life, I would become a monk. I think He gave us this privilege, and we as human beings are meant to receive it. It is the prize for having to live life on earth. It is the token that makes up for all the loss and hardship. It makes up for the grief and darkness we could feel on a daily basis. It, for me, is hope. When I lose sight of this, I feel darkness. If I don't continually consciously remind myself of this, I become depressed. That means, to me, I believe in Freud's writings. I have come to realize my ID is my essence. It is a spirit that drives me. This in no way means my brain is asleep at the wheel. It just means my brain is housed in the vessel of the body. When the mind needs to "feel good," there is a way to make that happen. Forget for a while. Let the thinking process rest, and let the physical senses rejuvenate. I had a bout with depression years ago, and back then I didn't understand it or my own feelings. I just knew I was alone and unhappy. I figured out how to be happy on my own, and that has freed me from need. Need sucks. Desire sucks. They suck because other people can manipulate and control you when they know your weaknesses. That is the core of the dysfunction of Capitalism. It is at root corrupt. If you deny the human body its essential functions, then titillate that through media to sell a product, you are making your population sick. We are a sick people. You are violently exposed when you are needy, and that makes it hard to live in the modern world. Like a preacher on the Charlie Rose show said, God attempts to come up under you with support so that you may thrive. He doesn't attempt to govern you. The body should be treated the same way. If you give it what it needs, then your minds and your people will flourish. I think the major difference I see in media from the decade of the 80's is, that era had romance as a root. Capitalism wasn't trying to lead society. Society and their habits were driving the economy. Their needs were being MET by our economy. That now has changed, because it seems business has lost track of the human race. It seems to me that this 'far right' regime somehow has cast a spell on humanity that has made it bad, sinful, or corrupt. What would the world be afterall, if it weren't for the human being? Is there supposed to be some invisible, mental force that somehow rules the world of animals? I don't get it. We are the world, as the popular song states, and I for one am through feeling guilty for sins of the flesh. Jesus said constantly, "Let's eat!" He didn't say, lets go back to our little compounds, cover up our bodies, and drive buggies all day. But today that means, drive our cars.

Genetics and Freedom

There must be something to blood, especially family blood. There is one thing I have to protest in this great genetic plan, and that is the heredity of emotion. The family unit or bloodline by nature passes down genes from one generation to the next. Is this really a good thing? How about we start anew from a fresh prospective? What happens if your father is Jeffrey Dammer or Superman? Do you really deserve to inherit that genetic information against your own will? What if it becomes a burden, complicating your own goals and feelings? Especially living in close proximity to those you love, you have no choice it seems being the living receiver of those transmitted feelings. Was this meant to be? Was this an ability God gave parents to discipline their children, emotional manipulation? I have seen it. I saw it in my studies in music education. You must learn how to manipulate your student's emotions, like a giant theatrical production. This didn't settle well with me. The first time I realized, my cooperating teacher told me I had to purposely 'get mad' at the students to make them be quiet. I had to invoke a negative emotion against my will to be able to discipline them. " What a drag," I thought. We are intelligent adults, and I feel we should be able to choose our own emotions. I guess the genetic plan pretty much usurps that. That would be total freedom, even freedom from oppression by our enemies. If there were no connective bond between humans, then no one could be controlled. Was this God's plan? I am growing to think not, and that Satan has a good deal to do with it. My own quest for freedom in Fayettenam is just to be allowed to feel the way I think I should. I don't want to be controlled by my body, other people's emotions, or my emotions. I am grown enough to understand what I think and feel. I understand myself. To know a man is to know yourself. The problem is, I rarely am allowed in modern society this privilidge. We work for others. We live with others. We play with others. All the while their feelings and needs and goals are being projected. By this commonality of emotion we are exposed to it on a minutely basis. If extra sensory perception is not real, then there is no way we can perceive these things with our minds. It has to be "vibe" or emotion, chemical reactions in our brain that produce eletrical waves. Bombarding electro-magnetic waves can and do change recipients feelings after long periods of time. Well, I don't dig it, and I don't want it. I have NO desire to think or feel what anybody else does. That is not freedom. Freedom to me is not enough money to live how you want, because this mental phenomenon would still exist. Freedom is the privilidge to allow human beings to pursue their own goals and feel their own desires. I "remember" how I am supposed to feel with my brain, so I can keep extraneous negative emotions at arms length, but it takes much energy. Self preservation. I know when emotions are not my own, because after 43 years I finally figured it out. I just don't get to exercise that privildidge very often.

