...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.