fpatrick

Paranoid freak? I need to take a break from here. I've failed at communicating or you don't believe me. That happens a lot. Because I'm unconventional, and seen things that most people haven't they don't believe me. I need to get out of here. It's consider it to be very disrespectful when people automatically consider I'm lying. It happens a lot. I'm not saying I know what you think. It's just that it happens so much. That's how I know where I belong and don't waste time. I understated things, acutally. It's often better to find out sooner about things. I don't enjoy being asked to reveal things and being called a 'Paranoid freak'. Why would I want to take abuse. I have plenty of things to do. I'll just do something else now. This is clearly not where I want to be. It's my choice. It's kind of obvious. Wow. The assumptions people make based on such ignorance of some topics never ceases to amaze me. Good Bye

Nutter - you need to be more specific. I'm not sure what 'nutter' means. It seems like I've bored people enough talking about myself. Also, remember I've been in the software industry for a long time and if I talk about a few of the people I alluded to, I'm a bit uneasy about their privacy. I could obfuscate some things. We practice discretion as a discipline in that industry. I understand why. So, I'm cautious. I'll just say that I'm been close to violence a lot. I took risks to help people out and I did a ton of charity (formal, regional 87-95 I was close to some real wealth and they built a lot of charities). I considered the risky stuff as 'informal' charity. 95-2005 and I did a lot of that too, and only some of it was dangerous. You looked my profile. I take the Buddhist stuff seriously. I don't care about losing my possessions. At present, life is kind of boring, actually, but when I worked, I'd do these long contracts (3 years, etc..) Then I'd take breaks and I did diverse things. So, I'm used to having breaks. It suits me - I don't expect anyone to be like me. I've known some people that did a lot of good, and in various ways. Since 96, I lived with family, friends and well below my means because possessions mean nothing to me. I know other people that hate seeing suffering too. I had my music studios, a 94 toyota collora and a cheap or free place to live. A bit of money and a few things. I don't tell people who are so conventional they would call me a sucker. It's tedious and it's always the people who've accomplished about 20% of what I have in that way. I liked wirting software. We got paid well because of the demand. I'm not the least bit impressed by that. I felt lucky. Compared to most poeple in this world, I've lived like a king. It's so obvious. I lived efficiently and didnt subject my values on others when it would matter to them. It's always been the watercouse way, the wisdom of insecurity. It just works for me. It's nothing special. I gave away a lot of what I made to people I knew. The late 90's were the boom years and I got well past the crash. I only help people who I care about and/or are really suffering through no fault of their own and can help themselves. There's so much violence around everywhere. It doesn't seem strange. I took some risks and was careless at times. Sometimes you get into situations accidentally. Everyone does, right? Everyone goes through traumas, I thought? Everyone is more or less disturbed, but it changes and it's impossible to define what this is in words with any accuracy for me. Ok, is everyone bored, confused or sick of this by now? I didn't know how to answer and the privacy issues are very real, but if anyone's interested, give me some time. I'm a bit chatty, as you can see. So I'd imagine this post is confusing due to: privacy issues, bad writing, some unsual things, things so ugly I don't want to be specific about. I don't define myself, except by what's happened to me, mostly. And that takes time. Time. Lots of Pink Floyd fans in this forum. I love that. Breathe. Breathe in the air. Don't be afraid to care.

