Steam Powered Studio

2011-03-29T12:43:00.000-04:00

Our Snoozing Press Awakens!

Suddenly using military force to defend vaguely defined "American Interests" isn't good enough for 'em? Where have these watchdogs been hiding for the past ten years?
The American press is united (along with the Republican party) in their criticism of this latest escapade. It's almost as if some memo went out!
Reality seems quite different from where I'm standing. Juan Cole has a good take on Obama's position here.

2011-03-22T09:19:00.000-04:00

Here's the laugh out loud and slap the table quote of the day...

"Congressman Roscoe Bartlett, a Republican on the House armed services committee, was among members who argued that military action in Libya was unconstitutional. He told the Hill magazine: "The United States does not have a King's army. President Obama's unilateral choice to use US military force in Libya is an affront to our constitution.""

The list of military actions which have been heartily applauded by our fearless leaders in congress is a long list indeed. How many "unconstitutional" military actions can you name?

2011-01-30T20:19:00.000-05:00

Big sponsorship drive underway, now till Groundhog Day.

Support the studio and get all the songs we can make for $20/year.

find out more- write to steampowered@yahoo.com

2011-01-10T07:51:00.000-05:00

A minor revelation: when people complain that you can't believe what you read on the net, it's not because there isn't factual information on the net, it's because they're not seeking factual information- it's because they're seeking authority.

There is a difference. Suppose I want to know how many tons of coal are mined in this country every year. I'm certain I could find that information on the net. Not only that, I could find some cross-references and I could verify the information, or possibly learn that nobody can say exactly how much coal is mined.

In the end, I would have satisfied myself on this point, and I would understand how I got there.

A person seeking authority doesn't care about all of that- they just want "a fact". They want the national association of coal producer's statement of fact, or something like it.

And so, if they can't be sure they have got hold of the authority on the subject, they will doubt the facts.

2010-12-09T07:48:00.001-05:00

Plausible Deniability

One of my favorite phrases has gone missing! No one has mentioned the real result of these State Department memos being released- it eliminates the possibility of denial.

The truth of the substance of these memos can be seen in the vigorousness of the push-back. They really hate being able to deny the actions that we all knew they were doing (wink wink).

What surprises me is how readily some folks identify with the state. As if the state were some honest broker who had been done wrong by this scoundrel.

We have to stop being led around by the official propaganda like this. It gets us killed.

2010-12-06T21:58:00.002-05:00

Any comments about Pay Pal and the WikiLeaks deal?

2010-11-29T06:24:00.000-05:00

That American twist.
I watched a classic old movie last night- No Orchids for Miss Blandish. The 1948 British version.
It's a very bad movie in many ways, but it's good in others. The good parts stem from the original novel, a crime story that was quite shocking in late 1930's Britain in its portrayal of murder, abduction, torture, and drug use. There are some unforgettable characters in the story.
The bad parts come from what appear to be the attempts of the movie makers to clean it up to get it past the censors. The socialite girl is no longer doped up and held against her will by the sociopathic gangster. Instead, she falls for him.
This makes everything Hollywood perfect, and while they both die in the end, I suppose that's the price to be paid for love.
Still, it's fascinating to watch the hoops that the actress playing the socialite must leap through in her attempts to portray a woman who is simultaneously "brains and beauty", a pampered princess, and a woman in love with a cold, unfeeling murderer. Could be a great role for someone, I guess.
Her character is much more believable as a doped-up victim. But then it wouldn't have that American twist...

2010-11-23T06:58:00.000-05:00

What was your favorite show at the Spectrum in Philly?

2010-11-09T06:45:00.002-05:00

Any comments about the downloads at Steam Powered?

