Revolver Article

I recieved a flurry of phone calls this weekend from people who saw me in the new issue of Revolver. It came as a total suprise to me. It's pretty sad that it took a tragedy like this to get some national press coverage of the new orleans scene. Anyway..it's the Feb. 06 issue. I'm back in New Orleans now and I'm expecting my son to be born in about a month. The area I live in is totally devastated. It's depressing but we just carry on and do what we must.

Sidious

I've been working on some new musical ideas for a potential side project called Sidious. A big part of it will be a new style of riffing I've been working on based on the lovable pedal point. It's basically extending the alternating note (the note that gives the most tension in the riff) to very sparse phrasing. The repeating phrase/note, or pedal point, if you will, is sparse and mechanically rhythmic, but when contrasted with the even more sparse changing melodic line, something evil happens to the music. The effect is hypnotic and repetitive but not without complexity in form. The melody becomes so subtle that it's almost subliminal. Whether it will be attractive to anyone but me, I have no idea. I'll start the Sidious project up when I return to New Orleans.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

I kinda like it here in Texas but duty calls in the big easy. On Monday, I'll be back at my old desk and coming home to my old, but empty neighborhood. People are really nice in these outlying parts of Houston. I've enjoyed the modern accoutrements like central air and shower capabilities...the dishwashing machine...forget it..it's beyond my comprehension to even use.

Rhonda and I went to the Houston Renaissance Festival last weekend. It was cool...a nice atmosphere, overall. I had not been to one since my very early years. I bought a pretty cool little JVC digital camcorder to take pics of the development of my son, and future conqueror of the entire world, _______. We can't seem to come to agreement on a name. I will start a blog for his unholiness. The infamous name that should not be named is the question. I've found a cool new app called tasktoy.com that I feel could help me organize myself. I'm tired of talking to you.

No. 1 Lesson Learned From Katrina: Government Failed to Meet Minimum 21st Century Standards of Effectiveness

Our current paper-based bureaucracy has completely failed and Katrina made this fact glaringly obvious. Mayor Nagin has taken quite a bit of heat, but in his defense, he is the first mayor of New Orleans in my lifetime that is not corrupt and he has done a lot to install e-government in what is otherwise a pretty third world city. As a former CEO, he has approached city management with a private-sector management model that emphasises accountablity, convenience and choice. Just have a look a http://www.cityofno.com/. To this end, I would encourage everyone to study the futurist and historian Newt Gingrich's post-Katrina lessons-learned. What follows is a small excerpt...

Government Failed to Meet Minimum 21st Century Standards of Effectiveness

• It is the nature of a science and technology based entrepreneurial free market to provide more choices of higher quality at lower cost.


• Citizen's everyday experience is UPS, Fed-Ex, the Internet, blackberries/treos, camera cellphones, Google, ATMs, Amazon.com, e-ticketing ala Travelocity and Expedia level of knowledge and choice. Citizens expect this same standard from government.


• Government at the Federal, State, and local level totally failed this standard in responding to Katrina.

Download, view, study and advocate THIS PDF if you never want to see this happen again.

This not an issue of party politics in the sense that any particular party is the answer to these problems. Democrate Congressional leader Nancy Pelosi would have us believe that if her party was in charge, everything would be fine -- an excerpt from an article on her website -

The priority of Republicans has been to help their friends at the expense of helping people. They are out of touch with the people of the Gulf Coast region who struggle to find housing, jobs, and schools for their children.

Lousiana politics has historically been democrat-controlled AND infamous for chronyism.

Does Pilosi wake up in the morning and think of how to best serve the American people or how to stick it to Republicans?

It's pretty clear that the problem is systematic and way beyond the scope of any particular party. The federal government should contract Google to develop an open API and set of standards for electronic local and federal government. Private sector software is built to meet ISO 9000 standards...why is it that public sector systems don't have to meet this standard? Anyway...I could go on and on but until we recognize the source of the problem and demand change as a people we'll have more of the same.

