Author: Ben

Clearly, we were ahead of our time back in 1995. In the tradition of Jewish hip-hop artists MC Heeb and Kid Tu’Fonqué (and Weed, our goyishe homeboy), meet Matisyahu, the Chassidic reggae rapper.

Well gang, it’s transition time. That time in a person’s life when they leave behind everything familiar and take a step into the unknown.

Blah blah blah and all that crap.

Anyway, my last day as a legal secretary is Wednesday, and then next week I start law school at Georgetown! I don’t really know what to expect, but I’m as prepared as I can be, so off we go! Wish me luck!

Kevin, Georgetown Law is two blocks down from the Capitol Building – we should meet for lunch sometime!

Any of you homies read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell? It seemed like the sort of thing you intellectual types would be into.

For any who don’t know, Blink is about the phenomenon of rapid cognition, the power to “think without thinking”. The prologue starts with the story of an “ancient” statue purchased by the Getty Museum in California, and subjected to all manner of scientific tests which proved its authenticity. The museum invited a number of art experts to view the statue, and all of them immediately pronounced it a fake after seeing it for just a few seconds. None could come up with a substantive reason as for why they believed it to be a fake, but they turned out to be correct.

Gladwell then goes on to illustrate other examples of rapid cognition, both good and bad, describing how our minds can be “conditioned” through subliminal messages, how we make snap judgments during things like cola taste tests, how the mind reacts under extreme stress. It describes how many of our thought processes occur beneath the surface of the conscious mind, instilling unconscious prejudices even in the most open of minds. One truly shocking example was a study of black students being given a standardized test. The study found that black students did significantly worse on the test when they were asked for their race at the beginning of the test, compared to those black students who were not asked for their race at all. The shocking conclusion drawn from this is that just reminding these kids that they’re black (with the stigmas of underachieving that are unconsciously bound to it) caused the unconscious prejudices in their minds to play out on the page.

There’s no real point to the book (none that I could see, at least), but it’s a fascinating read, simply to observe how much we simply don’t know about the functioning of our unconscious mind. Anyone else read it?

Well folks, after a hiatus of only nine years or so, I’ve gotten back into the writing and recording of music. Or pop music rather – I composed some classical music in the intervening time, but that’s not nearly as much fun. So, here are my two new tunes: Sidewalk Chalk and Quicksand. Be kind.

DISCLAIMERS: These are rough recordings. I’m still getting the hang of my new recording software, and I’m only aware of about 10% of its capabilities. There are some obvious mixing glitches – backup harmonies too far forward, guitar too tinny, overdone vocal effects, etc. Also, I decided that I really don’t like the fake drums on my 12-year-old keyboard, so the arrangements are not exactly the rock epics I hear in my head. Plus, I was lazy and didn’t feel like recording multiple takes, so I biff a number of notes, including the high note at the climax of Sidewalk Chalk. Ah well. This should at least give you an idea of what I’m up to. That’s a large enough disclaimer I think.

Sidewalk Chalk

Quicksand

I have to say that any hopes I had that Episode III would be an improvement over the previous two Star Wars movies have just been completely dashed.

From CNN.com:

“It’s not like the old ‘Star Wars,’ ” Lucas told theater owners at the ShoWest convention. “This one’s a little bit more emotional. We like to describe it as ‘Titanic’ in space. It’s a tearjerker.”

As you know, I’m not much of a tech dude. So I’m hoping you guys can answer a question for me.

I’m in the process of ripping all my CDs onto iTunes on my groovy new Dell laptop. And here’s what I’d like to know. Is there a product for PC that’s similar to Apple’s AirPort – i.e. something I could hook up to my laptop to transmit the music from iTunes directly to an FM stereo receiver?

Thanks!

Well, I had a very productive three-day weekend. We were able to take care of a lot of boxes — got our books on the shelves, got some artwork onto the walls, etc.

And I was able to start setting up my basement music studio. Got my Korg 01-W and battered old Toa amp from my mother’s garage, where they’ve sat dormant for years.

And the piece de resistance, the Sansui 6-Track Multitrack Recorder that we used to affectionately refer to as “God”.

The last time I used it, I thought it was broken — I got a horrible buzz in the left channel and couldn’t get anything to play normally. Hooking it up last night, I got the exact same problem. But, being a little smarter about electronics than I was at 20 (although, let’s be fair, not much), I was able to reason out that the problem lay not with the recorder itself, but rather with the RCA cable still attached to the stereo outputs after 9 years. A quick cable replacement and it’s good as new!

I dug through the box of tapes and regaled myself with some early-90s Wayward Sun esoterica that I’d completely forgotten about — Matt’s instrumental “Back to Reality”, Sam’s early gem “Just As I See You”, my power-ballad “Megan” (with lyrics by the eminent Weed), and hours of screwing around.

While I have no intention of living in the past, it’s fascinating to dig through some of these old recordings – rejected takes, partial songs – if for no other reason than to recall where we were at the time. And as I’m trying to go back into songwriting for the first time in nearly a decade, it’s nice to hear where I’m coming from.

I’ll try to hook it into my laptop and record some mp3s from time to time.

You guys should appreciate this. Justin especially.

The Trial of Han Solo

I got my acceptance letter last night from Georgetown Law. Now I have 9 months to figure out how I’m going to pay for it!

OK, I mean it this time. The contract has been ratified, so if anything happens, we’ve got legal recourse.

We looked at 7 properties over the weekend and put in an offer for the last one. It’s a beautiful 3-bedroom house in Eldersburg, much bigger and nicer than the house we just lost. Yay!

We close December 13th! *whew*