2010-11-04T06:45:00.002-04:00

Watching a program on the early days of film making last night, which followed a film about a failed film inventor. In the program, many descendants of famous early movie people gave accounts of the character of their ancestors and how their strength, risk-taking, creativity and sheer willpower led them to succeed.
These were guys who invested everything they had in a projector and a storefront and built that into companies like Warner brothers and Fox. American success stories.
We love to hear these stories- but what about that failed inventor? His story got made into a film, at least. I suppose if you believe in an afterlife, and you further believe that anyone there would care about such things, you might believe he is satisfied now that his story has been told.
Me, I like the boring stories. Stories about people who neither succeeded nor failed spectacularly, but who just lived their lives and enjoyed themselves doing it. It doesn't mean they didn't do interesting things, have powerful feelings, love or hate deeply. It doesn't mean they weren't strong or didn't take risks or were not creative or lacked willpower. Ordinary people do amazing things sometimes.
Living an ordinary life takes more courage and willpower than we give credit for. There really ought to be more stories about it.
(Of course, history is written by the victors. The thousands of nickelodean operators whose storefront businesses didn't grow into major studios never got the chance to make a movie about their lives. But these days we all can, if we want to.)

2010-11-01T20:39:00.000-04:00

Webbed Feet.

What would have been a hot bass rig for a jam band/bar band circe 1991. Same question for keyboards.

2010-10-29T06:20:00.001-04:00

A scary thought for Halloween.

Think about the last election. One party fielded the oldest man ever to run for president, whose cancer is in remission. His running mate was someone with such radically right-wing beliefs that she refused to reveal what magazines she read.

What's scary is that many people took them for serious candidates. Fortunately, the powers in control of these things gave us a reasonable option.

Politics in America is fucked up because we live in a world of lies. I do believe people can make good decisions if they are well informed. That is why the people who run things spend a lot of money to keep us deluded.

Here's a clue. If you have strong emotional reasons for choosing one candidate or the other, please don't vote. You've been duped, fooled, manipulated, and I don't care how many catch phrases you have absorbed to justify your feelings. If you vote your gut you are failing in your duty as a responsible adult to make an informed choice. Just fume at home, throw things at the TV, shake your fist at the sky.

This isn't some game.

2010-10-26T06:38:00.002-04:00

Comments on You Can't Lie?

2010-10-25T06:24:00.002-04:00

Any Wheat Heads want to share their fondest memories of Whole Wheat Radio?

I'm trying to figure out what to do with all these wheatberrys...

2010-10-16T12:10:00.002-04:00

Here's a spot for any comments about the new mix of Desert Girl.

2010-10-03T11:26:00.000-04:00

If anyone knows anything specific about the old Manheim Rock Theatre please post here. I am interested in finding out when they first opened the doors, when they shut down, who was running the place, and who played there.

Photos greatly appreciated.

2010-09-08T06:40:00.000-04:00

Working on the very dynamic song Sparrows. and listening closely to the mix leads me to be disgusted with mp3 compression.

Of course it's always been there with mp3 files, but we tend to say "oh, at 256K they aren't so bad" and get over it. Well, they really are so bad, especially if you've got a clean 24 bit .wav file to compare them to.

I don't know, I've read that some people prefer that sound, and it doesn't surprise me. I used to "like" the sound of cassette tapes...

2010-08-22T09:53:00.002-04:00

This has been the Steam Powered recording schedule for August so far-

That's 13 nights in the studio recording, mixing, backing up songs or repairing equipment.

My daughter asked me if I'm getting paid for this. Like it's a job or something.

Income is a convenient yardstick for success. That's a problem, because some very lame activities (brokerage) pay very well, and some very worthy activities (teaching) pay very little.

In America it seems that all work must turn a profit. I believe this is a trap.

I'll do the work because I like doing it. We'll see what sort of material profit, if any, comes from it.

2010-07-12T07:11:00.006-04:00

This is pretty weird. I spend a lot of my time reading progressive blogs and I check Google news several times a day, yet I didn't hear about the formation of a group called One Nation until I read about it in my local dead tree Sunday afternoon.

That article was a reprint of an article that had appeared in the Washington Post last Friday. Now, Fridays are notorious as news dump day, when things hit the papers that folks hope will not be noticed. Sort of like the old joke "and your cat died".

Added to this the fact that the Wash Post is one of the most active sources of disinformation/corporate propaganda on the planet, and I suspect that this was an attempt by them to set the tone for the discussion of this organization. That "tone" being that this is a group like the bizarre, reactionary Tea Baggers.

The lack of response by progressive bloggers is a bit puzzling, but I suppose they all have better things to do in the summertime on a Friday. Sadly, most of these guys are beyond bitter about the actions taken by the Obama administration so far. Expectations for the possibility of change are quite low.

