My Network is a thing of...of...Hell if I know...

What is a verified account?

Any account with a blue verified badge on their Twitter profile is a verified account. 

Twitter is the network tool. Facebook was a failed promise.

I joined MySpace and that was not helpful to me as a musician, it did link me with a few people from high school. Well, why not join FaceBook and just maintain contact there?

So I left MySpace for greener pastures. Those pastures are barren and devoid of real life. It DOES serve to keep me in contact with cousins I would not see or talk to regularly otherwise. More like its intended purpose.

Along came Twitter.

Someone infinitely smarter than I told me that Twitter was the future. They sat patiently, and explained how to organize contacts and what to watch for. I dove in. It took a bit for me to find my footing. But it was not as much "work" as FaceBook. Much more intuitive. And as it turns out, useful.

Not looking to have "followers" for their own sake, I wanted meaningful contacts - A&R people, radio and television personalities, anyone that can teach me, reach me, offer me a gig.

Twitter verified accounts are the people they purport to be.
All of a sudden I find my network collecting check marks the way I used to agree to friends requests on FaceBook. 

All I do is post music, express an opinion - Twitter is a cocktail party. I mingle. And dang it, payoffs have been seen. I have garnered airplay on three internet radio stations. I have submitted works for a rock compilation album. I am doing exactly what I thought I would be doing.

One of these people is going to hear me play or engage in conversation and it will be that link I have been looking for. I can filter "A&R" as a search criteria when looking for people to follow. I mean, how much better can it get?

Let me tell you...I can talk to Don Rickles.

I See God

I look at branches of trees and see patterns...fractals...mathematical imagery.
I hear a beautiful song...mathematical imagery.
Language is math in that they are both symbolic languages. Conveying higher order from symbols. Feelings from hieroglyphics.

To see a pattern in chaos is part of , wait for it - The Chaos Theory.
If you wait long enough, even seemingly random chaos begins to exhibit patterns.

God is therefore the ability to see a pattern in everything.
Focus on the large enough picture and you see what God sees.

Math and music and God.

Gödel, Escher & Bach?

Like Rand Paul I seem to be plagiarizing.

When applied to music, the formulaic reply becomes trite. You have to step outside that box.

Well, to math as well...and language. Crepe...it is a never ending circle.

The name George fascinates me...GE...OR...GE...OR...GE...OR..like pi, it never ends.

Infinity scares physicists, it is not a reality but only a way of expressing what is beyond us.

To them real infinity does not exist.

Go to a street corner and listen to a busking musician.

Look at the stars.

To talk to God is to make humor where sadness could live; to see order where chaos seems to prevail.

God...is a choice.

Lord Jesus on a Jumping Bean, Horse Hockey too!

I go to play my guitar. I am always in the midst of a project, the actor waiting tables.
TURN THE LIGHTS OFF

S'cuse me?
TURN THE LIGhts off...wait - remember when you were 15? Playing air guitar or after you got the strat...what was the first things to set the mood? Before I lit a joint. Before I got the guitar from its case.
I turned the lights in my room off and left lighting to the one desk lamp I had.

How brilliant must I be to see the tree in front of my face?

Maybe I should make the background picture on my PC an audience shot?

Maybe not?

Roots?

My first real love was every instrument other than the guitar.

The saxophone in the Dave Clark Five.
The bass on Hey Mister Bassman.
The snippet of bass to the coda on Everybody has Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey.

I still harbor a secret desire to play the drums.

What turned me so sharply?

Woodstock
Summer 1969

At summer camp that year, almost every night we were sent to sleepland to the strains of Tommy.
(It was the only album my counselors had brought)
Townsend had a magical strum going that summer.

Our overnight trip was to Woodstock.
After our return I just HAD to have a guitar. I enrolled in the camp's beginners guitar class. I learned, 'Mister Tambourine Man,' in about five minutes and played it until my fingertips bled.
(Although I was not taught to sing it at the same time - they were happy to get us to play the damn things; so my parents had no clue what song I was playing when they came up for Parents Day - I was crestfallen)

When I came home from camp my parents got me an old Gibson archtop, which would be worth a lot today; but at the time, the action was way too high, it was not electric...it took me until December of 1971 to get my parents to order a strat for me.

So here I am, a sax player on a six string, with the funky soul of a badass bass player, who wishes he could play drums...playing guitar.
It actually makes sense.

