January 3, 2000. OK, I've been horrible at keeping up this page. Let's get up to speed. The new disc is out and is available at Backroads, Hypnos, Synth Music Direct and Groove Unlimited. The disc has been getting good airplay around the country, particularly on Echoes and Star's End. There will be an upcoming review in Expose, and some online reviews. That's all for now.

October 26, 1999. Go to new CD page to see what the cover of the new disc looks like. I'm expecting to receive the disc any day now, and will gear up to get the music out there as quick as possible.

October 5, 1999. The Opposite of Staring Into Space is now at the manufacturer. I expect to have the discs back by the end of the month. And after a couple of weeks setting up some distribution, it should be available by the middle of November. Once I get proofs back of the graphics, I'll post them to the discography page. I'm crossing my fingers that the cover looks ok. I had my wife design and make up the files for the disc so that I would'nt have to rely on the manufacturer for design. With these disc firms, you can get a great price, but what they do for the artwork leaves a lot to be desired. If they simply output the files straight, I should have no problems. Also, I sent them a CDR of the music so that should go smoothly. More soon.

September 28, 1999. The big news is that the second SB CD will be released in November. I'll be putting it out on my own Ironing Board Recordings label as a regular release and not a CDR. The artwork and all the music is together and will be sent to the manufacturer at the end of this week. I'll post the artwork soon, as well as some sound samples of a replacement track for "Careful With That Fax Machine." After several listens, and some other's opinions, I've decided it didn't really fit and so have replaced that track with another, "Engine Room." "Careful…" is still on mp3.com for anyone interested. The disc will be available direct and through some select e-music dealers. I'll post the particulars soon.

I haven't been doing much e-music lately and have instead been playing a lot of bass in the last month. One thing that is certain is that the next phase of music will be a bit different than what came before. The Opposite of Staring Into Space is more the closing of a chapter than the start of a new one. Regardless, I'm still proud of the music and looking forward to getting it out to all who are interested. More soon.

September 2, 1999. Well Summer is over. The keyboards have sat idle lately, and the guitar, while I've reaquainted myself with bass. I bought a Warkwick after wanting one for over 10 years. Now I'm amp shopping. Right now I have a SWR on loan and it's pretty good, although I'm leaning toward a Gallien-Krueger. On the SB CD front, I've found a manufacturer, and the artwork is in the design stage now. Track listing is pretty set, and I hope to post the artwork soon.

July 2, 1999. Sorry it's been a long time. I've recently renewed my active service in poetry, so expect to see some new stuff in that section of the site soon. Besides pulling some of my favorites from the bookshelf (John Ashbery, George Oppen, and Marjorie Welish), I've also started writing again. Just as I had a layoff from the guitar, so with poetry, although I did do a bit of teaching a couple of years ago.

On the SB front, there's not much new. Since I've gotten no response to "The Opposite Of Staring Into Space," I'm gearing up for it's release on my own Ironing Board Recordings by the end of the summer. Whether it's a CDR release or not is still up in the air. I've also started sketching out some new ideas for the next phase of material, incorporating guitar. I've been learning my way around the XP-60; definitely a great step up in terms of usability. In other news, Chuck Van Zyl played "Shoal" on his Stars End radio show last week.

June 7, 1999. Please visit the News page for the link to my version of King Crimson’s "Sailor’s Tale." The track was originally done for a proposed King Crimson tribute disc a couple of years ago. Since that project never got off the ground, I’m happy to see the track land on Elephant Tape. As I’ve mentioned before, I really enjoy doing "covers" now and then; it takes the pressure off coming up with new material and allows me the opportunity to put a new slant on tunes I’ve enjoyed for years. In this case, the 309 drums give the track a contemporary feel. Also, there was no way I was going to attempt to recreate Fripp’s massive solo, so I used some synth lines in the Guitar Craft style to basically rewrite the finale of the song.

In the coming week or so, I should be able to post the address on mp3.com where I’ve placed two full-length tracks from The Opposite Of Staring Into Space: "Arc" and "Careful With That Fax Machine." I’ll probably put more tracks from the CD up there, but I wanted to see how those two would work out to start.