What they forget is that they don't represent ordinary folks. Ordinary folks aren't quite so hooked into all the battles and maneuverings in Washington that progressives follow like the plot of some suspense novel. Sure, ordinary folks are disappointed, but they still believe in the process.

The timing of this call for change seems good to me. Organizing a march on Washington in October seems like a good idea to me. The call for unity among the majority who voted this man into office seems good to me. I want more, but this is a good start.

(later)
Still remarkable net silence about this. I found a piece by George Gresham on the Majority Agenda(?) website.

2010-07-10T17:40:00.000-04:00

Looking for a longish read on a wet afternoon?

Here's an evaluation of the current state of the union by Eric Alterman. Hits it just about right, I think.

2010-07-09T07:01:00.000-04:00

Endless War.

There's always a precedent. I've just rediscovered the Hundred Years' War. It was basically the French versus the English (although back in those days the English elite were French). They "engaged in hostilities" for a period of more than 100 years, off and on.

They did this while the Black Plague was raging. It was a war over territory, control of resources, and partly a pissing match. It was a war between the elite classes, fought by the peasants. It wasn't the peasants' fight- the peasants had nothing in particular to gain or lose by who they worked for.

We still fight their wars, only the elite aren't titled "kings" and "dukes" anymore. The wars are still about territory, control of resources, and who has the bigger dick.

plus ça change...

2010-07-07T07:44:00.000-04:00

Zombie economics is easy to understand. Someone profits from this.

The American Dream isn't dead. It's very much in practice today. But what used to be implied by the American Dream- that anyone can achieve it- has been stripped down to something simpler.

We all know that not "everyone" can achieve it. Only the select few who are smart enough, resourceful enough, tough enough to deserve it. And these select few have no obligation whatsoever to anyone else.

But the myth is kept alive, because, well, if yins stopped working so hard, the select few would have a bit more trouble staying on top.

2010-07-06T15:11:00.000-04:00

I had a dream...

Like I'm watching a movie, there are scenes from a girl's life. In one of them, there are kids on a playground in winter. It is dark. The kids stand around in bunches, talking together, until some break off and run around. Eventually a teacher summons them back to class. They form up a double file line, and the rear most pair of girls withdraw cigarettes from string purses and somehow light up and have a few drags during the march back to school.

The incident is related in a book- a slim, beige hardbound book that covers a year in the life of its subject. There is a woman with a stack of these books in her home telling the stories behind them. Her husband is here with her- she is young middle aged. She explains how the books worked. "It really is a club," she says at one point. She and her friend were both members. She divides the stack of volumes according to the towns she lived in- at one point explaining that she moved away for a while, but then moved back. She seems to want to sort the books by the town rather than follow the order of years, so the stack is not in order from newest to oldest. She opens a volume.

The paper is odd, like the old encyclopedias, sort of yellowish, but smooth. On each page is a series of dated paragraphs, either describing general events in history or specific instances in the woman's life. This column takes up the central third of the page- there's plenty of room in the margins for hand-written notes. A typical entry was like- "August 14, 1969. Begin two weeks of camp at Nabobiskybobie. Mom cried."

So it's like a diary, but one with permanence, meant to be shared with others in the club.

2010-07-01T10:51:00.001-04:00

Concerning this 1984-style renaming of torture, it's something that we all know happened. It happened as we watched. Should there be more outrage about this?

I think we're pretty outraged as it is. But our outrage has no outlet.

We have a couple of options here. Number one: ignore it. This is a very popular option.

Number two: accept the change. This is also a popular option. We convince ourselves that what the world and we ourselves used to call torture is no longer torture. Or is OK as long as the "good guys" are doing it. Just go along with our leaders, they know what they're doing.

Number three: express outrage. This certainly works for some people- it can be a source of strength. Still, it's hard to express this feeling when there are so many outrageous things going on.

Number four: refuse to accept the change. Makes it difficult to maintain a positive view of the country when you face the fact that our leaders are war criminals. There is a whole chain of logical conclusions that follow from this. See Chomsky, etc.

2010-06-27T22:29:00.000-04:00

Speaking of peace, I just listened to Virginia Astley's "Hope in a Darkened Heart".

I always liked the track called "The Tree-Top Club", but never could find out where it was from. Long story, but now, after 30 years, I've heard the entire album, and it's remarkable.

