Writer, musician, wizardly guide to platform independence
From Raj Kaur, “Blue is immortalised in my sketchbook, from a session with wonderful Beth Spencer.”
I submitted a photograph as source material for Beth’s online drawing session, and this is from Raj’s sketchbook. I took the file and sent it to a local printer, and they made me a nice print.
I miss my buddy.
Blue returned to the cosmos today. I miss you so much, buddy.
Via Ted Gioia:
Deezer says 44% of songs uploaded to its platform daily are AI-generated
When there’s no curation, no “taste makers,” no editorial discernment, this is what ya get!
Most of us handed the aux jack to the computers, and now we’re here.
Tonight, a friend walked me around their space, showing me the works of art left to her. A precious, sweet remembrance of a dear friend.
Tomorrow, I drive to upstate New York to visit an aunt in the hospital. She’s not an artist by definition, but she made people laugh and smile. What else is art but joy?
Remember the laughter, the smiles, the experences along the way. Celebrate the sunset, the dinner together, the conversations that flow like music into the evening.
Just got off a call with Deanna Seymour, talking about my work with Social Media Escape Club.
When talking about “how I find new people” since I’m not on social media, I just said I meet new people all the time and do cool stuff with good people, like the podcast we were recording!
I then explained that a few of her listeners will hear my interview and go, hey! Seth seems cool, I’m gonna go check him out!
Deanna then hit the nail on the head, then, reminding everyone; “a few.”
Me being on one podcast won’t bring in 1000 new subscribers probably. But hey, maybe 3 or 5 or 10 people over a month, right?
Stop thinking of posting on social media and the infinite reach. Put value in showing up for 10 people.
The work we create doesn’t has an expiration date. The photo books we make, or the poetry chapbook, the music video, the demo tape, the essay, the course, the piece of art. Most of our work is timeless yet we let it expire, starving it of attention as we move onto the next thing.
“Well, the last thing didn’t take off, might as well work on the new thing,” we say, even though maybe 100 people saw it the first time.
Absolutely loving the new Maul – Shadow Lord series. Freaking Two Boots, man.
From Nick Heer:
“I will need to dedicate real, significant time to minimizing my iCloud dependence.”
A tale of photo management, paying Apple $324/year for iCloud storage, date loss, and other dreadful tales of dealing with Apple’s photo app.
I broke up with Apple Photos back in 2024. Wasn’t easy, but I’m glad I did it.
Love these two still images from Noah Kalina’s ‘Out in the Field – Comparing the Phase One IQ360 with the IQ4150’ video on YouTube, on his new Kalina channel.
I sure don’t know much about Phase One cameras, or medium format, but I love following his work, and the epic scenery he captures.
Continue reading “NOAH KALINA IN THE FIELD”
People want proof because they don’t want risk.
When I dare suggest that maybe we can exist without social media, or musicians can take their music off streaming platforms, I basically hear this: “give me 25 examples of people doing it that are successful.”
As in, prove that other people have done it and maybe I’ll entertain the idea.
And really, eh, I’m not trying to convince anyone. If you wanna use something, use it. I ain’t your dad.
But if using a particular product or service pains you, if it’s triggering, it’s harmful to your mental health, or your sobriety, ummm… yeah, I think it’s okay to entertain the idea of not using that particular product.
If you’re a recovering addict, it’s okay if you don’t wanna play in bars.
Hell, if you just hate the bar scene, I’d say it’s okay to not play in bars.
Going first, without evidence, is hard. Which is maybe why so few do it.