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Time:10:05 am
Dr. Stephen Wells passed away this morning in his sleep. He was 83 years old. I am going down to New Jersey to assist with funeral arrangements and other matters. Axiom is holding up OK. Thank you all for your kind words during this time. We'll be around sporadically during the next few days but there is a lot to be done.
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Subject:Finale
Time:12:48 pm
I have recieved word that [info]axiomaxiom's father is not waking up. He's not in a coma, he's still alive, he's just.. impossible to rouse. He has been deteriorating rapidly in the past week and a half, and gradually blurring the barrier between sleep and wakefulness - hallucinating slightly, speaking in German, wondering if it was dark out - Now that he is on morphine, that's about it. He is to be taken off of IV drip, which means he has about 48-72 hours left. He's basically gone already. There is nothing the hospital can do, there will be no more chemo and no more attempts to revive. Axiom has said his goodbyes, and so have I. It's his time, and nature will take its course.

"Take care, and good luck." That was the last thing I said to him as I left Sunday. "You too. Drive safely." he said to me.

Drive safely, sir.
comments: 25 comments or Leave a comment Add to Memories

Subject:weekend
Time:01:05 am
So I'm back up in Boston. [info]axiomaxiom had a case of food poisoning, poor dear, so I spent yesterday evening and most of today shuttling between hospital bed and home bed visiting Axiom's father and bringing Axiom dry toast and apple juice. Everyone, tell him to avoid the chicken salad special!! :) He's recuperated mostly now, food poisioning is bad but at least it's short. I'm back home to clean the apartment and get things squared away up here.

Axiom's father is not doing too great, he has gone downhill quite a bit since I saw him last week but he's still holding on. This is rough, it's painful to watch. I'm supporting as best as I know how but I'm not good at it. I'm listening to a lot of music, whenever I get time alone, it's my solace, it's becoming like a liferaft. I nearly cried listening to freakin We Are Family, the disco song by Sister Sledge for god's sakes, when I was driving home tonight. As it happens, that whole album's not bad, they had talent. It was in the $6.99 bin at Tower. :)

So I come back and get on livejournal and get to read someone's LJ Rush-regurgitations about gay marriage and how activist judges threaten etc. and I just can't deal with that shit right now. Here's me with a sick boyfriend and a very sick/dying boyfriends' father and spending most of my spare time in cancer wards and you know what, I don't give a shit anymore. I am going to have to narrow down my friends list to not get involved in discussions like that for the duration of the current crisis. I need to create a positive environment.
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Subject:Rock On New York
Time:02:15 pm
New York Court Rules Gays Must Be Allowed To Marry

Woohoo!
comments: 11 comments or Leave a comment Add to Memories

Subject:DJing, again
Time:11:47 am
I have an on and off relationship with DJing. In the 80s like every other kid in North America after Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" came out I wrecked my parents' old hifi trying to scratch. I could never afford proper decks or vinyl, and DJing became a dream deferred. I listened to the music as it shifted and evolved, through hip hop, house, techno, drum & bass, trance, back to house and hip hop. I bought a lot of CDs and nudged my way into doing a few furry con dances back in the day, which was as close as I've ever been to the booth of a club. I never learned to mix properly, with no equipment of my own to practice on how could I? My beatmatching always sucked rocks. But that was OK because furries (at the time) didn't care, just not having ten second gaps of dead air between songs was enough. When I started, being the DJ was ad hoc, almost a chore, the person who set up the soundsystem would usually play some CDs. They seemed glad to have someone who wanted to do it. As time went on DJing got cool, lots of furries got into it, most of whom are far better than I'll ever be, some of whom are now professionals.

In 2001 I finally said enough was enough and bought a pair of used 1200s on Ebay and started buying vinyl. I loved it, I taught myself to beatmatch acceptably and practiced every day. FC 2002 was the last Purple Nurple dance I ever did, and the only one ever done on vinyl straight through. I practiced that set a lot. It was a great night, I had only one trainwreck. :) Hey - lousy mixing never stopped Paul Oakenfold.