Speaking of "Careful...," Bill Fox played the track on his EMusic radio show last week. Besides some labels that I’ve sent the disc out for consideration, I also sent a copy to Bill and to Chuck at Star’s End. Both Bill and Chuck have played material from the first disc and from the GoldTri compilations, for which I’m eternally grateful. Hopefully, I’ll get some positive news from one of the prospective labels, but I’ve already set the wheels in motion to release the disc myself if need be.

In other news, I had a bit of an equipment epiphany a couple of weeks ago. You’ve probably noticed by now that I go through a lot of equipment. If I could afford it, I’d probably have a lot more, but since I can’t, I usually sell one piece to acquire another. Anyway, through the past year or so, I’ve gone through a number of modules trying to settle on a piece I could grow with. I’ve never been entirely satisfied with anything I’ve gotten, and I won’t put the blame on the equipment, because most of it has been top-notch (the Microwave 2 and the 309, in particular). One piece that I’ve never had the desire to sell was the XP-50. As my main keyboard, controller, sequencer, I felt particularly lucky to find a workstation that I never grew tired of. Through all this module buying and reselling, I’ve often been frustrated at the lack of time I’ve had to explore the nether reaches of the XP-50’s capabilities. Although I created my own patches, and used the synth and sequencer to their full capabilities, I always felt there was more in there if I only had the time. So, the epiphany was that instead of searching for the perfect module, I would just upgrade the XP-50, and that’s just what I’ve done. Last week I received an XP-60. There are a number of upgrades from the XP-50 that make the 60 a powerful machine: a better user interface, better digital/analog converters, more sequencer memory, an arpeggiator, and additional outputs. This last point was important. For a time, the XP-50 was my only synth, and I used the fact that I did everything with one synth as a selling point. The problem was, that I couldn’t run different sounds to different outputs to an external processor. This led to a sameness in the sound, which became a problem in more complex passages. Now with the 60, I get around this problem and can still limit myself to one synth, although I’m sure my view on this will change in the future. Since the synth engine and sequencer formats are the same between the two synths, I can use all the sounds and songs I’ve created with the XP-50. Now let’s see how long I can go without wanted more equipment...

May 25, 1999. There’s some new MP3 files posted of material from the second CD, The Opposite Of Staring Into Space. There’s excerpts from most of the tracks except two, After and Trylon, which are more ambient.

Other than that, not much else new. All the copies of the disc have been burned and are ready to be sent to prospective labels. This should happen in the next week or so.

April 29, 1999. Still immersed in a guitar world, and enjoying the Strat. The 503, however, proved to be somewhat inadequate. After playing the Strat through a real amp, the shortcomings of the Zoom unit were evident, specifically, it squashed the character of the Strat so it sounded pretty dull. I bit the bullet and bought a POD, which so far I’m very happy with. The character of the guitar is still present, but it sounds like it’s played through the many amps the unit models. There’s also lots of effects to liven up the sound.

April 7, 1999. Sorry for the disruption in communications, but my second daughter, Jessica Grace, was born on March 16, so things have been a little hectic. Definitely less stress than having the first kid, but just as time-consuming. Regardless, I’ve found time to pick up the guitar again after a six-year layoff. After going through a few models over the last month, I believe I’ve settled on a Fender Deluxe Super Strat. I got a great deal, $430 with a deluxe Fender gig bag (the axe retails for $699). What makes it a Deluxe Super? Well, there’s a button that adds the bridge pickup to the combinations that don’t usually have it. I tried an Ibanez RG270DX, but the Floyd Rose tremolo was too annoying. Also, although the neck felt great, it really felt cramped picking, and I really didn’t feel like I was playing something made out of wood. I then moved on to a Danelectro reissue U1. Another good guitar, but it was pretty much a one-trick pony when it was plugged in. Although I never thought I’d own a Strat, it just feels good to play; very solid and organic with a natural finish. I got a rosewood fingerboard, because I’ve never liked the feel of a maple one. Playing the guitar reminds me how much I love Richard Thompson’s tone, and of course David Gilmour's.