She Love you - the Beatles song? That's so funny. Thanks for the interpretation. I agree with that. I'm a potential murderer, sure. Apocolypse Now made it on my top 5 list of films of this forum. I love that film. I think I understand and agree and I don't think I'm denying it. I've been in some very dangerous situations, but not like that. I've had some luck and bluffed some people (surpised it worked), Flight over fight. Violence, but nothing close to getting killed, but I've been around some that had done that. Kind of made me uneasy, but they weren't at 'work', but that wasn't good judgement. I know people that have endured some vile things that are friends of mine. I snatched some people out of some bad places, but I don't do that anymore. I know how to do it, but I don't take chances anymore. I avoid voilent people now. Those words of the song sound so harsh, so I don't look at them. I don't think I need to. I guess the closest I came to that was my comment on the Milgram experiment - We do what we're told. I think that's important to know about. I wish the film were available. It would be important if it made people understand so they didn't obey, but I'm not sure that's at the same level. My best friend is African American. I've know him for 32 years. He's 6 seven years older than me so he was born in 1953 and lived in Boston. I know some of his family. His father owned a couple of bars in Boston and he worked in one for a while. His uncle owns a Dental Franchise - nicest guy you'd ever want to meet. Great people. They came up from the south. So you can see what I've heard about. I know a lot our history. My friend brought me on these ghetto tours when I was about 17, so that was enlightening. It feels real enough I think. I could go on, but I think that's enough. Being brutalized by power was the worst - and being persecuted was even worse. Having your life ruined a couple of times and doing the right thing, so you didn't hurt someone. It seemed obvious, but most people dont do it. People don't 'get over' that. Harsh and prolonged. What's the point of revenge? I thought about it - I knew I wouldn't do it, but that seems normal. Revenge or hurting someone innocent accomplishes nothing and can only make things worse. I was close to the end. People helped me a lot. It's not that special. I can cite a lot of analogies that made it easier. It changed me forever. Insomiac? Hmmm. Let's have a waking contest. I'll give you five to one odds and I'd win without a yawn. Get back at you for that "She Loves ya" wisecrack. That made me laugh. I was thinking of posting "Mercy St." the lyric and the Anne Sexton poem. That would have sounded like "She loves ya" compared to "This is the end". Glad you replied first. Why not just do the Carbon Monoxide and skip the words to "The end"? Why make it any worse?

Thanks. The Doors. They certainly were good at evoking a mood, weren't they. Their music certainly worked well with Apocolyps Now. The End - Not exactly uplifting, though is it. I get a lot of impressions, thoughts from all of these words in this thread, but I seem to miss the overall meaning of dreamy, mystical ones. If someone would explain them, I'll listen. There seem to be some references to things I don't know. I do have imagination, but somethings is eluding me. It wouldn't be the first time.

It's impossible to pick just 5 and I've surely missed a lot of great films. Here's five that will always be favoites. I listed ones that are all well known and/or considered classics. It's hard to go wrong with these, I think. Here's my five, in no particular order. 1. Gandhi 2. Midnight Cowboy 3. Apocalypse Now 4. Cassablanca 5. Chinatown

It makes perfect sense. I'm glad you like the Rite of Spring. Actually, I'll remind you that my education is mostly jazz based, so I don't claim to understand 20th century classical music too well, especially on that level. But that's not the point. Also, a lot of those words weren't mine, so I'm not that elequent. I often write some dreadful prose, actually. I think feeling is the most important part of music. I put in those descriptions because I don't like music criticism that judges any music that is sincere in positive or negative terms. There is a lot of music critisism that judges the 'quality' of music. I try not to do that. Having training causes musicians to hear things differently, but that's important only because it can help you create music. Those words I pasted in don't judge the music and I really thought they captured the intesity of The Rite well. "an earthquake of primal rhythms" - I love that. Also, having some education causes me to enjoy discussing the craft, because I write some music and everything I hear influences that to some degree, but that's not the point. I don't think having formal music education makes me appreciate any more than anyone else. It probably exposed me to more variety, but that's all. I think what you said is the most important part - it's what you feel and that can be different each time you listen to it. You can definitely feel "The Rite of Spring", right? I think I'll put it on now.

