On a nameless island, I was immersed in Margaret Atwood's Blind Assassin for weeks. Immersed is the word, though the ending was... sketched. As are the endings of most novels, where the groundwork of the early pages rarely pays off. That said, I was immersed. You can't fake that kind of way with words... whatever genres Atwood was bending, she meant what she wrote. Conviction, that's something.

Standing firm against the current,
life itself a big deterrent. 

The album Station 2 Station is tentatively finished, lacking a few embellishments. It's original if nothing else. A CONCEPT, once again.

Now have a backlog of three albums completed since the year begun, none of them mastered or released. I don't know, I enjoy puzzles. Realized that capturing and arranging sound is a  complex endeavor that has very little to do with having people listen to it.

Real instruments. People playing something in their bones. When I get these sounds in my bones I try and transfer it in ways that others may draw something from. What is art? Its about influencing the right people. Person. Could be a single listener. 

In this age of wrong information. Depth.

​#endwriter

•The Fabric - Chasing Sun album is up. It sounds great to me each day as a listen-straight-through experience. Like everyone I have have doubts and I relapse, but music takes me back to the mindful place. 

• yin and yang tho:

"Trump simply threw away the single most valuable tool America had for shaping the geo-economic future of the region our way and for pressuring China to open its markets. Trump is now trying to negotiate trade openings with China alone — as opposed to negotiating with China as the head of a 12-nation TPP trading bloc that was based on U.S. values and interests and that controlled 40 percent of the global economy."

ah Ipanema
I just listen again
to strike the delicate balance

is this trumpets or violins,
is it the sound the heart makes
every time...

Subverting the truth is a fine art. Never forget that the Art of the Deal was ghostwritten. 

Namida is progressing... one listener mentioned Brian Eno, which I take as a compliment, though I have never been fond of studio washes. 

Cowachunga waits in the wings, for when Fabric - Chasing Sun comes out. 

Salt Lake City - I saw women  in their early 20s reading thin-paged books, instead of playing with devices.

The Colorado thing is a bold vision that an entire state could be like Santa Cruz in the 1970s. Oh no, it's business... 

The news is getting more cryptic, thinking of Damon Arvid as a good nom-de-plume.

The experiences I have had these past three months, I cannot make up or write at this moment.

Highlights:

Storm coming into Reno over the Sierras.

Godzilla or sum'ink in the Nevada clouds.

LV Playboy Mansion timewarp.

11th Street Records flute stop-ins to accompany Tom Waits. 

Becoming the Fremont Street Experience.

Lobbying on State Street with The London Souls and The Sextones.

Experiencing Cowachunga first hand in the mystic west.

Finding Jerry Garcia's visage in my honey and Baja gruel. 

Oh, yeah, and I dictated several chapters of Cowachunga, Invisible Man style.

Slideshow explains everything. ​

#endwriter

True to form, some writing from left field. Here a first draft, (non-researched or scientifically vetted) of a section somewhere halfway through Cowachunga. I guess it gives away a bit of the plot to astute readers, but what the hey. And oh yeah I am claiming IP for an LV sustainability project workup. Hello Musk, are you out there?

The beauty of the plan was that it was designed to solve the one issue that solar engineers had struggled with for generations. How to store energy at night, a necessity in a place that would never quite shed its reputation as Sin City. The solution was simple enough––a system of turbines from the solar arrays (skipping the battery stage altogether) that travelled 35 miles underground through —— substratum, to higher elevation Hoover Dam. 

Excess energy relative to grid needs would be transferred through a turbine motor system during the day to be released within the largest reservoir in North America, creating vast potential electricity in the form of stored energy associated with water level increase. 

As evening fell and direct sunlight ceased, the differential between rapidly cooling night temperatures and the relative heat of Lake Mead would start the turbines spinning in reverse, with the energy used to power nightlife activities. The Las Vegas energy substation was located in the shell of half-built Resort’s World, with 65 percent allocated for the Strip and 35 percent for residential needs.

The beauty of the system was that it offered predictability. The energy dissipation rates of Lake Mead could be controlled over extended periods, as the turbine-driven energy it stored was well in excess of that used for civic power over the course of any given month.

