jonvanoss
Friday, April 30, 2004
3 for 1
Got 3 songs finished last night. 2 were works in progress and 1 was completely new. It's a nice slow jazzy shuffle with some trumpet. I couldn't be happier about how it turned out. It's always great to get excited at your own work. So 2 more slow piano songs, and one more rocker. Not too shabby for one night of work... although I should say that some mixing still needs to be done. I hate mixing.
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Thursday, April 29, 2004
Past
Tonight I'm going to try to write some music. That song I mentioned in the previous blog needs some finishing up, and tonight's as good as any time to get that figured out. There's a lot to be figured out.
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End.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
The Hard Love Attitude
Pulled out a few CD's last night that I hadn't heard in a while. Most notably, 'The Man Who' by Travis. Great album. I hadn't listened to it in months and it sounded really super. Wrote a short 3 minute song last night. It's melancholy and introspective and probably no good... But I like it. Just need to add some other instruments. I'm thinking melotron and bass. No synth stuff. It wouldn't fit. No drums either.
Got one of the ugly movies I bought on eBay yesterday, and upon viewing a half hour of it, it's quite ugly, violent, and fairly pornographic. I knew that going into the deal, though. Somehow I thought it would be more meaningful... But it wasn't. At least not what I saw. I will watch the rest, though.
Digital Video, if shot well, is a wonderful medium for art, but this particular movie made poor use of that format. It's grainy and seems to have been shot by an amateur. There will be those who argue that style adds to the urgency of the film, but I find it a distraction.
It's been a very long time since I've even turned on my video camera... And this movie didn't really make me want to.
End.
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Got one of the ugly movies I bought on eBay yesterday, and upon viewing a half hour of it, it's quite ugly, violent, and fairly pornographic. I knew that going into the deal, though. Somehow I thought it would be more meaningful... But it wasn't. At least not what I saw. I will watch the rest, though.
Digital Video, if shot well, is a wonderful medium for art, but this particular movie made poor use of that format. It's grainy and seems to have been shot by an amateur. There will be those who argue that style adds to the urgency of the film, but I find it a distraction.
It's been a very long time since I've even turned on my video camera... And this movie didn't really make me want to.
End.
Friday, April 23, 2004
You've got a lot of nerve coming here, eBay
Lately I've been so busy with work that I don't have time to go to Best Buy or Circuit City and look for DVDs I don't need. Luckily, eBay takes care of that problem. In the past 2 days, I've bought 4 DVDs on there. I don't know if that was the right monetary decision to make, but I'm looking forward to all of them showing up in my mailbox. Salo, Intimacy, Baise Moi, and 2 David Bowie concert DVDs should be coming within a week's time. I can't wait...
The first 3 are fairly over the top films, but I've always been fascinated with that type of art. Pink Flamingos had a huge effect on me when I saw it. The fact that it had actually been produced was awesome to me. That's a type of art I've never tried to emulate because it's really not who I am. I don't really care about shocking people. But I love to be shocked.
The hard rock songs are progressing nicely. I have 3 now. Two have lyrics and one is waiting for them. The latest two incorporate more synths. The first is an ode to Lou Reed's 70's years. The latest two are more of my voice, and I think that's a good thing, even though the first song is far superior to both of the newer ones. I'm still finding my hard rock voice, and sometimes it cracks a little bit. But that's normal for puberty.
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The first 3 are fairly over the top films, but I've always been fascinated with that type of art. Pink Flamingos had a huge effect on me when I saw it. The fact that it had actually been produced was awesome to me. That's a type of art I've never tried to emulate because it's really not who I am. I don't really care about shocking people. But I love to be shocked.
The hard rock songs are progressing nicely. I have 3 now. Two have lyrics and one is waiting for them. The latest two incorporate more synths. The first is an ode to Lou Reed's 70's years. The latest two are more of my voice, and I think that's a good thing, even though the first song is far superior to both of the newer ones. I'm still finding my hard rock voice, and sometimes it cracks a little bit. But that's normal for puberty.
End.