Oh, I'm definitely interested in EARM (Enlightened Absolutism Resistant Movement) It sounds too good to be true. I also use Apple - A Intel 64 duo core model which screams along at 2.34 Ghz. There's all kinds of other cool stuff plugged into it and most draw phantom power from the Mac, if that helps. I said that because my education cause the 'Movement' to question my enlightenment, despite the fact that I AM here now, as my signature says. You may need to put in a good word for me, despite all the bi-directional digital communications protocols that connect my Apple to an astonishing array of musical devices with other slick jargonny names. I spent 2 years at a State university and transfered to Berklee (a music school), but I did graduate. And charliebanacos.com was like graduate school. I'm assuming the movement has a large number of members who went to pricey small liberal arts colleges and then got fellowships before developing theories in 'think tanks' - Those types tend to regard my lack of 'formal indoctrination' with suspicion. Good to see that someone appreciates irony. I may not be posh, but I'm extremely refined and subtle - I assure you. I say that out of habit. These qualities often go unnoticed, so I make it a point to frequently remind others of them, lest they forget and accidentally insult my intelligence or offend my sensibilities with their pretensious attitudes.

Books? Cool. I used to read lots of them. Lately, I read mostly online help, tech books and snippets on various topics on the web. And that is definitely unbalanced. I soon plan to re-read Fyordor Doystoyevsky's short story White Nights. I remember really loving that that one when I read it about 10 years ago, but I forgot what it was about. I don't know whether the online university the short review in the link comes from is 'posh', or much else about it. But I liked the review, and the story definitely soundes appealing to me. I ordered a collection with "White Nights", Notes from the Underground (which I am definetely SKIPPING) and "A Gentle Creature". I don't know the last one. The title sounds ok. Anyone read that one? I read 'notes' when I was about 15 years old and found it incredibly depressing, so I don't need that. I've been a bit heavy on non-fiction in general, so I'll start with "White Nights" soon.

Do you speak Russian, kamarad Fyordor? No, I'm as bad as most of us here. I speak only a subset of the American language.

Ok. Hey, I'm going to trying something new and sleep. I had fun - thanks for the laughs and interesting topics. Sometimes people take me too seriously. I don't. Thanks for not doing that. I hope some of you have a good dream. I just don't remember mine mostly. I get lost in some good memories at times, so that will do for now. Good Night All, -Frank

Ok. I'm gonna go with the CIA. I'm tired of the DHS - all their jokes are old. By the way, how is the French Foreign Legion doing in Japan lately? I work for my cousin now and do some other stuff, but it's off and on, so could you get a job at one of those agencies you never worked at. I could use a change of scenery. I can type fast, if you need that. And with a good editor, I could crank out acceptable propaganda. You pick which one suits me or not. Thanks Comrade.

Good guess on the Irish part. Actually, I'm UK on my mothers side. Russian, Georgian of my fathers side. I'm guessing it was Patrovsky and some INS lackey said "patrovsky? What kind of name is that for an American. From now on your Patrick. Got it? I don't feel very Irish - the thought of alcohol makes me ill. Oh, about the 'classified' information. I have submitted a FOIA request before typing this message. It's routine - I'm sure you get them all the time. Regards, Fyordor

Thank you. i like being complimented on my typing. I don't know exactly how fast. Keep this in mind. I've written software since 1984, so I am a fairly good typist because I've typed a lot. Also, these machines condition people to experience a lot of text as unusual. I've written code for this stuff and done usuability tests, so I do know that. I'm actually typing fairly slowly. It relaxes me to indulge in forums when I need a break from things or am indecisive. And I clarify ideas and type the same things a lot. If you have any new material, I could use some. lol. Some people draw strange inferences about my mood or what I'm thinking from typed text. This perplexes me, but it happens sometimes. Thank you for not doing that. I do try to retain some literacy because it's so easy to rely on spell checkers, etc.. and I try to be careful about that. They can be insidious in that way. Regards, -Frank

Ambien, eh. Thanks for sharing that. Sounds like an alternative to a benzodiazapine. They both can cause memory loss. I've never lost memory from anything. My memory seems to get better with age. I think I'd need to be hit with a sledgehammer to lose memory. Sounds fairly mild. I hope it works for you. Good Night and Good Luck -fp

