Joe Muscara

I'm from Long Island, I get it. For me personally, I've tried to take what I find useful in the meditations and think them to myself instead. But for me, I do best when I just clear my head and get all thoughts out. Just doing the 20 seconds watching yourself breathe I mentioned earlier has helped me immensely. I find it helps with the awesome one time and suck the next thing, too. I try to approach each performance the same way, whether it "matters" or not. That's the closest I have gotten to being consistent in my playing.

Dude, I even listen to your shout outs to supporters at the end. How else am I going to get my podcast player to make the episode as played? If I let that go, it'll keep telling me I have the episode to finish. My OCG (obsessive-compulsive gift) can't handle that.

But you are a master, of your own thing. It's not about comparing yourself to others, in fact, that's part of what you need to rid yourself of. We all do it, don't get down about that either, but when you're practicing or playing, if you're telling yourself you're not good enough, not as good as Herbie or Chick or Johann, does that get you anywhere? Of course not. So why not let it go? Besides, I bet each one of those players could tell you about how they can't do what the other guys do. Each one is/was unique and great in their own way, but might not be able to do things the others did. I bet Herbie would tell you to not focus on that. He would tell you to work on you. I was at a jam on Saturday and there was another keyboard player there. I'm listening to him and thinking, "hey, he's pretty good, he's nailing those parts." Meanwhile, I felt like I wasn't. I wasn't beating myself up about it, I haven't played with anyone since January 2020, so I know I'm rusty. No big deal. During the break, he comes up to me and says he's going to let me play most of the stuff, he's struggling, his hands are cold, etc. and that I was playing well. See what I'm saying? We were both great, though we weren't hearing it. I understand why you're saying all this, but I think you're putting too much on it. The space isn't nirvana, it's just where you can let go of all that crap that comes to your mind for a while. Like I said, the practice is to get into the space, work on your craft, and if you come out of the space, either get back into it, or step away. It's as simple as that.

Song of the Year: Bonnie Raitt, Just Like That, beating Taylor Swift, Lizzo, Harry Styles, Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar, DJ Khaled…

I can only hope you brought them somewhere to at least recycle them and didn't actually put them in the trash so they end up in a landfill…

A little OT, but that's why I've always like the original Mission: Impossible series. They didn't usually show the spy work (how did they know the layout of the bad guy's mansion?), but it was a much more cerebral drama instead of an action/adventure flick. That's why I've never gotten into the Tom Cruise M:I movies. (I did recently see a video about how Cruise trained for a huge stunt in the next M:I movie and I give him serious props for the work he and the team did to accomplish that, but you have to see it as that type of movie instead of calling it "spy" stuff.) I read a bunch of the Ian Fleming Bond books when I was a kid, but I don't remember them enough to know where they sat. I doubt they were action books, though.

I should be the resident expert on this subject because I've taken two of his courses, the first on Steps 1 and 2 in Summer 2021 and one on all Four Steps that just finished last month (he gave those of us who did the steps 1 & 2 course a discount on the second course but we got something out of going through steps 1 and 2 again for sure). His teaching has evolved through experience since writing the first book and he has written a second book. It covers some of the changes and updates but the basics are still the same. I really like this book, maybe more than the first. One of the things he focuses on when teaching the four steps is what you might call Step Zero. As he likes to say, "it's so easy, an American can do it, with a chicken leg in one hand and a drink in the other. All you have to do is watch yourself breathe for twenty seconds. All the crap that you might be worried about, 'I'm no good', 'my kids don't listen to me', 'my wife doesn't love me', 'I don't have money for the rent or the mortgage', whatever it is, let it go for twenty seconds. You can have it all back after the twenty seconds. Go." [You don't have to time a precise twenty seconds. Just don't try to make it anything more. And, if you struggle to watch yourself breathe for twenty seconds, make it ten.] This step is fundamental to practicing the other four steps. You return to it again and again to get whatever it is in your mind (your ego? your father? that teacher that whacked your knuckles with a ruler?) out of your head and let your fingers (or embouchure or voice if that's your instrument) do what they already know how to do. The fourth step, where you really apply the method to learning and practicing, is completely applicable to classical and other "fixed" styles of music. The beauty part of the method is that it's deeper, instead of being wider ("there is already too much to study and practice"). In other words, as you get better on the one little thing you focus on in your effortless mastery practice, you're training yourself to be better overall and you'll see the results in your other practicing and playing. The fourth step has you practicing without ego. You are even told to be excited when you play something wrong, because then you know there's something to work on. In the book, he talks about the learning diamond, and that's really important for this. When you're learning something, you can't play the whole example, 100% correct, at tempo, from the space. You might try to see what happens, then when it's not played right, you say, "oh, cool, I need to work on that part" and you break it down like we are all supposed to when we practice, small segments, as slow as you need to in order to play it correctly and remain in the space. And you work on it, staying in the space, and take breaks if you need to because you're slipping out of the space. Kenny does a lot of free masterclasses, and in fact has one coming up on 16 February. Free Masterclass on Effortless Mastery and Rhythm. I can't recommend checking this out enough. Every time I've attended one of the free classes, it really drove home the points I'm making here. He gives a lot of this info away. He also posts useful stuff on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/effortlessmastery/ I really believe that "Step Zero" has changed my life. While I do meditate some, I do it irregularly, but I do step zero a lot. And it's taught me that a lot of what goes through my mind is crap. It's allowed me to let go more often than I used to, and my life and the ways I deal with it have gotten much better. It has gone beyond music for me. Even if that was all I got from the courses, it was worth it.

