The Story of the 'Amen Break' with Crissy Criss - BBC 1Xtra

I stumbled across this recently, it pretty much explains the backbone of one of my favorite styles, if you have afew minutes it covers a valuable bit of musical history.

In 1969 the drummer of a band called The Winstons performed a 6 second drum solo in a track called Amen Brother. He could have had no idea how that break would go on to become one of the most used samples of all time.

It was used in early hip hop records during the 80s, it cropped up in loads of old skool rave tunes and became one of the foundation stones of Jungle and Drum & Bass - not to mention all the other tracks which feature it in one form or another! There are loads websites, databases and facebook groups devoted to the subject, for some reason Djs and producers are TOTALLY obsessed by it.

Crissy Criss explores the legacy of the Amen Break and tries to track down one of the original members of The Winstons to find out how he feels about creating the most influencial 6 second break in music.

The Story of the 'Amen Break' with Crissy Criss - BBC 1Xtra by Crissy Criss on Mixcloud

4 Out of 5 Stages

I discovered a ex-close friend of mine recently changed religious views, I actually felt Denial, Anger, Depression, and then acceptance. After pondering this for a long time I realized that I’d experienced the 4 of the 5 stages of grief about the incident. Maybe I’m experiencing the death of an idea or the death of what I thought someone was, but since we are on the life/death analogy I guess I should celebrate the birth of a “new” person? Perhaps the analogy doesn’t go that far. So to review lets revisit what the great wikipedia says:

1. Denial — "I feel fine."; "This can't be happening, not to me." Denial is usually only a temporary defense for the individual. This feeling is generally replaced with heightened awareness of possessions and individuals that will be left behind after death.
   
    
2. Anger — "Why me? It's not fair!"; "How can this happen to me?"; '"Who is to blame?" Once in the second stage, the individual recognizes that denial cannot continue. Because of anger, the person is very difficult to care for due to misplaced feelings of rage and envy.
3. Bargaining — "Just let me live to see my children graduate."; "I'll do anything for a few more years."; "I will give my life savings if..." The third stage involves the hope that the individual can somehow postpone or delay death. Usually, the negotiation for an extended life is made with a higher power in exchange for a reformed lifestyle. Psychologically, the individual is saying, "I understand I will die, but if I could just have more time..."
4. Depression — "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?"; "I'm going to die... What's the point?"; "I miss my loved one, why go on?" During the fourth stage, the dying person begins to understand the certainty of death. Because of this, the individual may become silent, refuse visitors and spend much of the time crying and grieving. This process allows the dying person to disconnect from things of love and affection. It is not recommended to attempt to cheer up an individual who is in this stage. It is an important time for grieving that must be processed.
5. Acceptance — "It's going to be okay."; "I can't fight it, I may as well prepare for it. In this last stage, the individual begins to come to terms with her/his mortality or that of a loved one.

I may need to write a song about this, because that's what i do when something has an impact on me.

Google ads WTF ??!?!

Honestly, who comes up with this stuff, i think a new algorithm may be in order

it actually says "hearing voices"....since when has that been a problem, well i guess it can get a little annoying when you are trying to focus and the "chatter" wont pipe down. 

I just cracked my toenail jumping a fence running to save a bird

Vivid dreams but no detailed memories. Hate when that happens.

Hair Brained Idea: Radio

I've always thought it would be funny to orchestrate hundreds of people to call radio stations requesting songs they'd never play

Surveys reveal the obvious ?

.....currently editing this on my phone :-)

Dream # 05182011

I was in a car driving around with my friend K,  we seemed to be circling in a pattern, periodically checking this one alley between two apartments. I think we were waiting on some one. At the same time there was a multi level parking garage where apparently I’d agreed to meet some people. There seemed to be a lot going on logistically. For some reason there was repeating sequence where I’d take the elevator up to an office several floors up where the lights were off or really low apparently to conserve power. The other office occupants seemed to recognize me. Not sure why I was there but I walked over to this cubicle and did something on a computer (one of those older CPUs with green screens from the late 80’s) and then got back in the elevator to head downstairs. The people seemed to be acting uneasy about something but since I wasn’t sure it was me I just laid low and acted like nothing was amiss. The group I was meeting in the parking garage hadn’t shown up yet but sent a messenger who gave me a sort of schedule that mapped out the rest of my day and there were points on the schedule where I knew that I’d cross paths with “the group”. I then skipped forward to a factory-esque shipping dock. I was standing on the inside, looking out at a truck that had just driven off. I began remembering a upscale party in a loft but was still standing in the loading dock doorway thinking how things were some much more perfect then, it seemed like there is something that happened that changed the normalcy of the situation.

The odd thing is that I was editing this post and took a picture of a fellow commuter but he and the rest of the image came out a little blurry so I cropped out all the normal train looking parts of the picture and was left with the trailer in the background that I didn’t notice at the time. But it ties in nicely  

Loss of balance is Overrated

Sometimes we accept trade offs in this life, I envy anyone who lives a life without compromise. At almost every turn I feel like I'm bartering and trading my soul for what I want. I think this would make things difficult for those who exist and live in am environment they are not passionate about. Like how an artist might feel working in a military-esque situation.