Mr. Jobs Demands a Fortune

I had to go out and buy an AC adapter for my newly acquired iPod yesterday. I had been using it with my iBook. For some reason it took an extremely long time for the disc icon to mount on the desktop. Then iTunes was really slow in opening. After what seemed like forever it would begin to update the iPod. I knew instinctively that something was amiss, so I poked around a little. I hadn't spent much time studying the new product. What I found was this particular iPod was formatted with or for Windows. There was my problem. As a dedicated Mac owner and operator, there was no point in having Windows anywhere in my home, except to see outside. I searched around the net and found the updater on Apple's site. This was a relief and more of a relief when I found out it was a free download. 42 megs later and about five minutes of download time over Roadrunner and WiFi, it took all of 15 seconds to change the format to Mac OS. My problem was solved, and the factory settings were restored. This was kind of a drag though, because many of the functions by default now were turned off. Like any new computer software, I had to customize it to my tastes, which I am still doing. Of course my entire MP3 collection was wiped out in the process, but that was okay. I needed to take some time to stream line my collection of CD's anyway. First and foremost I had to import my own personal music. I have scores of CD's. I have 12 CD's of projects I created and produced in my home studio. What are they? Back when I lived in Columbus, Ohio there was a guy living there that was a pioneer of this process. His name was Kim Pensyl. His success in music came from producing his own projects. That meant writing, performing, recording, then mastering your own projects. Because CD was the accepted medium of the day, you then had to burn the discs yourself. I said to myself with nine years of college music study, I should be able to do this, and I did. I went into credit card debt to the tune of $15,000.00, but I knew as an active and hard-working musician I would be able to pay it all off soon, which I also did, almost. Although now I am not a fan of credit and got rid of all my credit cards, I have those companies to thank for allowing me the capital to invest in my dream. I didn't squander the money. I selectively and carefully invested the money in the necessary equipment to be able to produce my own CD's. I did this on a shoestring budget. To finance a professional recording studio would require hundreds of thousands of dollars of investment capital. I used $15,000.00, and not all of that was for music. There was some rent and beverage thrown in there too. In fact the credit card debt really began when I inherited bad upstairs neighbors in the apartment complex in which I was living. There was no acoustical ceiling like there isn't in most cheaply built rental properties. I had been producing "computer" music on a small scale in this space, and the old fart living upstairs didn't dig it. He could hear and didn't like the tap, tap, tap of my fingers on the quirtey keyboard, much less hearing MIDI music. I couldn't go to sleep at night because of their noise, so I found a watering hole with a nice, girly staff, the Comedy Channel showing, and a quality juke box that played LOUD! There were about 20 pool tables too. Because my cash was limited, I began drinking on my credit card. There was that. For some reason the monthly payment kept coming down. Each month when I received the statement, that figure was lower. "Great Scott, Batman! I can buy musical equipment and only have to make these ridiculously low payments." It was like a free, easy loan, so I took advantage of it. Slowly but surely I pieced together a Macintosh system with an external hard drive that allowed me to sample, sequence, and record digital audio on four tracks of MOTU's Digital Performer. I bought only what I needed to make quality sounding music that hopefully some one would want to listen to one day. This is what Kim Pensyl had been doing for a decade, and it landed him a record deal with GRP. I refined and developed the system and learned how to use it, and over the course of two years created 12 differing and varied CD projects of which I am extremel proud. I used Adaptec Toast to burn them to disc. When iTunes came out I had to ask myself, "Is this something I should learn how to use?" Well, I did, but the computer came before the egg, I mean the Pod. After I finally got the Pod, I realized why iTtunes was created in the first place. Most people didn't really listen to the music off their computer. They downloaded it to their iPod to carry around with them. "Yikes, Batman!" Another revelation. A portable, programmable, digital music player that performs more easily and more reliably than the Sony Walkman. (those damn CD's always seem to skip when you are moving around) What I had to figure out was how, without the CCDB database, to input my own finished CD's into iTunes but with track and album information. I had been through this experiment before with Toast. I took the time to add track names to ALL my CD's, not just my own personal projects. That meant scores of recorded CD's from four years of cruise ship work. I typed all those track names in, and when I decided to clean my hard drive, Toast just up and forgot all of them. "Drats!" I have had to do most of it again, but that is good seeing as the MP3 is the file of choice these days. I figured out how to input the track information and get it written into the file name of the MPEG4 for good. That way you can't lose track of them, with so many MP3 files floating around in your library. Anyway, that whole process was to pave the way for a final product on the iPod. For the first time I had my own original music on the iPod, just like any other artist. My name appears just like Bob Dylan's, the titles look professional, and the music is good. Hurray! Now I am set for the marketing process but at least in the format that widely is taking the consumer market by storm. By the way, that power adapter for the iPod, that little transformer you usually can buy in radio Shack for $10.00, that little wall wart you need to charge the battery on the fly in public, cost me...... are you ready? $42.00 at Best Buy. Mr. Jobs will eat well today. "Can you spare some change, buddy?"

Backing Agencies

There was an author on the Jon Stewart show the other night that said the whole Hezbollah/Israeli conflict was spin. I didn't follow everything he said, but the gist of it was, everything in the news is just an image to represent or be the catalyst for something else. That would mean the "media" right now is being playing by political factions like a giant theatrical production. Higher ups literally are playing chess with our countries. Is this reasonable? Is it reasonable to believe there is a conspiracy, and events such as 9/11 are results of a calculated plan to control the world? Is metrosexuality really a guise to weaken the human race so they can be dominated by the crab people? It is an interesting scenario. While I can't give credence to what would appear to be the pinnacle of all evil, I do believe heterosexuality is not being reinforced or even taught much in America. By the films and videos we see and by the television we watch, is there a realistic portrait of healthy heterosexual relationships being portrayed? "Friends" is the only thing that springs to mind, and that is still a little too 90210ish. (friends ramble around trying different friends until they settle on a partner) When I grew up the public schools were the stage upon which life was learned. My romantic life began in 9th grade after two harrowing years of being bussed to a tough, ghetto, predominantly African-American junior high school. It felt like my life was in danger every day, kind of like the boys of Dogtown. Phrases like "Give me some money," and "We're gonna kick your ass" were commonly heard throughout the day. The first day of school a small group of tough black kids stood and watched the new 7th grade recruits file into homeroom pledging to "kick our asses" at the end of the day. Needless to say when I arrived at a predominantly white, middle class high school with people that seemed to like me now, I relished the experience. For the first time girls were interested. Over the summer I had lost my baby fat skateboarding, and my hair had grown long for the first time. I also got my braces off. Little did I know I was primed and ready for some girly action. My first real relationship lasted 7 years, from 9th grade to juniors in college. I guess it is amazing we didn't get married, but both of us realized it wouldn't work. All that puppy lust just didn't translate into real life compatibility. She is married and has two kids now. I am still single. All these memories seem tepid in comparison to 9/11. Having to entertain the notion that there is a global conspiracy to rule the world? Man, it is a bit much to contemplate everyday. Who was it that had a little jingle on TV that sung "We are all going to die, but we can still have fun?" That is what they did in World War ll. There was a film, of which I can't remember the title, that depicted a family in war ridden Europe that continued to celebrate life in the midst of world war. They played brass band music, they drank fine Champaign, and danced all while bombs rang out around them. What is wrong with that?
We as Americans are faced with a choice. We can get up everyday, remember 9/11 and be afraid, or we can continue to live life with the joy of Christ in mind. It is true Adolph Hitler used a 'scare campaign' to frighten and incite the German people into submission to the Nazi's. He was one of the first to use infrasonic sound to produce wanted effects for political gain. Is that happening in America? If hope is all we have, then it feels right to assume that is not true. Overwhelming good can trump evil, can't it? If good just takes over and pushed evil out of the way, like Christianity is supposed to, then things will be okay, right? Well, if Extreme Muslems are the real force of evil today, they are fighting with the gloves off. So are movies like the Da Vinci Code that can plant the seeds of doubt about the real presence and meaning of God and Christianity. It is also prudent to pontificate there is 'another' regime that is using susceptible, weak, and misguided youth to fight their war for them?