"Hunkerin'" down

All the superpower economic muscle in the world can't save people when natures fury comes into play. Our existence is so precarious on the cosmic/global/local scale.

I've decided to stick it out in Houston, despite Rita.
The gridlock situation is too extreme.
I don't have enough supplies but I'm hoping we make it out ok in our refugee apartment.
Texans are so much more compassionate and polite than what I'm used to.


With all this hurricane drama going on, I've been leaving out a lot major stuff going on in this timeline.

There was a terrorist suicide bombing attack on London mass transit on 7/7/05.

The Afghani people had another major democratic election. Read more.
I think the main problem there is the lack of modern communication infrastructure. They are in the stone age and many weren't sure what party to vote for so they all just discussed as they waited in line.

Iraq political environment is wild but she is on the cusp of a true democratic republic.
The drafted constitution leaves much to be desired. A ratification vote is coming soon and
they have a difficult decision to make. The terrorist are flailing wiledly, killing more and more indiscriminately. An item I found recently, really touched my heart - Iraq soldiers donate to Katrina victims. It's heartwarming to think that these guys are praying for us despite the world of shit they are in.

I'm not sure if I want to continue playing music...my band personnel is in shambles and my callouses have softened. If my garage and equipment are intact, I may start it up again but as of this moment...I just don't know.

Rita

I'm in Houston now...rented an apartment... got some basics from walmart and am back to work thanks to Cebridge Cable (who are cool enough to give me a
month to month hi-speed account without setup fees).

Now that I'm settled in here I've got to run from another Hurricane...this time, Rita...she's headed toward Galveston and Houston. This is so unreal. Not sure if I'll be able to get gas. According to the news it's taking evacuees about 8 hours to travel two miles. This bitch is a category five..even stronger than Katrina.

Headed South

On our way back to Texas where we'll reside until I get the all clear to survey damage. If you can't get through to me, try a text message or email me. Next post should be early to mid next week.

Update

Thanks to everyone for keeping me in their prayers. I'm currently headed west. The phone connectivity is spotty but you can text message me at 504-905-4716.

Katrina, you bitch!

We've been all over Louisiana trying to outrun this monster. Were currently out in the country about 3 miles outside of the city. New Orleans looks like Somalia. Scary stuff. Thanks for keeping me in your prayers.

All The Best,
cel

Escaping Katrina

On the run from hurricane Katrina, the monster storm barelling toward New Orleans at this moment. Were at a hotel in Mobile right now...been driving in bumper to bumper hell all day. Hope we have something to go back to.

Too Much to Blog About

...a brief summary until I have time to really rant.... Revenge of the Sith (best Wars yet)...Adobe aquires Macromedia (heartbreaking)...more later

Chops from Hell and more

Slow blogging lately. Lots going on. First off, I saw Steve Vai last week at the House of Blues. He had an incredible, all-star band that included Billy Sheehan and Tony Macalpine. I havent seen Big, Bad Billy play since the Mr. Big days. It was a real treat, to say the least. I also saw Nashville Pussy last Thursday. They were great but the turnout was really dissapointing. Ruyter Suys is an incredible performer. Think Angus Young with tits. This week I'm going to see Mastadon. I'm really looking forward to that. Friday is Fantomas. Since I've seen them already and my budget is a little tight this week, I chose Mastadon instead. The new job is still going well. My band is playing at the Howlin Wolf next month. We put together our first original tune this past weekend and it's killin.

Started New Job Today!

A brief but notable post: First day at a new web design job. I've got a good feeling about this one. Talented group of people. Very fluid...lot's of different clients. Also working in downtown New Orleans is cool. I can really get drunk at lunch...hehe...just kidding.

Run Rice Run!