I've recently embraced the idea that I'm an artist, not sure how I missed this one but for some reason I've just accepted the premise that I'm a guy with a lot of crazy ideas that would need to learn to blend in to survive. The word survive is a bit severe but, the blending in part has always been surprisingly simple. I instinctively seem to know what answers, words, or actions are required by my surroundings or situation. Lately it's been more difficult to keep my inner "how I really feel" voice in my head. In the past i was really good at having a strong opinion and feeling one way yet acting completely different. I think this is called schizophrenic. Don't even get me started on the voices and dreams, that's a whole different post for later. I've started to compartmentalize more.

I think I've always compartmentalized, but just never realized I was doing it. They say there are three "yous"

1. The you that is displayed to the world
2. The you that others see
3. The you that you really are.

Well for me I feel like there are about 6 or 7 and this may not be a good thing. A big clue came when I realized that if I were to invite all of my friends to a party, there would be a lot of awkward exchanges and possibly some heated discussions. What I'm getting at is that my friends would likely not be friends with each other for many reasons, most of them being "belief" oriented. I've also noticed more and more that my views are in the minority and in the course of discussions will need to "reign in" my true feelings for fear upsetting others with my views. I've contemplated what it would be like to exist as one. I imagine an existence where I would never have to "filter" what I say or how I behave. It's alarming the number of volatile situations this would inevitably create. It's also intoxicating to think of the resolutions. Sometimes i remind me of a balancing scale. I feel a little better thinking about it like mixing water colors until I get to the part where all colors hit the saturation point and become that dark brownish yet

completely...

balanced...

mess.

Actually no....don't

Try getting a hobby you are passionate about and then doing the opposite of that from 9am to 5pm

Dream # 04272011

I was in a reality show :-( WTF ?!?!? yeah, not sure how that happened but there were cameras 24/7 and drama, everything i hate about TV programs these days.

Dream #041711

I just remembered I had another Zombie apocalypse dream, there was a lot of breaking glass, an dead animals not may dead people unless you count the zombies. They were trying to come through the window, but for some reason couldn’t figure out how to get past the broken glass. There was a news report in the background saying something about being calm which I remember thinking was hilarious. I remember being made fun of for wanting to buy some machetes. They were two for one, and I’d always wanted one.      

Dream # 041211

I'm standing slightly off shore looking back at a beach, not like the ones I grew up with, one of those "flat" beaches with no surf so there are no surfers I'm wondering why beaches like this exist. I love waves, the crash, the way the water recedes. Can't tell if the sun is rising but assume it is because it's on my right and what looks like an American city is north of me. I start moving towards the shore and start falling out of the air so that my feet are dragging and skimming across the water. The water is not too cold but then I realize it's a hair too cold for my liking, and I love it cold. There is a high pitch noise in the distance, like static and I can smell dirt but not in a people way. I smell it freshly like how it refreshes an earthworm or soothes a pig. I never realized how wonderful being dirty could be, it has the subtle smell and taste of potential, like how you feel when you smell cookie dough. I notice I'm waist deep in sea water but still smell dirt and wake up feeling gritty. Normally I forget most of the details by the time I get to my dream log but today I got a head start waking up. Even in dreams it's hard to stay asleep once the sun comes up. "I hate when the sun comes up" I remember hearing a voice that isn't mine say. Damn I wish I could go back and resume where it left off.

I cant believe I just read a owners manual for fun.

Pest Control

I was at my friend SN's house, we were waiting to head out for some fun, while at his place I kept hearing a super high pitch static type noise. It was nearly impossible to tell what direction it was coming from but there seem to be a pattern of annoying noise 2 seconds of non-noise and noise again. I asked what it was but SN was unable to hear it and was giving me a look like I was totally whacked. As I wandered around the house determined to find the source, I located an off white box plugged into the wall outlet. The box had a blue light that blinked in perfect sync with the noise I was hearing. I asked what the device was for and he explained it was for repelling pests like Mice, ants, and spiders, and that humans should not be able to hear it. I guess this settles it.....I'm a pest

Interesting: we should all take note

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/15/why-is-there-no-looting-in-japan/?hpt=T1

Wishlist: Roland JD-800

For a while....since 1994 I've wanted one of these....But the price kept me away, they listed for $2800 USD and I'd never seen them for under $900.....there were a few timed in early 2000 when my various contacts would alert me when a JD 800 for sale would surface. I was actually in Chicago headed to s music store only to get there to find out that prince (minus the revolution) had sent one of his peeps to buy the one I was going to look at. Both manuals are a little over an inch and a half thick, but I've never really Bern a big fan of reading manuals. Shocking I know. So when I randomly located one of these on eBay for just under 400 And jumped into the bidding which seemed slow. But as soon as I hit refresh I discovered I was outbid, so I let it go and did what anyone suffering from consumer fetishism would do. I came back 45 seconds before the expire bid time and sniped it. So one of my wish list items is now checked off. This synthesizer was worth the wait. The main selling point with the JD 800 is that you can manipulate almost any sonic parameter with sliders and knobs rather than buttons and menus which seemed in vogue at the time. This thing is sonic bliss. Expect to hear a few ridiculously over the top sick sounds emitting from the newly overhauled and reconfigured Negative Nine Studios.  