Computer Generated Music

Continuing that thread, widespread use of the computer could lead to misguidance concerning music. How could this happen? Whereas the computer has become a great vessel for the 'downloading' and storage of music, it doesn't necessarily open the same doors for music production. It takes no great skill to consume music. On the contrary to produce great music, it takes years of study and practice. In no way can the PC suddenly substitute for years of public and private music education. The Suzuki and Kodaly methods of teaching should be as valid today as ever. The problem is, music education and the arts in general have always taken a backseat to other areas, especially sports. In this ever changing world we must ask ourselves if the areas being emphasized really are preparing our youth for careers in America. If music once took a backseat to the three R's, was that movement successful in preparing kids for life today? I'm not sure it was. What kinds of jobs are being offered in America that necessitate knowledge of the quadratic equation? How many jobs demand the ability to diagram sentences or solve a geometry proof? These areas are supposed to teach you to think. Do you merely memorize a process? Critical thinking, it has been proven, is taught by teaching just that, not an offshoot. Media is saying the ability to multitask is becoming more crucial to success in America. Is that because the pace of life has increased so dramatically no one can keep a thought? ADD it seems has destroyed our ability to create and maintain a mood or a feeling for an extended time, and multitasking has become the solution. "If I can't maintain focus on one topic for more than a few seconds, then I'll bounce around. It is more fun that way." This destroys art, because art used to allow us to focus and conceptualize our thoughts. If you can't step back from this frenetic pace and reflect, analyze, and draw conclusions, then there will be NO wisdom. Every vocation has a lineage, a history that needs to be studied to understand how it will evolve. Likewise singers on American Idol will never really be artists, because by nature they are just folks. Folk music is music for the folks by the folks. Artistry comes from years of study, reflection, and practice. It is a long and pain staking process, and as a result of it people might like to pay attention to what you have to offer. Without that you are just shooting from the hip, and most anyone can do that. It takes someone like Mutt Lange or George Martin to recognize talent and help that process along. Does Simon and company possess that ability? I don't know, and I am not really interested. No teenage singer from suburban America has any product I am interested in, except for maybe a hot body. The problem with the PC in music production has become, many have forgotten musical "feel" is not metronomic. Human beings never have thought or expressed themselves like computers or machines. When we first heard the Casio drum accompaniments on Lowry organs back in the day, we all thought they sounded cheesy and square. Why did that suddenly change in the last year? How did all these square rhythmic accompaniments make their way onto MTV, VH-1, BET, CMT, and FM radio? It seems as if someone deliberately tried to create a style of music with NO real human feelings. After continued study I have happened upon some popular music that reflects this formula. There are examples in lots of music where there is no real "feel" in the rhythm tracks. All of the feeling comes from the vocal. Whether it is because the rhythm tracks are generated by computer, or whether a producer consciously wanted the accompaniment to be weak or almost feminine, I don't know. After studying jazz music for years and trying to figure out why Jeff Lorber played with better feeling than me, I am not willing to give up mine up. If pop music and glam/country require you water down your true expression for consumption by the masses (as Motown did), then count me out. Afro/Cuban, Jazz, Soul, R&B, Reggae, and Orchestra music are my choices. Expecting a musician to dumb down long sought after expression should be a sin. The better examples of "pop" music I found use this formula somewhat, but unlike "cruise ship music" and this new computer-generated music, place time where the human being expects it. It is not "laid back" and "pushed forward" to such an extent it becomes insipid and almost fails to exist. If music were meant to be a whore of Capitalism like sex in the United States, it is time for a revolution.

The MP3

Max Matthews is the "father" of computer music. IRCAM in France in the l950's was a groundbreaking facility of radio broadcast that helped pioneer Music Concrete. C MUSIC and C SOUND are the warhorse computer programs originally used on Unix systems. It was not until the Macintosh came out that "mainstream" music production shifted to the Apple. It made certain things easier, but for the most part didn't provide a crutch for non-musicians to be able to produce music. Max was a particularly Macintosh program that let you graphically connect icons on the screen to produce music. Processing digital audio really is the basis for utilizing the computer in music. Purists to this day still taut the MP3 as a consumer product. Just as audiofiles once heralded the vinyl album as the pinnacle of sound, professional sound engineers might be hard pressed to work with any music in the MP3 format. Mark of the Unicorn actually used an interesting acronym for their plug in for Digital Performer that converts files to MP3. L-A-M-E! Still the ability to stream audio of the internet is a worthy pursuit. It stands to reason that if technology continues to evolve, speeds will get even faster and the probability of streaming a WAV or AIFF file may come to fruition. The looming question is, what are the pluses and minuses of MP3 audio, and will it ever become the "mainstream" form of music consumption?

Music

Bands. Looking for validity? If "American Idol," a TV show based on the expectation of becoming a popular recording artists, represents mainstream views both in marketing and consumption, then somebody must believe there is substance in music. If music was persecuted by the Russian government for its ability to alter thinking and become an enemy of the "state," then there must be substance. If music has been condemned by southern bible belt preachers as possessing messages of the devil, than there must be substance. If "jass," that New Orleans music capable of inciting riotous behavior and fornication, can kill people by causing a trombonist to impale a musician sitting in front of him with his slide, then it must have substance. The arts are substance. Literature, the visual arts, music, and theater all have substance and are more crucial to the future and history of this world then say, the PC. What does it promise? Capital? A vessel without substance isn't much, just like a "Hardly." A "Hardly" is a nickname for a Harley Davidson, a grossly over-priced status symbol just like the SUV. What the fuck happened to substance? I guess it just got railroaded out of town on a dream of making quick fix money. When did people just suddenly forget their upbringing? It must be the ADD. Lose you mind, your memory, and your dreams in one fail swoop. I fight hard to remember my education. I fight hard to live in the moment but with prospects of my past. I fight hard not to eat poisoned foods and drink polluted water. That's all tap water is anymore. (Drink Dasani. It's the only thing Pepsi has ever made that is any good.) Educators have always had to fight for the arts. Pundits have always tried to "trim the budget" by getting rid of music and art in the public schools. Want some substance? Try figuring out the Lydian Chromatic Concept, the modes of the lydian-augmented scale, or hexachordal combinatoriality. Try harmonizing a Bach chorale with four part writing. Try understanding four part counterpoint, one of the most difficult methods of composing. What's a motet? What is Gregorian Chant? What is stratification of voices? What are the hard and soft "b?" What is Expressionism? What is Impressionism if anything but a misnomer for the works of Claude Debussy? In Fayettenam people aspire to be yard monkeys. In this neighborhood you are valid if you drive a truck with a trailer full of gardening tools. My mother grew up on a diary farm picking cotton in the fields. She plants items all over the yard, and they grow. That is valid too, but so is music. I hate yard work. Why worship the graven image of a yard or a house? Maybe if it is yours and you own it. I feel some of that ADD coming on now. It's in the form of either an Amtrak passenger train, or a GP-40-2. It makes my body shake. It makes my vision blurred. It fucks with my thought process. It screws with my feelings. Where does the ability come from to effect so many Americans? Look in your backyard. American is a barren wasteland populated with the diesel engine. Hayseeds are driving down our interstates with their homes tacked in the front of a sewers. They pull their trucks into public parking lots, cut off the lights, and step in back for a snooze with the engine running. Gotta have that AC. Forget about the people living 200 feet from your turbo-charged polluter. "It's all about moi!" Maybe Europe is the place to be. Maybe money is not the only meaning of life.

A&R Guys, a Lost Art?