I sold the rig when we sold everything off and moved to Europe for six months. Our lives became deferred, half in storage, a temporary situation for a few months that became a year, then two, then three. My vinyl is still at a furry's house in the bay area, a fur who I've basicaly lost contact with although he's still got a big chunk of 2000-2002 era minimal techno, experimental, house, and mainstream dance vinyl in a big crate in his basement. I need to get in touch with him. I kept my cartridges, a pair of Ortofon Concordes, top quality needles. I knew I'd be back.

Now here's me, nearly 33 years old and I want to get back into it yet again. I am going to buy two turntables, a mixer, and Serato Scratch so that I can use digital files/rips from CDs as well as vinyl. I want to learn to scratch and beatjuggle and do turntably things. I will probably never be more than a bedroom DJ, maybe play the odd furry con dance or chillout lounge. But I love it. My love hasn't gone away in 20 years, even if I suck at it, I still love it and I still love this music.
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Current Music:Toh-sui-DJ Krush & Toshinori Kondo-Ki-Oku
Subject:Hey [info]fawxie!
Time:01:30 pm
Murrrr.

I have a thing for rotary faders, even though I've never actually used them. New York style!
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Current Music:Stormy Cloud-DJ Krush & Ken Shima-Jaku
Subject:Tranquility
Time:11:03 am
So last night I watched the 2001 documentary "Scratch", a really good, fun little movie about the turntablism/scratch-DJing scene. It was filled with some excellent performances from Q-bert, Mixmaster Mike et al but one short scene that really stuck out in my mind was DJ Krush from Japan laying down this gentle, subtle shakuhachi flute scratch over some trip hop beats, it was like a small, quiet pond in the middle of the bombast and showiness of most of the turntablism world. While it's incredible to watch and the skills are undeniable, battle DJing is not something I'm keen on listening to for long, but that little scene got me checking out DJ Krush and daammn, where has THIS been. I've totally missed out. Jaku is an outstanding album blending traditional Japanese instruments like kodo drums and flutes with downtempo beats and a classical Japanese feel. It's on iTunes, check it out if you haven't.
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Time:12:55 pm
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Subject:COBRA Threatens Joe Team
Time:05:47 pm
Look carefully at this picture (AP). According to the news, this is a captured US soldier, threatened by Islamic militants in Iraq with beheading unless Iraqi prisoners are released.



More news after the cut! )
comments: 30 comments or Leave a comment Add to Memories

Subject:How To Buy Techno
Time:12:57 pm
It's long been my thinking that the defining creative force in music is not the artist or the album or the song, but the record label. This is true in rap, indie rock, and most especially electronica.
When I'm out there looking for music, even in a small genre I know well like IDM there are still boatloads of artists, pseudonyms, one off projects and compilations that I have no idea about. If the genre I am looking in is vast like house or trance then I'm even more at sea, and I've been into this kind of music on and off since 1986. There is no human way to keep up with everything unless your life revolves around DJing and you focus on one specific subgenre to the exclusion of all else.

When I am at Tower and I pick up a mix CD with interesting cover artwork, a glance at the back can tell me if I might be into the music contained therein or not - if I recognize at least two of the artists that's a good sign, but if not I look at the label the CD is released under. Record labels in electronic music are the gating factor between the purchasing public and the hordes of artists with laptops and sequencers putting this kind of music together. The availability of tools makes lots of people into musicians, and of course a lot of crap is produced. But record labels in the independent music world are typically founded with a creative vision of some kind -- the label's AOR people and owners seek out specific artists and pieces that fit their vision and style.

These tiny labels do not make a great deal of money, they are typically one or two people and run out of someone's garage. One 'major' indie label I worked for a couple years ago had five staff and a single office, and they were one of the bigger successful ones. They are mostly works of love -- even the CEO is not making more than 30 or 40k a year at best (and that's a 'big' indie). While a 'hit record' in electronica sells 5000 copies it's not something a major label would even notice. They are even run as a hobby operation in some cases.