Did you know that the world is actually ending on 05/21/2011.. I didn't either... http://www.wecanknow.com/

Dream #030811

Strange shattered glass, ships sinking, old house, shots with CJ, and elusive event.

Wishlist: Quasimidi Rave-O-Lution 309

I've always wanted a Quasimidi Rave-O-Lution 309, in fact i was at guitar center in the early 90's looking to buy one for around $1000. USD and the sales person introduced ME to the Roland MC-505 which i ended up buying in place of the 309 but always intended to eventually circle back and pick one up. the MC-505 served as my foundation for years of songwriting in many different styles and looks like this.

I can see the bar from here

I was invited to join my old band mates for a round of "Dance all Night" strange how the microphone looks like a ghost or UFO, but you learn to ignore crazy distracting crap like that.... and yes as cheesy as it sounds my inner asian tourist (tho i'm only part asian) could not resist taking a picture of the crowd. it felt fantastic to sing with friends while being surrounded in sound and have a stage under me feet again. i need to do more of this.

I imagined the whole thing...

A Very Long time ago in the 80's my aunt gave me a book for Christmas or my birthday, i don't remember which, i never did finish the book, not be cause it wasn't interesting..but because i had the attention span of a fruit fly. as time went on i lost track of many things, this wonderful book being one of them. a year or two ago i went looking for the book and could not find it. being the cheap skate that i am i headed to the library and found a pretty beat up version of a reprint of the same book. Oddly enough i still couldn't find time to finish it, so searched for it on eBay, bid and won. i finally finished the book recently and quite enjoyed it, i thought it would be a fun to tell my aunt thanks after all this time, only to discover she had zero memory of the book or it;s subject matter. if you know the material, it's not the kind of thing you would casually read and forget. i remember the conversation we had before i started reading the book in the 80's and remember how cool it was that an adult would be so open to such crazy ideas, but again she had no recollection of the book or anything approaching the subject matter....very puzzling.  

Random Thought

Sometimes I look around and see reflections of my self in things. It's sometimes less enjoyable than you would think.

Dre Vs. aiso/wdm buffer size

Sometimes I really hate technology. Why would any company stop it's customers from rolling back and installing old (and more stable) versions of their operating systems ? I have discovered that my MAudio sound card does not play well with windows vista. I've tried all the fixes an work arounds, nothing works. While recording at random times intermittent distortion will insert itself into my recordings. As such I've decided to uninstall vista and install XP, only to discover that either gateway or Microsoft has found some craptackular way of stopping this. That's right, even with a totally wiped seta drive XP will not install without blue screening. Apparently there is a way to partition your hard drive so that you can install multiple Operating systems so that you can boot up and select the OS of your choice. What. The. F#}k ?!?!?, so this seems to be my only choice for now. A friend let me use his windows 7 installer for testing, because after all this there is no guarantee that my MAudio card will play nice with windows 7. This is exactly the kind of situation that caused people to go and develop Linux.

I think I need a grand theft auto break....To be continued......

...but if I don't sin then Jesus will have died in vein !!

Farewell to Andropolis.....

My main "DAW" that's digital audio workstation as the world now likes to call them, crashed & burned for the last time Friday night. I was nestled in for a night of throw-down mad beats but it was not to be. I've had the computer since the mid 90's (yeah 90's) and did my best to keep it updated and OFFLINE but is now an un bootable paper weight. I know it's crazy talk but believe me... if you want to catch a work eating, show stopping virus just hop online. The good news is a few years back i expanded and moved all project data to a separate hard drive. The expansion drive is an EIDE and holds 150GB but thats about 90% full and named "darkplace"..... Anyway until 2000-ish I was still running windows 98 and only upgraded to XP as a fix to a virus issue, so I completely missed windows NT, windows 2000 and that horrible vista thing (SP2 was added a few years ago) The bottom line is that... the only thing that computer was allowed to do was MAKE MUSIC. That's it. No games, no surfing, no downloading, just music. I named the computer "Andropolis" which if you know me, will need no explanation, because it's my own little world. I've often joked that of all the things to save in a disaster it would be that hard drive as it represents so much of my musical work. Andropolis had a whopping 30GB hard drive and was custom built just for electronic music. Andropolis and I have been through a lot together, we've written about five albums, countless remixes, and created contributions for other artists albums, and there's about 6 albums worth of songs waiting to be released. I actually feel like I'm saying good bye to a friend or loved one. One of the hardest parts about loosing something you have created is rebuilding it, normally I'm more positive when it comes to looking and accessing situations like this but imagine building a house, now think about what you fill it with, tables, chairs, TV, bed...the list goes on. This is what rebuilding has been similar to because not only did I have my main recording/editing program but I also had hundreds (not kidding) ...hundreds of plugins. Plugins allow you to do very specific tasks.  Take distortion for example, there are tons of different plugins that handle just distortion, I'll leave out the part where you can make your own custom settings because that could be a posting all it's own. At about midnight I finished rebuilding the new computer, installing software, installing the sound card, and yes reinstalling what plugins I've been able to find. The good news is Prymal studios was about to throw out a computer but donated it to me a few months back. I think its only 3 years old but it didn't fit their needs. They know I am a novice Computer tinkerer enthusiast & grade A maguyver-er. Even though I have a relatively newer, better, faster and more updated computer I still miss Andropolis.

