Disquiet

• Afternoon: sound-art installation at Berkeley Art Museum. Tonight, Mose Allison and Bob (Schoolhouse Rock) Dorough. #
• Morning sounds: shower, fridge, coughing (visiting Mom, in guest room). And (I'm happy to note) my old laptop's louder than my new desktop. #
• Saw Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo at ACT SF. Really solid, especially how two one-act plays written so far apart fit together so well. #
• New desktop computer set up. New high-pitched electronic whine has entered my personal soundscape. #
• My dad (age 74) is wired for sound. His dual Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids pick up his cellphone and his MP3 player. My dad is a cyborg. #
• Looking forward to new Michael Mann film, Public Enemies, especially to hear how he maps his minimal-techno fixations onto the Depression. #
• Dang. The guy from awesometapesfromafrica.blogspot.com is in San Francisco tomorrow night, and … so are my parents. #
• It's been a day of dub, experiencing what entering "King Tubby" into Pandora and LastFM yield. #
• Previous post from final chapter of seventh Parker novel, which I just read. Scene takes place with no dialog, save anti-hero's thoughts. #
• "The silence after the crash and clatter seemed to hum with emptiness. Parker moved more slowly, listening, listening through the silence." #
• Having a glass of Laphroaig. As with most great whisky, its name could easily be mistaken for the title to an Autechre track. #
• Easily spent 45 minutes today working to a single synth vamp, a minimal line from a 15-track Tony Allen afrobeat song: http://is.gd/1jBI4 #
• Reportedly this mix — http://bit.ly/JbxSF — is by Beck. It's something: out jazz, Allen Ginsberg, beatcraft, 8bit madness RT @1000DIGIKI #
• Digging free @thegrassyknoll iPod app. Wondering/worrying if Apple's app success supports DRM. Would easily copied apps sell less or more? #
• Morning sounds: shower ahead, footsteps to right, fridge to left, speakers (playing Tony Allen) behind. All save the speakers through walls. #
• Listening at length to iPod Touch apps: Bloom, Buddha Machine (odd not to hear tinny speaker quality), TonePad (could use more variety). #
• Planting coyote mint, listening to airplanes and hummingbirds. #
• Not sure what sport is consuming patrons at 3 bars in listening vicinity of Rosamunde on Lower Haight, but the event-doppler is excellent. #
• Morning sounds: laptop fan, plane overhead, ice cracking in coffee, bus passing, phone's sonar ping quietly noting arrival of an email. #

By Marc Weidenbaum