Even the rare occasion of several cloud covered days in a row, an outlier month––an increasing concern as global warming accelerated––would not deplete the system’s energy. It was a perfectly contained recipe for a sustainability as long as Las Vegas remained under 3 million people, with projected conservation-friendly water usage  in place lotuswide. 

Now Rose was out of her urban element, stationed at a stamen in an impenetrable part of the Baja desert spine. The dry-farm hydroponics project was on autopilot, the perimeter system had been completely off the grid for five years. There were further efficiencies to be gained no doubt, but not worth the effort when the Las Vegas project needed all available resources and hands to make this happen in the next six months. 

There was important research being conducted here of course… onanitech, vital to –––‘s economic feasibility, not her thing. Ditto yonitech, which was making breakthroughs that Shayla described in breathless detail each night in the lounge. She was intrigued intellectually, but it all left her dry. The environmental imperative, that of survival on an out-of-whack planet, far outweighed other aspects of her identity.

Having fine-tuned the solar array systems weeks ago, Rose had been frustrated, alone with her thoughts more than usual, trying to fathom this place and what it represented. Just when she was about to request a return to Las Vegas, Sister Agatha had dropped a sheaf of pdfs on her laptop and told her to complete a literature review in the next few days, before going out in the field to Goodall perimeter camp 10 miles south. 

Rose yawned and stretched in bed, ready to turn out the light, onanitech’s latest gizmo untouched and in original wrapping on her bedstand next to a pile of well-thumbed books. Just what was so critical about using her intellectual capacities to decipher chemical reactions and phosphate expansion patterns in meteoric turquoise over the past 15 million years?

Have just been having some revelations about writing and the blog experience. Nothing good.

1) Writing or not writing a blog on a daily basis seems not to matter a whit, as regards readership numbers. This does not mean Weebly's metrics lie. Simply the search engine nature of it all. Hey 12-15k views is pretty good, for no gossip, few pictures, and little of interest beyond actual words. I'll take it.

2) Getting paid matters. Not making money off the creative writing... over centralized publishing world and diminishing attention spans mean that I simply do not write creatively much. There is enough written work out there to last scholars several millennia on remote outposts in the cosmos. I do not need to add more, from compulsion or duty.

3) Music is more gratifying. Not because I am paid, but because I do not have to focus on it to do a good job. It flows like water, I am the instrument of its conveyance. I listen, I think, I play by ear. I arrange a million sounds and somehow it comes out ok. 

4) I am thinking to write Cowachunga and not put it out at all. In this age of everything shared and nothing paid, why not hold back? If any money accrues from the project in the long term I will make damn sure it does not go to the feedmeisters and the pub-congloms.

5) I have not forgotten the faithful.  I have committed to the Arisugawa cloud novel project (no shirking there, though it may take 10 more years). 

Purpose Recipe

When everyone forgets, remember yourself. 
Do not apply pomade, promenade––
​do not inflict your dissatisfaction 
with the mundanities of life 
on others, unless with purpose

test insights through travel 
and empirical note-taking 
and find those common concerns 
that drag everyone down 

The ones that are not isolated, 
the fault of time and circumstance, 
the ones that traverse borders, 
the universal ones beyond standard and device

––amplify them

light lamps in houses in deeply recessed alleys
where thinking hermits reside and prefer not 
to communicate much with others 

take comfort in the company of other 
traveling souls and also the 
stationary sign-posts with
simpatico leanings. 

Or as I remember every time I find warm welcome in my travels with flute:

In every house there is a cat,
in every kitchen lies a mat, 
and that is what friends are for.

The time is now for close observation engaged in everything I despise, and some of what I like, knowing things are changing, how I cannot say. America of consternation, hope, climate change, awareness that we have been hoodwinked yet again.

• Silver spoon syndrome... someone else will always pay for our excesses and mistakes. Then the boomerang hits and we scatter. Natch, the one percent profit from that too.

• Big Oil cheers as National Parks open to drilling and it's the beginning of the end. Global warming, in addition to the aesthetic and moral implications of loonyism. More of the wrong types of jobs, big trucks, and tract developments. Was the Bible right, is end-of-days a self-fulfilling prophecy? Because we believe it, it is ordained. In other words build baby build, Mad Max, run and scatter. 

• Cryptic words have their purpose: creativity

• "Donald Trump’s false claims serve a purpose – to push the United States toward authoritarianism" No shit.