Not sure if you noticed but in the picture above "darkplace" is already installed...over on the right ?

:-)

Return

So i clicked my heels together and returned back to the land of wind, ice, and post apocalyptic zombie dreams. oh well....at least the sky is clear and there is no smell of pesky Cuban cigar in the air

And another....these were actually taken about 15 minutes apart, sometimes sunlight can be a cool thing huh ?

My last meal in the warmth

Was at a lovely place called....well i don't remember, I'm sure the sun and brightness has done something terrible to my brain, or maybe its the lack of ability to get more than 4 hours of continuous sleep....but i know it had the name of the place had news in it. "Veggie omelet" in case you were wondering.

You know yer old when....

...a fully functioning iron gets you excited, or maybe its just the view ourside my window, or all the brightness, and un-midwest weather.

Resurrection of Dredillah with Kaoss

I've been toying with the idea of my drum & bass side project a lot. mostly i build the songs in my head, i can envision the over all theme of the music. Dredillah will be high energy for sure with minimal guitars. Drum machines, synthesizers and samples mostly. It seems strange talking (writing) about this in the 3rd person. It also feels like a part of me that was never explored to it's fullest extent. I think I'll avoid actual song structure and follow more of a build up, break, mellow out, build up, go nuts sort of formula if there is such a thing. i have a slight habit of starting things and then not finishing them but i can feel that this will be different. There have been three un-released albums (roughly 6 songs each) worth of Dredillah material in the past, but i think this was because i didn't really have a fully thought out vision in terms of direction.  

Slayer Goes To Church

I know this isnt new but it makes me smile everytime i see it....

Just finished mixing new Dredillah tracks

Dream # 122710

Crazy dream with magic, spells, nudity and cooking fish. Been craving fish sticks in the worst possible way lately.  I think eating after 10PM may need to stop. what is it with nudity and dreams ? As usual it felt like days, even months had gone by, i must have a a very fully stocked dream life. I think i was in Texas, or some other southern state. i was in an apartment and it was early morning. The sun had not come up yet. we were talking like we were reviewing some sort of plan. There was an overtone of sadness the whole time, like something wasn't quite right about the way things were transpiring.

There is something calming about the wee hours of the morning

I think...

The body is an exact reflection of the balance of your thoughts

Dream #120410:

..dreamed my foot, only some toes, were deformed....i remember looking at it wondering how it could have happened. at the same time it seemed like it always was this way. i'm reall glad i woke up.

Dream #11252010:

Dreamed coworker and I were attempting to escape a hostage situation. i thought it was strange that when i said i was going to make a break for the doorway she said, you really need to lay down some suppressing fire. i couldn't figure out if we were in a school or hospital but the environment seemed academic in many ways.

Dream #12012010: Next Time

An EMT in orange vest helps three women. dont really know where we were but it looked like a crash of some kind, it was dark, maybe around 1AM-ish. one EMT and myself were trying to open the car door to let the person on the inside out. she was screaming and the male co-passanger was completely knocked out or passed out. None of it really seemed real. every now and then there were trumptes and strange under water type noises in the background. Voices singing something about burning everything you know and a repeating part that went "next time, next time, next time, next time" I may make this into a glitter assassin song

Strong and Thoughtless

ah'gain, I watch, we fade
                                      softly to white


awake here, so far from
where you are hon (ey)
we could try to be
strong and thoughtless


     In my imagination... is where you are at your best.

Dream #112110:

I was visiting a home shared by an artist and a promoter that appeared to live in Seattle. they were planning a big house party style event and i think they were interviewing me as a possible band or performance artist. the sky was orange and the experience had a "dark" overtone to it.

I Like This

Just as the acorn existed within the oak,
even when the oak was a seedling;
and as the oak existed within the earth,
even before there were trees;
and as the earth existed within the galaxy,
even before there were planets... there has never been a time, dear sweet one,
when you did not exist within me...
during which we dreamed all else into being.

Dream #102210:

I was taking pictures, i was looking at an overexposed photo. the picture was taken from across a rooftop. it seemed like the world was ending.

When things look bad it's hard to remember that it's never as bad as it seems.

I forgot how much I love "the bends" from radiohead, thanks Amanda Palmer.

Aren’t you glad?

Isn’t it nice to know that you don’t have to live the rest of your life....... to make them happy?

I have a sticker on my lap that says add drama here

Ever go to sleep wishing that when you wake up you'll be somewhere different?

No good ever seems to come from book burning.

Fun Quote

There is no time or distance that separates us, only focus.

Somehow I caught a cold, I can't breathe with out making a nasal noise.

Dream # 08062010

Was about to read a poem and then the world was destroyed. The scenery was very mad max. Everything I knew was destroyed. I ended up wandering around for months along with 3 other people. We were looking for food and shelter. We ended up getting captured and enslaved by some gang but eventually escaped. As the gang was chasing us during our escape they sprayed some sort of pepper spray in my face and I woke up coughing, with a dry throat.

Dream # 08042010

I located and moved into a apartment on the west coast. Was alone but seemed to make new friends quickly. It felt like two weeks. I went for a bike ride and then woke up back here, on the couch.