2010-05-26T10:47:00.000-04:00

Many of you already know this, but I just want to explain a few things about the whole Steam Powered thing.
It isn't a sales site. You can't buy anything there. If you carry that thought out a ways then what you see there may make better sense.
It's a web site about work done in a recording studio. What I think makes it interesting is that the studio isn't about making money. The studio is about recording stuff.
The studio is in many ways my little play toy, but it's a play toy that I take very seriously. I believe that removing the need to make recordings for money has an effect on the nature of the recordings.

(more later)

2010-05-24T17:00:00.001-04:00

Oh, just a post to keep in practice...

2010-05-05T06:02:00.000-04:00

It's Cinco de Mayo!

Happy b'day, Peyton!

2010-04-28T06:19:00.001-04:00

Wow. The Steam Powered Studio website just clocked a big jump in visits. I mean like 300%.

If you're here for the first time, won't you leave a comment and let me know what brought you? Thanks!

2010-04-25T09:14:00.000-04:00

Today is Diva day at Rosa Rosa. I'll be recording the live show starting this afternoon around 3:00.

Stop on by and help the cause!

2010-04-15T15:08:00.000-04:00

Dr. Doug stopped over on Tuesday and we recorded basic tracks for a new song.

2010-04-13T08:03:00.000-04:00

The Morning Zeitgeist- Or In and Around the Web.

That's funny. I don't think anyone has used the word zeitgeist since Bush II became president- it was just too depressing to think about.

I was listening to the beeb this morning while exorcising. A good 20 minute program comparing soap operas to Greek tragedy. Or at least, asking if there was a reason to compare the two. Too bad I can't understand half of what they say...

But it beats the All Tiger, All the Time news. Anyhow, this led into a link on my ipod to some "underground" art movement out in Cali, which led to a link to a particular image I've been trying to find off and on for years (Appetite for Destruction), which led me to remember a more comfortable image that used to appear every morning on local TV.

This was a card, a drawing of a rooster to the left, a sunrise to the right, and maybe a cup of coffee (or a barn?) in the middle. This may have been captioned "Community Bulletin Board" or may have not. It seems to me that it was some sort of thing where an announcer would read off events of the coming day. Or maybe not.

What I do remember is that this music would play. It's well-known but I can't find out what it is at the moment. It had a tick-tock sound behind it, and a simple rising melody that resolved after 4 measures. Then it would repeat. As a child I would watch this motionless image of the rooster and the sunrise and listen to the music over and over (for a while. Not sure how long it lasted, but I was probably there with it the whole time)

Is it any wonder that I am now drawn to Appetite for Destruction?

2010-04-06T06:59:00.000-04:00

How did they get that nice distorted sound in the fade-in at the end of Long, Long, Long by the Beatles?

It seems that there was an empty wine bottle on the Leslie speaker cabinet that started vibrating on a particular low note.

2010-04-01T06:28:00.002-04:00

April first. A day for fools.

I like the firsts of the months because I can see precisely what songs and pages people are accessing on the old website. Maybe there's some way I could have snapshots like this during the month, without resetting the tabulation, but I don't know how to do that.

Anyway, in the first few hours of the month I get to see that someone has downloaded Toro's Watered Down, (the .ogg version!) and my Driving Rain and that people are sampling many samples from the public catalogue.
The majority of the visitors are from Russia right now, with China and the US about tied for second place. The Ukraine leads by a wide margin on bandwidth.

Mr. Paul Thomas' song is getting a lot of hits. Because it's on the main page, and will be available in the archives, I predict that it will get a lot of downloads from Russia and the Ukraine. Maybe he will inspire someone over there to take up the pedal steel guitar?

2010-03-29T07:40:00.002-04:00

Choosing vinyl to transfer to the computer is interesting. I've got a couple hundred albums I guess, many of which I don't care to listen to much anymore- either not very good to begin with, or played to death.

The first record I transferred- Overnight Sensation by Zappa. Even played to death it sounds good.

Next up was The Basement Tapes, Blonde on Blonde, and Highway 61.

Last night I began transferring All Things Must Pass, mainly for the great songs that never get played anywhere- like Beware of Darkness.

