Category Archives: Publishing

Mainstream Media ft. Douglas Murray, Matt Taibbi, Malcolm Gladwell, Michelle Goldberg

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvaf7XOOFHc

The Munk Debate on the Mainstream Media was held on November 30, 2022. The resolution to be debated was, “Be it resolved, don’t trust the mainstream media.” On the PRO side of the debate were Douglas Murray (The Spectator) and Matt Taibbi (TK News on Substack). On the CON side of the debate were Malcolm ‘Malc’ Gladwell (The New Yorker, Revisionist History) and Michelle Goldberg (The New York Times). At the beginning of the debate, 48% voted in favour of the resolution, while 52% voted against the resolution. At the end of the debate, 67% voted in favour of the resolution, while 33% voted against it, representing a 39% switch to the PRO side, the biggest switch in Munk history.

Category: Blog, economics, Politics, Publishing, Words | Tags: , , ,

Musician Tips

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Author Unknown

There is a lot more than just playing your horn.
The following are some things to keep in mind in the music business:
BE PATIENT
SHOW UP
SHOW UP ON TIME
BE PATIENT
ALWAYS BE HAPPY TO BE THERE
THAT FIRST IMPRESSION CAN MAKE OR BREAK
AS A PLAYER, MAKE YOURSELF AVAILABLE FOR ANYTHING
BE PATIENT
BE PROMPT IN RETURNING PHONE CALLS
KEEP THE ATTITUDE IN CHECK
WHAT YOU DO CAN HAVE AN AFFECT ON THE WHOLE SECTION AND THE WHOLE BAND
THE LEADER (contractor, musical director, band leader, producer, etc.) IS NOT INTERESTED IN WHO TICKED YOU OFF THAT DAY. ALL THEY WANT IS A GOOD PERFORMANCE.
COUNT THE RESTS
You see an 8 bar rest? You think you can hear an 8 bar phrase? You come in wrong??   Ha ….When sight reading, count it!! Listen for the phrase making sure it doesn’t have an odd phrase in the middle (i.e. 2 1/2 bars and 5 1/2 bars). It might be confusing and then you end up coming in wrong. Embarrassing???
REMEMBER TO ALWAYS GO BACK TO THE WOODSHED!
Ok so you got a gig! You’re playing some show or in some band playing in a club or theater or touring for a week, 3 weeks, 2 months. You figure you have a chance to relax and make a little $$. During the day, you don’t do anything. “Oh, I don’t need to take my lessons or go play in that rehearsal band cuz I’m kinda busy now.” or, “Boy I’m tired. I played til late last night and I don’t even want to look at my horn.” It’s good to maybe take a day of rest but don’t make this a habit.
ALWAYS KEEP PRACTICING! Warm up routines are of the utmost importance.
Scales, etudes, play along CD’s, whatever you normally practice. Go play in that rehearsal band. Woodwind players, play through those reeds and find a good one.
IT IS A GIVEN FACT YOU CAN PLAY YOUR INSTRUMENT. TRY TO AVOID PRACTICING (noodling) ON THE GIG.
WHEN YOU DO PRACTICE, USE A TUNER AND A METRONOME IN PART OF YOUR SESSION.
GET YOURSELF OUT OF REHEARSAL MODE AND INTO PERFORMANCE MODE
I can recall playing through 12 -15 pieces of music a semester in college. Now it can be 12 – 15 pieces a day. I found out that I needed to get into a performance mode quickly. This meant sight reading skills, awareness, ensemble practice, phrasing, styles, etc. All of this has to be addressed right away. This sounds like much preparation but remember it’s all about performing not rehearsing. Even during rehearsal try to make music each time.
DID I MENTION TO BE PATIENT?
FOR SIGHT READING ,
LEARN ALL SCALES AND ARPEGGIOS TO DEVELOP KEY CENTERS.
COUNT THE RESTS.
LISTEN TO CHORDS ON A PIANO. THE MORE THE BETTER. Learn what a 4, 8, 12 or 16 bar phrase feels like
GET TOGETHER WITH FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES AND PLAY. DUETS, TRIOS, ANY COMBINATION. A GOOD PRACTICE IS TO PLAY DUETS USING A METRONOME.
TRADE FOURS, CHORUSES