Our new Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, made her first major diplomatic address in Paris, France recently. Both her prepared opening statement AND her responses to the foreign press during the Q&A round were the most profound, eloquent, and inspiring words I've heard from a modern politician. The width and breadth of her intellectual acumen is stunning (she seems to have total recall regarding geopolitical events, recalling exact dates of different major world events at will) and her demeanor is strikingly charming and attractive. It's hard to imagine any head of state saying no to her.

If there were any truth to the speculation that the Democrats will choose Sen. Hillary Clinton as their Presidential Candidate in '08, Republicans would be wise, in any event, to choose Condi Rice as their candidate for Pres in '08. Rice would make Hillary look like under-achieving, white trash by comparison. Think about it...Rice is single (she didn’t get where she is by riding on any man's coat tails) AND she's black for christ sake. This lady is so classy and impressive.... she will be the first black and first female president in my opinion...it's just the logical next step in her incredible career.

Update:
Dick Morris (a guy that knows a thing or two about campaigning) seems to agree with me. Check out his column "To Stop Hillary, draft Condi"

There's something happenin here

High turnout for Iraqi Democratic Election!
See - Iraq: The Model > The People Have Won!



Still much work to be done. Lots of reconstruction, bad guys to catch and a couple of parishes where people were too scared to vote.

I imagine there will be a lot of people second-guessing themselves today. You know who you are.

Congrats Iraq & bless the Boots on the Ground!

Follow Up:

The final official percentage of registered voter turnout is 58%. Not a bad result for what John Kerry charicterized as "the wrong war, at the wrong place and the wrong time". He could not have been any more wrong. More election news here. The EU should now feel compelled to help out and all the dictators in the middle east have got to be sweating. Onward to Iran and Syria, I say!

Panoramic Arpeggios

A few years ago I was really into translating classical violin techniques to bass guitar. I was trying to figure out a way to play the cadenza to Yngwie Malmsteen's composition "Far Beyond the Sun". I was initially trying to play it using standard pizzicato technique but got stumped on this final 2 and half octave arpeggio. I simply could not pull it off with the same speed and fluidity until I came up with the idea of tapping it out instead. Essentially, I let my right hand share some of the fret work, thereby eliminating half of the position shifts required when playing on only 4 strings.

D minor arpeggio
(right handed tapped fingerings in bold)

G---------------------------14--19--14--------------------
D---------------------15----------------15-----------------
A---------------17---------------------------17-------------
E--10--13--17-------------------------------------17--13--10
----i----p----i--m----m-----i----r---i--m---m----i----p---i

If you were to play this arpeggio using standard pizzicato, you would find that there so many position shifts for you left hand to do that it's really hard to rip it out at say
Niccolò Paganini , Rick Wakeman or Malmsteen speeds. My technique requires one position shift for each ascending and descending arpeggio. Try not to us pull off's hammer as hard as you can with each finger and with as much staccato as possible. Next, try to vary the dynamics and tempo. Once you've mastered this technique, try to play it in several different keys. The obvious next step is to make it your own. In trying to do this myself I tried to break up the linear nature of these arpeggios by playinging them in different rhythmic groupings.

Example: D minor arpeggio in five note groupings
(...produces a nice rolling sound that is almost sax-like)

G------------------------------------------14-------14-19
D------------------------------15-------15-------15------
A----------------17--------17-------17------17----------
E------10-13-17----13-17--------17---------------------

Note: Make certain your comfortable with the two handed fingering before proceeding to this because there is one shift that is different this time around..you'll see..it should feel natural after mastering the previous technique

Next, try to play the same lick descending instead of ascending and finally play them together in a continues pattern.

Another idea would be to play the major version (raised fifth and seventh) and start it on the 3rd interval of a minor scale for a more 'outside', modal feel.

Lessons Learned

After paying pretty close attention to the way Operation Iraqi Freedom has unfolded, I've come up with some observations on how to go about doing similar future operations.

The one thing that was done with perfectionism was the toppling of the regime. Hit 'em with shock and awe, take out the regime command centers and go on the the thunder runs.