I also bought a Zoom 503 amp simulator. Since I don’t have a guitar amp, this unit really does the trick. Much cheaper than the Pod simulator everyone is raving about. And for all the beating Zoom equipment takes, the 503 is really a good deal, and the built-in noise reduction helps if I ever decide to record. It gets a good overdriven sounds, which I’m utilizing for soloing. To build my chops, I’m still in a Zappa phase, playing Zoot Allures, What’s New In Baltimore, The Deathless Horsie, and Watermelon in Easter Hay. Thank heavens for tabs off the net!

I also have a Danelectro echo pedal, but I’m going to sell it for an Akai Headrush, which is a new delay/echo/looping pedal. I’m going to try my hand at guitar looping and may work it into Synthetic Block music. I’m anxious to try out this new direction since much of my keyboard music is loop based anyway, using the XP50’s RPS functions. I guess the best example of this would be "Ping," which is a series of loops with the 309 along for the ride. Actually, "Silver Sky" is of the same compositional mold. News on this direction as it unfolds.

March 12, 1999. Today is supposed to be the birthdate of my second daughter, but medical science is rarely right about such things, so we’re still waiting. I’m officially off my most recent Pink Floyd listening obsessions and in the middle of a Frank Zappa phase. Thankfully, I already own many CDs by the master, so it’s just a question of deciding what to hear.

March 3, 1999. I received the Philips CDR880 and I’ve been having a blast using it. I don’t know why I waited this long to get one. Anyway, the first disc I made was a Pink Floyd compilation to get used to working with the unit. I’ve also made a copy of the next Synthetic Block CD from a couple of DATs using the digital input of the 880. Great quality and clean copy. As an experiment, I recording some stuff from CD onto a rewriteable disc using the analog ins. I cannot hear any difference between the source and the dub even though it wasn’t a digital transfer. I say this after listening at high volumes through headphones during a quiet passage from an older recording, in this case ELP’s "Endless Enigma." Specifically, there we some quiet sections with a fair amount of noise, even though the disc is the MFSL gold edition, but the levels were equal in both recordings. I’m sure if I hooked up a spectral analyzer there’d be a difference, but for my ears, it’s fine.

Finally received the quad version of Dark Side of the Moon. Wow, what a difference. There’s some interesting stereo placement and the positioning gives a more aggressive quality to some of the tracks, especially in the case of the drums.

In other news, I’ve still got to motivate and line up some live gigs. I haven’t really done much in the last couple of weeks because of the CD recorder purchase, and because my wife and I are expecting our second child next week. So if I seem to fall off the radar for a short time, those would be the excuses!

Feb. 19, 1999. Still working on two tracks that originate on the 309. Real interesting stuff using the synth capabilities of the percussion section. I’ve also sold my minidisc recorder to finance a CD recorder, which I should be ordering in the next week. I’m planning on the Philips CDR880 because it has a built-in sample converter. This is necessary since my DAT recorder samples at 48. The other recorders in the Philips range don’t do sample converting, and although I would like the dubbing deck so I could make digital copies easy, I really need to prioritize the purchase for my own music. So, at least for the start I won’t be making any straight digital copies of discs. What I’ll probably do is buy another CD player with a digital output at some point in the future; I’ve seen them for under $200. Anyway, the specs on the 880 look good, so I should be able to make good recordings using the analog inputs anyway. I have many live tapes I’d like to transfer, and I’d also like to start trading if time allows.

I received some great new Pink Floyd live material recently, including a great show from early 1973 with a few version of Childhood’s End. Also got a couple of 1970 dates, and since I like everything from that year, it’s hard to be disappointed. Another interesting show is from early 1972, the second night they did Dark Side of The Moon. The first night, they had to abandon the performance during Money because of technical difficulties. This copy has the second night, when they were able to do the full piece, the rest of the show from that night, and as a bonus, the first Dark Side tracks from the previous night. Real interesting versions of what became a famous work. I’ve grown to really like Dark Side and have actually been listening to the legitimate release for the first time in years. I also started playing Breathe on the piano the other night for the heck of it. I saw an interesting special on Abbey Road studios on public TV the other night. They spent a good 10 minutes on the Dark Side, including some new interviews with Roger Waters. For a list of what live Pink Floyd I’ve got, go to the Pink Floyd live page. I’ve got a lot more than what’s there on tape.