I have a very important suggestion for the money of America. That means both Apple and Bill Gates. Whereas they are not the only money, they are the ones involved with digital music. In the past record companies used money from the sales of CD's and concert tickets to pay artists, and...... finance FUTURE bands. Investment capital. Front money. You can't sign an unknown band without scratch. It is a risky proposition anyway, signing some band to a lengthy contract trying to guarantee they will continue making money. This was the process. If Apple and Microsoft are successful buying EMI or Universal Music Group, they will be responsible for the A&R process. Take heed! The future music of America lies in your hands. You have to budget revenue from the sales of those "iTunes" back into NEW music. It is important. All the focus has been on the iPod, and many don't realize the rest of media has been dying. Television is being choked by a little search engine known as Google. How could a couple of guys in the basement of a California bungalow singlehandedly kill the television industry? Advertisement. Advertisers go with what they think will make them money. That over the last few years has changed from television to the internet. Many things are appealing about the internet, but that does not mean it should replace television. The interactivity is a plus. One could say the personal computer is more democratic than traditional media. You get to chose. You can mix and match songs of your choice instead of buying commercially available CD's. Of course people did this anyway, in limited amounts on burnable CD's, and on cassette tapes. My whole musical upbringing was based on the cassette tape. It was not as flexible as the MP3 player, but it still allowed you to copy music without paying for it. (for your own use) Watching movies and TV can seem like a chore, like having to sit in church and listen to a Fire and Brimstone preacher. If you don't like the tone or the programming content, it is not nearly as fun as it seems it used to be. You can't get porn on television, really. I still think television is an extremely valid medium, and it should not be abandoned. Producers and advertisers should reach a compromise over the internet. VH-1's recent show on the 80's hair band and comedy clubs was telling. The 80's seem really distant and foreign, living life in excess. Well, we hadn't invaded the Persian Gulf.

The Phone Booth

There once was a time when existed a thing called a "phone booth." That was a thing, a free-standing structure with a door you walked in and shut the sliding doors. It was glass, but when you shut the doors the message was sent. Privacy please! I am talking on the phone in a private conversation. No one should listen!

Trust?

If we are intended to live in "cyberworld" rather than our traditional world, some allowances must be recognized. First what is the validity of the information we are using? The internet began as a network for the Department of Defense which linked computers together to allow scientist studying the atom bomb to share research. I don't know where Al Gore came up with his idea, but this was the original internet. Academic or scholarly databases are linked together for easy retrieval of data. With the commercialism of the internet consumers must be acutely aware of the source of the information they are consuming. Computers have crept their way into schools. I never thought this was a good idea, but educators were faced with the task of keeping the interest of psychologically diseased young people. Without ADD this would not be as much of a problem. Book learning has had a tradition of success. There has been nothing takes its place in centuries. Why, with the onset of the PC, would educators begin to second guess their methods just like the mainstream infrastructure of the US? It is because we thought it was the next big 'thing.' There are times, like in the sacred bond of marriage, where institutions should prevail. This is one of them. The time for youth cultural to educate US is over. Use the PC as a personal entertainment center at home. Use it in moderation as a tool for research, but RESIST the desire to use it for what it is becoming, a substitute for life.

We Ain't Got No.....

Back in the days of Bush Sr., there were the three R's. Can you even remember what they are? Readin,' Riten,' and Rithmatic. Bush senior saw the US educational system falling behind other countries and juiced up the program. School got a needed influx of steroids, I mean enthusiasm. What has changed this country for the worst? What has eroded out traditional educational system? What has left the next generation sorely unequipped to handle the responsibilities of running the US? First there is the cell phone. Everyone must agree with no standard protocol for using a cell phone adopted in this country, it has been detrimental. Maybe it has empowered the selfish immediate gratification that has run amok amongst our youth. Why is it so necessary to have a quick fix, whatever the anodyne? Crystal Meth. Gum. A quick phone call. Coke....a-cola. A short foray onto the Web. What is it about our world and country has driven people to sickness? We are a diseased country. ADD. Manic Depression. Hyperactivity. Panic/Anxiety. Much of that is being fueled by the frenetic pace of television. If you are not educated enough, you forget life can't move as quickly as juxtaposed, adrenalin-laced, sales advertisements. Hyping people up is a way to sell a product. If you get American people's panties so tightly in a wad they can't see straight, then they are likely to make a 'snap' decision and buy something as a Bandaid to their real need. This is what has made our society disposable. In China and India, where they are making our products now in their mainstream, government is moving against this. They are trying to strengthen the Middle Class, because the needs and reverence of the middle class ultimately are what are going to anchor your economy. It creates a mainstream under which artists, manufacturers, and sales people can market their products. We have lost that in America.
When I walk into a shoe store and an African-American couple enters behind me in search of shoes, it is a little unnerving to see their child walking in front of them TALKING ON A CELL PHONE. When I am driving in really bad traffic at rush hour, it is unnerving to see many people in their cars TALKING ON CELL PHONES. When I am shopping in the grocery store, scanning those endless rows of product in search of just the right thing, it is unnerving to have someone standing beside me talking to an apparition planted in their ear. It is ludicrous, not Ludicris. (Hustle and Flow was one of the worst movies I have ever seen) Hip/Hop once used to lead with edgy wisdom. Now that has been lost, and what once was an icon of the smarts of street life is now superficial grandstanding. "Pass the Covascia!" All those once hip mannerisms that epitomized cool are gone. With music making no money these days, there is no substance or art in the product. iTunes came and snatched the very life out of the music biz. While I agree digital music is the wave of the future, I lament greatly this influence on the recording industry. I, in fact, am stumbling along trying to regain my focus in a musical creative life that has wandered off track. I used to crank out CD projects left and right, comfortable with my Mac-equipped home studio. Now my 'process' has been confused, because of the new system with which consumers use music. Now I realize it shouldn't. Because music has shrunk and will fit on a portable hard drive, that doesn't mean the PROCESS of creating and making music should change. I think we all want creativity in music to continue. If there is going to be NEW music available for those iPods and Bill Gates machines, the traditional process of music making has to sustain. It should not become disposable. It should not become a "plug in." It should not live soley in a cyber-existence devoid of human emotion. Music must flourish as it always has as a pinnacle in American life. Long live the nightclubs!
All of this change in media as drastically changed our pop culture. It seems people no longer need to interact with one another, unless it is in the comfort and protection of their bedrooms. This process has confused people in that what used to be discreet processes now are seamlessly integrated tasks available at the flick of a mouse. You used to have to get up, put your shoes on, and drive to rent a porn video. If you wanted to seduce children, you had to stalk playgrounds and schools. If you wanted the latest hit song, you had to drive to the record store and buy it. The convenience of the personal computer has inadvertently made us "lone" beings, sordid, foul-breathed, sexually depraved pedophiles stalking our prey online. That is a bit of an exaggeration, but it has raised that possibility, hasn't it? The computer has become a crutch that in traditional America society didn't exist. You had to go out and make it own your own. That meant talking to people, not surfing the net naked. I don't think this influence is good. It makes us lazy and dependent on tools, tools that when we don't get them, we suffer. No longer are we self sufficient fulfilled human beings aware of our strengths and weaknesses, flourishing in schools which once were the stage upon which we were educated. Now we are own our on, and the structure that prepared us for life in society, a hypothetical world which fueled our self confidence and creativity, is failing. It seems no longer important. We as a country must realize surfing the net can not be a substitute for the traditional habits of our culture. If it is, we will just slowly and surely get sucked down into that LCD screen, destined to live in the hot and stagnant, mechanical pre-programmed world of some computer designer. Maybe he is the pedophile.