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Salo
Wrote a couple hard rock songs this weekend. One has lyrics, and one doesn't yet. I think they're both pretty good insofar as they're both departures from my normal style. Detroit just keeps haunting me. I love that town. I've been watching a lot of The Simpsons lately. Older episodes from better seasons than the current few. I went looking around on eBay, and some joker on there is selling every episode up to season 15 for 65 dollars. Here's the catch: he sends it to you on a CD-ROM in RealPlayer format. Now I don't know about you, but I'm not all about sitting at my computer to watch some small grainy piece of video that someone probably ripped off a VHS recorded in EP mode. I emailed this guy for details and he went into a lengthy response about the cost of him producing this high quality CD-ROM. Jerk.
I did, however, make a purchase today. While I was in film school, I had the fortune of taking an Italian Cinema class that was taught by one of my two favorite professors, Angelo Restivo. This guy was brilliant. One of the first films he showed us was called Accatone, by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Pasolini became my favorite Italian director (Sergio Leone is a close second). Restivo mentioned in class that Pasolini's last film was reputed to be the most disgusting film ever made, but was something we should all see. Naturally, I was intrigued by this and immediately went down to the school's film library with a couple friends. After watching it, all I could say was that it's reputation was fairly accurate. Until now, my only copy of this film was a copy of a VHS rental. But today I bought a DVD of it on eBay. I'm sure that the quality isn't great, because it's been out of print forever and I know this is a bootleg. The real DVDs routinely go for over 500 dollars on eBay. Ridiculous. So anyway, we'll see how the deal goes. It was only 15 bucks. I can handle that.
End.
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I did, however, make a purchase today. While I was in film school, I had the fortune of taking an Italian Cinema class that was taught by one of my two favorite professors, Angelo Restivo. This guy was brilliant. One of the first films he showed us was called Accatone, by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Pasolini became my favorite Italian director (Sergio Leone is a close second). Restivo mentioned in class that Pasolini's last film was reputed to be the most disgusting film ever made, but was something we should all see. Naturally, I was intrigued by this and immediately went down to the school's film library with a couple friends. After watching it, all I could say was that it's reputation was fairly accurate. Until now, my only copy of this film was a copy of a VHS rental. But today I bought a DVD of it on eBay. I'm sure that the quality isn't great, because it's been out of print forever and I know this is a bootleg. The real DVDs routinely go for over 500 dollars on eBay. Ridiculous. So anyway, we'll see how the deal goes. It was only 15 bucks. I can handle that.
End.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
One for the Vine
I'm going to talk about music now... I'm listening to an old Genesis album from 1976 called Wind and Wuthering. This was their second album after Peter Gabriel left the band and I think it may be one of their finest post-Gabriel works (ABACAB not withstanding). In particular, the song One for the Vine which is a 10 minute opus which has a circular narrative. Think about that... Genesis uses a lot of keyboards in their work, but never obtrusively. Their guitar sound is also quite unobtrusive, meaning that they're essentially all blending together is one beautiful progressive masterpiece. Modern day examples of groups that have this good of a blending are Interpol, The Strokes, and Grandaddy.
David Bowie is obviously my biggest influence. Everyone that has heard my music says that before anything else... Let me tell you about how I got into David Bowie... I was a sophomore in high school and had just gotten my license. I was driving a Chevrolet Citation. Crystal Blue. Beautiful ride (and ironically the only car that I never had to get worked on). It cost $250 dollars... Anyway, a couple friends and I cruised to the local used CD store in it and were browsing around. I happened upon a CD by Bowie called 'Outside' which was from 1995 and was the first of two techno albums that Bowie put out, although 'Outside' was more of a concept album with a techno/trance flavor. Until then, I had only heard the obvious Bowie hits (Space Oddity, Changes, Ziggy Stardust, Let's Dance, etc.) and didn't know much about the man. One friend told me I probably wouldn't like it, but I bought it anyway. I listened to a couple tracks and kind of discarded it. Later that year, my family took a vacation to Florida, and while at Disney World (Pleasure Island to be exact) I heard 'Changes' piped over the outdoor sound system. That one song completely renewed my interest in Bowie and the next day I located a copy of ChangesBowie which is somewhat of a greatest hits package covering Space Oddity to Modern Love. Much to my luck the inside booklet contained descriptions of all of his back-catalog reissues including brief descriptions of the albums. Suffice it to say after purchasing a couple on the booklets recommendation I was hooked on the man and still am. I can think of no one more talented than he. In all seriousness, just think about he had his first hit in 1969 and is still relevant today in 2004, putting out critically acclaimed new music and having a very highly rated worldwide tour. I mean it... If you don't like David Bowie, something is wrong with you. Plain and simple.
