More on Loomer in Japan

Update: 9/3/2004 - The lastest order for CD's has been increased to 400! Serge is preparing a new CD pressing of 1000.

Here is the explanation from Boomba Records in Japan as to why they want so many Loomer CD's:

>>We distribute the CD through stores, Tower Records, HMV, etc.. The Loomer
>>was recognized among Japanese rock fans as an unknown masterpiece of the
>>late 90s who was influenced by My Bloody Valentine (they
>>are very popular in Japan). The CD title "Loomer" works for those
>>fans. A limited copies of the CD were distributed in Japan in 1998.
>>Tower Records in Shinjuku sold 130 copies in two weeks.

Coolness!

Packets in Space!

Evidently they are working on making TCP/IP (the protocol of the internet) work in space. They have to compensate for the huge latencies (a Google request to the Sun would take 8 minutes each way) and relativistic effects.

Personally, I'm looking for UDP over neutrino flux ;)

Yes, El, I'm a geek.

Land of the Rising Loomer

For some unknown reason there seems to be a demand for Loomer music in Japan; Evileye Records already has orders for 300 of them, and are likely to have to do another pressing.

This is terribly interesting and exciting, and totally confusing. I wonder what is driving this?

A Lost Opportunity

Over a year ago I jammed with a couple of nice musicians in San Francisco. It was a drummer and a singer and they were looking to flesh out a band that would have explored some areas of music that were very interesting to me.

I went to their rehersal room in San Francisco, a cramped room in the back of a restaurant, I think. We played, just improvisations. I had my double-necked Carvin Guitar and a rack of effects and was playing with some very dreamy textures that were sometimes pretty funky as well. I could see that the singer was enjoying my work; she started moving to the sounds and rhythms I was making and sang some pretty sweet things. However, even though the drummer had told me his influences and they were all people and groups that I loved (and he even had a King Crimson "Discipline" tatoo, for God's sake), it just didn't seem to work for me. He felt both stiff and sloppy, as though he hadn't played in a long time, and I had a lot of difficulty playing with him. In the end, I just didn't think I wanted to play with him, thanked them, and left. I contacted the singer afterwards by email and let her know that I had enjoyed her work, but just didn't think I'd work well with the drummer, and she replied that she understood. I thought we had parted on good terms.

A few months later I saw an ad in Craigslist for a bass player that looked very interesting. I sent them an email, listing my influences and some links to some of my mp3 demos, and waited for a response. And waited. Eventually I tried to contact them again, and talked to their guitar player, and found it was the same group plus him. He promised to forward my email to the singer, who eventually responded with a polite refusal to meet with me.

And I feel bad about this. Every time I see an ad of theirs (and there's a new one now; evidently the band they put together the first time didn't work out) it seems to be the perfect situation for me; just the right influences and goals. I'm saddened that I couldn't convice them that we should give it another shot. I told the singer about one of my very favorite drummers, who is also extremely difficult to play with. However, when I played back recordings of him I was often stunned at what he had really been doing; in other words, it was worth the pain ;) Perhaps this might have been a similar situation. I don't know why they are so opposed to trying it again; I guess I really offended them by turning them down the first time? My guess is that she really thought we had connected while jamming, and that it was as though we'd had a good date and I hadn't called the next day. Musicians are a sensitive lot ;) I'll probably never know.

"The Village"

I feel awfully sorry for Roger Ebert at the moment. I went to see "The Village" last night. "The Village" is M. Night Shyamalan's latest movie, and it's lovely. The cast is wonderful, the cinematography is wonderful, the sound and music are just right. Bryce Dallas Howard, as the blind daughter of the patriarch of the village, is a standout, especially for her movie debut.

So, I feel bad for Roger Ebert because he wasn't able to enjoy this fine movie. In a way, I understand his point; I can't reveal anything about the film other than that, as usual, M. Night Shyamalan has included a twist that might very well make you feel as Mr. Ebert does, but it just didn't bother me, and I hope no one that has enjoyed other pictures by this director will avoid it because of his review; believe me, you will enjoy it! It certainly borders on the unbelieveable, but then again, in a world where Michael Jackson can live on his Neverland Ranch, it's not that much of a stretch. I would have hated to miss such wonderful characters and pictures just because of it.

BTW, I saw the DLP (digital light projection) version and it was very good; the pixelation was minimal and the picture was wonderful. Recommended.

"Control Room" highly recommended!

I highly recommend seeing the movie "Control Room", the movie about Al Jazeera's coverage of the Iraq war. No anti-Bush tirades, no fake drama, no whiny hand-wringing about evil, just a bunch of normal, concerned people (on both sides) trying to do their jobs.

I would like to meet and talk with all these people, even including the CENTCOM media coordinator.