Apartheid

It's funny how life in the US has changed. Why should citizens be immune to the evolution that has taken place in Europe, Africa, and the far East? We are a young country. Give it some time and all the ills that have effected the rest of the world inevitably will make their way to our little corner of the world. I speak about Fayettenam. Similarities have risen with Africa. A ruling class of elite whites. Gang-oriented poor blacks, some who like to slaughter each other. The military, or the peace keeping force. Familiar? Well, guess what the U.S. is turning into? Okay, maybe not, but Fayetteville, North Carolina looks like that. With the largest military base on the east coast, life in "nam is far different than other cities. Circling C-130's hum continuously. Howitzers shake the earth. Disgruntled GI's drive on boulevards looking for diversion. Where are the prostitutes? Seems they are in Africa keeping the UN force content. Where should they be? Here. I don't mean crack ho's either. If ever there was a need for a "bunny ranch." Life here is, quaint? I don't know. There is such a chasmic divide between the social classes. There are extreme red necks. There are street or homeless people. There are drug dealers. There are soldiers and their wives. There are "the rich." There doesn't seem to be much middle class. How do these groups work together? They don't. That is why "nam doesn't feel like a typical city. There is no "mainstream." Everybody is own their own. Looking for a fit? I find the gang warfare more intriguing, because at least it seems real. People fighting for their existence. No storybook houses. No green lawns and manicured gardens. No Mercedes, Lexus, and BMW's. It is more interesting than content, boring, country-clubbing types. "Hey Jim, want to go to Highland Country Club and play some golf?" No. The school board was thinking about closing two high schools here, because they were performing so poorly. Tell that to all the BRACS and SAKS that are being shipped in. Tell them there are four railroads that intersect downtown, a stones throw from that flight museum intended to be a bandaid on the mockery of cultural enlightenment that is supposed to be downtown.
You can build, and decorate, and disguise, but you can't change a turd. The Norfolk/Southern, CSX-T, and the Aberdeen and Rockfish, along with the Cape Fear Railway are pumping in the dollars daily for your human dissatisfaction, all downtown. It's a rail yard. That is downtown. Put whatever you like there, but it won't change the dynamic of hauling freight. Just look at all the dollars, millions they say, being pumped into housing in 'nam. Condo's, apartments, houses crammed into every conceivable spot in a city all ready over run with soldiers. The first base realignment under Reagan destroyed what once was a quiet, southern town. Now we are a military industrial complex. "I just can't teach what I used to," says on high school teacher. Ain't much happening in "nam for ordinary people. It's a war zone, and we have Dubya to thank for that.

A Militant Health Care System

The more I need, experience, and observe America's health care network, the more my jaw drops to the ground. I can think of only one word to describe the clunky, over-burdened, and corrupt system. MIDDLEMEN, or should I say middle-groups, middle-communes, middle-companies, middle-corporations, middle institutions, whatever entity you can think of that has their fingers in the health care pie. You see the rich get rich in America on health care. Ever increasingly it seems like doctors are just punching the clock, drawing that paycheck, and going home to phat lives. Everyone in benefiting, except the patients in dire need of expert services. Recently I visited Carolina Eye Associates in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Now I don't like Pinehurst anyway. Although golf is a relaxing game, people that walk around in pink and green Izods, hitting a little white ball, and forging business deals in my eyes are rich. Not many people can afford to play golf. There are public courses, but you have to admit golf is attached at the hip to the country club, and the country club is a thing of the privilidged. Most folks can not afford to join a country club. I did enjoy watching a golf tournament in Pinehurst years ago, but for me it is not a lifestyle. Judging from that big, white, house in the middle of green fields, it reminds me too much of a plantation. There are still African-American 'slaves' toting barges and lifting bales, albeit in the hotel dining room. If you shuck and jive enough and can fetch mint juleps, you could work there too. Not me. That is why I left the South to go to the Midwest to work on my DMA degree in music composition. Seems 500 miles and stretching the Macon County Line, all that old south horse shit just kind of dries up. It took a few years to acclimate to a land locked existence known as the testing ground of commercial America, but I did.
Anyway, I don't like Pinehurst. It represents something to me I have always rebelled against, rule by the rich. My father successfully had his cataracts removed at this clinic, so I decided I would give it a try. I have no health coverage, because my cruise ship gig is in the waiting. As soon as you walk off the ship, you have no coverage. It is difficult to get specialty eye care on a cruise ship, so I had to come home for a while. It has been a long journey, but I ended up back at Duke, where I was diagnosed and treated for keratoconus when I was seventeen. I couldn't get in to see the doc there it seems, because my 20 or so odd years of medical records including cornea transplant surgery didn't suffice. The lady at the desk where I repeatedly tried to schedule an appointment kept telling me I needed a referral. Since I have been going to Duke since I was 17, this pissed me off. That is why I tried Carolina Eye Associates. $350.00 later I was in no better shape. The initial visit with all the tests cost that, and I walked out with no solution. They wanted to fit me with contact lenses, but they repeatedly told me they could not guarantee they would help. That would cost another $400.00. I opted out. I went back out on ships with a bum eye to save some scratch. When I came back I got in my truck and drove 1,200 miles to Louisville, Kentucky to see my old eye surgeon. With his referral I got into Contact Lens at Duke. Kind of a long way to drive for a referral! Well, I did it to assure if and when the contacts don't work, he could give me another cornea transplant. Mission accomplished.
Anyway having no health coverage is a blaring reality, one which seems to surprise and even stump the medical system. How can something get so far out of whack? Here is a specialty service you need. Here is the cost of the service. Pay for the service. Insurance. Oh, surgery. Big dollars. HMO's that, like a militant government, tell you who can be your surgeon. We the people are entitled by our Constitution to freedom and the pursuit of happiness. Although our current regime has moved us further and further away from these ideals, they are still the law. Our health care system is an atrocity. The big super-power of the US of A is floundering like a dying fish in full view of a burgeoning world. People are flying all over the world to find the health care they need at an affordable price rendered by professionals that actually care about their field and the patients.