That said, here are a few promised music tracks of my own. I don't know if you'll hear the Bowie influence, but maybe you'll hear something else, i.e. Grandaddy, Ben Folds, Rufus Wainwright... Let me know what you think...
On a side note, these are mp3's encoded at 96Kbps (slightly lower quality than normal). This is mostly to save bandwidth (although the arrogant side of me says it's also to prevent people from widely distributing it as their own (although if you like it, send it along to your friends)).
The first one is called Autumn. It's about my desire to leave Holland and go to NYC. It was written about 6 months ago, give or take...
These next two are from an hour long piece that I'm 40 minutes into called Odds & Arps. The concept came out of a bunch of little snippets I had in my head. My plan was to string each snipped together with some arpeggiated segues. This worked with mixed results. These 2 are from my latest recording session. The first one is only about 20 seconds and I don't have a title for it, so we'll call it Untitled. The other one is lacking drums due to my drum machine breaking (see previous blog). It is called Major 7th because it makes use of the dreamy major 7th chord, in this case a C major 7th chord. Hope you like them. Post comments below.
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David Bowie is obviously my biggest influence. Everyone that has heard my music says that before anything else... Let me tell you about how I got into David Bowie... I was a sophomore in high school and had just gotten my license. I was driving a Chevrolet Citation. Crystal Blue. Beautiful ride (and ironically the only car that I never had to get worked on). It cost $250 dollars... Anyway, a couple friends and I cruised to the local used CD store in it and were browsing around. I happened upon a CD by Bowie called 'Outside' which was from 1995 and was the first of two techno albums that Bowie put out, although 'Outside' was more of a concept album with a techno/trance flavor. Until then, I had only heard the obvious Bowie hits (Space Oddity, Changes, Ziggy Stardust, Let's Dance, etc.) and didn't know much about the man. One friend told me I probably wouldn't like it, but I bought it anyway. I listened to a couple tracks and kind of discarded it. Later that year, my family took a vacation to Florida, and while at Disney World (Pleasure Island to be exact) I heard 'Changes' piped over the outdoor sound system. That one song completely renewed my interest in Bowie and the next day I located a copy of ChangesBowie which is somewhat of a greatest hits package covering Space Oddity to Modern Love. Much to my luck the inside booklet contained descriptions of all of his back-catalog reissues including brief descriptions of the albums. Suffice it to say after purchasing a couple on the booklets recommendation I was hooked on the man and still am. I can think of no one more talented than he. In all seriousness, just think about he had his first hit in 1969 and is still relevant today in 2004, putting out critically acclaimed new music and having a very highly rated worldwide tour. I mean it... If you don't like David Bowie, something is wrong with you. Plain and simple.
That said, here are a few promised music tracks of my own. I don't know if you'll hear the Bowie influence, but maybe you'll hear something else, i.e. Grandaddy, Ben Folds, Rufus Wainwright... Let me know what you think...
On a side note, these are mp3's encoded at 96Kbps (slightly lower quality than normal). This is mostly to save bandwidth (although the arrogant side of me says it's also to prevent people from widely distributing it as their own (although if you like it, send it along to your friends)).
The first one is called Autumn. It's about my desire to leave Holland and go to NYC. It was written about 6 months ago, give or take...
These next two are from an hour long piece that I'm 40 minutes into called Odds & Arps. The concept came out of a bunch of little snippets I had in my head. My plan was to string each snipped together with some arpeggiated segues. This worked with mixed results. These 2 are from my latest recording session. The first one is only about 20 seconds and I don't have a title for it, so we'll call it Untitled. The other one is lacking drums due to my drum machine breaking (see previous blog). It is called Major 7th because it makes use of the dreamy major 7th chord, in this case a C major 7th chord. Hope you like them. Post comments below.
