whatever...
12:56 a.m.
the cat likes fried egg...is that weird?
he likes chocolate too, but i know that's bad for him, so...no more!
i thought IM-ing and looking at websites with a friend was fun...but doing it over the phone is even, uh...funner!
i got a few things on my list done...the fire station office was closed for lunch, though...tomorrow, i guess. haircut tomorrow, too. waiting to hear from harriet. i know it sounds horrible, but i hope she's not dead.
i think i'm gonna go down to the redwoods on my birthday...BEFORE i go to burger king...that's my treat to myself, i haven't had any fast food yet this year.
i guess no one else thinks that dj qualls is hot...ha! i have very highly developed...tastes.
i'm being so frugal this year that when the pickle jar was empty, i cut up some carrots and bell peppers and put 'em in the pickle juice...they were pretty well pickled in a few days...yum!
conan looked old tonight.
here goes my mainstream-gay credibility, but i really don't give a hoot about cher...i saw the last 15 minutes of her special last night, and really, the most interesting thing about her is that she's that old. i mean, she's still CHER, for whatever that's worth...but ANYONE could have had a hit with "believe"...and her upper lip...it's weird.
oh, that reminds me...here's something from the daily newsletter i get from trendcentral...
The success of pop singing sensations may become pre-determined with the help of a technological device.
Stock, Aitken and Waterman (better known as The Hit Factory) may have been responsible for the influx of formulated pop songs in the eighties (remember Musical Youth's "Pass the Dutchie" and Bananarama's "I Want You Back"?), but the latest development in creating chart toppers is a new technology. Hit Song Science (HSS) is hoping to change the course of popular music.
HSS, developed by Spanish company Polyphonic HMI, is an artificial intelligence application that helps music labels determine the hit potential of music prior to its release. The success of music can (supposedly) be broken down to a science, in which certain mathematical patterns in music can produce predictable feelings and emotions. HSS will ensure that these successful patterns are represented so that songs will be guaranteed hits.
Labels in the UK and the US, including Universal UK, Sony, RCA, J (of the BMG group), Innocent (of the EMI group) and Liquid 8 (independent), all hope to increase record sales. Not only will HSS formulate successful tunes, but it will also recognize hidden market trends by pinpointing the most appealing patterns in past hits that are, without HSS, unidentifiable to most listeners. This way, the labels will know in advance where to put and who to put their money on. Undoubtedly, this money making device is going to spur huge amounts of controversy among music purists who are still moping over the success of pop sensations like Britney, Christina, and Justin.
i sent that to rob a few weeks ago, and he said he saw it mentioned on some recording messageboards he reads, and that people were saying it was a hoax. but it was in rolling stone recently, so i wonder...i'm sure it's true.
i saw some stills from the next matrix movie...hmmm, the tech just keeps getting better and better. there's a scene where keanu is fighting with that one bad guy (can you tell i'm not a matrix fanatic?), and the bad guy keeps replicating himself till there's a hundred of him...
and i saw some scenes from "bulletproof monk" (is that right?) and there's some amazing stuff there too. that one's got the guy with three names in it, who drank the beer with the cum in it in "american pie", and also got the prostate massage in "road trip". now THAT was acting! hmmm, road trip...dj qualls...the wheel of life keeps turning...there are NO accidents!
i told rob when we were walking the other night that i wish that people like calvin klein would start using ugly people in their ads...like dj qualls! oh, back in the day they had one kinda overweight black girl in the ck1 commercial, but she wasn't UGLY.
totally random factoid: this is my favorite album cover, ever...
that's 529 polaroids, kids...no fancy computer work.