Microwave Ovens on Towers

There is much speculation about the cause(s) of global warming. I offer this. Ten years ago, there didn't seem to be quite the problem there is today. Of course the telecommunications industry was not what it is today either. Previously microwaves were in ovens. What do they do? What do they continue to do, although in a much more low profile capacity? (as much of our recent history, if it has not been completed forgotten and replaced with Newspeak) Microwaves H-E-A-T. Up until about a decade ago, (is that about right?) microwaves were limited to ovens in your homes. They were part of a new cooking strategy that amazingly allowed you to heat things in a jiffy. Boil water, in a jiffy. Cook popcorn, in a jiffy. Implode a frog, in a jiffy. We all knew what microwaves did. H-E-A-T. Then someone in our federal government decided they were safe and licensed them to telecommunications companies. Albeit in a primitive form they began putting microwave ovens up on towers, (ugly towers) and celling, (I mean selling) these devices called cell phones, (or car phones.) It started off crude, but as technology caught up cell phones refined, more companies bought in, and more towers sprung up. (a cell, by the way, is a little area covered by one tower) First the portable phones were analog. They used an analog audio signal. Slowly but surely emerging companies pushed the technology envelope and a digital signal was born. It was not available everywhere initially, but then again you could by a "tri-mode" phone. That phone would catch either signal. Now we have little children standing around talking on cell phones in public. People are talking in cars. They are talking in coffee shops. They are talking in the grocery stores. Better watch out or you might think they are talking to you! There are "Bluetooth" wireless headsets. There is chocolate. There's the 'Razor.' Thangs can play MP3's and scratch your @#$%^. Well you get the picture. My only problem is, when the pundits debate the causes of 'global warming,' try to remember our federal government decided it was okay to put thousands of microwave ovens on towers all over the country, flip the on switch, and ask "Why is the earth getting warmer?" Go figure.

Finding Justification, in Money

There was a pool player on ESPN the other night (although he lost and was forced out of the tournament) that said he was happy. He didn't have much money, but he was making a living playing pool, his favorite game and playing golf. What I want to know is, what exactly does a CEO do? If the Republican party is the party of choice and power at the moment, then I want a little lecture on what SPECIFICALLY young Americans should aspire to do. I need a reinforcement of purpose in American society. If CEO's deserve billions of dollars, then it shouldn't be too quirky to have a little look see at exactly what they do. Is it business, as an MBA in college? Do you get a business degree? Do you learn investments? Do you learn to lobby or how to bribe public officials? Do you learn how to screw and then murder your aids? Maybe you just dupe your shareholders and then die of a heart attack before you are really punished for your crime. Do you get a blowjob in the White House? Do you have sex with a prostitute and dump her in a creek? Do you get to have sex with Marilyn Monroe? I'm not sure anymore. I chose the field of music, and when I look at America today, i.e. the newspapers, television, radio, film, I see nothing much that represents what I have been trained for. (sorry to end with a preposition) I have to tell me self, remind myself as in my previous post, my musical knowledge is academic man. "It's academic." That usually is a good thing, except for when you are trying to remember who you are in Fayettenam. Does serious music study have relevance in today's world. It's hard to see, isn't it? If it doesn't, what does? Google? Oh, software. A search engine. Searching porn sites for free pictures. It is certainly not reporting of the news, because the Reuters Hourly News Summary has disappeared from sight. It used to be this little updated page could tell you all you needed to know about world news. Now it is hidden. AOL news used to be the second best source of news, but I can't afford a "pay" internet service. Oh, cars. That must be it. Shiny metallic marbles rolling down the street with Amityville Horror taillights. Or is it Harley's, American Chopper inspired noise mobiles? No one seems to know. It is obvious the "mainstream" has been lost because there is no mainstream. Are we supposed to be an Arion Nation? Are we supposed to be a melting pot of hope and prosperity? Are we supposed to be an urban ghetto of Crank? What are we? What is America? Anyone care to chime in? It might be nice to have a politician come in and give it a whirl, not a twirl.

Social Class.....ism

There are certain things I have to remind myself. One is what it is like to live with Donald Rumsfeld. Others include that there is no active music scene anywhere near Fayetteville, NC, and the "music scene" that exists in the Research Triangle Park hasn't changed in 20 years. Tradition. UNC-Chapel Hill is traditional, and that is good for undergraduate study. Then comes the need to make a living in your field. Then comes the need to 'evolve" as a person. Then comes the need to advance or excel in your life. How are you going to do that when the very system in which you were brought up doesn't evolve? If that system doesn't evolve to include new blood, new ideas, and new personalities, it is stagnant. That is North Carolina. It was startling to travel back through Chapel Hill, NC on the way back from an eye doctor's appointment at Duke. Other than new buildings and construction things were the same. Tradition. I think traditional is good in some cases, but it gave me the eebie jeebies. Why? Because there is nothing around me at the moment that reinforces my life. I have left my doctoral studies in Columbus, OH. My work on cruise ships is a far distant memory when living in Fayettenam. My father is a republican that voted for Dubya. There is no commercial music "scene" in Fayetteville. Let me clarify that. There are no venues for live music, live music in varied styles appealing to a variety of people. Fayetteville is a military town. The strata of folks here is: Black. Soldiers. The Rich. It is not normal or rather doesn't reflect the cultural diversity of other places. That I think is because there is Social Classism. The traditional structure of the "Old South" is still here. The blacks or African-Americans seem mostly poor. Side bar: There are lots of what look like "gang" vehicles driving around. I wouldn't not stereotypically label drivers of these vehicles drug dealers, but they look like it. It is a representation of what you see on BET. TV black culture. Athletic clothing, baggy pants, jewelry, dread locks, and big, loud, flashy SUV's. Okay, I try NOT to think the drivers of these cars are selling drugs, but the image is generic. It has been painted in the media through BET that this cross section of life parties hard, abuses women, sells drugs, and just wants to get their freak on. I try to imagine they are just like me, trying to work a simple job, make a living, and enjoy their lives. Continue: Rich. There are homes in Fayetteville you will never see anywhere else. Tucked into ghetto boulevards strewn with urban sprawl, there are multi-million dollar homes. Aside from the "Gold Coast" and "Sky Drive," developers continue to build mega homes no one could afford. I have never understood how anyone living here could live in such houses except for the old money minions that have been in Fayetteville forever. That people, is "old money," southern money that has mold on it. People move to Columbus, OH because Old Money will not allow them to prosper here. It is controlling. That is what it is like living with Donald Rumsfeld. When I played my first breakfast at the Pinehurst Hotel, I saw the movers-and-shakers of the Old South. I instinctively had never liked these people, because they seem pushy, selfish, and self-absorbed. They do not seem to care about anyone other than themselves. As was stated on one of the news channels last night about Bush and Kerry ,"They have money and an attitude" and will never change. Never change. Never change. How can that be a good thing, when the rest of the world or at least the economic infrastructure of the US has changed dramatically? With "old money," the money sits in investments earning mo money. No worries, man. For the rest of us, that doesn't apply. Maybe that is why John Kerry didn't win the presidency. Many of us have to make "new" money to live, and all that stagnant, non-moving old money makes it more difficult, that is when it comes with an attitude that things are still and will always be the same. Imagine getting up everyday with a person that is a vessel unto themselves. Only their needs and desires are important to them. Their opinion is the correct one, and anyone who disagrees with them is labeled ignorant of subordinate. Seems like our republican government. Donald Rumsfeld. Who decided that the rich deserve this respect? In a political system of social class and aristocracy that may be appropriate. Isn't the United States of America a Republic with democratic ideals? I disagree with the controlling nature of "old money," because it seems to bully society into submission. It assumes for itself that because there is acquired wealth their is wisdom and an ability to lead. Old money is only inherited money. Old means it was made or accrued "in the past" and then passed down through generations with trusts and other loopholes in the tax code. Inevitably, as in the case with Sam Walton, the recipients of that money do not have the same social, intellectual, and financial skills to earn the respect that wealth usually brings. That is why I say "new money" is the life blood of the country and the people. There is no future without "new money." Everyday I get up and am overwhelmed by some unseen, Attention defecated "force" that halts my thought process and overrides my own emotions with "jive." I play defense until it subsides, and my own thoughts, experiences, and feelings seep back into my consciousness. It feels like rape. It feels like living in a society where no one cares about you or your progress. It feels like the "mainstream" has become so distorted with acid-laden media, cell phone disfunction, and superficiality nothing in public seems to reflect a true human condition. Are these the effects of Capitalism? Is so, it is time to change to something that works better or at least attempts to empower the human soul.