What the good labels do is build a distinctive sound they can call their own. When I pick up a Mille Plateaux record I'm pretty confident of the kind of thing I'm going to hear. Same with a Naked Music or a Hooj Choons record or a Ninja Tunes CD. So instead of being confronted by racks of incomprehensible record sleeves I can quickly zero in on likely candidates, and add the artist names on those labels to my stable of known names when I'm perusing compilation listings. In a world of thousands of musicians and artists, the label name provides the only human-accessible granularity. It makes P2P searches very difficult for anything but huge hits, in fact, because P2P is all about artist/song title and that only works for truly anthemic stuff everyone knows, or mix CDs from known DJs.

Major labels, while being purely profit-oriented enterprises, are enormous creative forces. While they don't have as tight a focus as the boutique labels, they do sign what they think will sell, and market it and play it in such a way that it (maybe) does sell. As a result, other bands that sound like what already sells will get contracts and distribution and marketing, and the vast beast called music will move in the direction dictated by the major labels. They are the true creative force, for good or ill. Also, major labels usually spin off smaller sub-labels or purchase large independents, in order to focus a specific vision and brand -- for example Island Records or Def Jam. This also happens in the movie business, with Miramax being a subset of Disney, handling the quirkier and more artistically daring films while the core Disney brand handles mainstream family entertainment.

Knowing the labels really is most applicable to DJ type people or serious fans. It is video games, I have noticed, are the gating factor in many people's selection of electronic music. The bemani games especially, I have lost count of the number of people who like the music from DDR or what not and that's their primary exposure to this type of music. There is lots of stuff they might like outside what Konami picked, anyone who likes the music in DDR needs to check out Anabolic Frolic's happy hardcore compilations for example. Repetition breeds familiarity and so video game music, while perhaps chosen for its game suitability and not its musical quality, becomes a beloved anthem because it's been heard so many times. People grow to love the familiar, and you can't get deeply into a video game without getting incredibly familiar with the music in said game. The problem with using video game tracks in a DJing situation is their brevity. These 1:30 bemani game songs are not that useful in a set, because of their abrupt intros and extros. Also they're generally sped up to an absurd degree, so dropping one of those tracks means you get three people dancing who know the music from playing DDR all day, and a hundred people standing around going WTF!!?!? Not awesome. So I hope people understand if I don't play DDR tracks at a dance. This is not to say that all video game music has this problem. Katamari Damacy's music stands on its own as awesome experimental neo-lounge that would be a great set of tracks even if not for the video game. But once again, there's stuff from various labels that would fit in with the Katamari Damacy soundtrack quite nicely.
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Subject:Bleep
Time:11:12 am
Bleep is an excellent music retail site.

Unrestricted, high bitrate MP3s, copious samples (if you click off to another tab while the preview 30 seconds is playing, it plays the whole track, too), reasonable prices ($1.35/track, $9.99/album) and a very good selection from the leftfield electronica, Warp Records, Ninja Tune, K7 etc. labels.

This is the kind of site that I'mm happy to spend music money on. Nice, nice.
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Subject:High school students: "First Amendment goes 'too far'"
Time:01:05 pm
Recent poll of high school students reveals basic desire for authoritarian government

when told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes “too far” in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.


I wonder what the results might be like if adults were polled. Oh wait.

When asked whether people should be allowed to express unpopular views, 97 percent of teachers and 99 percent of school principals said yes. Only 83 percent of students did.


This one is a little easier to understand, considering how important 'popularity' is in high school.

Three in four students said flag burning is illegal.