That said, however, the first thing we should do is drop leaflets that say something to the effect of -

We are coming in to remove your oppression regime.

If you are an official of the regime, you will be retrained and possibly reassigned based on your skills.

If you take this option you will be supplied with pay, food and housing.

If you do not wish to take this option you will destroyed.

Please help us help you to create a better life your people.

I'll bet if the Baathists had read something like that, and they saw the legitamacy of that claim with their own eyes, we would not have had the level of insurgency and looting that occured.

The fact that all of the Middle East is now seeing with their home satellites a political system of open discourse on channels such as Aj Jazeera, Al Arabia and the myriad of new free press outlets has a significant impact in and of itself. We need to see to it that this is expedited in future conflicts as soon as possible. None of them have ever seen anything like it. When they see a live press conference from some party leader, followed by a dissenting opinion...it will blow their minds and the fairness and good sense of it will sway them toward the democratic system.

Client-side Abuse

I would very much like to see Google 'flag' pages with elaborate functions called by OnLoad and OnOnload Events. With modern CSS and RSS, client side functions should really be at a bare minimum. The trick would be to differentiate between basic cookie functions and unnecessary and or intrusive functions. It would have to be a very sophisticated algorithm, but in so doing the end user experience would be dramatically improved and result in self-regulation of bloated web development practices.

Suffocation, Behemouth and Cattle Mutilation show on jan 24th. Behemoth was extremely loud and the owner was afraid of the PA blowing (which I've personally seen happen once at this club). They delivered a bone crushing set with robotic precision. they were dead serious Germanic black/death metal. A nice girl traveling with them with long red dreadlocks couldn't believe she could smoke inside or take her drink outside. She said New Orleans might now be her favorite place in America. Suffocation was also very precise but not as loud. Everyone was extremely professional and the audience was surprisingly sedate...no fights, belligerence or moshing at all. Wierd.

My southern hard rock band, Maskeeta finally has a new drummer. His name is John Rincon and he's also the drummer for my Black Flag Tribute band, Rise Above. He's also the awesome guitarists for Overtone.

I recently watched a documentary on IFC called Iran: Veiled Appearances. It was heart warming to see throngs of young muslims chanting "death to the taliban" and "death to terrorism" instead of "death to america". By now anyone with the slightest clue should know that we never went to Iraq to subjugate them or steal their oil. By this weekends election all will see that we've acted as liberators in this effort. Secularist democracy will spread across the middle east because it lends itself to liberal government, which fostters the inate desire of all people to enjoy freedom and liberty. It is only when the mind becomes brainwashed that one forgets their individuallity and becomes a slave to a cult of personality.

What Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and his ilk fear most is an intelligence agency of a secular, democractic republic of Iraq in the heart of the middle east. Iraqi intel operatives will be far more effective in thwarting radical islamic ops than we could ever hope to be. This weekend's election will have the American liberal detractors AND the terrorists networks walking around with their tail between their legs. As Afghanistan and Iraq go, so to will Iran, Syria and Jordon. Just as Republican policies brought about the collapse of the eastern block (in spite of the Ted Kennedy's and Sam Donaldson's of the world), so to will the Bush Doctrine and one again liberal sympathies will be repudiated by history. How long can liberal democrats hope to live in the mainstream of American politics when they are repeatedly on the wrong side of history? If they keep it up, their next convention will be held in a phone booth.

Hail to the Chief

The ailing Chief Justice William Renquest administered the Oath of Office today. It was a wildly historic moment. The President's speech was moving and perhaps the best I've heard by a living president in my lifetime. What really strikes me about this moment in history is that the administration and the country as a whole is focused on the cause of the freedom and liberty of others across the globe rather than being self absorbed . I also find it amazing that there are those who would deny the world this moment in history. At this very moment there is a mass protest against the Inauguration ceremony at Jackson Square in the French Quarter. These are very shortsighted people.