Scooping Scarlett

Scarlett Johansson is an interesting case. First she was a recalcitrant amputee in the Horse Whisperer. Then she blossomed Lindsay Lohan style and there were, voila, breasts. In the island she was beautiful, and did a great job as an actress. She, like Kim Basinger and others, does well when there is a meaty part and script for her. That makes her a character actress, when there is a character to play. My guess is Woody Allen is doinging her, or at least he is trying to. In either case they seemed to have worked up a nice working relationship after she filled in in Matchpoint at the last minute. That is two Woody Allen movies in a year with Ms. Scarlett. That's a lot. He wrote a nice part for himself in Scoop. (a wacky magician performing in London) Overall I enjoyed the film. I didn't have to witness the brutal shotgun murder of a landlady at the end. Instead I got to see Scarlett dupe Hugh Jackman in wet, black clothing. That was not as appealing an image as Scarlett in her red, one piece, but it certainly was nicer than a gruesome murder. The setting and tone of Scoop and Matchpoint were similar. They were about British aristocracy, somewhat. What is Woody's fascination with this upper class English class? Well, London is beautiful and like many other imported films the garden and countryside footage is serene and peaceful. It makes for a nice change from stark, urban reality TV in America. Is Woody living over there now? I thought for a moment I was going to have to watch spoiled rich people behave badly, but luckily it turned out to be more of a teleplay between him and Scarlett. What better thing can an old man hope for? Write a screenplay and a part for a beautiful young woman you get to play across. What was interesting was the quest for a character for Scarlett to play. First it was the frumpy academic. That was a stark contrast to her 'tart' actress part in Matchpoint. I must say, old chap, it was more appealing. The girl next door you see, and it seemed to work for Jackman as well. He was smitten with her. It is funny how sex for her now is common place, while in Matchpoint she was faced with the pretty ferocious and depraved sexual proclivities of a young murderer. Tougher part, especially for a budding young woman now carrying the 'weight' of womanhood. This character interestingly enough had "Lolitaisms." I don't think it was a fluke either. Woody and/or she were toying with character. It seems many young women actresses are taken with the "Lolita" image after they see the Adrian Lyne remake. Well after all it is art. Dominique Swain and Jeremy Irons' performances are both Oscar worthy. It was unfortunate the 'questionable' subject matter made that film sleep. It will stand the test of time, and slowly but surely it is influencing mainstream cinema as it should. Dominique should have won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Lolita, or at least she and Mr. Lyne should reap the credit for having created such a voluptuously innocent character. Nabakov may have thunk it, but they created it on screen for all to enjoy. Scarlett's spectacles and retainer were simply Lo in the morning, pale and polluted with another man's child. Still enticing for Irons. What is true love? That. This film was not as good, but give Ms. Johansson more and better roles and maybe she will blossom into the Marilyn America desperately needs now!

