Keep warm. Stay safe and WEAR A DAMN MASK.
Merry Christmas.
Keep warm. Stay safe and WEAR A DAMN MASK.
Merry Christmas.

Yes, I am late (again, as usual). I have been rearranging my place. It has been a mess (messier than usual). My desk fell apart while I was moving it. I had to put the top onto a dresser, instead. It turned out not to actually fit into the corner where I wanted it. So, I sawed a 1/3 of the desk off to make it fit. I attempted to cannibalize three broken computers into one workable one for the studio. But, ah, well….that didn’t work out. Some of my other gear needs repairing as well. So, I’ve fallen behind really bad (again, as usual).
I did finally hooked up my old WIN 98 computer that I’ve had lying around for ages. I intend to use it mainly as a glorified jukebox, to play mp3s in the living room. It will also be handy for MIDI applications with some of my gear in the studio. There are some old obsolete programs I want to try on that, too. MarshaKat & I had a pretty decent MOTU setup with one of these at our place in Westland, before we sold everything and moved a couple of years ago. I had some pretty rad gear back then, including a sampler & monitor system exactly like DEVO used way back when. At least we still have the keyboards and a few of our other instruments.
I’m gradually catching up to where I was, before. But, everything I am doing is hindered without the necessary equipment hooked up or repaired. That is how that goes. I’m trying not to let it bring me down. I have lots of stuff that needs to be done. But, I’m terrible at multi-tasking. I need to focus and prioritize. I just don’t know what to do next, without my studio set-up. Planned videos need to be made… can’t. Partial song tracks need completion… can’t. An inspection is coming next week. So, the apartment has to be cleaned. I’m working on that.
Some of the unfinished music currently in progress is really simple and accessible. Some of it is whacked-out Frank Zappa / Mr. Bungle kind of shit. Some of it is an awful noisy racket to clear out the room with.
Almost a dozen Spacecat zines are 90% done. But, need recorded music to be finished.
Harry Cloud has requested for me to make a music video for him. That should have been done months ago. I dunno if I will make another video for this year’s Planet 9 Film Festival. I didn’t last year. I’ve gotta clear out some space and get everything up and running again before I work on videos again, though.
I had to relocate my junk from a storage locker in the building back to a storage unit that I had rented a few years ago. It is more expensive. But, the new building manager pissed me off by cutting off the padlock on my locker, then claiming that I hadn’t paid my rental fees. What?! Excuse me? So, I cannot trust her to not violate my property.
I started a bullet journal a few months ago, for keeping all my notes in one place. It is described by it’s creator, Ryder Carroll, as a “mindfulness exercise disguised as a productivity planner system”. It has helped me quite a lot to be more organized, get my thoughts out on paper, keep better track of things, and focus my mind. I’m less likely to forget important things, like my medications. It’s not a be-all-end-all panacea. But, because it is such a flexible system, I can experiment and try out different things until I find what works best for me. There are thousands of bullet journaling examples online. So, I won’t run out of ideas anytime soon.
Aside from housework, there is not much time for making art. I’m mostly writing and drawing, for now. I will attempt to release SOMETHING, anything, at least weekly. No one cares about excuses. They want results.

Damn! I wish that this coronavirus pandemic were just an elaborate prank. That would have been awesome. Self-isolation hasn’t changed my life one iota. It does mean that some friends are now unemployed, bored, with nothing to do. So, they want to collaborate with me, again, playing rock and noise. At least that motivates me to get more stuff done. So, I’m actually a little happier with that aspect of this. The empty streets and parking lots are a bit of apocalyptic fantasy fulfillment for me, too, without the zombies or vampires.
I am spending some time taking stock of the progress in my various projects. It helps me to re-evaluate and refine my workflow, from time to time. The changing landscape caused by COVID-19 is a pretty good reason to plan out a new approach to everything, right now. Many venues, comic book shops, book stores, art galleries, etc. are not going to make it through the effects of this pandemic. The economy, and everything it touches, are going to be drastically transformed. The old models of doing everyday activities, of making and performing our art, are not going back to business-as-usual. The next couple of months are going to be VERY interesting.
People are stuck at home, with nothing to do. So, I hope to produce more completed work to post online. That is where the audience is going to be, for awhile. Maybe when this plague blows over we will be out playing house parties or something, until regular venues can make a comeback.
Anyway, I will share some music from my collection with you. This is Local H and Britney Spears, each doing Toxic. I have been in a Britney Spears mood lately. Dunno why.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m late again. What else is new? It has been a LONG time since my last original post. I will summarize a bit.
Planet 9 Film Fest went well in October. Got to meet up with friends I haven’t seen in awhile. Saw some creative movies and great bands again.
Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve all went well. Mostly, it was dinner with family at my grandmother’s house.
Unfortunately, there was a death in my family, my great aunt. Shortly afterward, a friend of twenty years also died. I’m getting older. Everybody is dying.
There have been very few mechanical problems with my car during the past year, thank god. I’ve managed to stay on top of things like that. Thankfully, I don’t have to commute every day to a shitty job I hate, anymore, with little time or energy left to work on music & art. So, it turned out, disability was a blessing in disguise.
For me, creativity is how I keep my sanity. It is more of a compulsion than a hobby. Gotta get the demons out of my head, somehow. Trouble is, it is easier to get started than to finish anything. Distractions and mental instability are frequent problems. Then, I get upset at myself for not meeting my own self-imposed expectations and deadlines. I have to figure out how I can get out of my own way. Occasionally, I’ll try different things I’ve discovered that seem to work, temporarily, until I backslide again. This usually happens when I forget my meds and don’t get enough sleep. Then, I struggle to get back on track with everything again. It is very hard to focus when this happens. Maybe there isn’t a permanent fix to this.
I’ve had many projects partially completed for a long time now. Most of the work is already done. But, to get things finished I have had to learn (the hard way) to slow down and just do one thing at a time, instead of piling on everything at once. I’m terrible at multi-tasking.
One positive thing to come from all these delays is that I have gone back to some things I’ve done and made improvements. So, Theee Urban Spacecat #3 looks a lot better than it did before. There still isn’t enough completed music to go with it, though. Same goes for issues #4, 5, 6, and 7.
With the next cassette-zine issue being recorded, I am working on more material that I can perform live by myself. I would like to prepare my car to travel a lot in the next couple of months, play some local shows, and eventually go on a mini-tour to New York and back. I HATE booking venues, though. It is not something that I look forward to. Bottom line, I want to insure that everything goes smoothly and I, at least, don’t lose any money or kill my car in the process. If it is just me and one other person coming along, that should keep the overhead low.
I have been making some neato t-shirts & stuff. So, that has been a nice creative outlet, for me. If it can also generate a little revenue that would be pretty awesome. I had hoped that YouTube could be a viable source of income. But, all the policy and algorithm changes they’ve made makes that feel very unlikely. The FTC COPPAcolypse is approaching, too. So, many content creators may be forced out. Who knows? I’m watching to see how this fiasco plays out.
I’m just gonna keep doing what I do, in my little corner. I’ll put some of it out there somehow, eventually.