No child shall be left behind.
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Subject:selectah
Time:11:29 am
So in addition to everythign else that's going on right now, I'm busy pulling together my set for Anthrocon. I am going through all my MP3s, CDs and perhaps even some vinyl (although it's all still in california, tough to get ahold of) as well as buying a pretty good chunk of new stuff that will fit the vibe. I hope you all like Ninja Tune stylee 'cause that's what you're getting for the second phase. Future funk/electro/hip hop with a sense of humor, taking us from the neo-lounge of phase one to the deep electronics of phase three.

I am open to suggestions and requests. If you can point me to an MP3 or some such i'd be happy to see if it works. I'm especially looking for hip-hop/rap type music that furries will like, i know it's difficult but there's some (De La Soul and Jurassic 5 spring to mind).

The question of danceability has occurred to me. While this is a chillout lounge, not a dance, there will still be some music that's got a good beat and could be danced to, but I will be keeping things within the chillout parameters, so even anything faster tempo will still be fairly laid back and funky rather than driving/aggressive. Some people may dance and that's cool but it's not the main thrust of the set.

Am I overthinking this whole thing? maybe a little. But I love cruising around looking for quality music so having a project like this is a good thing. By AC this set will be pulled together, coherent yet varied, each track leading into the next even across genres and tempos.

I'm really excited about it.
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Current Mood:[mood icon] blank
Subject:An Experiment
Time:12:35 pm
read these two webpages and tell me what is similar.

this one

and

this one

These fuckers. Horrible pseudoscience snake-oil vultures preying on the dying.
comments: 58 comments or Leave a comment Add to Memories

Subject:boom tss boom tss boom tss boom tss
Time:12:06 pm
Ishkur's guide to electronic music is a link I've been meaning to give to a few people now. Well worth checking out. The author has his opinions on his sleeve but that's a good thing. It's very well laid out and thorough, and if you've ever wondered what the difference between house and trance and psytrance and goa and breakbeat is then there is your map.
comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment Add to Memories

Subject:World Contact day plans.
Time:12:08 pm
So I booked our flight and hotel for the Return. We're spending 4/27 this year in New York, and I managed to score Axiom and I a hotel room in midtown, just a short hop from the Site. I was lucky, too, there isn't much space left in the entire city.

Return Day already, it's hard to believe. I barely remember 1980, I was 8, but like everyone else I remember Carter doing the Vulcan salute with the aliens on TV, the Ambassadors, it was a heady time for alien-obsessed sci-fi nut me. I wanted to be on the exchange team so bad, I even got an official jacket and Junior Contactee set, the kind that's all over eBay now. I think I still have the patch somewhere.

The exchange team won't have aged much. Relativity means Sagan, Feynman and the other exchange members have only been gone around a year their time, while traveling to Epsilon Eridani and back, while 25 years of elections, Superbowls, wars and cult massacres have gone on here. I can't even imagine what those twelve people have seen. I can't wait.
comments: 15 comments or Leave a comment Add to Memories

Subject:Fish! Plankton! Sea greens! Protein from the sea!!
Time:01:40 pm
Alright, Axiom, alright, you were right, Logan's Run is a big piece of crap. I thought it would be fun in that pre-Star Wars sci-fi sort of way, like Rollerball, Clockwork Orange, Silent Running, Soylent Green, those were cool movies with retro appeal. But god, this just goes on forever and it's sooo boring. Snore.

There's some OK things in there, like the typeface on the screens, a lot of the music is supercool, and some of the sets. But the city looks lousy, my science fair moon colony model in the sixth grade looked better. They could do a lot better than this even in the mid Seventies. And the dialogue. Buh. Michael York's doing the best he can but damn. And poor, poor Peter Ustinov.
comments: 50 comments or Leave a comment Add to Memories

Subject:UCC Welcomes Spongebob
Time:02:05 pm
I don't say this about churches very often but OK, the UCC church rocks.
comments: 6 comments or Leave a comment Add to Memories

Current Music:Kinda' Kinky-Ursula 1000-Kinda' Kinky
Subject:High School Meme
Time:12:28 pm
What year was it?
1989-90

What were your three favorite bands?
Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Pop Will Eat Itself and Sir Mixalot

What was your favorite outfit?
Roots canvas backpack splashed with bleach, red denim jacket with Russian space patches on it, tie dyed sweatshirts, black jeans. i was kind of cool.

