That form, however, is not a cool guestbook, survey, poll, or amusing program. The idea is that when a content-developer has materials ready, he can just copy and paste them from whatever form the source material was in, click off a few options, and have their materials available in an attractive format on the web. I'd love to be able to customize the application for other writers, artists, companies, and headstrong new media startups!
I recently acquired some tools for Java development, so I'll be growing this online book in the coming weeks while trying to learn more tricks! I hope you don't mind typos, irregularities, the occasional blank verse, abstraction, and other wierd things because I'm not guaranteeing that you won't find them on these pages. When in doubt, hit "Reload Frame" or whatever and enjoy!
> Hey Rob, > > I like your web site. It's definitely one of the cooler places. Nice to see something creative. I especially enjoyed your correspondence with the cop. I had just finished reading Catcher in the Rye the day before (it was my first time). Great book. Did James like the tape I sent?
We all LOVED it! The funny thing is, if you heard the stuff James and I are recording, I'm starting to have fun randomizing note-plucking runs on the guitar...harmonics...momentarily overloading the pickup on my '64 or '65 Gibson Melody Maker, then letting off and hearing the amps crackle because of the sudden reversal...pick squeals! I'm going alot of times for exploring tonality, or finding sounds outside of (or complementary to) the standard 1-4-5 or 1-3-5 western octave system. So just as you are exploring what I was exploring when we tried to play before I've been exploring what YOU were into back then! So now we'll be even, except that now you're going to India, where you'll probably be inspired in completely new directions!
> I actually put the four-track to work a few days ago, and now should record > everything I've made up since I arrived. I suppose the songs will serve as > the story I'm not writing down on paper.
James and I have been recording weird stuff. I need to get new tapes and go off in completely new directions, though. It's a good thing that you're recording music, or writing e-mails, or letters, or whatever. You're extending yourself into the psychic moss that covers the world. Have you read Marshall McLuhen? His book 'Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man' was one of the coolest books I've ever read (I'd say easily equally as cool as The Catcher in the Rye, as far as thought-inspiration goes) and you might enjoy his writings, as well.
I have this little tape recorder that I used to take with me to classes occasionally, while at UT. I got it from my brother, who had quit some JC in Dallas for like the thirtieth time, and the last person to use it was my ex-roommate Kimmer (Kim Manajek, short cute blonde art-history major). I'd like to use it to interview artists and hackers that I know, to publish on my website. That way, my friends can say "There's an interview with me online at http://etcetera.." and I can get some CONTENT on my site. One whole part of it is going to be a novel, manufactured by a perl script I'm working on, fed by my imagination and the imagination of anyone who wants to contribute to it, and served up to the world via my buddy Jim's ISDN bridge. It's something to think about in any case.
I could e-mail you some questions to print out and think about...
- Who was the first person you ever remember singing? How about playing a musical instrument?
- What was the first instrument you played? Can you describe it?
- What was the first instrument you paid for with your own money?
- Think of your favorite song. Why shouldn't the rest of us think it sucks? What do you think about the proliferation of the word "suck" in popular culture?
- What does the term "pop" music mean to you? Talk about it.
- What is the most innovative non-musical usage of a musical instrument theoretically possible?
- What is the most innovative musical usage of a non-musical device theoretically possible?
- If Michael Bolton had a chainsaw, and Yanni had a machete, and Barney the Purple Dinosaur had a machine gun, and you were trapped with them at a Club Med, could you save yourself?
- If Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth flipped you the bird, would you write a song about it? What would you do in response?
- Lastly, if it were suddenly illegal to write original music without submitting it to the local Police Department for review, what kind of music would you write? Would you write anything else?