Another recent historic event was the Cassini mission, which explored Saturn and it's many satellites. The probe actually went on a trajectory that took it through the gap in Saturn's rings and ended with a descent into the mysterious moon Titan. Soon there will be probes going to extra-solar bodies and sending back pictures of these other worlds. What an amazing time to be alive it is.

My hope and belief is that in the near future, scarcity will cease to exist and the governments of the world can then govern purely in the interests of the good of humanity without the corrosive effect of money, power and influence peddling. The best hope to eliminate scarcity is nanotechnology. If food, housing and materials can be fabricated from raw molecules, this goal can be achieved and materialism will no longer be an obsession.

We recentlyhad Martin Luther King Day and it reminded me of the contraversial remarks made by Bill Cosby recently. There is a disease of domestic terrorism perpetrated by young blacks in many inner city areas. Something has to change. I'm glad someone has the guts to put this truth out there..especially a guy with his credibility. It's a real problem here in New Orleans.

I saw in incredible documentary recently called In the Name of God: Scenes from the Extreme. I've also been reading about the Holocaust lately and it makes me wonder if in 30 years the Jihadists will realize the gross error of their ways as the living Germans who were accessories to the holocaust now do.

Oh My Sith Lord!

I've got to remark on the torrent of feature films based on so many of my favorite childhood comics and novels in recent years. So many of the things that made me a nerdy-type kid that loved comic books have become standards of popular culture. When my first grade PS-29 school paper featured a rendering I did of Spider Man on the front page... I would never have imagined that spidey would ever be so flawlessly realized on the big screen in my lifetime. To see the battle with Doc Ock so perfectly portrayed in Spider Man 2 was incredibly rewarding for me. I really enjoyed The Hulk film by Ang Lee too. I guess it all kind of started with the success of the X-men and Blade films. I guess the technology finally caught up with the imagination of these writers and artists that I enjoyed so much in my youth. Yeah, the 70's Superman and Conan films were great but with the computer generated imagery that is possible today, the floodgates are just wide open.

I just saw the trailer for the final installment of Star Wars (the finale to the clone wars/darth vadar saga) and it gave me goosebumps. I've had a lot of debates with people my age about how the new trilogy hasn't lived up to expectations but my argument is that we've become jaded by high tech imagery and lost some of the ability to suspend disbelief that we possessed in our youths. Go ahead and watch the new trilogy with the sound off and you'll notice how beautifully painted each shot is. When the original trilogy came out, no one had ever seen anything like it but since then we've been deluged by countless films inspired or blatantly derived from that original sci fi epic. How could we look at a new star wars with the same virgin eyes?

A couple of the films i'm now looking forward to are the upcoming Fantastic Four (good god, sue looks hot) , finally a gritty, realistic batman film titled Batman Begins and of course Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Oh, fanboy joy! Like I said...2005 is going to kick ass!

Now I'd like to see some of my other early favorites like Moon Knight, Namor and Silver Surfer adapted.

Great article on the ultimate future at the UK Daily Telegraph. Linked from the Ray Kurzweil site.
Seems that Frank Tipler's theory of the ultimate future put forth in the Physics of Immortality is becoming the prevailing model for forward thinking theoretical physicists.
Excerpt below.

In the distant future, billions to trillions of years from now, the stars will exhaust their nuclear fuel, the oceans will freeze, the universe will turn dark and temperatures will plunge to almost zero. It appears inevitable that all intelligent life will perish when the universe itself freezes over.

This possibility of "unyielding despair" was explored by the mathematician Bertrand Russell, who wrote, in one of the most depressing passages in the English language, that "no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought or feeling, can preserve a life beyond the grave... all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system; and the whole temple of Man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins..."

Today, we believe that space arks might one day preserve life after the death of the Sun in five billion years. But can you build a space ark to escape the death of the universe itself?

The only possible way to avoid the death of the universe is to leave. Perhaps civilisations billions of years ahead of ours will harness enough energy to punch a hole in space and escape, in a hyper-dimensional space ark, to a new universe.