What was up with your hair?
Short and spikey, baby. Mousse all the way. More of it than now.

Who were your best friends?
"The Group", my gamer pals. Chris and Allan mostly, plus 3-5 associates.

What did you do after school?
Played Warhammer and RPGs, went to the odd concert. Skinny Puppy, New Order, 808 State.

Where did you work?
Sold stereos and VCRs at Atlantique Video & Sound,

Did you take the bus?
I rolled in my mom's Powder Blue 1985 Ford Tempo.

Who did you have a crush on?
My friend Chris. He never knew.

Did you fight with your parents?
Not really

Who did you have a CELEBRITY crush on?
Matt Frewer

Did you smoke cigarettes?
I tried smoking once in Grade 10, saw how much it cost and decided to give it up

Did you lug all of your books around in your backpack all day because you were too nervous to find your locker?
I lugged around books but I had a locker

Did you have a 'clique'?
By senior year of high school, yes. But we were all basically nerds.

Did you have "The Max" like Zach, Kelly, and Slater?
no idea what that question means or who those people are.

Admit it, were you popular?
I was spectacularly unpopular for my first three years of high school, then figured out how to act around people so i wasn't like, attacked in the hallways,
but I did my own thing. The popular kids ignored me entirely by that point and I had no time for them.

Who did you want to be just like?
I wanted to be just like Edison Carter, Network 23.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
Television news investigative reporter/cameraman.

Where did you think you'd be at the age you are now?
TV producer/director.
comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment Add to Memories

Subject:Now it can be told
Time:12:05 pm
So I'm pleased to announce that the chillout lounge at Anthrocon is a go. Saturday night.

dj cargo presents
Capsule

Anthrocon 05, midnight-ish to very late (5-6am)

Here's my thinking: Cons need more late night activities. The Zoo at AC is a step in the right direction. But it's noisy and bright, people are mostly playing card games and such. The dance is, well, the dance.

The Capsule concept is for a laid-back club atmosphere with music, lighting, places to sit around and talk or zone out. There will be inflatable sofas upon which to sit and low lighting. There may or may not be drinks, maybe just water or maybe sodas. My blender-drinks concept is not going to happen due to hotel staffing requirements. :P Anyways.

Capsule is not a dance per se, it is an alternative to the existing furry con dances and the Zoo, a place to relax and hang out. but there will of course be music. The musical program is divided up into for basic stages:

Stage one: Departure Lounge

This is from midnight to around 1-2 am. The music will be chilled, Dmitri from Paris, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Esquivel, Martin Denny, Thievery Corp, some jazz, jazzy house and French cafe type music. Swanky cocktail music.

Stage two: Orbital Shuttle

This is from 2am-3am-ish. This is the time for intelligent hip-hop, such as Prefuse 73, DJ Shadow, Amon Tobin. Also deep house, still downtempo but a little more forward. Serious, you might say.

Stage three: Hypersleep

This is late night. 3am - 4:30 or 5. Only the dedicated will be up at this point. IDM, experimental, ambient, examples include Sigur Ros, Autechre, Boards of Canada. People will zone out and that's OK.

Stage four: Planetrise

Around dawn, 5-6am, this brings people back from the cold reaches of space. Acoustic, mellower ambient and slightly more uptempo stuff. Polyphonic Spree (the quieter tracks), Lemon Jelly, Air. We now return you to the convention.


I don't expect anyone to stay through the whole thing, it's designed for folks to come and go and hang out for a while and then bail.

If it goes the way I want it to it will be awesome. A lot of work to DJ a set that long but I'm up for it. I'm also open to other people helping. I will need assist with setup and teardown. I will also need help staying up. :)
comments: 37 comments or Leave a comment Add to Memories

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