Thursday, July 1, 2004

30 minutes We are buying some time for "La Semana" on an airline entertainment channel, one of those in-flight music services. We will have 30 minutes, which will include around 5-7 minutes of interview. Give me your favorite songs from "La Semana"...we can probably use about 4-5 songs for this. I would like to include Carrousel and Cocteau, but am not sure about the other 2 or 3....   6:39:56 PM     ca. 1994 Photo by Flash Alexander. Check out the fog, the silly sweater...and I look freshly shaven...   6:22:24 PM     Spokane: Bigger Busses Thanks to Blues Traveler we were able to get back into the Metropolitan Theater in Spokane. Blues Traveler is playing at the "Big Easy" where we were originally scheduled to play. I prefer the Met, where we enjoyed playing last year. And yes, Blues Traveler have bigger and newer Prevost busses than we do, but they still don't get great milage. The bus industry has to change and soon. 6-11mpg Diesel is not enough. The bus industry is also still completely ignoring the rules of airflow and even the new buses are not very aerodynamic. Here is what I want: 1. Aerodynamic design that limits resistance. Put new bus designs in a windtunnel and make them as efficient as possible. 2. Hybrid design - similar to the Dutch Whisper busses I wrote about a little while ago. Another advantage of this design would be that the same diesel generator that is used to charge the electric motors when moving, can be used to power the bus when it is standing still: fridge, air-conditioning, espresso machine etc. 3. Solar panels on the roof that heat the water for the shower? 4. LCD screens instead of tube TVs! LCDs use less electricity and take up much less room. 5. Fast internet connection via satellite connection. I'd rather have reliable internet on the bus than 500 channels of TV...   6:22:07 PM     Corpse Flowers Upon flowering, the titan arum, or corpse flower, releases the stench of rotting flesh, in order to attract the flies it needs to pollinate it. One has been nurtured for the past ten years at the University of Connecticut's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Conservatory, and is about to open. Live. On the internet. Corpse Flower Cam. Fewer than two dozen have ever flowered in capitivity, and the flowering only lasts for a few days. The corpse flower is specifically adapted to attract carrion flies and beetles, which ferry pollen between plants so they can produce seed, a job accomplished for more ordinary plants by bees or butterflies. The colors of the corpse flower — a sickly yellow and blackish purple -- imitate a pot roast that sat out in the sun for a week. The fragrance is universally described as being powerful and revolting, with elements of old socks, dead fish and rotten vegetables. As if that isn't weird enough, the corpse flower is actually warm-blooded, heating itself up at the height of flowering, probably to help spread its putrid odor. All of this is totally irresistible to flies, who must think they've chanced upon a dead elephant, and are tricked into pollinating the plant. The seed from which the plant was grown was given to the university by the botanical explorer James Symon. [Ben Hammersley's Dangerous Precedent] The always interesting Ben Hammersley's on Corpse Flowers.   6:21:56 PM     PalmOne Launches Treo 666 [Gizmodo] It took me while and then I laughed so loud that the other customers in this cafe looked at me as if I was a madman.   1:46:32 PM     Take a Bow... Another photo by Eric.   1:30:47 PM     Welcome to the Future! (Almost.) Welcome one, welcome all to GeneticFuture.org. I've been musing and reading about genetics for the past few years, especially as it relates to ethics, medicine, and agriculture. I haven't been transformed into a "bio-luddite", nor have I become a transhumanist GMO-munching cheerleader for the wholesale appropriation and rejiggering of the animal and plant genomes around us... [Genetic Future Weblog] Canton on Genetics. Discover the middle way?   1:27:31 PM     New Album Campaign I like our new distributor, 33rd Street Records. Last week I met some of the guys in Sacramento before our soundcheck. All of them have many years of music biz experience, and one of them was at Epic 10 years ago. 33rd Street appear to work very transparently and nothing is done without my approval. The other day I authorized renting listening booths. Hey, you didn’t think that listening booths are there to introduce you to music the record store thinks is cool, did you? No, they cost a lot of money. A record store is a highly evolved place. Every inch of a record store makes money: placement of the album, “end-capping”, posters, listening booths - everything has a price that is paid by the record label and the artist. I am working on the “La Semana” campaign with 33rd Street: the advertising, the PR etc...and today I rejected an internet marketing campaign, because it is simply not me. It is standard practice in the industry to hire guys to enter chat-rooms of a number of “similar artists” to chat up people there and specifically to mention that a new album by this or that band has just come out and is great. First of all - what similar artists would we pick? Second of all - I think this has happened several times on my own web site and since I think it is wrong, I can’t possibly turn around and do it to other artists. I think it is one thing when fans do that sort of thing, but quite another to pay somebody go to a web site and pose as a fan just feels wrong to me... that’s why I will never hit the big time, eh? But I sleep great at night!   1:23:35 PM     Portland Last Night What a great night. The Crystal Ballroom sounds beautiful and the audience is fantastic. This quartet keeps getting better. Jon and I have worked with Ron Wagner since 1996 and I have never seen him smile as much as he does now when he plays with Robby Rothschild. They do this wonderful drum thing towards the end of "Carrousel", and I can't figure out how they end it together. I asked Robby and he says they don't have a signal...he just hears when Ron ends the cycle...amazing. Jon was doing some beautiful stuff on the bass as well. He has been practicing several hours a day lately...Tonight it was a real privilege to play with this band...   12:58:25 PM     Laptop Interesting - it seems my trouble with my PowerBook was the result of a bad battery...   12:52:37 PM     Band on Fire @ the Mountain Winery Eric came to our performance at the Mountain Winery and promised me to sneak a camera in. Here is one of his photos taken with a Treo. Thanks Eric..   12:51:27 PM     Emergency Diary I have added a new link on the right: an Emergency Diary which I can access even when my computer is down   12:46:38 PM     EFF Publishes Patent Hit List The Electronic Frontier Foundation is spoiling for a fight, and on Wednesday it named the top 10 patents it wants killed, or at least redefined. The EFF said all 10 patents are in some way illegitimate and are being used to limit free expression. [Wired News] And up and number two we find.... Thanks Canton   12:42:27 PM

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