I can tell time, but don’t know what Time is; it is one of the most obvious and important features of our existence but the more I think about it, the more I realize that my temporal comprehension is just a simplistic and survivalist adaptation for functional life. It’s been five months since I last sat down to write here and all that exists of it is memories, accessed by patterns of electrical impulses in the synapses of my brain. Using the present to tap keys on my laptop creates a lettered breadcrumb trail of my past, which might be seen and remembered in the future, possibly even by people with different brains than my own, and stand as a catalog of my time spent and proof that I existed. I am gathering these thoughts in the studio I built in my basement, for the purpose of recording music; a space where I can play and express myself creatively, producing aural transmissions from my soul. The time that I exist is spent doing many different actions, including sleeping, eating, commuting, teaching, reading, watching shows and movies, listening to and playing music, gathering and assessing information, and recreating with my family. The ways I occupy my time make me who I am, and although it is apparently continuous from the day I was born (conceived?), I am always evolving and becoming a new person in every moment.
Reading alters me in profound ways, changing my perception of reality through history, science or fiction. Over the past five months I have discovered some amazing books that I would recommend to anyone seeking a worthwhile read.
Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr
-A beautiful narrative of eternal art and literature from ancient Constantinople to futuristic interstellar fantasy.
The Anomaly, Hervé Le Tellier
-A plane flies through an electrical storm and lands at JFK. Three months later the same plane, containing the same pilot and passengers appears in the sky…
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
-A sci-fi novel from 1992, anticipating the rise of the internet and predicting a dystopian multi-national corporate-controlled world running parallel to a virtual world disrupted by a crossover virus.
This Is Your Mind On Plants, Michael Pollan
-An intrepid writer investigates our psychoactive relationship with the chemical compounds in opium, caffeine and mescaline.
Cooked, Michael Pollan
-Fire, Water, Air and Earth; the four elements transform our food in beautiful and delicious ways. Cooking was essential to the evolution of homo sapiens and continues to be critical in our daily lives.
Games: Agency as Art, C. Thi Nguyen
-Every game requires different skills based on the objectives and design, allowing us to explore alternative constructs and perspectives that can be applied in the game of life.
Inventor of The Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller, Alec Nevala-Lee
-Inspired by cars, homes, cities and our planet, Bucky had big ideas to improve them and envisioned a future for all of humanity’s benefit.
Underland, Robert MacFarlane
-A series of essays exploring the world below the surface, in caves, mines and crypts, and its records of our anthropocene era.
Until The End of Time: Mind, Matter and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe, Brian Greene
-Where did we come from and where are we going? Physics suggests that our perception of time’s exclusive present belies the truth of simultaneous eternal time, and drives our quest for meaning.
Fundamentals: Ten Keys To Reality, Frank Wilczek
-A survey of modern physics and reflection on the immensity of scale contrasted with the simplicity of governing rules.
Something Deeply Hidden, Sean Carroll
-A history of quantum discoveries and the conclusion that we live in a multi-verse where every possible outcome exists.
Your Brain Is A Time Machine, Dean Buonomano
-We remember the past and envision the future, making our mind a unique time traveler with the essential tools for learning, planning and evolving.
An Immense World, Ed Yong
-A survey of animals’ “umwelt” or sensory experience, demonstrating an incredible variety of adaptations to life and survival, enlightening our own developed senses and their limitations.
The Longing for Less: Living With Minimalism, Kyle Chayka
-Describing the essence of a minimalist concept, with explorations of its application in art, music, architecture, and lifestyle.
The Story of Music, Howard Goodall
-A History of Western Music innovation, built on rhythmic, melodic and harmonic evolution by individual composers over centuries.
Conversations, Steve Reich
-Dialogues between my favorite minimalist composer and adjacent musical minds.
Room Full of Mirrors: Biography of Jimi Hendrix, Charles R. Cross
-From destitute poverty and a dysfunctional home rose the most innovative guitarist of all time, careening though fame and worship towards a tragic end.
Our Band Could Be Your Life, Michael Azerrad
-A history of the underground indie music scene from 1981-1991 though the stories of the bands that embraced the DIY ethic and built the bridge from 70s sideshow punk to 90’s mainstream rock.
These books have inspired great personal music listening, from classical masters to punk and hardcore; with new context and appreciation, I’ve been enjoying Perotin, Monteverdi, Bach, Vivaldi, Liszt, Wagner, Debussy, Stravinsky, Glass, Cage and Reich, as well as Black Flag, Minutemen, Bad Brains and Minor Threat. And of course, Jimi! I heard Hendrix for the first time in 7th grade, bought some CDs and loved it, with very little understanding of his biography or cultural significance. Now I can watch his performances on YouTube and marvel at his wizardy in much greater depth.
I have enjoyed some concerts by Nick Mason at The Beacon Theater, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at Forest Hills, LCD Soundsystem at Brooklyn Steel, The Hold Steady at Music Hall of Williamsburg and have been to the Blue Note three times to see Bill Frisell, an incredible Bass Jam featuring Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, Derrick Hodge and MonoNeon, and another Supergroup consisting of DJ Logic, Paul Shaffer and John Popper.
Whatever Time may actually be, my own time is the ultimate currency and it has been well spent!