Feb. 11, 1999. OK, for simplicities sake let’s just say that this page will be updated every Friday. But don’t hold me to it. I’ve been having a lot of fun with the 309. Because it’s portable, I can work with it anywhere in the house using headphones. I’ve actually started composing some new material on it, and I’ve decided to use this method for the foreseeable future. With the limited synth capabilities, there’s only so much I can do, but the results so far have been promising. Of course, I have tons of drum lines. Once I have a core set of pieces I’ll introduce the XP-50 to finish off the tracks. You can actually play synth lines on the 309 using the little buttons, so I’m able to at least work on some additional parts for the XP.

The second Synthetic Block disc, "The Opposite of Staring Into Space" is complete, and I’ll soon be burning some CDs to send out to prospective labels. Here’s the track listing: Trylon, Half Awake, A Science of Forget, Arc, Hazard, Careful With That Fax Machine, After, Shoal.

Feb. 5, 1999. Well, probably predictably, I haven’t kept up on this page like I originally intended to. I know when I visit pages of this nature, they always peter out in some form. But anyway, let’s see what’s been going on. I’ve integrated the 309 back into my setup. I’ve completed recordings of "Arc," "Half Awake" (formerly called "Against"), and "Hazard." They sound good; the 309 really adds a lot in the percussion department. Hopefully these tracks will be made public in 1999. I started trying to rework "A Science of Forget" and "Shoal," but I think the versions I recorded with the Microwave II will stand as the definitive ones for now. I’m just not satisfied with the way the 309 is working with those pieces, and I don’t really have the patience for starting from scratch again. Actually, I’ve just had enough of trying to redo these pieces yet again with new equipment so it’s time to move on. I’ve spent some much time over the last few months with the same music, that I’m really itching to get cracking on some new material. Basically, what I have now is two CDs worth of material that I’m trying to find home for, either as complete releases or on samplers.

Some of my main inspirations have been from listening to the more atmospheric moments of King Crimson and Pink Floyd. I especially enjoy Pink Floyd from the years 1968-1972, although I do enjoy Wish You Were Here and Animals. They lost me when they put out The Wall. Anyway, the late 60s/early 70s really showed the group as a "band," and live they really produced some excellent spacey material. To that end, I recently picked up a double-disc set of Atom Heart Mother quadraphonic mixes. Even though it’s mastered from vinyl, the transfer was done with great care. The first disc is supposedly a copy of the quadraphonic LP. It’s definitely a different mix from the official release. The best part is that the drums are in the center instead of off to the left. This transforms the piece and makes it more powerful. Other changes are more subtle, such as the sustained organ underneath the horns at the beginning, whereas on the traditional release, there is none. There’s also some extra guitar here or there. I’ve not been able to detect major differences in the other tracks other than the positioning of some of the instruments. Disc one is filled out with the oft-booted AHM from the BBC, in excellent sound. Disc two says it’s "alternate tracks." What it sounds like is a different quad mix than disc one. I surmise that this was recorded using a different quad decoder, which I’ve read could account for the subtle differences with disc one. All the subtle nuance differences I noted about disc one are present on disc two, but some of the stereo positioning is different. Mainly, Nick’s drums are panned a bit left, like on the official stereo release. Again, I haven’t compared the rest of the tracks with the official version. This disc is filled out with live versions of If and Fat Old Sun from the usual BBC concert. Again, great sound. So was it worth the money? Well, AHM is my favorite Floyd album so I think so. Especially the first disc because the power of Nick’s drumming is so much more evident than on the remastered CD from a few years ago. But as I mentioned before, if you’re not familiar with the nuances of the album you may be disappointed; it’s not like these are outtakes or anything. Oh, the packaging is great, with repros of the quad cover. There’s also a new release with the quad mixes for the Dark Side of the Moon, which I should be receiving in a couple of days.