Hope you are having a very Happy Birthday

Dredillah by moonlight

.......treated with the infrared filter from iphone

Things you see back stage

Commute

I just heard that the train in front of my train hit someone and to expect a long delay, so I opened up my police scanner app, clicked the "allow location" and listened in. I'm amazed at the level of detail they give on the air. Hopefully this wait won't be too long. Hearing about neighbor disputes is not as much fun as you would think. This sort of thing makes me ponder death, it is one of my favorite subjects....blah blah blah. Big sigh... Late again :-/

My iPhone does not like the new OS

Dream: Tina and the Library

I had this very detailed dream, the focus seemed to be a female named Tina. At first I seemed to be in an office setting, except the lighting was very dim. Tina seemed to work in the garage fixing machines of all kinds. I would pass a male receptionist on my way to Tina's garage. I remember reacting to her in ways that were not "me" at one point I'd looked in the mirror and saw some one else looking back at me. My only other office mate that I was on speaking terms with was a male named Kevin. He was very creative and had tons of very decorative pieces covering his desk and walls. Kevin never called Tina by her name, he would always refer to her as the "snow colored girl" ... I remember thinking this was strange and wondered about it a while. Tina's parents would come to visit her and she somehow anticipated this and would hide from them by going for long walks or breaks. On some of the breaks she would come find me and ask me to accompany her. I always went with her on breaks. Sometimes we would do what seemed like drugs or drink from her flask. We would sometimes talk about what it might feel like for two people to die together, perhaps by freezing....at exactly the same time. This dream seemed to take a few months. I don't ever recall going home or anywhere other than reception, kevins area, or Tina's garage. Twards the end, closer to my wake I think, Tina started to become more attractive and I felt more drawn to her. I was fascinated with her and looked forward to our walks. Sometimes she would talk about being in a different place when she wakes up, but when I asked about this something would always intrupt. At one point her parents were talking to the receptionist and shortly after that Kevin disappeared, along with a lot, but not all of his art. Once, after Kevin had left, there were a lot of lights on in the office space I remember asking if she knew anything about why there were so many bright lights on and if she had noticed. She said that  she was "painfully aware of light" Tina's parents didn't seem to like me and seemed to be constant complainers. Before I woke up Tina and I were under a truck taking apart some sort of wiring and housing. Something hit my head and I woke up with the worst headache I've had in a long time. The top part of my nose where my eye socket and nose is actually still sore.

Is it Friday yet ? I done.

All of my knowledge is slowly making a pilgrimage to my phone.

It's finally happened, I have set up a meeting to discuss another meeting. I've joked about this before and never thought it could happen to me. Time to start joking about better things. I wonder if this is a sign :-/

Had one of those amazingly realistic dreams again. In the dream, was a friend who has a family member that plays in a band. The band was on tour and I ended up hanging out with everybody. Not super unusual but very detailed, there were even smells. I hadn't seen this person in a while so it was good to catch up

I don't have a huge number of real friends, but the friends I do have are friends in the truest sense of the word. They have my back and know the real me and accept me as I am. I'm extremely thankful for my friends.

I found a notebook of lyrics while cleaning, I'd written the music and located the matching song files. Now I'm stuck with a sort of disconnected feeling. My art has gone through light years of changes. I can honestly say I'm a completly different person than the one who wrote the material in 2007.

I'm fairly sure that the big heated discussion from last night resulted in my zombie apocalypse dream. The dream was like a mix of Saturday night live mixed with left for dead 2.

?

Know that when the moment is right we will be unstoppable.

This is my 1st hair cut of this year. Going to a new stylist, hope everything works out, feels funny not having my hair cut by my voodoo priestess stylist :-/

What would you do if you discovered proof that you paid a hypnotist to implant suggestions that where key words and would act as mental triggers. The suggestions were designed to guide or steer you away from specific thoughts or memories.

Saffron

I first started having reoccurring dreams of a land mass surrounded by water when I was about 8 years old. I lived with my mother and step father in California at the time of the 1st dream. On that land mass is a village. In the dream I always seemed to visit at night. The village is also surrounded by water, like a moat. The village can be accessed by a few different bridges. The village has a very medieval look and feel in terms of architecture. In the village is a female named Saffron. I don’t recall seeing any other inhabitants other than Saffron. I’ve never been sure if this takes place on my earth, or not. I do recall seeing some animals, but they were a little different than our animals, like hairless cats. And they seem to have an understanding with these creatures. During our 1st few visits I noticed that although she does not speak English we seem to be able to communicate anyway. Saffron and I would have great conversations and would share experiences and knowledge about our lives, worlds, death and theories. Our relationship is plutonic although we have kissed. Their concept of sex seems very different than ours. I believe the name of the land mass or town is “luminary” or some form of whatever the word light or glow translates to in Saffron’s language. As I got older the reoccurring was not as often as I’d like. Even though I’d visit in dreams it seemed like I had a day’s worth of memories upon waking. We seem to age in sync with each other, when I was a kid she would appear as a kid, as I got older, she would also age. Ironically, from my prospective she seems to exist in the past but Saffron thinks I am the one who is exists in the past. Oddly we never have been able to figure out who is in the future or past. There are concepts that seem foreign to her, such as movies, planes, and automobiles. They doo have books, but they have a different name. They do seem to have some sort of advanced technology based on thought and crystals. They also have music but my attempts to play music for her failed miserably, likewise her music seems more like simple cycles of random harmonic frequencies. Religion is another topic that she seems to consider archaic. Saffron has explained several times that as my understanding progresses, the need to subscribe to a religion or religious group will no longer apply. Typically I can recall 80% of the Saffron dreams, I once asked about my lack of full memory retention. She explained that there is a “safety buffer” in place and it exists for my own good. Both Saffron and I believe these are not regular dreams but a form of communication. I once suggested to her that she may be part of my subconscious, Saffron was extremely insulted by this and fired off a rampage of reasons why this was not the case. It’s been a about a year or so since the last dream. Just thought I’d share.

