Little Thoughts

02021-12-07 | Photos, Santa Fe

  • “Bewilderment”, by Richard Powers, reminds me of “Stranger in a Strange Land”, by Robert Heinlein. Very different, decades apart, yet both cover some similar ground. Trying to wake the sleepwalking?

  • The original meaning of bewilderment was not confused. Rather, it literally meant a return to wilderness. The bewildered human, living in nature, with nature.

  • Humans as a species need to evolve. It seems so simple: we either change or go extinct. Sooner or later. It’s a natural cycle, of course, but it sure would be nice if we made an attempt. As it is we are running off a cliff, unwilling to change. Can the rapacious caterpillar turn into a butterfly?

  • I am over the largely sensationalist response of the media to a new variant of covid. I limit my news intake but of course I receive clips and links forwarded by friends. Of course the virus will mutate. That’s what a virus does. Some variants will be more dangerous than others. I think I am sick of the distraction. Yes, the virus is dangerous… but is it more dangerous than our industrial poisoning of rivers, destruction of forests? Is covid more dangerous than climate change? Why does the press have so much to say about the pandemic and so relatively little about climate change?

  • Several friends bought this little machine and recently I acquired one as well. It’s a little wonder. Four inputs, and microphone preamps, and the ability to record files up to 32bit and 196kHz. The Nagra of the 21st century. I also learned that the machine can record up to 12 audio tracks – albeit at 24bit instead of 32bit. Recording without a computer. Imagine, this machine will be able to record guitar parts for a new album anywhere… all I will need is this little MP6, a microphone, a cable for connecting the mic, and a pair of headphones. Electric power is optional. In my studio I was never able see the screen while recording so I am used to working without the visual. Record lots of ideas and edit later.

    • Mati Klarwein

    02021-12-05 | Art, Music

    The cover art for Santana’s “Abraxas, Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew” and “Live Evil”, and many more were created by Mati Klarwein. This blogpost is about the man and his amazing imagination.

    Dali was not the only one in attendance. Musicians loved the place, where eclectic music from Klarwein’s large record collection played in the background. One such musician in particular loved to perch himself in the temple, wash his eyes with the surrealistic paintings, listen to the psychedelic music in the background and engulf himself with purple haze. You guessed it, Jimi Hendrix. Under the influence of dubious substances, some of the musicians started asking Klarwein to create album sleeves for their albums, Hendrix one of them. Klarwein: “We used to share the same tailor, and we would spend afternoons dropping acid and trying out new sets of clothes together. I actually was working on a painting for a record cover to an album that was never finished, where Jimi and Gil Evans were collaborating. Unfortunately Jimi died during the recordings and it was never released.”

    and this quote, about the album title (and coffee) “Bitches Brew”.

    Miles’ original idea for the title was Witches Brew, but his wife Betty, a young a free spirit very much in tune with the times, suggested changing the first word to Bitches. Notice the absence of an apostrophe at the end of the word “bitches,” making “brew” a verb, not a noun.

    Seeing his cover art reminds me of how much was lost when we switched from Vinyl to CDs, not to mention to the present time when cover art is tiny, miniscule.

    Message in a Bottle

    02021-12-05 | Uncategorized

    Let’s imagine that our days are numbered. I don’t mean our personal days–we have always known those days to be numbered–but the survival of wo*mankind (* = tongue click). Millions of species have gone extinct before us and we have watched many of them pass without getting worked up over it. So let’s look at the end of the human species in the same dispassionate way. Leave a comment and tell me what you think the human weakness was. Too rapacious? Too callous? What would a warning sign look like? Let’s imagine humans go extinct, the planet takes thousands or millions of years to recover and eventually another sentient species starts strutting around like they own the place. What should they know? What can we tell them?