The well of fun

I was reminded by my friend Marlena to have fun with your children wherever you are. I feel like I used to be better at that, but might have been slowing down on the skipping in the mall as he got older... am I getting too serious? He is a challenge at times, willful, inattentive, argumentative about just about everything, hugely energetic... Most of those traits are things that can be an advantage if he gains the wisdom to use them well. So where to draw the line? Clearly it's not a free for all, h e need guidance, but I may be forgetting the fun a bit more than I should recently.

I want to create many good memories for my son, and I feel it's important for us to have silly good fun together. I think those little fun things can dramatically shape his memories about being young.

Once in a store I was entertaining Jamieson in the shopping cart (various crazy stuff) and a woman ask me "how do you have the energy to think all that up?" and I said "Luckily I have a vast repertoire of immature behavior to draw upon".

I hope he and I haven't exhausted that supply.

Corporate Anthems And Privacy Genies That Are Not Going Back In A Bottle

Back in the seventies I can recall being freaked out by the idea of a "corporate anthem" playing in the beginning of the movie Rollerball. It was a powerful image of a future that needed to be avoided and it was an early source of the concept for a young Murdock that our lives are increasingly influenced by corporations and people in positions of power outside of government. Schoolhouse Rock had been blowing smoke up my ass! Well, many years have gone by and other movies shocked us with dystopian futures run by uncaring corporations. Omni Consumer Products, Weyland-Yutani, at the time their fictional antics seemed so shocking... but now, after living a life in which I have witnessed the real life actions and negligence of the powerful, that aspect of those movies seems quaint.


Traditionally, our government has been a tool to protect us from overpowered corporations, but people don't seem to LIKE or TRUST the government as of late. They do however appear to pacified by the marketing, services and entertainment provided by corporations. This seems dangerous to me. People are getting very understandably upset recently about our government having access to personal information, but I rarely hear them speak about the fact that they GAVE the information being collected to corporations themselves without demanding it be absolutely private. Often times agreeing to share shocking amounts of personal data under questionable guidelines of privacy. We did it.
And why is the government worse than FB or Google? I think people are shouting about a big scary dog (which may or may not be friendly) while petting a hungry lion dressed as a clown (which was always planning to eat you).

So, maybe its time to drop the pretense, show our true allegiance and just write some anthems for the worlds largest corporations and most powerful individuals. We can sing them in schools and at sporting events. It will be fun! We can post about it.

Excellent Support From Chordbot Developer

My copy of Chordbot for IOS stopped working last night so I shot off an email and just now I got a response that I am confident will solve the issue. I should say that it is less the developers fault that it stopped working and more mine for pushing the iPad to hard.

If you are interested in cobbling together chord progressions on an IOS device Chordbot is a great app. Plus they actually read emails! Gotta love THAT!

Plea to maintain best in class IOS music product

It seems to me that developers sometimes throw things at a wall to see if they stick without thinking much about the people who use the tools. If a product is really good, that may be enough reason to keep it healthy and see what happens in the long run. When the pros come over to IOS in larger numbers... (and they will) I hope these guys won't have been short sighted. Here is the note I sent them.

Dear WI...
I am absolutely in love with WI Guitar on the iPad. I have been a vocalist/electronic composer/producer for nearly 30 years. Honestly I had never heard of your company before as my gear purchases stabilized years ago. I have a ton of virtual instruments and soft synths as well as racks of classic gear, I don't need much that is new... unless that is it happens to be for an innovative new touch based tablet. Which is exactly how I discovered you. WI Guitar is by far the best sounding and most playable app of its type on the app store. But, today I am sitting here wanting to strum an idea into cusasis and then transfer that over to cubase on the mac and well, no audiobus, so no love. I came to your site looking for news about possible pending updates and found disturbing verbiage in the FAQ regarding support for your other IOS offering. "We currently have no plans on changing or updating the core functionality of Wivi Band for iOS." I hope this does not apply to WI Guitar. I feel you have something unique in this product and would hate to see it get left behind or abandoned. Charge IAP for amp simulators, or new samples if you need to, but please consider updating this app with current technology. Nothing else I have found sounds nearly as good. 

This may sound like me blowing smoke but I do lack orchestral samples in my collection and have been casually looking at different packages for years... because of WI Guitar, I am now aware of your company and understand your commitment to making instruments that sound "right". Something to consider. Thanks for your time.

This was a supplemental note I sent.


I also should have mentioned that although I have owned WI Guitar for a long time I have recently been on a buying spree of new IOS music apps, the primary qualification that drives my purchase is if they have audiobus.  I will consider buying anything that has audiobus and often use their list of compatible apps as a reference for shopping. in fact I recently purchased a different guitar app because it had audiobus, but it sounds tragic in comparison to yours. sorry to babble on... I hope you find this information useful or encouraging. 
Thanks again.
Doc.