I've had little or no connection to the web for almost two weeks, it's not too bad. It's amazing how "connected" I've become. Hard to realize until you get disconnected. Still... It has been most refreshing. Had the AZ family to distract me from the world.

You learn a lot about yourself when you are couped up with your mother for extended periods of time.

My dreams are starting to get strange again, this usually happens before something really good. I found out recently that I'll have out of town guests. Playing host always feels strange, and by the time it stops feeling strange, they leave and that feels strange too.

Super Random: Gum

You know, I'd swallow my gum for you...just sayin :-)

Building Worlds with Imagination

One of the differences between children and grown ups, is that most children (i believe) have this wonderful ability to use their imagination at any time. They can use it to stop what's bothering them. They can allow themselves be inspired by any animal, object, or thing. Entire worlds are built with imagination in seconds. You are like that too. It's one of the things that connects us to each other, and by connection I mean love.

My Olfactory Sensory System (TMI Alert)

My sense of smell is probably the strongest of my five physical senses, and it’s both a blessing and a curse. I can’t be inside a perfume shop or a candle store for more than a few minutes without suffering from smell overload. If I’m within 7 feet of a smoker with no wind, I can tell you if they smoke Marlboro, Camel, Parliament, or Winston. Typically I avoid using any sort of cologne, for very special occasions I have two colognes that I’ll use very sparingly. Finding the right cologne has been a life long struggle as most tend to smell like wet dog or worse when combined with my skin. One of the more gross parts of super smell ability is my ability to pick up on the stench of musty, stale odors that some people have on a reoccurring 28 day cycle if you catch my drift. This experience is made worse when “scented” products are added to the mix because then I get a nasty combo of both smells. I’m overjoyed that the last bit is a temporary state. I can also tell if someone is hungry by the smell of their breath.

Quick story: Once there was a spot in my neighbor’s house opposite the kitchen where I could always smell some weirdness. I hated being in the area because I could smell the “funk” but no one else ever could. When they decided to remodel, the contractor discovered a dead animal that had nested and was living in the wall. Judging from size of the nest it had been there a while.

I have long suspected that our five senses are just interpreters of energy. It’s a fact that different colors of light happen to correspond to different frequencies. I think this applies to touch, and sound. Something I’ve often thought about is… that in order to hear a radio station you tune into the desired radio station frequency, and by doing so you are able to interpret or listen to the data being transmitted on that signal or frequency of energy. I’ve toyed with the idea that if sound or frequency is a carrier of information then it makes sense that smell and other senses operate in similar ways. So what information is received if you tune into a smell? I haven’t decided on that one but I know that smells can trigger memories. I believe that memories are thoughts and thoughts are energy. When I’m aware of certain smells I can often remember things with more detail than if I attempt to remember without an aromatic aid. Try this…. next time you smell something, close your eyes and really focus on the scent, but pay close attention to how you feel… for me other senses will kick in, and sometimes if I’m in the right frame of mind I can tap into a deeper experience such as taste, and sometimes thoughts…. all revolving around the smell.

Everyone I’ve ever met has their own specific scent. It’s interesting how related people have similar smells. Often, people’s scents are masked by the overwhelming scent of the products they wear. I’ve often learned to associate people with the smell of the products they wear. Once in a great while I cross paths with some who wear little or no masking scents, it is both subtle and refreshing.


Some (but not all) of my favorite scents would be:
Pancakes

• Fresh coffee in the morning
• Garlic bread
• Frankincense when combined with right skin chemistry type
• Old spice when worn my Dad
• Anything barbequed or grilled
• Fresh air, like when camping or up in the mountains
• California in the morning
• Teresa’s custom blend of sandalwood incense from San Diego, but not the cheap store bought stuff
• Chocolate, like from Ghirardelli square back in the 80’s
• Rain, specifically an approaching rain in the few seconds before it hits
• Freshly turned soil
• LaTasha’s coconut oil or coco butter scented moisturizer (often mistaken for that Jheri curl smell)

I have a long list of stenches that will send me fleeing in the opposite direction when I catch a whiff of them, but I think by listing them I’d leave myself wide open for some April fool’s day pranks....Smell ya later


Dredillah

Random: Recollections

Last night while trying to sleep, but unable to doze off I hear this buzz and feel something land near my head. I have a HUGE problem with insects that fly and sting. I jumped up located the harmless critter and flushed it down the toilet. I feel kind of bad cause I'd normally catch it and then let it outside. Well I guess I can't complain if it comes back for a visit, I’m hoping that little swim didn't take kill it.