Ok, I just read the whole topic and it doesn't relate to what I mentioned it seems. Any comments are still welcome of course. I will say that I couldn't relate to the lyrics, but I'm always curious. I'll give you a lyric from someone that I can relate to in certain ways. His comment on the song was that it isn't romantic at all (as it was sometimes mistaken for) I'll take the advice of the song, so this may not mean much unless you know somethings about him. My cousin recently catered a private party for Mr. Sting a couple months ago and he was playing a lot of jazz stuff. I keep being left out of the fun lately. We both are repressing some things right now, but that's nothing special. The song is about needing to repress emotion to retain one's sanity. It's not about talking, it's unconcious. Someone said I didn't mince words - I usually don't, It's not in my nature, but web posts are public knowledge, so I will now. See if this means anything. It's well written if nothing else, I think. He's clever at bluring some of the symbolic words, if that helps. Sting - Be Still My Beating Heart Be still my beating heart It would be better to be cool It's not time to be open just yet A lesson once learned is so hard to forget Be still my beating heart Or I'll be taken for a fool It's not healthy to run at this pace The blood runs so red to my face I've been to every single book I know To soothe the thoughts that plague me so I sink like a stone that's been thrown in the ocean My logic has drowned in a sea of emotion Stop before you start Be still my beating heart Be still my beating heart Be still my beating heart Restore my broken dreams Shattered like a falling glass I'm not ready to be broken just yet A lesson once learned is so hard to forget Be still my beating heart You must learn to stand your ground It's not healthy to run at this pace The blood runs so red to my face I've been to every single book I know To soothe the thoughts that plague me so Stop before you start Be still my beating heart Be still my beating heart Be still my beating heart Never to be wrong Never to make promises that break It's like singing in the wind Or writing on the surface of a lake And I wriggle like a fish caught on dry land And I struggle to avoid any help at hand I sink like a stone that's been thrown in the ocean My logic has drowned in a sea of emotion Stop before you start Be still my beating heart Be still my beating heart Be still my beating heart

Hey Kevin and/or anyone who commented on this subject, Please tell me more about Lucid dreaming. I've been researching things that use that exact term. "Dreams are the royal road to the unconcious". Dreams are very powerful. And if there is some Synchnocity going on here, I'd like to know about it. How do you achieve it? I had this Email conversation with this guy who worked at Sun Microsystems a couple years ago and he told me about his experiences with a Tryptamine called DPT which is legal and sometimes used with MAO Inhibitors (which are legal too and were in some FDA approved Rx meds in the early 80's, but you have to know the contraindications for those very well - I have a good resource for that). You have to know what your doing with all of these things but I have some leads he left me with and other connections. This was more like waking state dreaming, but he assured me this experience wasn't at all like the stuff a lot of us burned brain cells in the 70's for recreation when we were kids. There are communities out there on the web and that's what I meant by alternatives to health care. That and vegan and macrobiotic diets and all this specialty stuff my cousin cooks (He's a chef in Newport, RI and it's part of some good holistic alternatives. Some of these communities have Drs. and brain researchers that dropped out of the system in them. And these are legal - I'd like not to get a criminal record because I like to work. There are similar things that are only legal in South America, but I can't fund this at present. I am intriged because I'm getting closer to being prepared. I rarely remember my dreams lately and I won't ramble on with all the research I've done lately, so please tell me more if you can, anyone. Thanks, -fp

Thanks Kevin. I wouldn't normally do that but the vast majority of the American public agrees with me. I wish people would make the connections with money more often. I try to be respectful. I didn't think I critized any innocent bystanders. What innocents did I offend? I appologize if I did. I thought I only slammed the Bush adminstration and I have no problem with that. I do wish more people would vote, so maybe that's what you meant. I'm in Mass. and politics is like sports to a lot of us here. I still ask people I trust about some elections I don't follow. Who has time not to know everything. Bush ticks me off because he talks to us like we're children. It amuses me to think of him alone in a room with his soul mate Poutin. I bet he's really scared. I would be wouldn't you? Serves him right