End.
I didn't even hand you my coat!
Added a couple new graphics. Blah blah blah. A banner with my face on it multiple times, and also a new link to www.jonvanoss.com on the side. Click on the logo to go there... I hope tonight to add some music. Keep your fingers crossed.
This week I'm swamped with work. Probably 60 hours before the week is done. But I'm encouraged because my biggest event went off without a hitch. The only thing about weeks like this that really bugs me is that I can't write as much music...
Lately this awful feeling of semi-contentedness has settled over me, or rather slimed its way onto me. This semi-contented feeling isn't right because I am not satisfied living in this town. I've wanted to be in New York City for years now... But the money just isn't there, and I don't have the chutzpah to just get up and go. Sooner or later, I keep telling myself.
I find also that I have a very low thresh-hold for tolerating things that really make me mad. I had lunch with my sister today and there was a Hope College girl sitting near us who carried herself in such a way as to suggest that she was better than everyone in the room. People who have that ability make me jealous, but also just plain bug me. I made a point to ask my sister if she knew this girl and made no secret of the fact that I was talking about her and pointing at her. Oh, and she noticed but didn't have much reaction... Maybe she really is better than everything else. At any rate, it was a pleasant lunch save for that one annoyance.
Two nights ago I tried to fix my broken drum machine. I started by unscrewing and opening it up to look at the circuitry inside. Satisfied that nothing looked out of the ordinary, I blew on it and poked at a few things with a screwdriver. Still no luck. Slamming it on the floor also changed nothing. Neither did stomping on it. I don't think either of those violent action made things worse, but they didn't make things better. The moral of the story is that violence doesn't solve problems... And I need to a get a new drum machine...
End.
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This week I'm swamped with work. Probably 60 hours before the week is done. But I'm encouraged because my biggest event went off without a hitch. The only thing about weeks like this that really bugs me is that I can't write as much music...
Lately this awful feeling of semi-contentedness has settled over me, or rather slimed its way onto me. This semi-contented feeling isn't right because I am not satisfied living in this town. I've wanted to be in New York City for years now... But the money just isn't there, and I don't have the chutzpah to just get up and go. Sooner or later, I keep telling myself.
I find also that I have a very low thresh-hold for tolerating things that really make me mad. I had lunch with my sister today and there was a Hope College girl sitting near us who carried herself in such a way as to suggest that she was better than everyone in the room. People who have that ability make me jealous, but also just plain bug me. I made a point to ask my sister if she knew this girl and made no secret of the fact that I was talking about her and pointing at her. Oh, and she noticed but didn't have much reaction... Maybe she really is better than everything else. At any rate, it was a pleasant lunch save for that one annoyance.
Two nights ago I tried to fix my broken drum machine. I started by unscrewing and opening it up to look at the circuitry inside. Satisfied that nothing looked out of the ordinary, I blew on it and poked at a few things with a screwdriver. Still no luck. Slamming it on the floor also changed nothing. Neither did stomping on it. I don't think either of those violent action made things worse, but they didn't make things better. The moral of the story is that violence doesn't solve problems... And I need to a get a new drum machine...
End.
Sunday, April 11, 2004
Calzones, Pancakes, and French Toast
Saw Starsky & Hutch this weekend. I hadn't planned to see it (maybe give it a rental) but it was a convenient time and that was that. I give it 2 stars out of 4. And that's a generous grade. I knew that was how I'd feel about it which is partly why I didn't want to see it in the first place. Some parts were genuinely hilarious, while others fell so flat that I was embarrassed for the people involved in the film. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is by far the best movie I've ever seen lately.
Right now the television is telling me that I don't need a great job to drive a great car. The great car they're talking about is a Dodge Neon. I agree that you don't need a great job to drive that car...
Anyway, the weekend is almost over. Actually my weekend is officially over after The Sopranos and Deadwood end at 11. Then I'm depressed.