January 14, 1999. I spent last night transferring a lot of material from 1998 to minidisc. I bought a minidisc recorder about a month ago for a great price. I really don’t notice any difference in sound quality between DAT and minidisc, and I think Sony has finally evolved the compression technology to an acceptable level. As I was transferring, I noticed that I actually have a completed CD of material from early last year. Although a number of the pieces have been reworked for the current project, I’m thinking of releasing a limited edition CD of some of the 1998 material if there’s any interest. Please e-mail me if you’d like to hear this material.

Here’s the tracks that would be included on a collection of "interim" material: "Trylon," "A Science of Forget," "After," "Hazard," "Interference," "Shoal," and "Remergence." "A Science of Forget" and "Shoal" are both 20 minute each, but the new versions I’m working on now stand at 10 minutes each. All the pieces were recorded using a Roland XP50 and a Kawai K5000R, so they sound a bit different than what I’ve ended up with now. There’s actually a more ethereal quality to the music, thanks to the Kawai, while the current versions are more aggressive. "Trylon" is the only track that will remain unchanged for the next CD. Other completed tracks from 1998 are "The Aquarium at Night," "The Oppposite of Staring Into Space," "Perisphere," and a five-minute deep ambient mix of "A Science of Forget." Some of these tracks may appear on compilations during 1999.

January 12, 1999. Well, in a continuing effort to make more work for myself, I’ve gotten another new piece of equipment. Actually, I bought another Quasimidi 309, which kind of brings me back full circle to where I was about a year ago. Integrating the unit should be fairly easy, although there’s a lot more options and sounds from when I first owned a 309. The hardest thing will be implementing sounds for "Shoal," "A Science of Forget," and "Careful With That Fax Machine." "Arc" and "Against" were done with a 309 originally, so they should be easy. To fund the purchase, I’ve sold the Emu Audity 2000. The Audity was a good unit, but had way more capabilities than I was ever going to use. With the current setup, which I hope will last for awhile, the XP50 will be used for pads, atmospherics, and general wierdness, while the 309 will handle all percussion, basses, and synth lines. My first big decision will be whether or not to replace the XP50 drums for "Shoal" and "A Science of Forget."

There’s a good web site for 309 users run by Matt Peterson, where I contributed a write-up on how I used the 309 in making the Synthetic Block CD. I’ve reprinted it below, although you can also find it on Matt’s site, following the "Tracks" link:

Here’s a little synopsis of the 309 in action during a recording project. I record under the name Synthetic Block, and my first CD was released in May 1998 on Mindspore Records (www.mindspore.com). I’m probably not a typical user of the 309 because my music is more ambient in nature than the driving rhythms that the silver box pumps out. Regardless, four of the five tracks on the disc used the 309 to one extent or another, without any of the expansions. The disc consists of material from two writing/recording sessions: one in late 1996/early 1997, and the other in August 1997. Both sessions produced a CD’s worth of music and Mindspore basically picked the tracks they liked best.

I bought the 309 in June 1997, one month before the original master for the disc was due. I immediately set about replacing the drums I had used with the 309’s sounds, and in some cases used the bass/lead section. I was amazed at how well the 309 drums fit, and after a couple of weeks the integration with the rest of the equipment for that session (Roland XP50 and Nord Lead) was complete and recorded. Of course, typical record company delays meant that the disc was not going to be released for some months, and in the meantime (Aug. 1997) I had completed a slew of new recordings. The difference with this session was that the 309 was not used as an afterthought, but rather as an integral part of my setup. By this time, Mindspore was interested in the new material as well, and we decided to integrate the material into what became the CD. Below is a brief explanation of how I used the 309 on four tracks from Synthetic Block.

"Silver Sky." This track was from the Aug. 1997 session and was completed rather quickly; definitely one of those rare inspired moments when everything flows and fits together. The main melody line is from the 309, and the piece relies on the more atmospheric drum sounds from Quasimidi’s wonder box. The 309 helped capture the mood of an ambient western. In hindsight, the piece is probably a little too long, although it’s gotten the most radio play of any track off the disc, including airplay on Echoes.

