Obsidian Noise

Hi Monkeys, it’s glorious out.

My article was well-received. I just came back from a meeting about it and feedback from around the table was fairly glowing, which feels pretty good since I actually thought it was a bit sprawling. They think one section should be turned into separate document. Unfortunately, that means weekend writing again.

At least I know where I’ll be for that. Up near the tree.

Dare I bring electronic technology into that sacred space? Fuck no. Already printed it out for the backpack, pencils already sharpened.

I forgot to mention that I played with the Xiphos at the last jam, instead of the LP Baritone. Somewhat shockingly, I actually really strongly prefer the Xiphos tone. I think I realized this immediately when I got the new axe last year, but my psychology took over my judgement and forced me to like the LP better, especially since I had dropped so much money on it. I remember now that I had played with it with its standard pickups (Gibsons) for a while, and eventually let myself accept that fact that it just wasn’t playing hot enough. That’s when I looked around for some super brutal replacement pickups and discovered the Bareknuckles, hand-wound in the UK. They had one model called the Warpigs that were supposed to be screamingly hot, and I dropped about $350 on a calibrated set. I put them in the LP and it improved very much and I was thrilled for months. I continued playing the LP exclusively for maybe close a to a year.

And then on Monday’s jam in Hollow Way, I broke out the Xiphos, just for a change, and… HOLY. The DiMarzio D-Activators simply scream in that setup. My tones really knocked me back–  rich, full growls with extreme harmonics, which is perfect for my style of playing. They basically sound like EMG 81s on extreme juice, but are less expensive and are passive.

(Pickups in guitars can be active or passive, with the former meaning they require a 9volt battery to function properly, and passives needed no external power at all.)

One thing that’s tricky about guitars is that so many things matter when trying to achieve a certain sound. The wood-type, the body shape, the neck design, the pick-ups, and most importantly, how everything sounds together. That’s why even if you find an axe with the perfect tone, you can’t merely replace your pickups with those of the one you like and expect an even remotely similar sound. It just doesn’t work that way. The D-Activators in the Xiphos sound incredible. I have no idea what they would sound like in another axe, and it’s just not worth it to try moving them into the LP after the work I did in getting the Warpigs in there. Those are just very different guitars. For one thing, one is a 28″ scale baritone, which will have a completely different sound than most standard guitars. For another, the Xiphos has neck-through construction, which means the neck actually runs through the body of the guitar, like a good knife or sword. The LP, despite being a kind of high-end axe, has a bolt-on neck. That’s pretty standard even for high-end axes, but in the metal world, neck-through is generally preferred. People believe it provides better sustain because the vibration is coming through a single piece of wood, rather than two (the neck and body) that are stuck /glued/bolted on together. Other things matter too. The neck thickness of the LP is extreme, and the Xiphos couldn’t be more opposite. It’s the thinnest neck possible, really, and the entire thing will bend if you flex it gently, which I like.

So, I’m going to hang up the big one for a while and work with the Xiphos more. I might try doing something with the pickups in the big one to bring it more to life– maybe some active EMGs would work well in there. That’s not great, of course, because I have those expensive Warpigs already. I suppose I could try selling them on ebay or something, or perhaps putting them into another axe someday.

I had excellent training yesterday and by the time my hour-long swim was over, you could see veins in my hip flexors and lower abdominals, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, and is an indication that I’m down to about 5-7% bodyfat. That’s good for my fight coming up. I’m about 4lbs over now and have six weeks to come down. I feel 100%.

I would love to get a hot, safe PoA for the summer. Yet I still stay out of all of that. I wonder if eventually I’ll die from my self-imposed deprivation.

But enough about my dick. Have a great weekend– get messy and creative because every chance is the best chance, and every time is the best time. Later my beloved monkeys.

Busy week. Didn’t even say humpers to you yet. So, humpers.

More than busy, actually, it’s been challenging. A good friend of mine, someone whose work I always liked and supported, had a bad thing happen. He ran this big workshop that was supposed to be the first of 10 sessions, and apparently the clients didn’t like what he had done. They went to his boss and complained, and because there’s a substantial amount of money involved, our boss catered to their complaint. So, all of that sucked.

But it gets worse, and for me in particular. The client group wanted a change, so our acting boss took my friend out, and put me in charge of the project. It’s just about the worst thing that can happen in the workplace.