​• Nobody pays me, I don't pay them. Except for musicians. All good musicians deserve to be paid for for tunefully keeping the peace.

• Thinking of starting a new trio called The Jerry Springer President.​

For Fabric completists, here is the yin and yang of current Fabric - Chasing Sun and Fabric Dos communications with Mark and Diego at the respective QC and TJ  studios.

FABRIC DOS - Namida Borderlands

Hey Diego,


Here are some notes for editing, automating, and mastering… I am cc’ing Maura to keep her in the loop about what is going on with Namida and beyond… 


GENERAL NOTES:

All times reference the consolidated “Namida (Border Lands) 6.2 mix” track

Biggest Change is: 3rd (last) electric guitar “Pixies” section in Seaside (reprise) now comes after Namida Chant (which is the last section on the 6.2 mix)

I often use the phrase “slightly more prominent” because its better to err on side of caution…. 
we will have another edit, incorporating some new arrangements I have after you send me the next version.  We can continue to work on level stuff, I am testing on 2-3 speakers throughout… 

The overall volume of Namida and Trap seems to still be very low compared with Mountain and Namida Chant.. try listening on your car stereo and device headphones, as well as the big speakers… the mix was so low that I could not hear it on my headphones using device, while driving to San Fran… obviously, there are file compression issues at play, always good to send the files using WeTransfer from your home console.

“in Reno” is a little phrase I use for my benefit, to remind me to record it there. And for you to be aware of what I am planning to add so you don’t mix in too many new sounds.

The good news is that Maura seems to have enough material recorded for Namida already… I think we do need one more Diego session tho. Let’s do it next week, if he has time? I have to make sure the mix you send me is okay for him to work off of…. Maura I will contact soon and see if she is interested in laying down some parts of Separate My Soul.

TRACK EDIT AND MASTERING NOTES

NAMIDA (What is happening?) 
00:00 to 3:07

1. Lets make Roy’s “Que Funcionono?” comment slightly more prominent

2. 1:07 to 1:23 make Roy’s voice slightly more prominent 

3. Make my voice 1:36 to 2:10 slightly more prominent


TRAP - (Black & Yellow)
3:07 to 5:20

1. I will add a “black & yellow” harmony on my flute around 4:05 to 4:30.. the shifting time signature between bongos and cajon will be fun to navigate in Reno


2. Starting around 4: 38 I will do a little spoken word (rap?) in Reno

3. 3:18 to 3:50 we need Roy to try that deep harmony part… two of his harmonies that I can edit together… don’t make me sing it myself in Reno :)


MOUNTAIN (Borderlands)
5:18 to 9:02

1. This section could come in a little later….. maybe the first guitar tap would come in with the flute, when it comes in the 2nd time, after the slight pause… (around 5:23? use your executive judgement, hard for me to say…) syncopated with Roy’s trap cajon beat..

2. Lose Roy’s percussion in the first part, up to 6:27 

3. I will add “hey ya yo” vocal harmonies from 6:11 to 6:23 in Reno

4. Have my primary “hey ya yo” vocal come in a couple seconds later, at 6:09, the end of the small acoustic guitar pattern, such that it also ends closer to when Roy comes in. exact placement is in your hands

5. I will add “maybe I’m falling” vocal harmonies from 6:56 to 7:22 in Reno

6. I want my Radiohead vocal not to fade out and be slightly more prominent from 7:22 to 7:32, continuing into the flute (same track?)… maybe start to fade it out around 7:40.. you want to try the same effect that you did in Ground Control to Major Tom on the flute?

7. 7:56 to 8:15 need some long ocean wave rhythm sounds (Playa field recording, or maybe I can record them using my instruments in Reno)


SEASIDE
9:02 to 12:26

1. My voice at 9:06 should increase volume slightly but not quite to level of next “seaside” vocal.. you want to try out a couple effects on it? such that it sounds like someone singing in a VW bug with a round metal roof while driving through the high desert on the way to Elko or Denver, through a lightening storm

2. At 10:22 we could use a Diegs bass at 1st electric riff (in style of Kim Deal of Pixies? Maura is giving you a nice rhythm to work with)… 11:24 again some bass with 2nd electric riff 