This blog was extremely mundane. Apologies. I'll try really hard to post a few A/V things this week, but no promises. Work is going to be busy. Real busy.
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Right now the television is telling me that I don't need a great job to drive a great car. The great car they're talking about is a Dodge Neon. I agree that you don't need a great job to drive that car...
Anyway, the weekend is almost over. Actually my weekend is officially over after The Sopranos and Deadwood end at 11. Then I'm depressed.
This blog was extremely mundane. Apologies. I'll try really hard to post a few A/V things this week, but no promises. Work is going to be busy. Real busy.
End.
Friday, April 09, 2004
Bizarre Dream
Last night I had some of the most vivid and weird dreams I've ever had. I'll write about one of them, because it's just too good to let go, and if I don't get it down within a few minutes, I'll have forgotten more of it... First, a word about my political views. I would label myself fairly far to the left. That said, Bush and I have nothing in common and it would be fair to say that I'm not happy with him. That said, here we go:
For some reason, I was in a bar with George W. Bush and we both had beers and we were sitting in a booth talking. All he was talking about was how much he loved beer and how the one he was currently drinking was his favorite. I asked for a taste and he obliged and it was a pretty good beer. At that moment, I could see why so many people like the guy. He's kind of like the old man down the street who's fun to hang out with. But at the same time I was thinking that this man seemed nice, but had no business running the country. He was also fairly intoxicated and kept rambling about how normally he'd have secret service with him, but not here because this place was safe (I don't know if he meant the bar or my subconscious, though if he did mean the latter, it would make my dream way more deep).
At this point, George W. excused himself to go to the bathroom and somewhere in that interim, one of my friends showed up (I've already forgotten which one). We sat and talked and after a while, I noticed that GW was taking quite a while. Just as we noticed this, a cop walked in and pulled out his gun in front of the bathroom door. He cautiously went through and we saw him react strongly to something inside. My first though was that Bush was vomiting his load back up, but this was not the case. The policeman dragged one and then another drunk female out of the restroom. Why they were in there I have no idea. All I know is that it was a men's room.
A minute later, George cheerfully strode out of the restroom and I patted him on the back, relieved that he wasn't sick. Just then, two more people emerged from the bathroom: my mother and father. Before I had time to even think about why they would both be in a men's room in a bar (neither of my parents ever drink) 2 more people I knew showed up: the parents of a friend of mine (who also happen to be friends of my parents (and yes, I realize this is getting confusing)). A bit bewildered, I sat back down and all these people joined us. President Bush got up and said that the next round was on him, and we were all very excited.
At this point, the dream segued into another less interesting one, so I'll stop there. But what a weird dream to have. I know why I had it, though... Yesterday I had taken an online survey which consisted of maybe 15 questions about political views. After you answered each one (they were in multiple choice format), you were given a list of each candidate and how their views matched yours. My top match was Ralph Nader which didn't surprise me. If Nader had been an actual contender in the last election I would have voted for him, but every intelligent person knew that a vote for Nader was a vote for Bush. I lived in Ann Arbor at that time, and it was humorously paradoxical to listen to all of the Nader supporters complain about Bush. My second match was Kucinich, third was Al Sharpton, Fourth was John Kerry, and last, with only one match (that being social security), was George W. Bush. Suffice it to say, I'm voting for Kerry (but I had planned on that way before I took the survey).
I don't have the link for this anymore, so if someone who does reads this, post it in the comments section.
So that's political blog for the month, and hopefully for longer than that. I don't especially care to wax philosophic on politics around Holland. Hardly anyone shares my views, and there's no arguing with a Republican.
End.
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For some reason, I was in a bar with George W. Bush and we both had beers and we were sitting in a booth talking. All he was talking about was how much he loved beer and how the one he was currently drinking was his favorite. I asked for a taste and he obliged and it was a pretty good beer. At that moment, I could see why so many people like the guy. He's kind of like the old man down the street who's fun to hang out with. But at the same time I was thinking that this man seemed nice, but had no business running the country. He was also fairly intoxicated and kept rambling about how normally he'd have secret service with him, but not here because this place was safe (I don't know if he meant the bar or my subconscious, though if he did mean the latter, it would make my dream way more deep).