Have you ever wondered if the Al Jazeera reporters are really the lying, propaganda spewers that Donald Rumsfeld kept saying they were? Here's how to find out! (Hint: remember who you heard that from).

Update: Evidently the CENTCOM media coordinator mentioned above has been muzzled by the Marine Corp. What a shame; he really put a human face on the American Military, and seemed to be the sort of person we wish all our military personnel could be.

Crossroads Time

I'm at a crossroads in my music. I just don't see to be able to get up the ambition to do a new solo album at this time, even though I have built up a fair amount of new material. Lyrics, egh. Who cares what a musician has to say? And if you do, I kind of pity you ;) I know musicians, what they know, you don't wanna know. "The a minor chord, played at the first fret, gives you a 'House of the Rising Sun' or 'Don't Fear the Reaper' aggressive sadness, whereas the b minor 7 at the second fret inevitably leads you into jazzy territory ...". I mean, I like internal conversations like this, but I can't believe it would interest non-musicians very much, and it's the one thing we are uniquely qualified to understand.

I digress. I've sent out feelers to a couple of female vocalists this week, but it sounds like their projects are pretty nebulous at this point. Time to advertise my own skills. Do I advertise as a guitar player/composer, or bass player, or both? Maybe audition for keyboard player in Serge's band? Evidently I could play some guitar there too; maybe guitar keys?

How much time could I give to a project? Quite a bit, I'm sure; it's starting to burn a bit.

Thunderstorms and other Clouds

I've seen maybe 3 or 4 thunderstorms since I moved to California in 1995. There were at least three in Michigan during my 11 day vacation there! Have to admit, I miss them.

The other thing is cumulus clouds; although overall I think California has prettier skies, we just don't get those pretty puffballs and massive thunderheads that you see so often in the midwest.

Lily Whiteass Spotted!

I finally got to hook up with my friend Karen, aka Lily Whiteass of Lickitty Clit; aka the Queen Bee. We met at Noir Leather (of course; where else?) in Royal Oak, Michigan. Thank the lord that store is still there; not much worth seeing in Royal Oak anymore except for them.

She looked good, wearing tight new denim jeans with a chain hanging down in the back, and other bits of tight blackness. We talked a bit about old times, and a bit about me, but mostly about her current lack of inspiration and inability to play because she can't tour. Such a shame, she is one of the most talented people I know.

I don't think that talented people go far without a fair bit of ruthlessness, though; come on, girl, grab destiny's dick and give it a pull!

Off to Michigan!

I'll be in Michigan between July 1 and July 11, to see family, celebrate my sister's birthday, and vacation. July is not the optimal month to visit Mich (heat, humidity) but I love the small town fireworks.

Countering Biblical Gay Bashers

God Hates Shrimp

Should be all you need .

Farenheit 9/11

El and I went to a midnight showing on Friday, June 25, in Berkeley. It was amazing; the line was around the block. A manager came out and explaned to us that the film was 15 minutes longer than they were told when they ordered it, so the start would be later than expected.

It's a very good film, with subjects of deep importance to all Americans, whether you are liberal or conservative or something else entirely. Please, check it out before you dismiss it; it's only a couple of hours out of your time.

How to Refer to Technologically-Challenged People

I've been looking for a good word for this, and something like "Luddite" seems a bit harsh.

Here's the obvious one: Muggle

I flew in a glider!

I was in Truckee over the weekend. I've seen these glider rides every time we've been through the Northstar area, and this time I gave in to temptation:

Plasmabat on iTunes!

CD Baby can automatically put your music on the various electronic distribution services, including Apple's iTunes Music Store. Yeah, I'm not too happy about the DRM on iTunes, but it's certainly no worse than the others.

Other services included in this service are:

AliveAudio
Apple iTunes
AudioLunchbox
BuyMusic
CatchMusic
DiscLogic
EMEPE3
eMusic
Etherstream
GraniteRocks
Lindows
Music4Cents
MusicIsHere
MusicMatch
MusicNet
Napster
NetMusic
Puretracks
QTRnote
Rhapsody
RuleRadio
Sony Connect
Triasite
Viztas

God told me he didn't particularly want G.W. Bush to be President

I'm Episcopalian, so I know.

The blog is back!

Hopefully I will be able to keep it up this time!

My previous blog was meant to cover the interesting things that happened to Plasmabat the music project, and also to document my personal "mental illness" problems, more or less as a public service. However, Plasmabat isn't doing anything in particular at the moment (that may change any day!) and my "mental illness" has pretty much ended since I went on my later work day (now starting at 11:00 am). I was diagnosed with "phase delay disorder" which more or less means "permanent jet lag", so now that I"m waking up later most of my "depression" symptoms are gone, so not much to write about in that area. Thank the lord.

So, I guess I'll pretty much write whatever I want to. Keep in touch. - Hugh