BE AWARE OF EVERYTHING AROUND YOU
Practice this when sight reading. This is something that is often overlooked when performers are too busy with their own thing and don’t pay attention to what is going on in the rest of the ensemble. Try to pick out another instrument and see if the part you have matches theirs.
Use your ear to hear where you are in relationship to everything else. This seems easy, but always keep it in use. Not just with like instruments, but with all the instruments or vocals in the group. Try to create a sense of cooperation even if you have never met the person next to you. This probably means stepping up your performance level (I know I already talked about this). Seeing something for the first time and reacting accordingly!!
One of the greatest challenges I’ve had in teaching students jazz improvisation and interpretation is getting the melodic lines they play to feel good and sound authentic. Put another way, get them to “swing”. Swinging is the central element to almost every great jazz musician’s conception.
The first and most important thing a student must does to develop a good swing feel is to listen and copy the feeling that great jazz musicians get on recordings. Getting that feel on a wind instrument involves not only where the notes are placed in the beat, but also the way the notes are phrased and articulated in combination with the shape and timing of a particular line. I’ve heard many students play a Charlie Parker solo they’ve learned from the Omni book and sound nothing like Charlie Parker because of the way they phrased it. On the other hand, I’ve heard students who have sounded much more like Charlie Parker because of their conception of phrasing, even though they may have played some wrong notes.
TRY TO BE EXTREMELY FLEXIBLE
Sometimes people don’t really know what they want musically. If there seems to be communication gap, get the job done diplomatically .
Reputation is what people think of you. Character is what you think of you. Try to keep what you think of you and people think of you in line. Don’t be surprised if what you perceive as right is different to other people. This sounds obvious but many people overlook it

Category: Blog, Non-Fiction, Publishing, Words | Tags: ,

DEPRESSION TIPS

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Author unknown

Shower. Not a bath, a shower. Use water as hot or cold as you like. You don’t even need to wash. Just get in under the water and let it run over you for a while. Sit on the floor if you gotta.

Moisturize everything. Use whatever lotion you like. Unscented? Dollar store lotion? Fancy 48 hour lotion that makes you smell like a field of wildflowers? Use whatever you want, and use it all over your entire dermis.

Put on clean, comfortable clothes.

Put on your favorite underwear. Cute black lacy panties? Those ridiculous boxers you bought last christmas with candy cane hearts on the butt? Put them on.

Drink cold water. Use ice. If you want, add some mint or lemon for an extra boost. I always use lemon.

Clean something. Doesn’t have to be anything big. Organize one drawer of a desk. Wash five dirty dishes. Do a load of laundry. Scrub the bathroom sink.

Blast music. Listen to something upbeat and dancey and loud, something that’s got lots of energy. Sing to it, dance to it, even if you suck at both.

Make food. Don’t just grab a granola bar to munch. Take the time and make food. Even if it’s ramen. Add something special to it, like a soft boiled egg or some veggies. Prepare food, it tastes way better, and you’ll feel like you accomplished something.

Make something. Write a short story or a poem, draw a picture, color a picture, fold origami, crochet or knit, sculpt something out of clay, anything artistic. Even if you don’t think you’re good at it. Create.

Go outside. Take a walk. Sit in the grass. Look at the clouds. Smell flowers. Put your hands in the dirt and feel the soil against your skin.

Call someone. Call a loved one, a friend, a family member, call a chat service if you have no one else to call. Talk to a stranger on the street. Have a conversation and listen to someone’s voice. If you can’t bring yourself to call, text or email or whatever, just have some social interaction with another person. Even if you don’t say much, listen to them. It helps.

Cuddle your pets if you have them/can cuddle them. Take pictures of them. Talk to them. Tell them how you feel, about your favorite movie, a new game coming out, anything.

May seem small or silly to some, but this list keeps people alive.

#depression #selfcare

*** At your absolute best you won’t be good enough for the wrong people. But at your worst, you’ll still be worth it to the right ones. Remember that. Keep holding on.
*** In case nobody has told you today I love you and you are worth your weight and then some in gold, so be kind to yourself and most of all keep pushing on!!!!

Find something to be grateful for!

**copied and pasted, feel free to do the same**

Category: Blog, Non-Fiction, Publishing, Words | Tags: , ,

Max Born knew then what we are learning now.