T-RIDE: The secret to getting to somewhere fast

This may get me in trouble... but here’s what I’ve noticed: When I’m in a hurry to get to the office from the train I find it’s best to locate a person taller than myself (I’m 5’8 so this isn’t exactly difficult) and follow them. I come up with some basic guidelines for this process. Chances are I’ll never know the tall person’s name, so I’ve taken the liberty of naming them myself. I lovingly call these tall friends “t-rides” There are several reasons why picking the right t-ride should get me where I need to be a little faster. First there’s the obvious…. Well selected t-rides have longer legs; this means they can take bigger steps and therefore tend to get places faster. Next is height advantage…. so they can easily look ahead and hopefully avoid congested traffic areas. This next part you can actually observe this if you are ever at an airport, or any overly crowded area like an amusement park. There’s some science to this, seethe brain functions in different “states” and these states can be triggered by surroundings for example when being hypnotized the brain enters a highly suggestible alpha state, people in alpha states have delayed reactions and can move slowly. Alpha states can be triggered by eye movement. If people need to look up there is a good chance that for a split second the looker will enter an alpha state. When the looker enters alpha they will pause momentarily (this is exactly what you want). If I pick the right t-ride who takes advantage of the lookers slight pause, hopefully they’ll jump ahead therefore seizing the right of way and I can follow the t-ride right through a crowd with amazing efficiency. I always try to maintain a following distance of 2 feet or arms length. Be aware of quick direction changes or stops. T-rides also offer some degree of aerodynamic advantage. On windy days I actually mutter thanks my t-ride when they take the brunt of the gusty winds while I enjoy a less windy commute. Be sure to “lock in ” and walk right behind your t-ride, because opportunists may snake your spot if they think your moving on.



Here are some tips for selecting a t-ride:

• Coffee: an overly caffeinated t-ride is a wonderful thing and that full bladder is sure to add some pep in the step
• Fidgety behavior: this often means the t-ride is anxious and hopefully (for me) looking to get going in a hurry
• Baggage: avoid using a t-ride with too much baggage as it can slow you down

Finally I always say thanks to my t-ride when we part ways

St Paul: A Somewhat Quick Introduction

When my Mother remarried I was introduced to a few new worlds one of them was St Paul Missionary Baptist church. Before my mother and I arrived in 1979 the church was only attended by black folk as they called themselves or African Americans as we say today. I don’t know for a fact that we were the first non-black to attend but I can assure you that we were the first regulars. This was because St Paul was my step father’s “church home” and yes he was a very proud black man. The services were very charismatic, this was the first time I ever saw any one “fall out”, speak in tongues, “be filled with the spirit”, lay hands, and attempt to heal, cast out demons or scream gospel themed slogans at the top of their lungs. I was always amused at the fact that the men were all referred to as “brother” and the women were referred to as “sister” unless they were elder women, in which case they were called “mother”. Oddly enough no one was ever called father, except god. Because of my experiences there I’ve never been able to rule out the existence of a god, although my definition of god is probably different than yours.

We spent a lot of time at church, there was something going on every day of the week and usually I was forced to go unless I had homework. Let’s see, home work or church. Church was an all day event for the family back then. The schedule was 8AM to 9AM Sunday school, 9AM to 12PM-ish depending on who started speaking in tongues, or how longwinded the preacher got. The 6PM to 9PM-ish evening service ended my church dominated Sunday. Different weeks determined our 2PM to 5PM gap. I can recall that on 3rd Sundays we’d visit the sick, elderly and shut in and on 4th Sundays we’d visit and minister to prisoners. Just to be clear about this, about 30 church members went to an actual prison and sat in the same room with actual prisoners, I’m fairly sure this is no longer allowed.

Until St. Paul I didn't care for choir music and had no interest in gospel. One day I heard Sister PB (who was 17 at the time) sing a song called “this world is not my home” I’d never…. in my life…. heard any one perform with the emotion, soul, energy, and conviction that Sister PB did. To this day if I ever need to tap into my inner soul and bring out some emotion I think of her always flawless rendition of that song. I can remember listening and thinking “I want to sing like that” and as I’d look around I noticed that the people’s reactions and energy just feed her performance. After I’d worked up the bravery to approach Sister PB I told her how I love the way she sang that song. She hugged me and said “bless you Brother D” (I had a different name back then) sisters didn’t have to hug you but it was very normal for me to be hugged at least a hundred times on a Sunday. Not all the church embraced my mother and I with hugs, but there were many that did embrace us. Although I lost contact with most of my St. Paul church family I haven’t lost the memories.

....Stay tuned for more

Knowledge I like to share

Know that our world is a better place for having you in it.