I’m more or less on the side of my friend on this one: what he provided them was actually what they needed. The only problem was that they didn’t know that, and because of that, said they wanted something different. So here I am now having to take it over. What a shitty deal. I sit next to that guy, and he’s my friend. It’s been awkward already and will only continue to be.

Aside from that, everything is OK. Training is going OK, though I drank alot on jam night, which I guess was only the day before yesterday but it feels so long ago already because of how jammed my days have been.

Sometimes you go home from a really long day, or long couple of days, and you think about whether it’s better to be alone, or with someone. I always tend to choose to be alone. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t the way that I am, and I can’t explain either what “way” that is, or why I sometimes wish I were different.

But I have moments when I realize that something probably isn’t right, overall, and though everything is my control, I’m not sure what to do with myself, my motivations or my urges. I just focus on something else and before I know it, it’s time to start a new day.

I wore a suit today with a tie, if you can believe that shit.

Going to the woods this weekend, back up in NH. I’ll see some friends first, back in my old hometown, a small rural place with one store and unlimited trees and memories. I know exactly where I’m going to go after that. There’s this one tree, way out there off a narrow game trail, and every fall it’s the only one that turns completely golden instead of red. It’s huge and old and special. I saw it for the first time with my dad when I was maybe 9 or 10. I went back to it a few times in my teenage years. The first was after my dad died. The second was before I left for boarding school. The third was when I left for college. I didn’t go back there at all during my college years, but I did before I left for Force. This will be my first time back there since then. I’m not entirely sure why now. For some reason I was just thinking about it lately. Thinking about my dad, the woods and that tree.

I left at a pretty early age and never really went back in a homecoming sort of way. Even while growing up there, I was never really in a place called home. I was more off in the woods, out in the sticks, trying to make sense of things. My best friend growing up was pretty similar. I’d spend weekends at his house, which was tiny and even further out in the woods than mine. His town didn’t even have a single store, but it did have a post office, and an art center. We used to break into the art center and play with clay sometimes. We only learned we could do that because for no reason we used to spend a lot of time on the roof of that place, just sort of hanging out. One time we went in there and had cigars. That was awful, but we both pretended it was relaxing and enjoyable. I miss the woods all the time. Want to see where I’m talking about? I’m from here, roughly.

Anyway, working on a document, big cup of coffee next to me in my empty office, broadway humming in from the window, as always. Have a great humpers.

Still here, with hardly a minute to spare right now. Update later tonight.

I have a friend who’s been taking an improv class and tonight is the class performance. I’ll go check it out. I like improv and am very envious of that skill. I’m thinking of taking the next section of the class, actually.

There’s actually a improv podcast I listen to every Thursday, called Improv 4 Humans. It’s a host (the creator of UCB theater) and three guests who rotate through every week. They take cues from listener suggestions via twitter and then create scenes out of the words on the spot. I think it’s brilliant– to be able to be that inventive and creative and coherent on the spot like that. And of course, it’s not just improved scenes for their sake, but it’s often extremely funny.

When I was in China I accidentally watched a video clip online of a TV show called “Whose Line is it Anyway”. Once I discovered it, I tried to find every episode I could, which over there took place entirely over p2p networks from around the world. Because of that, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen every episode of the show ever made. There’s something about watching something like that while in a very foreign place in which you’ve been living for years that amplifies the appeal, and the humor. I used to sit there, sometimes, alone in my little Chinese utilitarian hovel, laughing my dear ass off. Some of those episodes I’ve seen dozens of times.

I was over joyed to discover recently that they’ve been taping new episodes that will air this July. It looks like two superstars of the show, Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie, are both back, and also Wayne Brady. I’m not sure who the host is– I think Drew Carey hosts the Price is Right now.

I’m at home today, day off. It’s 12:30 and there’s a guy on the opposite stupe playing an accordion. Though I took the day off, I have to go to a meeting uptown that starts in exactly 30 minutes. I just got out of bed. Debating whether I can go dressed as I am, since it’s my day off, or whether I need to get all work-like for this.

I think I’ll risk it!

Have a great weekend.

OH, also, did you know that honey never goes bad? You can eat honey even after 3000 years. I like it so much more now.

It’s a perfect raining day, May 9, 2013, in NYC. It’s coming down straight, so an umbrella protects you just fine, and all you want to do is stand out there and listen to it. If you’re in a relatively green area, there’s a nice herbal cocktail waft. I’m lucky because my campus is very park-like. Especially now that the undergrads are done with finals. In about 2 weeks the place will be pristine.