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by: Max Born
December 29 at 3:26 PM ·

Probably many of you know that my grandfather, of the same name, was a very famous man who practically invented Quantum Physics, in all its strangeness. And as a good friend of Einstein he argued with him over the new ideas that stated that “reality” could not, could never, be absolutely pinned down, that you could only state “probabilities”. Einstein argued that this was only because the full picture had not become clear yet. It was to Max that he made his famous declaration, “God does not play dice!” Max was passed over for the Nobel Prize for years, though others of his students received it much earlier, like Heisenberg. Finally they awarded him the prize for Physics in 1953, and my father told my brother and I just before he died, that Max´s wife had somehow so insulted the King of Sweden that he stormed out of the room and was not present at the ceremony…!! People pleasers we ain´t.
Anyways, I don´t know much about physics. But I visited him in hospital in Germany when he was dying, and asked him if he felt that death was the end… after that, nothing… or, maybe, something…? I was 19 years old and hadn´t seen him for years. To my relief he didn´t freak out, nor answer me in words, but he smiled at me in a way that I interpreted as that he was open minded… I had told him all about my experiments with psychedelics and what I felt these experiences had done for me. I left for England, and he died shortly after, in 1970.
Some months later I and my girlfriend had a session with a psychic at the London HQ of the British Spiritualist Association. The psychic sad to me, right away, “I see a little old man, dear, white hair, you know who I mean?” I thought, old man? White hair? I know lots of people, lots of friends, some are old, 28, even 30… but white hair? WTF…?
“Yes dear, you know…?”
Me: You don´t mean my grandfather…?
“Yes dear, of course, he wants to wish you a happy birthday!”
Wow, I thought, she knows it´s my birthday today… amazing.
But I didn´t connect that with my question to Max till a few months later, when I sat up in bed and said wow!
But where this is all going, is this. Max knew that the Nazis meant big trouble as soon as they seized power in ´33. And he was “Jewish” to the Nazis, though he wasn´t technically (it is through the mother) and he and his family before him were irreligious, in fact anti-religious, and they had all been scientists for several generations. He began to look for university posts outside of Germany, elsewhere in Europe. Luckily he settled on Edinburgh, because if he had accepted chairs in Denmark, Italy, France, Holland, etc…
So he and his wife and 3 children – 2 daughters and my father Gus, fled Germany, years before war broke out, losing his position, his property, and his old life. So they all survived. And he helped many others to flee to safety.
And guess what…? They called him crazy, paranoid, stupid, foolish… all the names people call those who can sense the way the wind is blowing and who act on their belief, even if no one understands, and against enormous hostility. History proved him correct of course. And it is in this sense that I have always identified with him. And I like to think that I have a little of his courage, and some of his suspicion of the “new normal”.
The big difference today is that there is nowhere to run to. There is no safe country, no safe haven, from the new, re-branded Nazi Global Coup – the Great Reset – taking place. Unless we all resist, together… we, and civilisation, are toast. So I don´t care what names I´m called, or how much I am misunderstood… I stand with my grandfather, and all those who can see, who can sense, the gigantic iceberg dead ahead as we plough full steam towards disaster.
Thanks for listening.

Category: Blog, Non-Fiction, Publishing, Words | Tags: , ,

Does It Make Sense Now

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by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
“A New York Times reporter asked me yesterday about the “conspiracy theory” that Bill Gates is developing injectable chip to store vaccine records.
“Here are the facts:
“The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation invested over $21 million to perfect a “microneedle technology” that embeds, under the skin, a vaccination record visible by infrared light that can be read by a “minimally-adapted smartphone technology”.
“The technology will allow health officials to scan U.S. citizens to detect their vaccination compliance. A study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and published in December, 2019 by researchers from MIT, the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Gates-funded Intellectual Ventures Laboratory in Bellevue, WA, describes how “near-infrared quantum dots” will be implanted under the skin along with a vaccine to encode information for “decentralized data storage and bio-sensing.”M Gates’ technology uses a tattoo-like mechanism to inject invisible nanoparticles subcutaneously. Gates’ researchers are now testing the implant with a vaccine against the COVID-19 virus.
“The Gates-funded report boasts that the chip system will allow “house-to-house” compliance searches to be conducted by government enforcement teams with “minimal training”, and will “open up new avenues for decentralized data storage and biosensing.”
“The MIT paper is titled “Biocompatible near-infrared quantum dots delivered to the skin by microneedle patches to record vaccination.”
“Gates began funding implantable tracking chips and ratio biotechnology in 2011 with a grant to TransDerm Inc. Gates is currently making multiple investments in develop different versions, including grants to Vaxxas Pty Ltd, Micron Biomedical Inc, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Vaxess Inc.
“I urge you to contact Bill Gates on his social media. Gently explain that tagging and tracking humans may appeal to his Government cronies in totalitarian China, but those activities are inconsistent with American values and traditions.”
– Robert F Kennedy Jr. 4/16/2020
If you actually believe that I should be forced to take mandatory vaccinations and I should be forced to carry a digital certificate certificate of vaccination and that the government has the right to go by and scan houses to make sure of compliance the let me know because you’re actually my blood enemy…
Category: Blog, Non-Fiction, Publishing, Words | Tags: ,
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