other things/things i own: recording 'studio'

this is a picture of what it looks like when i record music.

however, i don't usually use this particular setup. it is more interesting here than usual. this picture was taken when i was recording my wildly imaginative and irreverent record Fwends EP under the moniker GAZEBO. the album is terribly mixed, which is something i think makes it 'lovable'.

i will now explain to you what i own in this picture (from left to right):

white fisher-price electronic keyboard/real sounds piano (# 3810): i found this keyboard at a goodwill store in lincoln, nebraska. i think it cost me $3.99 but actually i know it did because the price sticker is still on it. it says $3.99. this keyboard has record and playback buttons and a 'correct' button that makes editing mistakes 'a snap'.

sanyo m9903k stereo radio cassette: i also found this baby at the goodwill store. i think it cost me $4.oo. it has a built in microphone (of low quality) and a quarter-inch plug which is how i was able to transfer tape recordings onto my computer. i sometimes listen to npr on it. i wish i liked coffee and was grumpy a lot. this way i could drink coffee, be grumpy, and listen to talk radio on it. i would be then be my friend zach schroeder (see 'song 4 oliver').

radioShack MD-981 keyboard: the maker of all beats. this keyboard has over 80 rhythms and beats, 80 songs, and 99 tones. there are so many fun things on this keyboard. i bought this keyboard from my father's church for $20.

mac powerbook g4 with garageband: i got this laptop for free by going to a no-name, understaffed, under-facilitated, terrifically academically impoverished university which shall go unnamed. they were giving away laptops like the kid at school who bought toys just so kids could come over to play with him after schoo. they were doing some kind of promotion to attract more students. you had to get a 3.3 in a semester and come back from two consecutive ones. needless to say, i got it and left. in any case, garageband is the recording program i use even though it is elementary and i feel cramped using it, i have become very comfortable with it. i have thought about downloading pro tools but i don't want to feel helpless and stupid and overwhelmed by it.

there you have it. i spent $28 dollars for everything. add cables and input adapters: maybe $30. you too can also make your own record with terrible mixing quality and obscene lyrics for $30. there is very little to it. it does not have to be 'good'. no one has to like it. you can make an ass of yourself and give it to someone as a present. there is nothing stopping you.

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blake butler's post on crispin glover's film what is it? a few weeks ago really piqued my interest in glover. in googling and searching i found this clip from willard. i can't explain it but i really want to cry every time i see crispin glover and his rodent friend being hoisted into the air away from each other. i feel similary when glover speak-sings: 'i used to say/i and me/now it's us/now it's we.'

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i like this by will ratblood. i also like eyeshot.net. i think everyone should submit there. they accept only flash fiction and short stories. i think maybe that is good. to me poetry is mostly ejaculatory. i get tired of that. i am speaking to myself mostly.

i also think it is a good idea to let each other know of places where we can publish. i feel like the things i write are 13-year old awkward tweens shuffling around in their jnco jeans and jc penney-type clothing. does anyone know a good after-school newsletter i can submit to? i would be willing to insert clip art into the margins from the clip art file if i could just insert a haiku.

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today i re-read the opening lines of ginsberg's HOWL and felt something very different. to be honest i never quite 'got' ginsberg. or much poetry for that. i still don't. it feels good being let in on everyone's secret (not that ginsberg is a secret) but it feels good honestly feeling the way that a lot of people feel. maybe one day i will even start to like radio head. i feel like i am 'maturing'. after reading it, i said 'holy shit....':

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked

dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,

angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night,

who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz ...

holy shit....