I'd agree. Actually I and most people learn only the features they need. In many ways, writing software was easier than using it, because the goal was to make it simple. Another good method is to get some of the good training videos for the complex software. And there's some really powerful easy to use software now. All the Apple iLife software for 06 is really well done and works together well. They designed it to have fewer features - it's 5 programs that share components and work really well together. iLife is iTunes, iWeb (web site creation and publishing), iMovie (video editing), iDVD (CD Dvd burning), Garageband (music for anyone and podcasting), iPhoto (photo editing). An example of how they do it is iWeb uses iPhoto for images, Garageband for podcasting, etc.. It has limitations but for 79$, I was very impressed. I'm sure there is software for Windows that's like this too. The professional programs are the hard ones. I use Logic Pro 7.2 and it has tons of features, but it's really impressive. The machines are so fast that they can do mixing, recording live instruments, all the synthesizers are on the computer. And the digital editing features are really amazing. The downside is that it's drivin down the demand for 'traditional musicians' and 'recording studios'. A lot of the music for ads, tv shows, some pop music and some film music is done by fewer people. It's just another example of automation replacing humans which is nothing new. I'm an ok musician - I have talent and training, but there are a million people as good as me, but I always did it for fun anyway. The people that do the 'sound design' are the ones who are born with that gifted. I had been neglecting music and apparently it really took off around 2003-2004. I don't watch TV much, but I heard the best sound designed music was on those CSI shows (which I know are popular) I just heard about 10 minutes of one recently and it's really good. My cousin is at my level but he has this friend who is one of the 'gifted ones'. He went on tour with Bruce Sprinsteens band in 06. He's a monster jazz trumpet player and is one of the top sound designers too. They have to use the gifted people because they are under really strict deadlines for TV shows. I met the guy that was 'filling in for him' at a seminar at Berklee and has was doing NYPD Blue and some major ads. It's very realistic sounding. What's driving up the demand for training and support is that all this multimedia publishing, educational courses, audio books, the amature market are all using it and it's constantly changing. I don't have a full grasp of it. It gets really boring following it after a while. But there are some real benefits. It's becoming fragmented like the mainstream computer industry did - people patch together more part time work now. A lot of the good studio musicians now offer their services over the web. So, if you have a song you can hire really good studio players to play record the parts you want. It's a bit pricey, but the laptops and software like Logic, ProTools, Sonar, Cubase has rendered most 'traditional audio studios' obsolete. If this interests you, this is a good short peice on it that NPR recently did. This is a very short story on NPR you can listen to. If pressing the listen button doesn't play, check to see if a 'pop up blocker' is on. They did a nice job on the story, and it really is that easy if you learn it. A Home Recorder's Dream: Playing with Pros Online http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9163100 Now, I'm more likely to do this by finding people that do it for fun. The odds were always low for making a living playing music and I didn't have the temperment. But, an obvious variation on that peice is that you can find musicians all over the world to play with over the web and do it for little or no money. You do lose the live feeling somewhat, but a lot of the colleges (like Berklee, where I went are really growing this as a world community) Their new president is really into it. It may sound idealistic, but if software I got to know people from so many nations in person and over the web. It's a lot harder to kick people around when you know what their going through - they have families in some of the 'extremist' nations and it makes it more real for