A Fan of Mobile/Exxon, Time/Life

Corporate conglomerates? In a nation that created the Baby Bells not that long ago, it seems the philosophy of business has changed. It doesn't make much sense. Only in cases of ultra high profile companies like Microsoft does the government deem it necessary to break them up. I guess it helps to have some lawsuits in the pudding. Bullying Netscape and demanding computer hardware manufacturers bundle internet Explorer into Windows was enough to merit judicial scrutiny from the Federal government. They went on to win the case against Bill Gates, and the company seems never to have recovered. Of course Bill still has more money than God, but like the .com internet bubble when you shove your fist up their ass things are never really the same. I talked my parents into buying some Microsoft stock thinking their version of the X-
Box would blow doors on the Sony version, but as in the case of Apple, software manufacturers don't always know how to build hardware and vice versa. The Apple computer has always been expensive, but that is because their hardware is superior. I have never owned a PC, and I don't want one. As a musician and composer hardware determines the quality of your product, that being digital audio. When I first got into "digital" audio, it took a while to figure it all out. The basic premise was use the computer as a digital recorder synced to MIDI tracks. MIDI has been around for a while, and back in the 80's when times were good analog audio and huge MIDI keyboard systems were driving the commercial music industry. That's when bands were big money, and their live shows were really live. There may have been a scant sequencer on stage in a few of those bands, but for the most part bands could still play. Music schools were still highly respected entities, because back then hacks weren't cranking out the corporate driven, Payola supported, pop boy band dribble. Things were different then. Things were better. Then Pro Tools replaced the 24 track Sony analog multi-track recorder, and suddenly anyone could record music. That does not mean because you have an expensive recording studio in your PC, all of a sudden the soul, experience, and artistry it takes to make music was now unnecessary. The music industry has not yet recovered. The icon of "pop," a saccharine sickly sweet glamorous version of reality has attempted to take over the music industry, because anyone can crank out that product. Just lay on some tits and ass, some jiggling booties, and some taut man meat, and corporate America thinks they have some real music. Not so. Back to computers. Apple is the superior computer because their hardware is almost failsafe. Sure Mac OS crashes, but their hardware is solid. Just look at the cables from a Macintosh computer from yesteryear. They are molded and heavy. It stands to reason audio passing through those big, fat, shielded cables will probably sound good. SCSI cables are BIG. B-I-G! Firewire and USB cables are small. The connectors work, but they are flimsy. If you are trying to produce a professional audio product, you will probably realize a Powerbook is not the choice for you. It is appealing to be able to produce multi-track audio in a little portable box, but when you need to rely on that hardware for your dollar, a big, bulky tower may be just the choice for you. The main stream has been trying to hawk portability in products for the last few years. PC's have gotten small morphing into PDA'S and palm pilots, and cell phones unnecessarily have shrunk into products that don't function all that well. Why do they have to be so small? Bigger is better in my eyes in terms of a Lithium battery or a radio transmitter. Digital isn't always better as people are finding out being duped into buying all digital "cell" phones. A cell still is a little area serviced by a tower, but all cell phones started out analog. TDMA and CDMA are analog. The country as of late still does not have a reliable all digital network. That is why it is in your best interest as a cell phone consumer to have a tri mode phone, one that can utilize both analog and digital networks. Wonder why you are dropping calls with the thin Razor phone? It is because it is only digital. When that digital network drops out, it can't use those former analog signals still in the air. Digital is not always better. When I watched the movie Ghostbusters a few days ago, I couldn't believe the quality of the audio. The soundtrack is built on a canvas of quiet, not infrasonic train noise. The sound caresses your ears and advances the drama and action of the picture. Now we live in a time of constant noise and over-stimulation of our once sensitive senses. The human condition as we once knew it is now extinct as we once knew it in the US. Until the EPA becomes functional and the Federal Office of Noise Abatement begin doing their jobs, this will not change. When I drive in traffic in Fayettenam, it never ceases to amaze me how people think life on the roads is really a NASCAR race. Harleys with straight pipes, semi's with turbo chargers and jake brakes, resonators, and thumping audio systems are the norm. Why is this? Why does this cross section of the American people think NOISE is so crucial to their driving experience? Is it is because they are trying to conquer some invisible force that has literally taken over our lives? Is there some tool in low frequency noise that makes them feel better? Back to corporate America. In an age where gasoline is precious, I am shifting my loyalty back to the driver of the Exxon Valdez. Don't get me wrong. That oil spill was a travesty. Killing all that wildlife and tainting a natural reserve is a grievous sin, but in a day and age where Kangaroo is trying to sell us gasoline, I prefer to pump that product from a machine that feels and looks rugged and hardy. I have had it with the flimsy, PC based, non OEM, off brand gas pump. The modems never work anyway. I stick in my credit card and the pump never comes on. An Exxon/Mobile pump has been around for a while, and with profits of 10 billion in three months, they can afford to keep them in good working order. It's all about the hardware baby.
Back to the corporations. I am glad finally it is being exposed that the huge Payola scandal has tainted American radio once again. Something has been amiss, and it is easily defined in that Time/Life TV commercial for their "Malt Shop Memories" collection. That ad says a lot. Youths are sitting around in a malt shop listening to both the radio and the jukebox. They are dancing and enjoying the music as a group. Cut to now. Individuals sit in coffee shops are drive in their lone vessels talking on the cell phone or listening to the iPod, in personal solace! We are not interacting with EACH OTHER. We are living evasive, solitary lives competing with the Smiths and Joneses. AM and FM radio, that once unifying entity that pulled together the youth of America was bought up by someone, and that "pop" shite I defined earlier has been force injected into our country like a bad dose of heroin. The good thing is it hasn't taken. America knows the difference between jive and real. Unfortunately Time/Life owns the rights to a lot of that music. At least they must to be the only company offering those wonderful collections of past radio music. I don't know if they bought the rights to all those hits, if they just acquired the rights by buying all the record labels, or what, but all that music that is and was the backbone of our cultural revolution needs to be released, again. Most people can't afford to spend $150.00 for a 10 CD collection. That is why is used to be you could go to a record store and buy a 45 for a couple of bucks. You could play that on your little record player at home. Maybe the modern day MP3 is the 21st century equivalent of the 45, but all that great music isn't available anymore. Only a selected set of music is being licensed and offered via Napster and iTunes. Many artists and record companies are reluctant to jump on the digital music craze, and that is prudent. Seeing as bands and artists and publishers all make money on the 'royalty,' trying to offer music for free or cheap isn't practical. Let's hope the process becomes more eloquent and the crucial music America needs to hear will be freed. Emancipation!

Carolina del Norte Sux

Most people have a stereotypical image of North Carolina. The Outer Banks. The Appalachian Mountains. The Piedmont. Duke. NC State. UNC. These are indeed assets to a state. When I was growing up these thoughts or images did enough for me to keep a positive opinion about NC. Although there was little jazz, there were enough pockets in the Research Triangle Park to keep the dream alive. Fayetteville never had a music scene, at least not while I have been alive. There were stories from retired veterans harking back to the days of live music at Ft. Bragg. There was the NCO Club, the Officers Club, and a plethora of "joints" in Fayettenam that offered politically free diversion. There was Rick's Lounge and the Pink Pussycat. There were the dance clubs, the "meet markets," and the strip bars. Entertainment was around. Now like at Carolina Beach North Carolina's tourism and entertainment is dying a slow death, much like the Pacific Ocean Park Pier in Santa Monica, CA. We literally are watching our state and towns dissolve into mindless condominium complexes surrounded by urban sprawl. Best Buy, Big Lots, Dollar Tree, Home Depot, Lowes, the list goes on. What happened to the small businessman like in New York City? When all those skyscrapers went up in Manhattan the local people complained these faceless, invisible beings began doing business hidden in the air seemingly miles away from the ethnic communities that founded their very neighborhoods. They were outraged, but somehow they continued to exist. Let's hope the same for North Carolina.

Tainted Life

So you are an adolescent. You have been reared in a single parent home. You are not sure whether you are gay or not. There has been no strong example of hetereosexuality in your immediate personal life. Your public education has been reduced to a "gang existence" with groups of poorly dressed teens vying for control of turf. People are smoking crystal meth all around you, and some are even smoking crack. They are skinny, homeless, and losing their teeth. Television presents the false opportunity that you may become the next American Idol circumventing any creative, academic, or artistic process. You can buy lottery tickets entertaining the prospect you may become financially independent, but most people can't handle that financial responsibility and squander the money and end up in jail. Then you become pregnant. Our society is teetering on the edge of saying your unborn baby is more important than you are. Respect is what makes people mature. When someone respects you in a difficult situation, you feel reassured. You feel that there is hope for the future, and that your past ills can be left behind for a better future. These are things human beings need to exist. On the other hand a right-wing, bible thumping, soap box standing, hypocritical, religious conservative says you are going to be punished for the rest of your life for the small mistake you made in the heat of adolescent passion. Both you and your unborn child are "sentenced" to life in social public prison. There is no clean slate. There is no chance to start over. Both you and your child are products of the extreme right, a constituency living in some weird neo-conservative head trip so far removed from the human condition that ADD pales in comparison. President Bush was elected under this politically preconceived image manufactured by consultants that study the American people. They devise an image they think the American people will vote for. As a result there is someone in power with no philosophy, no intellectual capability, and no ability to think through a problem. Person is not qualified to be president of the United States. How we allowed such a figure to be elected is a travesty. I guess a rodeo, a cowboy hat, and a promise for good cheer is all we needed. Knowing and respecting your people is fundamental and something J.F.K. did well. He did not dare think he was somehow better than anyone else. He held true to the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of independence. He invited musicians and artists to the White House. He attempted to raise the quality of life for Americans. What are we stuck with now? The fucking War on Terror.