At this point, George W. excused himself to go to the bathroom and somewhere in that interim, one of my friends showed up (I've already forgotten which one). We sat and talked and after a while, I noticed that GW was taking quite a while. Just as we noticed this, a cop walked in and pulled out his gun in front of the bathroom door. He cautiously went through and we saw him react strongly to something inside. My first though was that Bush was vomiting his load back up, but this was not the case. The policeman dragged one and then another drunk female out of the restroom. Why they were in there I have no idea. All I know is that it was a men's room.
A minute later, George cheerfully strode out of the restroom and I patted him on the back, relieved that he wasn't sick. Just then, two more people emerged from the bathroom: my mother and father. Before I had time to even think about why they would both be in a men's room in a bar (neither of my parents ever drink) 2 more people I knew showed up: the parents of a friend of mine (who also happen to be friends of my parents (and yes, I realize this is getting confusing)). A bit bewildered, I sat back down and all these people joined us. President Bush got up and said that the next round was on him, and we were all very excited.
At this point, the dream segued into another less interesting one, so I'll stop there. But what a weird dream to have. I know why I had it, though... Yesterday I had taken an online survey which consisted of maybe 15 questions about political views. After you answered each one (they were in multiple choice format), you were given a list of each candidate and how their views matched yours. My top match was Ralph Nader which didn't surprise me. If Nader had been an actual contender in the last election I would have voted for him, but every intelligent person knew that a vote for Nader was a vote for Bush. I lived in Ann Arbor at that time, and it was humorously paradoxical to listen to all of the Nader supporters complain about Bush. My second match was Kucinich, third was Al Sharpton, Fourth was John Kerry, and last, with only one match (that being social security), was George W. Bush. Suffice it to say, I'm voting for Kerry (but I had planned on that way before I took the survey).
I don't have the link for this anymore, so if someone who does reads this, post it in the comments section.
So that's political blog for the month, and hopefully for longer than that. I don't especially care to wax philosophic on politics around Holland. Hardly anyone shares my views, and there's no arguing with a Republican.
End.
Jazzercise
Went and saw some jazz tonight at a local establishment. Here are my thoughts on jazz. I like it live (with the exception of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew album), and I don't like it predictable (big band stuff). My sisters' boyfriend sat in on Soprano Sax for one song, and man, the guy can play like you wouldn't believe. It amazes me that Holland has so much talent.
The venue of the evening was far less than desirable, however. A complete poser joint. If anybody reading knows the place I'm talking about, I hope you know where I'm coming from. It's the only place in town that has jazz... The service sucks, and the yuppies drive me crazy... On a side note, I did see something really cool there tonight: A lady brought in her 2 kids to watch the jazz. When they got there, she had them toast her. It was cool. They were each no older than 8. Very inspiring. Parents exposing their children to music is very important.
So that was my evening. All in all, not too bad, but not too satisfying.
This is a blank formatted diskette.
End.
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The venue of the evening was far less than desirable, however. A complete poser joint. If anybody reading knows the place I'm talking about, I hope you know where I'm coming from. It's the only place in town that has jazz... The service sucks, and the yuppies drive me crazy... On a side note, I did see something really cool there tonight: A lady brought in her 2 kids to watch the jazz. When they got there, she had them toast her. It was cool. They were each no older than 8. Very inspiring. Parents exposing their children to music is very important.
So that was my evening. All in all, not too bad, but not too satisfying.
This is a blank formatted diskette.
End.
Thursday, April 08, 2004
Mice & Intelligent Lighting
Yesterday I got to work and had left a cup o' noodles sitting on my desk (sealed, I might add) and a mouse had somehow gotten onto my desk and chewed a hole right through the styrofoam and had eaten some of the vegetables on top and defecated on my desk. I am convinced that mice are as smart as we are... I mean, the desk it 50 times the mouse's height, and somehow it got up there. Also, mice can't read, and out of everything on my desk, it somehow knew that there was food inside of a sealed styrofoam cup. Amazing. At least it didn't get into the bag of coffee sitting next to the cup o' noodles. Genesis wrote a good song about a mouse...