me. I always thought you had to play for fun. Some people make small amounts of money doing this too. It's trivial to publish songs to the iTunes store. Music I like never sold much, but I might try it as an excercise. There seems to be more publishing than purchasing. I'd rather teach people this stuff because I can teach the other computer software too. Lots of people do that and do the music they like in their spare time for fun and maybe some extra cash. I talked to this guy who was working at a mail order music place and he'd been a studio engineer at a lot of the major companies (Sony, Dolby, etc..) He seemed content enough. They make extra money from doing remixes. The definition of a studio engineer seems like - you goes to production company, installs the software, does some training and lose your job to the automation. So, I see that part as a positive, actually. Someone once told me that when there is fast change in an economic sector, you should step back and try to find out where the demand has shifting to because it's there - it's just harder to find. I'm no expert in economics, but it works. People are always happier when there in a field where there is demand, because their secure. What I worry about is that the health care system in the USA is so cost ineffective and keeps going up in price and is under tremendous stress. It's corrupt and sometimes predatory. That's the major basis of age discrimination. I don't mind doing contracts though. And there are alternative health care options. I have no idea if or how this could be done, but this country needs to put recources for continuous retraining - private companies are doing a lot of this for music, (and video and other arts, I suspect) so there seems to be this training loop - trainers training other trainers. Occupations come and go so fast and you can't really stop it. It really stresses people which is sad. I enjoy a good rant, now and then and I figure it's ok to go off on this, since 80% of the US public is against this fools war that is squeezing the whole middle class and below. Don't mistake this for any certainty. Writing bad prose is a hobby of mine. It's like purging all this information I gather up, I guess. We went through this in the 80's and by 2000 we had a budget surplus, so I'm not fatalistic, but they really should stop wasting our money. The U.S. keeps borrowing from the rest of the world to finance its huge trade and budget deficits and countries such as China and Japan are ringing up huge trade surpluses with the United States and lending their surplus funds back to the U.S. to finance its deficits. That's a loop that obviously can't sustain itself. Greenspan mentioned this before he left and it's not the complicated part. The Asian nations are already getting nervous because the interest on the debt is huge and they own too many our our dollars already. That part makes sense. Whatever they do to fix it - I haven't a clue, but they won't let the Global markets crash. And the US economy is too important, so we'll get by. So, the way I see it is the 'war on terror' will create many more terrorists because the 'developing nations' will suffer again. That's what we keep doing, it seems. But, I'm just ranting. It will get worse then better, but it seems so unnecessary to me. I'm not one that thinks rich people are all evil - quite the contrary. The computer industry is creating a lot of value and are negotiating to offet these problems lately. People like Steve Jobs are under under a lot of pressure. I think the Gates foundation is necessary and Warren Buffet surely checked them out before he made that huge donation. And he was the one who advised Katherine Graham who was publisher of the Washington post during the Nixon years. I wouldn't want to be threatened by the US Justice department. It's sad that more people don't remember who she was. It's the exec branch's constitiency of "the haves and the have mores" that can only see things one way that I disagree with. The late columist Molly Ivans stated it kindly by pointing out that the Bush's have "total class blinders". I wish the 08 elections would get here sooner - maybe I'll take a long nap until then. I hope that was ok to editorialize. I doubt I'll get much disagreement. Regards, -Daniel Shore