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3:10 a.m
took a nap earlier this evening, now i'm wide awake. just had a chat with jr...it's been a while since we've talked like that...good stuff. it looks like we may possibly get him over to rob's this summer to record some of his songs...that would be a gas.
speaking of music...check THIS out...it's someone selling two of MY old cassettes! (well,there's TWO sellers, actually...thanks, k. maria for pointing that out!) i had a bit of a music career back in the old days. it's something i've never really discussed here...someday. i was a very small name in the underground cassette culture tha blossomed in the 80's...i released several tapes on my own, had two different people in new york put out tapes of mine, and even some people in france released one. played in s.f. three times, played live on the radio, even. and i've had this fucking 8-track cassette thing for a couple of years, and not a note.
i DID put out my first cd a few years ago, thanks to rob...recorded it at his place, he helped me with the cover, etc. we might be printing up some more copies soon.
back in the cassette era, when i had a new tape out, i had people literally all over the world i could send it to. but i've lost contact with most of those folks now, a lot of them have moved on to other things. it was different with the cd. we made up 50 of them, and i gave them out to friends. i have about two left. oh, i got some good comments here and there, but it was different when i could send my stuff to people working in the same...milleau, is that the right spelling? (no, i'm sure it isn't! steve, i need a little help with the parlay-voo-fransay over here, boy!)
rob was like "what, you expect a glowing review from everybody? good luck!" well, yes i did, actually...oh, i know it's not everybody's cup of tea, but...this sounds like a fucking pity-party, so i'll stop.
so yes, sometime i'll tell you all about my illustrious career in the "music biz"...i DO think i can find some pictures of the pleasure heads performing, that's the band sheila and i were in...yes, that would be funny. we had a mentally challanged lead singer for our first show, i still have a tape of that somewhere.
i shouldn't get started on all this shit, cuz i could ramble on all night. i need to think about what i want to do next, music-wise, not dwell on the dubious achievements of the past.
yes, the future, that's where it's at, baby!
ok, love ya, michael
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WAIT A MINUTE!
here's something i sent last year to someone who received the cd ...the cliff notes, i guess. might give you an idea of what it sounds like...
ok this is weird...
songs:
1. intro - just a squiggly little thing to start things off.
2. a new theme for "the red balloon" - didja ever see that film wen you were a kid?
hard to explain - it's just what the song reminded me of...
3. snow crash - my dub masterpiece. sonic discombobulation. very long. might be good for ****** next time he's on 'shrooms!
4. cascade -ah, repetition IS change indeed! basically just one idea over and over, until it all comes crashing down at the end.
i think it sounds...majestic!
5. twinkle toes - partially programmed, then i played live on top of it. fast, was hard to keep up! cartoon music?
6. winter - my string quartet piece. perhaps too long and repetitious, but fairly dramatic, in my mind at least.
someday i'd like to hear this performed properly with real instruments (do you know the kronos quartet? they'd do a good job of it!)
7. gobi stomp - a jam, rob on bass and me on simple guitar. evokes an image of a caravan of camels trekking across the desert. what do you see? may be boring to some, but i love this piece so much! it does seem to build to a climax and then winds down to a qiuet finish. i love jamming like this, don't get to do it very often...
8. goodnight blues - new orleans piano in a haunted house...
9. don't want honey -a little punk song i had in my head for a long time. we bashed it out in about a half hour, and it came out EXACTLY how i pictured it. michael sings! some of my better lyrics:
you gotta choose between
but you don't want honey
you gotta take the time
but you don't want honey
10-14 - some little keyboard programming things i did. several people have said this sounds
like video game music, which is funy cuz i don't play video games at all. some interesting stuff here. i mean it's programmed, but i still
actually played and wrote the stuff.
ok, that's the lowdown...hope you enjoy!
but maybe cd will make more sense with my comments...
the world of riches
and another wet dream
you gotta make your stand
it's mouth to mouth
or hand to hand
you dont wan't honey
i know you think it's funny
but you don't want honey
you stay where you are
or you draw the line
you gotta have your say
just speak your peace
or turn away
you don't want honey
i know you think it's funny
but you don't want honey
goodnight, for real! - m