In Which Shantzy Pantz and also Shantzy Pantz go hiking...

Hey People I sent this link to, here is the trip Steve and I took to the Adirondacks.

We drove past this field on the way to the Adirondack Loj (not a typo) from whenst we embarked upon our most excellent adventure...

This was the 'backyard' of our campsite that we accessed from a little trail out the back. Its where did our cooking and kept our bear canisters, also where we killed a lot of time shooting the shit in our own particular manor as we are want to do. Lovely little stream drifted past.

 Campsite...

Typical trail, with a stream running down the middle. Almost every step we had to choose wisely as we hiked. Water down the middle was actually less of a challenge than some of the low-laying swampy areas where we had to do some rerouting. We never felt it was unpleasant though. Just one way for things to be.

It rained the last night we were there so hiking out posed some challenges since the rivers were higher. Steve ponders...

We had decided our route by this point but I wanted a picture of myself looking stoic and naturey. Have to say I'm pleased with the results.

 Steve starts across...

 Forget the name of these falls, will post soon...

 We thought the scenery could be improved by inserting our faces. We were wrong.

 For those not paying attention, this is the same field on the way out.

The Future of Digital Music (boring title but I really believe this is going to happen so I'm making the claim)

(Upon reading this post back to myself I noticed a significant number of platitudes. I think this has to do with the large topics being discussed. These kinds of topics are discussed so often in life that platitudes often accompany them like pilot fish. Pilot fish have a symbiotic relationship however with the sharks they follow around.)

There exists an age-old challenge for musicians since we need to make dollars (or whatever currency exists in our respective countries) but the same personality traits that make one a good musician also steer one away from being a good business person. Business people rightly want something predictable. Musicians rightly want something unpredictable. Business people rightly seek to express themselves objectively. Musicians rightly seek to express themselves subjectively. Business people rightly need to assign ownership to things. Musicians rightly borrow, share and give things away.

Like boys and girls (even gay boys and girls) as we grow up we see the benefit of learning the ways of "The Others" but the less than fully mature musician and business person are going to look at music from opposite sides. Its the subject, its an object, its my baby, its my property. These view points equip musicians and business people to handle music differently: to actually produce it in the case of musicians and to sell it in the case of business people. Its really a partnership made in heaven if it can be worked out well. But like a successful marriage it requires boundaries and power sharing. (See that platitude was like a pilot fish rather than a parasite I think) Musicians need to spend all their working hours making music and business people need to spend all their working hours doing business. Musicians need help selling their music. Business people need something to sell.

Goose/Golden Egg:

Music and all arts are essential for human well-being and as such have a shelf life as long as there is human society (so basically another 80 years or so at the rate we're going). This is our saving grace and also the starting point for the exploitation of the arts. Why not try to exploit something that you can't kill right? You won't have to worry about it not being around. Its a great temptation in a fearful society. People seek out enduring things to cling onto - artists themselves do this too of course.

What isn't appreciated is that even if something can't be killed can still be degraded beyond recognition, to the point where we loose touch with its true place in our lives. Goose/Golden Egg, etc. (platitudes/pilot fish, etc.)

Part II coming soon