Now, this is a subject I will claim some expertise on. It really depends on what you use a computer for, cost and learning curve. The Mac has always been the better Operating system. Windows was built incorrectly. Windows versions 1.0 - 3.1 were actually applications that ran on DOS and did not come close to any computer science definition of an operating systems. The Microsoft deal with IBM PCs grew faster than anyone predicted. Had they know that, it wouldn't have happened. Microsoft tried several times, but they never truly made Windows a good OS. There are very smart people at Microsoft - it's just that when code is built wrong it's very hard to fix at such a big company. I used Windows for many years because I was a software engineer and it still has 90% of the workstation market share. Every sane person I know in the industry hopes Vista is good. It's barely out and the complainers and people with causes are already bashing it. I worked at Lotus (now IBM/Lotus)for 4.5 years and Ray Ozzie was there. I can't give you any indide info, but I can say he's a very strong leader and isn't afraid to do what it takes to get his way. He's been the top technical person at Microsoft since last June, and is very well regarded in the industry. They just used all that money to delay it, which was a very responsible thing to do and that was intentional. I think people should give them a chance, because Windows is entrenched in the large markets and big corporations can't change quickly. Every version of Windows from 95 to XP has 16 bit code from in it and we're up to 64 Operating systems now. This causes performance problems. This shouldn't bother you if you use the web, email, word processing, but if you do music or video it is a definite issue because that requires high performance. XP is pretty good - I use windows machines for some reasons. I did just buy an early Intel/Macbook pro in May 06 and maxed out the memory and disk space and rebuilt my music studio. Intel has always been the superior chip for multimedia so they perform much better than the Motorolla Macs. I chose to be an 'early adopter' (which someone I know that is very accomplished in the industry says is another way of saying "damned fool") You take a risk buying something so new. Still, the compatibility problems I've had were not that bad. Price is an issue, but if you want the best music and multimedia home studio, the Mac has had that market forever. You can synch Macs and Windows machines already and that will only improve. It's also important to keep in mind the money you have invested in software and hardware that doesn't run on both platforms. I have Sonar 5 on an XP machine and Logic Pro 7 and Reactor on the Mac. Sonar 5 is expensive so it's in my interest to keep using it, since upgrading is cheaper. If you want to use both windows and macs, there has been a lot of software and hardware that runs on both developed since Apple announced it's switch to Intel in May 05. And Windows machines are still cheaper, but all computer hardware continues to fall in price. And I agree that learning a new OS or any software isn't easy. There's a word for what you get when you learn complex software like Logic Pro or Sonar: "feature fatigue". And remember, Linux will continue to grow. The vast majority of web servers run a Linux OS and an Apache web server, which are both Open Source - you can go download them for free. This site uses the server side scripting language called php, which is also free. When I overcome some feature fatigue, I'll set up a Linux server on a desktop machine to save costs, but that's for geeks, mostly. Linux will be used more often as a desktop OS as more software is written for it. Linux is a great Operating system. It's very similar to UNIX and there are many good free versions. If you want to know why they can offer quality free Operating systems and other software for free, see GNU, Richard Stallman, Free Software Foundations (FSF) So, it's what you use the machine for and costs and learning curves that make the decision easier, IMHO. For anyone doing any creative arts music, video editing which require performance - I'd get an Intel Mac if you can. I prefer the laptops because good sound cards and monitors are so small, you're studio is very portable. Also, there is this very clever concept Apple came out with called the Mac Mini. If you have a PC moniter, mouse and keyboard (which cost next to nothing) you buy a small box with an Intel CPU and the Mac OS as low as 600$ + 100$ max for the other stuff if you don't have it and you have a cheap Mac. My other rule is don't buy a machine until you have time to use it. Within a year and a half, the new machines will be faster, cheaper and smaller by a factor of 1.5-2. This was predicted long ago - See Moore's law. Open Source and other factors continue to drive the cost and size down and performance up as well. I'm not really that much of a geek, I'm trying to get back to music actually and for that - Get an Intel Mac if you can afford it. With a good sound card and monitor speakers, you can make recordings at above standard CD quality. You'll notice that music is being released on DVD with higher quality and 5.1 surround. And this matters - iPod/iTunes has that market and they run on windows as well. Also, and keep any Intel machine you have (or give them to me - I'll take them!). Then you can have a cramped studio like me which causes you to waste time rearangings things and finding stuff that you lose which is a constant annoyance. I value music over living space, personally, but it makes me crazy. Every other day this room looks like a bomb hit it. Get some geek to synch them up for you, but get someone you trust. There are a lot of sharks in those busineses. And some 'computer experts' that fix Windows problems are being sponsored by a large retail chain and are running a total scam. I won't name them, just don't accept that name brand stores necessarily offer quality. Who ever set that scam up is really shameless. I do have a hidden agenda in writing this. The music industry has changed so radically in the past five years especially, many musicians don't see it. That's understandable, but many I've met seem to be in denial and don't ask someone that knows something or won't listen. I'm trying to move into a training or support role in this industry soon, so I'm trying to generate business. That area has a lot of demand - and I almost got a job at Apple last year, but I wasn't ready because of the learning curve. So, don't read the manual - take courses or call tech support - it's easier and you'd be helping me too. Actually, asking someone you know and trust is what I do. I was an ok engineer, but since the modern industry grew up in Boston/Cambriddge (where I am) and Silicone Valley, I am lucky because I know people that know far more than I can dream of, so I listen to them. Thanks.