"Eardrum." This longer piece was completed in June 1997, and features very little 309. Actually, there’s only a short section with drums toward the end, but the 309 meshed well with the percussion from the XP50. Because of the addition of the 309 drums, the piece contains multiple time signatures that worked better than I thought they would.

"The Empire of Lights." The longest track on the disc, this is from the Aug. 1997 session and relied heavily on the 309. The first section is a mellotron introduction, which gives way to echoed XP50 percussion and complex 309 percussion. I made the 309 part using the drum grid and it went fairly quick. From there, two leads share the space: the one from the 309 is a typical sweep that I constructed to emulate the warm sweeps from an EMS Synthi A. The final section of the piece kicks into more typical 309 drum territory and uses a 309 lead as a counterpoint to the XP50.

Jan. 6, 1999. Work continues on the second Synthetic Block disc, tentatively titled "The Opposite of Staring Into Space." I just completed reworking a track from 1997 called "Arc." Since a few of the tracks on the disc are around the 10 minute mark, I’m concentrating on completing some shorter pieces. One of them, the title track, will use a five-minute ambient piece as its basis. There are also two other tracks I wrote in 1997, "Drain" and "Against," that I want to rework as well.

I’ve also been making a concerted effort to find more gigs. Although I live in the metropolitan New York City area, there really aren’t many venues suited for electronic music. The main extent to the places I’ve played are clubs and YMCAs; not the most conducive environments. I’ve been searching for more suitable locations. The biggest is problem is explaining the music: definitely not new age, but also not techno. Actually, style is probably the biggest hindrance right now. In my dealings with finding a label for the second CD, I’m discovering the benefit of following a style. Most of the reviews of the first disc have highlighted that the music is not derivative. What I’m finding now is that the music is not ambient enough for the ambient labels, and not sequencer-driven enough for the labels that specialize in Berlin school music.

Dec. 28, 1998. I've been putting the finishing touches on a number of new tracks for what I hope will be the second Synthetic Block CD. A few of the tracks were written at the beginning of the year, one dates from early 1997, and the rest come from various writing session throughout 1998. Most of these pieces are done, but with my continued habit of changing equipment, it becomes necessary to create new sounds to go with the already committed sequences. For instance, earlier this year I bought a Kawai K5000R, then in the summer I purchased a Waldorf Microwave II, and most recently, an Emu Audity 2000. I'm finding that most of my time has been spent assigning new sounds from new equipment.

The following titles are complete and recorded: "Shoal," "A Science of Forget," "Careful With That Fax Machine," "Hazard," "The Aquarium at Night," and "The Opposite of Staring Into Space." The first four minutes of Shoal appear on the GoldTri Volume 2 compilation, although some of the sounds are now different. Other compositions that are close to completion are "Trylon," "After," "Perisphere" and "Arc." Some of these tracks have been submitted for compilations, and if accepted, I'll replace them with other tracks for the disc. I've sent out some copies of this music for consideration, but so far there has been no label interest. I'll be making a more concerted effort by burning some CDs to send out in February. If I can't find any interest, I'll resurrect Ironing Board Recordings and release the disc myself. I'll try to post some RealAudio samples of these pieces so folks can give me some feedback on them. Generally, they are somewhat in the same vein as the Synthetic Block disc, although some tracks are more ambient, while others have a more sequenced quality to them, in the style of "Plangent Bleating."

I've been listening to a bit of early-1973 live Pink Floyd, specifically "When You're In/Obscured By Clouds." I've started recording a version of this piece just for fun. As a break, I often do "covers" as a change of pace. Luckily, some of them are making it out into the world: ELP's "The Barbarian" on Mellow Record's ELP Tribute, and Soft Machine's "The Soft Weed Factor," on Mellow's upcoming Canterbury Tribute. I also have a version of King Crimson's "Sailor's Tale," which I've been trying to convert into RealAudio for the Elephant Tape site, but so far it's coming out distorted and I can't figure out why.

Yesterday, I picked up "From Within 2" on the Fax label. I don't own many Fax releases, but this one I highly recommend.