Can You See The Light?

Playing is such joy.
A mental thing.
A physical thing as well.
An orgasm that does not tire you until you finally leave the stage. How?

The mental stimulation I understand - we are expressing ideas in a symbolic language at the speed of thought. And when it works it is sublime. Even when it is not perfect it is a joy.
The physical I also understand - I am jumping and dancing and singing and sharing my inner joy with strangers who for the most part are appreciative.

Tonight I had the chance to play a local jazz club - The Club 66 - and we did a Herbie Hancock night.
Palm Grease, Watermelon Man, Chameleon, Spank-A-Lee (a favorite of mine), et cetera.

The groove was just so solid - it was palpable, a solid object in the room.
The communication was snapping.

The drummer, Ray is an old hand and smooth, not fancy but very capable of driving the beat as well as keeping it.

The bass player was focused and followed every nuance, every glance and look.

Chris, the keyboard player was in his element. He is very skilled, although somewhat eccentric.

So at first I am filling. Comping has its own rewards. When you are holding up a piece of the beat, allowing someone a sip or a wiped brow, it is satisfying in a purely productive way.
When you combine it with enhancing the sound, making it more lush and full - a joy to the heart.

I got my breaks - Love my Bennie Maupin - I am a six string sax player at heart.

But then there came a point at which the normal give and take gave way to am extended jam.
I mean we took flight.
Everybody got into it. It became a four place call and answer.
Gud Gawd - it was great!

It felt as though all of us were in the zone, simultaneously. It was wondrous. It was only when it was over that I noticed I was sweating and in need of a shower.
I feed from the light - I have seen it and need more.

I Need an Excuse

When everything is working, not just functional but firing on all available cylinders you are left with two opposed feelings - conflicting feelings.
Satisfaction - everything is working, and well at that!
Guilt - So why am I not more successful?

All my excuses are gone in a sense. Now, the only things I can blame to are external - and that in itself is a cheap shot I refuse to use.
It's on me to push my art - my mission is to hand out as many business cards as humanly possible.

Who but me is responsible?
I can wait a lifetime for another Brian Epstein to find, acknowledge and craft me into the next Beatle or...

Or I can laugh with a bit of gusto and sally forth, tally ho...see what happens.
It is in my hands.

It is up to me. Always has been but the reminder is timely now and again.

Off The Beaten Path

Have a smart phone?
Android or iPhone? Not enough representation from the Windows phones to be included, yet.
Androids are based upon Linux.

I have may apps for musical use.
Apps that make lyric generation easier. Or composition.

I also have a background in electronic engineering so I have apps that allow me to design and test schematics.

Tools that allow me to remotely wipe my phone should I lose it...also try to locate it et cetera.

One that I find invaluable is called Screebl.
"Screebl is an application that controls your screen based on orientation."

If the phone is sitting at zero degrees or ninety degrees, it will shut off.
If it is inclined in between those two it will remain on and active.
Ingenious.
One, I never have to use a button or tap to end my session with the phone, just put it down. And two, this extends battery life significantly without much from me. The display, more often than not is the culprit when it comes to battery usage.
Neat.

Maildroid - the only mail app that works every time. Expensive but worth it, imo.

WiFi Explorer is another useful tool - it allows for a WiFi connection between you Android device and your PC.
Move, delete, rename, make a new folder, zip files - all the functions of Windows Explorer within you Android device.

mooLa is another - a checkbook. It also complies statistics so you can see where your money goes. It has a bug or two; using save and repeat will eventually make it crash. But it is far easier and intuitive to use than the others.

CamCard is great for taking a photo of a business card and integrating the info into your contacts. It also eliminates the collection of cards on your desk - the best selling point, yet.

Music?

Chordwheel - want the notes for a scale or chord? Relative? etc?
Caustic - a DAW
Band In a Box Remote

GuitarPro
GuitarTapp - 3 ring binder of songs, scrollable while you play. A teleprompter for guitarists.
Maestro - composition
Musical Note Pad - composition


Miscellaneous:
InstaPaper - allows you to  save online content for later use, offline - save an article to read when on the plane.
MyCarLocator - Set it when you leave the car and then it'll draw a map back to the car.
PocketInformant - a day planner, but the new version, number three is incompatible with my phone and the sync function leaves much to be desired.

And you thought you had beaten the rabbit holes in your path?