Don’t breathe it too deeply, though. There’s plant cum everywhere: in the air, on the sidewalks, on the buildings. Is it weird that it makes me jealous? I see the appeal of shooting my DNA everywhere possible. How strange to realize at once both how ridiculously biological and how pornographic that is.

FOLKS!

Today is the day of Thor and it’s busy. I have writing to do, and in the afternoon I’ll be doing an live evaluation of something. Tonight I’m going to clean my place, eat lots of eggs, and sleep like a motherfucker. Training yesterday was excellent and I feel good, though I could use about 10 more hours, I bet, to get back to normal. My shins are nice and conditioned from the hard kicks, my quads and knees are solid and  strong, my back and shoulders seem infatigable. It’s so strange to think about being laid up with a broken back just 1.5 years ago. Yesterday I was deadlifting 585lbs for reps before swimming for 45 minutes, and then stretching in the sauna for a half-hour. Ahhhhhh.

I’ll post the latest regimin soon.

OK monkeys, out for now. Talk to you tomorrow.

Droopy day, and sorry there was no update yesterday. A bit overloaded with damage control. Someone else’s project. I tried to help create short notice remedies for what was suddenly a big and live problem. Turned out OK. Someone’s feelings are hurt and I ended up finishing the day trying to help them keep perspective on the whole thing. Just one of those things about mixed and poorly communicated expectations between a couple different groups. He could have done a better job framing things. They could have done a better job of following his thread. The tough part for him was all the work he poured into this thing– over a hundred hours, three straight weeks of work– and he ended up having to ditch more than half of it after getting some strongly worded feedback from the clients.

That was yesterday. He didn’t come into work today. I know what that’s like– to lose perspective– and it can be brutal. But dealing with it in tough situations is one of the most important skills. That’s how it is. I’m not great at it, especially in my outside life. The All Night Room is an example of what happens when perspective is lost.

I’m never that far from The Room.

The giant drone event I was trying to tell you guys about got a nice writeup in the New York Times– check it out, I think it echos just about everything I tried to explain to you.

“There’s an irreducible element of music that connects metal, industrial music, power electronics and classical minimalism, and no word exists for it. It involves deep pulsations; excited provocation through sound and concept more than traditional technique; low-end frequencies rarely encountered in life; long sustained tones enlarged through overdrive; or distortion or just force of hands on instruments.”

Agreed.

Can’t wait to train tonight, it’s been a couple days and I’m all thrown off. Also, my place is a mess. Haven’t had any time to clean up. Also my diet has been shit. And I’m underslept for a few consecutive days now. I was supposed to go out to meet someone tonight but I’ve canceled that in favor of training.

There’s a guy in my office right now who’s getting ready to repair the ceiling. I see him in the gym all the time. We both go in there to do what we have to. Out here our lives are different, but in there I think we’re the same. Training is a solitary event. You always train against yourself. Training isn’t a group activity, or a sport. It’s a belief, and it’s personal.

Catch you tomorrow.

Late update. Been one of those days. I smoked alot last night while trying to write an article. I was happy with the progress, but eventually I looked up and it was nearly 2a, so I’m a little out of it today. Have been faking my way through the day at work, despite a couple important meetings at which I showcased some recent progress on a couple of things. I feel bad because at 11p last night my aunt wrote asking if I could meet for breakfast today. She was suddenly in town for a college reunion thing and was actually staying just a couple blocks from where I work. But, the notice was too late, and the timing very bad. I feel bad, but also she really should have let me know she was in town this weekend if she really, truly wanted to meet.

Saturday night I went to a friend’s place for appetizers and fancies (I didn’t drink), and then the ten of us went to Gotham Comedy Club to watch some stand-up. It was my first time seeing a big name standup guy, and I must say it was very fun. The headliner was a huge black dude from MAD-TV named Aries Spears, and he was great. He stuck to race for at least half of the set, which was a little tired, but his jokes were so offensive and brutal that it was still funny.

I went through a period of life where I was obsessed with the “classic” standup artists. This would be Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Stephen Wright, Bill Cosby– people like that. I started downloading their complete discographies and putting them on my ipod and falling asleep to them at night, hoping to enter dreams smiling. My other strong association with those stand up recordings is the long bus ride I used to have to take from NYC to Toronto every other week. That’s a 13 hour trip, perfect for the 60g iPod from 2007, and I used to listen to standup most of the way, and back. Thing had like, 20 hours of battery life.

