10/22/1998@26

10/22/1998

Browsed at Marshall Fields and noticed that they now have puzzles based on the photomosaics book. Is such a great idea, but when they take the image of the Titanic and use [only] fish photographs, it misses the point. The point is to somehow make a commentary on the image itself.

[10/22/2024: This happened recently when the Trump campaign used My Heart Will Go On, a song in the Titanic film. What images would we now use for that photomosaic? Generally, most musicians have vociferously objected to the use of their music at Trump rallies, which is indicative of “profane”uses of music on moral grounds. Of course, any music can be played at rallies in venues where performance royalties are collected, or is covered under fair use. It is conceivable that the Supreme Court would now rule that it was fair use under absolute presidential immunity. Imagine that…]

West Nkosi, South African sax player died. He was the guy that invented Mbaqanga, which was a melange of different tribal styles, an “intertextuality” of traditions. Paul Simon tried to weave Americana into it and got lambasted for it—which goes to show that the acculturation we think is so easy is met by much resistance.

At studio. Asked A. to do background vocals on a remix of Obsidian Dreams. Turns out he liked my vocal, which I thought sounded flat.  

[10/22/2024: I recently re-imagined Obsidian in a video short using a text-to-speech voice, perhaps as a way of sending up my own voice].