I transferred Blues for Allah, but half-way through I wondered why. Now, Mars Hotel was definitely worthwhile. I think that the first Garcia album is going to be a winner, and Taj Mahal's N'tural Blues.

2010-03-18T11:56:00.001-04:00

Well, that so-called jingle-stick had its debute last night. Check the Steam Powered homepage for an example of the thing being played- it sounds real good!

Of course it helps that Bev is one of the top 5 jingle-stickers in the country.

If anyone has photos from this event, please send them my way!

2010-03-14T15:35:00.000-04:00

Hit me with that rhythm stick, now hit me...

2010-03-10T07:24:00.000-05:00

Glossy

I like the design of the cover of this booklet, an advertisement touting the charms of our town. I was stumped for a while about the colander, but then I got the restaurant connection. Duh!

Mainly, I like it because it looks like a Little Golden Book. It's a hook.

Mainly I'm posting about it because it actually was useful for something- it included an ad for something called the Launch Music Conference which will be held here in April. Any time there will be 178 bands performing in your town over the course of 2.5 days you ought to know about it. And be prepared to duck!

No, I'm just kidding- it looks like a lot of fun. I scanned the performer listing. I see the Sketties are playing, opening the late show at the Chameleon on Saturday, which will be a blast for them. My fave band name, even beating out Up Pops the Devil, is Boregasm.

I can still get a booth for the main hall- any 999 other folks who want to contribute a dollar each, I'll volunteer to go as "Everyone Else Who Couldn't Make It Themselves" or something.

2010-03-08T12:58:00.001-05:00

I spent yesterday afternoon taking pictures of a recording session with ~~Blind Joe Death~~ The Humblers at a place called Abbeyville Road Studio. Here's a shot of Danny enjoying the ambience.

2010-03-07T00:31:00.000-05:00

Scary robots!

Tonight, there is a Peyote Jam recording that I will be posting...

WTF?

2010-03-05T06:29:00.000-05:00

I just updated the main site- I'm really liking the new look. It closely reflects the inner state of my "mind"...

I screwed up and forgot to reply to an email, which led me to think I had a session in the studio last night which I didn't have. Because, you know, people don't read my "mind"... Sorry Tom.

2010-03-03T10:26:00.001-05:00

Here's some geeky goodness- a study on the social influence on people's choices of favorite songs.

It seems that there's a certain go with the flow thing going on.

Here's a good tidbit- "Although, on average, quality is positively related to success, songs of any given quality can experience a wide range of outcomes. In general, the best songs never do very badly, and the worst songs never do extremely well, but almost any other result is possible."

2010-03-02T21:06:00.000-05:00

Last night there was a drip in the studio. Well, yes, I was in there, but there was the sound of a drip in there- no good for a place that is a: full of water pipes and b: full of electronics/guitars.

Turns out that the furnace has a pipe coming out the side that is leaking. Slowly.

It's why we have buckets...

Tonight I'm listening to the playback of Pitchfork's top 100 songs of 2009. You can hit play at 100 and it automatically plays the list. First one I recommend? Number 87, "Fangela" by Here We Go Magic. Really nice, Radio Head sort of stuff.

2010-03-01T06:11:00.000-05:00

March, a month with its "r" in the right place.

2010-02-25T23:08:00.002-05:00

Well, here's a place to post comments.

Anybody.

Anybody at all...

Beuller?

2010-02-18T07:53:00.000-05:00

It was fun playing last night with Dr Doug and Suicide Dave. This morning I remembered a guy who makes an accordion with a gimmick that lets you bend the notes, like a blues harp. I wonder if he's still makin' 'em?

Oh, yeah.

2010-02-16T08:13:00.000-05:00

Just getting my passwords in order this morning. Now I'm logged on from an undisclosed location.

In the process I've checked my email at Google. John, Doug, Dave- there's a reason I haven't responded to any of your emails. It's because I never check this account. But I promise, I will be doing so in future.

So, gig tomorrow night? Any parking at the bar, or shall I bus it in? I can bring a bass.

Here's a Google streetview of Bird In Hand PA. How lucky is that?

2010-02-15T06:53:00.002-05:00

Is this thing on?

I could post the daily stuff you like so much here. And you could comment here.

And I could save the regular site for the links to music and features and whatnot.