Stephen Wright and George Carlin are my two favorites of all time. My favorite line of Wright’s (whose whole routine is one liners and dark wordplays) is: “I wish my first word was “quote” so right before I die I could say “end quote.” 

Out of it today.

I’ve done work, and am still working. I have a Hollow Way jam with the sax player, but I’m just not in the mood. Might bail. 3 hours until that. I have two more things to write before 6. A 1.5 page update report on the agent model project, and a first draft of a longer article I was working on very late last night.

I trained hard yesterday and didn’t get the rest I needed so today my eyes are red and I look angry and dangerous. But I dressed nicely. I wonder if that counteracts or reinforces. It turns out people think I look good in white collar shirts. That would simply things, I could just where them all the time. I know the word is wear. But I’m too tired to change it. It’s easier to just keep typing.

Time for more coffee. Which also means time to be very careful of my white collar shirt.

Have a great start of the week.

So, my jam band tends to get drone-like. That’s mostly my doing. We all have different musical inclinations and desires, but when we’re in Hollow Way, no matter how fast or groovy we get, it’s inevitable that we’ll fall into drone at some point. It just feels good.

Drone is slow, and relies on tones, overtones and diads working together to create long, sustained sounds of various intensities based on what you’re trying to communicate. Drone as a musical artform is very old, of course. Think of Buddhist chants– that’s just drone. Monks would chant in drone together, and often in caves to maximize the soundscapes. You’ve all heard that before, no need to give an example.

Using guitars, it can sound something like this (though this isn’t a great recording or example):

Drone Metal is more complicated than this, of course, and mixes elements of what is usually the highly simplistic drone form with actual song structure and lyrics. One of the bands that really exemplifies drone metal is Sunn 0))), one of my favorites:

Two nights ago a friend who works for a black metal promotional series wrote asking if I’d go to this: http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/events/new-york-2013-drone-activity-in-progress. I’m glad he wrote because otherwise I wouldn’t have even known about it.

The creator of the Blackened Series was going to be there and wanted to meet to talk about possibly collaborating on some things. I grabbed my best guitar bud without knowing what to expect, and we went. I took today off of work.

I really knew nothing about the event beforehand– there could have been 50 people, or a 1000 or more. I didn’t know where it was, told only that a shuttle would pick us up from one of the further L-train stops.

The venue turned out to be here: http://www.knockdowncenter.com/ an old empty factory that has been turned into an art space. Massive interior. The way they had it set up for the drone/noise event was impressive on all levels. They created three stages in different wings, and had some of the largest sound rigs I’ve ever seen, video art installations everywhere. The shuttle bus, which turned out to be a luxury bus, went back and forth all night long and holy crap was turnout good.

I took this from the side of the center stage:

The person below is Mick Barr, the brains behind one of my favorite black metal bands, Krallice, doing a 30 minute drone solo. It was indescribably good.

Below is the legendary drone metal god,  Stephen O’Malley

One of the side rooms:

This shot reminds me of how Hollow Way looks these days.

They had brick over pizza all night long, serving probably about 5000 people.

I grabbed the shuttle back at around 2a and made it back home by 3:30.

Oh, the main pictures are already all up: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2013/05/drone_activity_1.html
The description of the event there is pretty good, and the comments are pretty accurate.

Part of the reason I was invited to go was to meet with the creator of the Blackened Series. He’s interested in collaborating on something. No idea what. He wanted to meet in person to see what I was like, so we just talked about music, my favorite Blackened events so far, etc. He said: “I’ve been running the Blackened Series completely by myself for the last 5 years. I’m ready to no longer do it alone.” He seems like a nice guy, though he’s definitely “in” the industry. The only one there wearing a white shirt. He’s the founder of Vice Records, and also used to run all those shitty electro-fucktard Scion events. But his favorite music is black metal, and the Blackened Series is an awesome side project. Since I’ve been on the mailing list, I’ve gone to just about every show announced. They’re doing it right, for sure.

Obviously I have no idea about what working with him would entail, and it’s probably not for me. But, I would be interested to collaborate somehow. We’ll see if he writes back after our intro session. Maybe I can get a legendary metal event up in Harlem somewhere– would be a first. I need to find a big empty church or something.

Anyway, I’m all slept up and ready to train so I better get out of here.

Hope you all have a great weekend doing your good stuff. Keep working hard at it and I will too. We’ll see what happens. All we can do is our best stuff, you know?

Later.

soonish. coffee needed. 1:28p, just woke up.