If anyone who reads this has ever had the pleasure of dealing with Intelligent Lighting, I hope you'll agree that it's about the most overly complicated process in the world to program these things. Now I've got to change one of the bulbs. I can only imagine what that will entail. Instructions are printing as I type this. Excitement abounds...
End.
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If anyone who reads this has ever had the pleasure of dealing with Intelligent Lighting, I hope you'll agree that it's about the most overly complicated process in the world to program these things. Now I've got to change one of the bulbs. I can only imagine what that will entail. Instructions are printing as I type this. Excitement abounds...
End.
Gear Crash
Had 2 pieces of gear crash on me today. They were the oldest 2 instruments I own, but they were also the ones I'd used the least. The Mirage worked for 5 minutes and then crashed and won't turn on anymore. Maybe it's a fuse... And my Alesis drum machine will now turn on, but not actually do anything. Ridiculous. I don't care about the Mirage because I can emulate everything on other equipment, but the drum machine was an asset... and now it's nothing. Maybe I can fix it via Midi. Frustrating, nonetheless.
At any rate, I'm now 12 minutes in the new piece I've been working on. Feels good to be writing steadily again. After this week it just won't be possible so I'm using all my free time.
Check out the Detroit Blog if you're not busy. It's the best thing I've seen recently.
The New York skyline brings me down...
I'm not trying to impress anyone, least of all those who hide behind anonymity.
End.
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At any rate, I'm now 12 minutes in the new piece I've been working on. Feels good to be writing steadily again. After this week it just won't be possible so I'm using all my free time.
Check out the Detroit Blog if you're not busy. It's the best thing I've seen recently.
The New York skyline brings me down...
I'm not trying to impress anyone, least of all those who hide behind anonymity.
End.
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Wireless
Finally got a wireless router today, so I can post from anywhere in my condo. Lovely. Wrote a little more music tonight. Mostly expanding on the previous ideas, but nearing a completion of sorts. I've been thinking a lot about films lately. Last night I popped in a few different ones. Cronenberg, Godard, Lynch, Kubrick, and Stone. All geniuses in their own areas. Man, there's nothing like watching a good movie... Especially when you've got half a load on.
Sooner than later should find a couple photos on here. Blogs should start small and then grow, so you can't have everything right away. For now, I'll start with a list of equipment I use for music writing:
1. E-MU: Vintage Keys
2. Korg: MicroKorg
3. Ensoniq: Fizmo
4. Ensoniq: Mirage
5. Korg: DS-8
6. Alesis: HR-16 (drum machine)
All of these components total less than 1600 dollars. I record into a PC through the audio in jack built into the motherboard. I use a simple multi-tracking program called Acoustica MP3 Mixer (a program that has nothing other than multi-tracking capabilities, panning, and rate). That's it. I have to say that I think everything turns out pretty well for the cost. Check out Blondes of Holland. That song uses only the E-MU and the MicroKorg... Not bad, if I do say so myself.
If anyone is checking this out, post some comments on the music... My cat is purring and walking on me, so I'll go.
End.
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Sooner than later should find a couple photos on here. Blogs should start small and then grow, so you can't have everything right away. For now, I'll start with a list of equipment I use for music writing:
1. E-MU: Vintage Keys
2. Korg: MicroKorg
3. Ensoniq: Fizmo
4. Ensoniq: Mirage
5. Korg: DS-8
6. Alesis: HR-16 (drum machine)
All of these components total less than 1600 dollars. I record into a PC through the audio in jack built into the motherboard. I use a simple multi-tracking program called Acoustica MP3 Mixer (a program that has nothing other than multi-tracking capabilities, panning, and rate). That's it. I have to say that I think everything turns out pretty well for the cost. Check out Blondes of Holland. That song uses only the E-MU and the MicroKorg... Not bad, if I do say so myself.
If anyone is checking this out, post some comments on the music... My cat is purring and walking on me, so I'll go.
End.
