Okinawa

Video by Keepon, harmonica by Flash. The guitar is Chiemi's. Funny that she has a pipsqueak guitar just like mine. Well, it's not just like mine, hers is even a little bit smaller.

Good times in Okinawa. I'm having so much fun, I can't even blog.

Greetings from Japan

Hello all. I'm in Japan until July 8th.
I arrived in Tokyo the day before yesterday. The jetlag was severe this time around.
I've been staying with my friend Yuki, and we made a song together yesterday.
She played the piano, did all the percussion (including that awesome triangle), and also did the singing that you hear at the beginning of the song. Pure Tokyo pop production! It was pretty fun, and I can now say that I participated in a recording session in Tokyo. Here's the song:




DL


I'm playing a few shows in Okinawa next week, I'll try to post something from those as well.

Time for lunch! It's Friday afternoon here, I'm from the future!

Damn, It's Time You Find The Diamonds

A few choice selections from the "Song Idea Generator" iPhone application. Boy, has it generated some ideas. C'mon dude, stop hiding Hong Kong.











I think that "Pretty girl, dance with what I lost" is especially poetic.
Couple this with some Band-in-a-Box, and you've got instant rock.

Doodles A Through D

As You Can See, I Used To Really Know How to Party

This is from my 25th birthday party.



Also, this picture is proof that Brian Shimkovitz used to hang out at my house with my roommate Mike Klinge.

Since I'm dropping names, here are a few more.
Back row, from left: Peter King, Chris Barth, Aaron Deer, Pete Sebeckis, Jaxon Swain (hell yes, he was worthy of rocking hair like that), Colin the dude who got to make out with Marie Cleaves (not pictured), Brian Shimkovitz.
Front row: Frickin' Maggie Frickin' Hilt! Nothing else matters.

This picture was taken by Heather Haynes.

Photobooth Phun.

Hello world! It's like a vanity license plate, but for the internet.



This is really just an advertisement for the cool flippy thing my hair happens to be doing today. Consider yourself a consumer.

RjDj Has Pleasantly Surprised Me Yet Again

I've written about the iPhone app RjDj here before (both here and at Makezine.com), but there have been some really cool updates to the application and their web service that are really exciting.

In their most recent update to the program, they have allowed for two pretty important changes:

• First, users can download new scenes from the RjDj website. This is a big deal because it used to require some iPhone jailbreak SSH mojo to get new scenes into the application, something way beyond the scope of what a casual user would want to do.
  
• Second, users can upload what they've done with the scenes to the RjDj website.These are then posted to the website as embedded files that anyone can play. It's not only a cool way of seeing what an RjDj scene does, but it also lets you see what's popular, and what other people are doing with RjDj. A very Web 2.0 way of presenting what I consider to be an already-exciting foray into the world of generative mobile audio.
  

This beefed-up ability to share scenes and recordings of scenes is exciting because it makes the whole process of creating scenes a more community-based effort by making it really easy for users to submit feedback, for developers to see just how people are using their scenes. Would I have guessed that running bath water would sound good going through Noble Choir? No, but it does, and now I know, thanks to someone who uploaded their audio 17 hours ago.

It's really innovative in that they are not just encouraging developers (this is one of the few times when PDers could be considered developers in the way that traditional programmers are considered developers) to write new scenes for their application, but they are also encouraging the users out there to submit what they've done with the scenes that they're using.

Anyway, here is my profile as an RjDj Artist (for the record, I didn't write that bio, but I am quite flattered by it, they have really done their homework), and here's the scene I wrote, where you can download it (if you have an iPhone and the free RjDj app) and also listen to what other people have done with my creation (anybody with a web browser can do this). Fun stuff.



As the stats show on RjDj, there are 13 recordings that users have submitted using my scene, Noble Choir, and there are 344 people "rocking this scene," which is probably more people than I have ever rocked being in a band ;-)

P.S. Long time, no blog, I know. I haven't had a ton to say lately, and I've also been busy with school, friends, music, and um, other stuff. If you really need your daily Dixon fix (right?!?), I might recommend trying my Tumblr page, which is just a collection of bizarre pictures I sometimes find on the internet.

It's going to be an exciting time for the next couple of months, I'll be sure and keep you posted.

Summer 2001/No Such Thing as a Perfectly Reliable Digital Backup

It's strange, but true: I've been recording on a computer for ten years now. Back when I first started doing this, hard disk space was hard to come by, so after I was done with a song, I'd run a mix of it and then burn the raw tracks to a CD. I had no real system for doing this, and as a result, when I try to revisit some of my older work in its raw mixable form, it can be a real disaster.

Back in the day, I wasn't too systematic about keeping track of my own music, and as a result, I've lost a few things along the way. In particular, there was a song that I recorded in the summer of 2001 that I remember really liking, but I can't find a copy of this song for the life of me. I can't find a mix, and I can't find the raw files. All I really remember is that there's a line in the song that goes "Monkeys, after all we've tried, threw the bone and I can't see myself desert walking in a robe." If anyone out there has a copy of this song (I tend to give away my own music, and therefore find myself not having my own stuff) I would really like to hear it again. It's been so elusively hyped in my mind that I remember it being some total masterpiece, but I could be completely wrong about that, seeing as how I haven't heard the song in about seven years.

Anyway, in going through my old backups, I found some songs that really don't embarrass me when I listen to them today. In hearing stuff that I did ten years ago, it's been really interesting to hear what has changed about my approach, and what has stayed the same despite whatever conscious decisions I've made. Anyway, here are a few tunes, all recorded during that magically weird summer of 2001:

"Cowboy Boots and Tatts"
I feel like this song really captures the weird thing that I was doing back then. MIDI, metal chords, and singing. I still like this song.



"Generations Reside in Your Eyes"
This song kind of makes me knot up a little inside, but in a good way. It's basically about my future baby-mama, whoever that might be. Religion, death, tradition, travel, hunger. It's all represented.



"Metal Meltdown"
I just like the notes that are played.



"You Were in Your Cell"
An example of the "maximal" approach I was into at the time. Too many notes, for the sake of there being too many notes.




"Old Friend"
This song kind of makes me weepy too. There's just something sad that you can hear in my voice. What a strange summer that was.



In short, I'd like to remind all musicians/filmmakers/digital creative types out there that any sort of digital backup, especially optical media, is prone to corruption, so don't count on that stuff working after about five years or so. Five years may seem like a long time, but soon enough you'll be old like me. There's really no sure-fire way to back up large digital files. The film industry is realizing this as well.

Lesley is Moore

Greetings from NYC. I'm here for the weekend. You will all be happy to know that I am wearing jeans again. I bought two pairs at UNIQLO. I also bought six pairs of colored socks, and a cardigan. So yeah, you can expect a new man when you see me next.



Also, here's a tune I did last week. It has no official title, but I'm calling it "Lesley is Moore" because there was a kid growing up whose last name was Moore, and apparently his dad was named Lesley, so his shortened name was Less Moore, get it?

Belt Brings Beautiful Bonk

Part A (The Setup)


Part B (The Payoff)