3. My lead guitar could come in slightly later, at 10:26 

4. Let’s bring Roy’s conga in at 10:51 instead of 10:42

5. We need Roy’s vocal to continue within 2nd electric riff (11:18 on), another two part scat vocal harmony here, taking the place of your bass… fading out around 11:44 (or I can do it in Reno)

6 My guitar that comes in at 11:45 should come in a couple seconds earlier?… there seems to be some guitar work of mine (that I liked) missing

7. at somewhere around 12:24 add that old tremolo guitar lick from second session Guitar Take 13, which is a great lead in to the next section Namida Chant. This lick lasts from 3:33:15 to around 4:05 in Guitar Take 13 … listen and i think there will be a nice place to join the section…. I am fine with the song featuring only that solo for now.

8. Throughout the electrified sections we could use a little Roy cajon… he will need to practice this style I think, his default is more samba and hip hop inflected. This is more Pixies hypnotic. 

9. A good Pixies example for cajon (in addition to No. 13 Baby) might be: Motorway to Roswell, particularly where it gets hypnotic at the end…. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch v=fTNsgrposiU&list=PLFPCXxKiNwShit5_BmrDIMlv2HDV4stFe&index=14


NAMIDA CHANT 
16:45 to 18:16 (end)

1. Main instruction involves track order placement: the NAMIDA CHANT section, positioned at 16:45 in Namida 6.2, should now come in after SEASIDE, at around 12:25 

2. Check the volume of this section. Like Mountain (same original session, hm) it is also relatively loud.

3. Need to to add Roy’s percussion as in earlier takes…. (This was Percussions Take 43, it is on most Namida mixes you sent me and will need to be copied and repositioned here, as it was originally bridging two other sections)

4. cut gap between 17:46 to 17:52 (use judgement) to have just a slight pause between sections

SEASIDE (Reprise) 
12:25 to 13:24

1. Back from Namida Chant to reprise of “Pixies,” the 3rd electric riff

2. Make my voice slightly less prominent from 13:00 to 13:12, and also Maura’s from 13:12 to 13:20

3. Make Roy’s deep voice slightly louder from 13:16 until fade out starts around 13:25

HIGHER (Just OK) 1
13:25 to 16:46

1. from 13:25 to 15:58.. my voice slightly higher volume.. ditto last flute and vocal to end… I must arrange some percussion here in Reno

2. Guitar Take 12 from 2:57:11 to 3:26:10 should come in around 15:50 to accompany the ending of Higher. basically that last high bird-like tremolo ends around the time Maura says “cool”

FABRIC - Chasing Sun

Hey Mark,

do you think mastering all 12 tracks well is possible  with what you have?

this may be a case of lost Masters
I mean master takes
if that is the case, it adds to the legend

 talk to you later man... super busy... but we may have some recording with Nils soon... how is your schedule? 

there is actually a song we jammed that session....
part of the jam session
I think it could be really cool if Nils redid some of the drum parts
with all your mikes on the different drum components, the sound is great
and I could even add a few percussions in US, or you could
And then we have a song on Fabric DOs!

I am excited... listen... this Fabric Dos song is now 18 minutes long and mixes 91 takes
of all real instrumentation and vocals
its is insane how much my arrangement skills are expanding, just cuz F-- lost files a lot

beyond basic mastering, these are the critical issues:

1. Horizon


We need some sound that connects the two sections of Horizon 5:38 to 5:42
there were a couple but they were not edited in 
but I think you are good with percussion… I like what you gave me already.
just needs to very light touch to connect the two sections


2. I Did Not See You

This song has always been a huge headache, because F--- lost the master takes before I received them (it was after that that I started taking single takes home and editing them myself)
the balance is demo quality
but I love that take!
it is really raw
so whatever you can do post mortem to massage that back into equilibrium with the other songs helps
0:25 to 0:27 there is a weird thing where we dropped one track's volume to zero to get rid of John's seat creaking loudly while we played.... this creates a jarring effect for the listener we need to somehow add some ambient air sound back in
maybe splice a couple seconds in from somewhere else on the track

3. She Don’t Believe 

I am sure you will notice the level issue between the two halves… other thing I want is that last line I sang (from 3:52, for 10 seconds) back in the mix as the one that my voice fades out on before Paolo’s comes in.







​