:-)

The Factory – Introduction

a long time ago I worked in a factory, there were three shifts and the machinery ran nonstop, 7 days a week except on Christmas and Thanksgiving. I’ve worked all three shifts but preferred the 2nd shift which is 3PM to 11:30 PM. 2nd shift was awesome for being in a band, going out, being creative, but not so great for seeing shows or shopping, unless it was a late show. I met some very very interesting people in the factory. From time to time I find myself thinking, “whatever happened to so & so” and once in a great while I’ll bump into one of my old factory mates. Sometimes I’ll spot one and hide and pray they don’t see or remember me. This may sound crappy but you have to remember there were some really good people and some very bad people there. I looked very different back then and have been mere feet away from an ex-boss and had them look oddly at me but not recognize me. There were at least 30 different departments and each existed in its own world. I wanted to visit as many different worlds as possible, but you had to be careful not to get trapped. Here’s how it worked… to get a raise you needed points. Worker bees got points by being certified in specific tasks. Different certifications were worth different points. Oddly enough people with in departments wouldn’t let people outside their department how much potential points could be earned in their department. Once you earned 30 points you were eligible for a raise. One of the problems in this system was that in most departments you couldn’t earn more than 29 points because there weren’t that many jobs that you could be certified in. Yes there was such a thing as a job that was not worth certification points. These were fun jobs like filling up the AI machine with solder paste or staging & stacking 15 pound heat sinks or my favorite…unpacking materials from boxes. It was always fun to open every box (there could be 20 on a skid) like it was Christmas which included screaming with glee and thanking everyone around you. Anyway…. I wanted a raise every review period, so I was constantly looking for new things to learn, to hopefully be certified in, and by default moved around a lot in search of adventure. I worked in many different positions, met lots of different people, learned more than I ever wanted to know about manufacturing, factories, politics, and my favorite….people.

Dreligion

Ok seriously, I’m going to start my own religion. I’ll be adding more here soon :)

Feel it ?

Think back to a happy time, a really, really happy time in your life. Go back as far as it takes, to a time when you felt so light you thought you might float.

Do you remember it? The carefree feeling? The acceptance of the moment, of yourself, of life? Feeling unfettered by thoughts of the future, and oblivious to the past?

Feel it a little longer...

Glitter Assassin

The first Glitter Assassin album was originally going to be a concept album. The story line was centered around "Alix Martin" who was living in Dallas in the early 90's. Alix has a strange life and even stranger dreams. As a result most of the first 20 -ish songs are about Alix or his experiances. There are many similarities between Alix and myself, approaching the songwriting method from this prospective was both different and refreshing as I'd never created this way in the past with any of my other bands. I set limitations so that I'd be forced to work with "less" which allowed me to focus more on the actual songwriting process and less on the actual musical parts. For example, I deliberatly didn't write a drum part I couldn't actually play. That should explain why the drums are so simple :-)

Making up the names as i go along

Through the process of elimination I've located the train car that's is the least crowded. Almost every morning I see the same group of people. Based on their personalities I mentally name them. The names all match dogs I've owned or known at various points in my life. The exception to this is when I encounter people that resemble people from my past. There should be one word to describe this. If you think of it, please let me know.

Well it looks like I may be in for another round of whatever swine flu is going around this week. Not sure I really got over the last cold, still have this lingering throat clearing thing. The new cold is taking way more steam out of my sails, going to drown & soak in theraflu after I drink some cham-o-meal tea. Damn this non-spell check app :)

I haven't written in a while. Lots of new things to post. Since my "beautiful departure" from Comasoft I've been busy writing/producing with Glitter Assassin (shoegaze/indie), and my own blend of electronic dance loving called....wait for it...Dredillah. I still write on the side & colobarate with other artists. I fairly sure I'm not going to be able to stop this musical hobby of mine. Currently I'm not a part of a gig-ing band, but I think that's going to change soon. As of today there are 25 songs in Glitter Assassin's roster. There are 12 songs that will make the 1st release. I've enlisted some close friends to assist in the various production duitys. Im messing with the order of the 12 to see what gives the compilation the best flow. A downloadable album seems like a great distribution method. CD's are so old school but I kind of miss the fun packaging that comes with a CD release.

?

It's been a while, pesky firewalls & what not.

Test....

Bumblebears First Halloween

really really really sad day

Today my 360 achievements included seeing the red rings of doom. (sigh)

So i've started replaying:

>>>> On Gamecube

• Blood Omen 2
• Eternal Darkness
• Second Sight
• BloodRayne

>>>> On PS2

• The Suffering
• Siren
• Silent Hill 2
• Timesplitters
• Area 51
• Legacy of Kain
• Shadow of the Colossus
• Devil May Cry

A castle in the burbs

sometimes you see some really crazy crap in the suburbs, not crazy in a serial killer way (well sometimes) but crazy in a suburban way !

I love me some BBQ, note the fresh peppers from the garden all over the grill yo !

The New site is up !

The New site is up !

Networked and connected !

Say hello to the newest member of my gaming family !

Flutter CD Release Party

Join Flutter as she celebrates the release of her 3rd album "dolls like me" with DJ sets from TMI, m50, and Emulsion. Live visuals by VJ Mason Dixon. I'll be joining christine on stage masquarading as a shoegaze guitarist. If you can dig yourself out of the snow come on out

Inside scoop or TMI ?

My fellow guitar and wall of sound lovers,

You may or may not know that I'll be supporting Flutter on the 13th at sonotheque. but rather than pushing plastic and rocking the MIDI, my duties are to provide some "shogaze" textures. It took a few weeks but I have what I think is a successful arsenal. you may also know (or not) that I have the worlds worst memory so I'm somewhat reliant on my notes. I figured you could appreciate this and may even giggle like a little school girl at my notes.

My set up will be:

Yamaha AMP & Guitar, Digitech (Boss) RP-7, crybaby wah, and yes my fav...the POD Version (2.0)

I finally beat resident evil zero !!!!

Norm Vs. Gore