NYPD Tuesday
Got to work a half hour later than I wanted to. Too much and too little contributed to that. Last night I wrote about 4 minutes of music, and out of that came three chords that I think sound fantastic with the instrumentation I used.
NYPD Blue is on tonight; it's one of very few shows I can stand. If anyone who hasn't seen Arrested Development (the show, not the group (but who remembers them anyway?)) reads this, please watch it (Sundays at 9:30pm on FOX). I hate to go off on a tangent, but it's the funniest show on television right now and it's something like 105th out of 157 shows in terms of ratings. This is something that happens all the time. When I was a kid, there was a show called The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. I think it may have lasted for about one season and was gone. Easily the best show I saw growing up. I remember my parents telling me that it was getting good reviews, but it was on Saturday nights so I shouldn't hold out hope for it lasting too long. Being a child, I knew nothing about the logistics of scheduling... But scheduling played a big part in Boston Public getting cancelled. This is the most recent example of a good show getting cancelled because it was pushed to Friday night when no one will watch it. It used to be on Mondays at 9. The reason it got re-scheduled: Reality Shows. Now, I'm not going to even get started on Reality Television other than to say this: It's lazy. Think about it... No one has to actually write a script or direct actors. All it takes is a concept, some camera people, a decent editor, and someone who can write extremely cheesy music to accompany the debacle. It's fast-food culture at its finest, and I have yet to jump on that bandwagon.
Anyway, sorry about that, but it hits a nerve. Agree? Disagree? Post a comment...
Later in the month I hope to post links to some music I've written.
End.
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NYPD Blue is on tonight; it's one of very few shows I can stand. If anyone who hasn't seen Arrested Development (the show, not the group (but who remembers them anyway?)) reads this, please watch it (Sundays at 9:30pm on FOX). I hate to go off on a tangent, but it's the funniest show on television right now and it's something like 105th out of 157 shows in terms of ratings. This is something that happens all the time. When I was a kid, there was a show called The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. I think it may have lasted for about one season and was gone. Easily the best show I saw growing up. I remember my parents telling me that it was getting good reviews, but it was on Saturday nights so I shouldn't hold out hope for it lasting too long. Being a child, I knew nothing about the logistics of scheduling... But scheduling played a big part in Boston Public getting cancelled. This is the most recent example of a good show getting cancelled because it was pushed to Friday night when no one will watch it. It used to be on Mondays at 9. The reason it got re-scheduled: Reality Shows. Now, I'm not going to even get started on Reality Television other than to say this: It's lazy. Think about it... No one has to actually write a script or direct actors. All it takes is a concept, some camera people, a decent editor, and someone who can write extremely cheesy music to accompany the debacle. It's fast-food culture at its finest, and I have yet to jump on that bandwagon.
Anyway, sorry about that, but it hits a nerve. Agree? Disagree? Post a comment...
Later in the month I hope to post links to some music I've written.
End.
Monday, April 05, 2004
The Beginning
Hello and welcome!
The last thing I want this to come off as is heady and pretentious, and as such, my apologies if that sense is conveyed to you. My name is Jon Van Oss and I live in Holland, MI. This is the first of many posts that I hope to make. First, a bit about myself: I grew up in Zeeland, graduated from U of M, and now live back in Holland where I struggle to get by and write a lot of music. www.jonvanoss.com has one of my songs on it and is maintained by my good friend Ryan (who also runs www.motorcityrocks.com - the best website on Detroit rock music ever). In the coming months, I hope to share some photography, general anecdotes, and some of my thoughts on this town...
Thanks for reading!
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The last thing I want this to come off as is heady and pretentious, and as such, my apologies if that sense is conveyed to you. My name is Jon Van Oss and I live in Holland, MI. This is the first of many posts that I hope to make. First, a bit about myself: I grew up in Zeeland, graduated from U of M, and now live back in Holland where I struggle to get by and write a lot of music. www.jonvanoss.com has one of my songs on it and is maintained by my good friend Ryan (who also runs www.motorcityrocks.com - the best website on Detroit rock music ever). In the coming months, I hope to share some photography, general anecdotes, and some of my thoughts on this town...
Thanks for reading!