Ok, I'm new to this forum, so bear with me. This is a joke, so why are so many people taking the bait. Now, if someone said that African American's couldn't write music, I could see their point. Jazz is mostly wrong notes. Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk were three of the most horrific composers America has ever produced. And please name one African American that can play blues. And I'd ask anyone this: Who in their right mind would listent to Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Earth Wind & Fire when you can listen to such great soul singers as Barry Manilow, Kenny Rogers or Micheal Bolton or countless other nondescipt artists that serve up top-40 hits which are insincere music for economic purposes of the major record labels. Ok, I appologize for the cheap shot against Barry Manilow, Kenny Rogers and Micheal Bolton. That wasn't very fair. I just don't like them and they're such easy targets. But, I hope someone can see what I'm saying. I rather like a lot of music that women write. It's just my opinion, but in terms of what's regarded as singer song writers, I wouldn't rank anyone above Joni Mitchell. And I find that opinion is widely shared among musicians in many genres. She might not be your taste, but that level of talent is so obvious, it's impossible not to recognize. I wish that people wouldn't criticize anyone who writes music that is sincere. We're not all born gifted and people do get better. And yes, this is a joke, except for the part about the large amount (not all) of top-40 hits that mostly exists for economic reasons and is insincere.

Hey KlassenT, Nice choices there. You seem to be quite a fan of fingerstyle and flatpicking acoustic guitar. I always loved that part from the Led Zeppelin song, and I think I still have some Leo Kottke on vinyl from way back. I don't know all of the songs, but Angel and Fire and Rain are superb. I heard James Taylor eventually got sick of playing that one it was so popular. And I don't know anyone who doesn't love that version of "Angel from Montgomery". It's been a while, but I recall that the band gets lost for about 2 bars - and it doesn't matter. "Just give me something that I can hold on to, to believe in this living is just a hard way to go". Who hasn't felt that at some point here on planet utopia? That's my favorite of your picks.

I couldn't agree more. That would have been something to see. I just did a post on the Rite. I heard that Stravinsky left the hall in a rage when the riot broke out. I don't blame him. I'd agree with your association with rock music too.

I always find this question interesting. If I had to pick one band it would be the impressionistic Jazz group: Weather Report who's leaders were Wayne Shorter and Josef Zawinul (1971-1987) who are now in their 70's and are leading their solo groups and still playing and recording. Favorite 'song': I've never heard anything as remarkable as Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (1913) - Turn that one up to 11, for sure. My current favorite version is Tilson Thomas - San Francisco Symphony (1995 or 1996) I heard one review describe the Rite perfectly in two words: "Primitive and Modern" (If you know the peice and about the riot it caused when it premiered in 1913, you'll get it. Here's some descritive writing I found that I thought captured the intensity of what many call the greatest Modern Masterpeice of the 20th century. "My music" Stravinsky explained "is best understood by children and animals." Le sacre was an earthquake of primal rhythms. The entire orchestra became a single percussive unit to celebrate what Stravinsky called "the most wonderful event of every year of my childhood..the violent Russian spring that seemed to begin in an hour and was like the whole earth cracking.

You can't do much better than those two. Have fun! I've probably seen Pat Metheny at least 20 times because he was based in Boston for a while and played at the Montreal Jazz Festival a lot. Haven't seen Mehlklau, but he's terrific. I recently got the DVD called "Parallel Realities" 1990 which has Jack Dejohnette, Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland and Pat Metheny. (Not too shabby a band either, don't you think?) It's interesting to watch them on DVD - they barely move but you can just sense the concentration. And the precision Dejohnette plays with is something to watch. You might like it. I need to see some more live music again. I guess the best jazz concerts I've seen were Weather Report, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, Pat Metheny (all of which I've seen numereous times and tons of others I can't recall right now. Enjoy the show. I'm sure it will be great.

1. Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes 2. Joni Mitchell - River 3. Sting - Island of Souls 4. Bonnie Raitt - I can't Make You Love me 5. Tracy Chapman - Fast Car 6. Dave Matthews - Where are you going? 7. Peter Gabriel - Talk to me 8. Sting - They Dance Alone 9. Company (From an old Dianne Reeves recording called "Never too far", which may be out of print, since she switched labels - I believe the song was written by Ricci Lee Jones. Not sure. I'd like to know, if anyone knows) 10. Weather Report - A Remark you Made