Although it seems far-fetched, even preposterous, physicists have seriously considered this possibility using the known laws of physics. Einstein's equations, for example, allow for the possibility of "Einstein-Rosen bridges" connecting two parallel universes. (Imagine two horizontal parallel sheets of paper connected by a thin vertical tube.)

The energy necessary to create such a "wormhole" connecting two universes is truly immense - the Planck energy, or 1019 billion electron volts (a quadrillion times the energy of our largest atom smasher).

In desperation, an advanced civilisation might create huge banks of laser beams and atom smashers to create the unbelievably intense temperatures, energy and densities necessary to open up holes in space and leave the universe.

Calculations show that these gigantic machines must be the size of star systems, but this might be possible for civilisations billions of years ahead of ours. Unfortunately, some preliminary calculations show that the wormhole might only be microscopic in size. If so, an advanced civilisation might resort to shooting molecular-sized robots, called "nanobots", through the wormhole.

Once on the other side, these nanobots would then create huge DNA factories to grow clones and replicas of their creators. Since they would contain the entire database of their civilisation, they would use this to resurrect it in another universe.

Although the physical bodies of these individuals will die when the universe freezes over, their genetic twins will live on, so that their civilisation, like a Phoenix, may flourish again.

As incredible as these scenarios are, they are consistent with the known laws of physics and biology.

So, when contemplating the question raised by Huxley in 1863, our true role in the universe might be to spread the precious germ of intelligent life throughout it and, one day, to spread the seed of life by leaving a dying universe for a warmer one.

Complete Article

ABC's Person of the Year is Bloggers! Incredible. The decentralization of intellectual thought has really changed the human landscape. This is a beautiful thing, man. Bless you, Blogger. What a killer app you are. This was all foretold in the mid-seventies by Alvin and Heidi Toffler.

Phil Anselmo has basically gone into retirement...obviously fearing retaliation from Dimebag's death. I thought he had said he was indestructible? If I can ever become a full-time rock musician, I hope I can keep my head in check and not become obsessed with my own cult of personality as Phil obviously has. Phil has always said kind things about my work and I the same but I think he's lost his way and I'm sure he realizes it now. I hope this tragedy will make him smarter and stronger but what a price to pay for enlightenment. No one from the New Orleans scene was welcomed at the funeral. We have a bad rep here...were perceived as totally dysfunctional and wasted. Sadly, there is a lot of truth to that. Are we as bad as the rappers east vs. west feud? I don't see that tribal attitude in anyone I know but the trash talking in the aftermath of this incident seems more and more vitriolic. I hope we can take a step back and realize that were all just trying to realize our dream of making cool music and living outside of the boring mainstream of society. If we keep feuding, we'll wind up being the subject of some FBI investigation of the metal sub-culture.

New episode of Lost tonight? I believe so. It's about time. I've noticed several continuity errors while viewing the past episodes. My interest has diminished somewhat but I'm still intrigued. Hurly WAS on the plane so my theory about him may be off the mark. One thing I'm sure of, however, is that the island is able to 'make-real' the thoughts of the survivors. Locke making it rain, Walt manifesting the polar bear from the comic book, the appearance of Jack's dead father, etc.. This might explain the abduction of the pregnant girl...under the circumstances, the unrestrained imagination of a new born child could be very dangerous to everyone on the island.

On to the Iraq War...assasinations, car bombings and intimidation techniques are on the rise due to upcoming election. Why can't we set up boobie traps for these terrorist fuckers? Hide a bunch of special forces inside what looks like a defenseless convoy..wait for them to attack and then ...wham...suprise, suprise, suprise. UBL has come out with statements that make the argument that Democracy is an evil western construct. What a lame proposition this is. He is making our case for us.

An incredible earthquake in the ring of fire has caused devastating tidal waves in Asia. I fear the effects of the platetonic shift are not completely realized yet. God help all in the pacific rim.