@Dave Weiser and @Dr Nursers should know why I posted this…

What makes you say this? I was a member of the Recording Academy (admittedly non-voting but I saw the process) for a couple of years, and I saw nothing that made me think there was anything nefarious, untoward, etc. in the process. Each step was voted on by members and I saw many who were happily going through the records in the categories to make their decision. The only issues I ever saw or heard about were things like the decisions to put an artist or record in a category or not.

Would calling it the "Popular Music Hall of Fame" be too redundant?

I literally went to an actual bookstore yesterday and one of the real, physical books I picked up (I resisted many!) was Miles: The Autobiography. I found a preview of it online and loved that so I had to get the rest. I'm in a book club with alumni of my university and that led me to two fiction but music-related books. One was The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb, and the other was The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton. The former was a selection, the latter didn't make it but I read it anyway. I liked them both though there were a few details in Opal & Nev that made me think the writer wasn't a musician. OTOH, Slocumb is and while he clearly didn't do all the things the protagonist did, there are some direct parallels to his own life and he explains those in the afterword. Kenny Werner published a new book last year, Becoming the Instrument. Personally, I like it better than Effortless Mastery. I think it flows better, and he has more experience with the subject after having taught it to so many in the intervening 25 or however many years.

I've seen a few people post on social media complaining that in order to train AI to create art, they used existing art without the artists permission nor compensating them. As a creative person, I get the complaint, but OTOH, isn't that what humans have done since the beginning? You know, good artists copy, great artists steal. I can go to a museum and be inspired by a painting, or hear a song somewhere and be inspired by that. I'm curious what you guys think. I guess the concern is that the AI can get too close to the source since it doesn't have the human filter that usually makes the new art unique and individual. But I haven't tried these generators so I don't know what you get out of it. "Give me a landscape of the moon in the style of Ansel Adams."

Star Trek: Enterprise used "Faith of the Heart", originally written by Diane Warren for Patch Adams as its theme song. I was not a big fan of that choice. In fact, there have been times when I came across an episode of that show (which I otherwise mostly liked), and when that theme came on, I turned it off.

What a bummer. He seemed like a great guy, though I never got to meet him outside of this forum. Sorry, @dazzjazz.

I've long thought it was dumb that waterfall keys seem to be only available for organ clones and the like. I'd love to have them on synths. If the action is unweighted, why should the key be piano-style? It doesn't feel like that anyway. Maybe some interesting synth techniques would have happened if we would have had waterfall keys on synths all these years.

Thinking about this during a "rest break" , I have to wonder, why are these resellers buying these locked Macs from the institutions if they know they won't be able to do anything with them? I'd say, "sorry, unless you unlock these, I can't accept them." You could have techs who could help the institution make sure the computers are unlocked and the data wiped before accepting them. If they are refurbishers down the line, then again, why would you accept them? Tell the company who accepted them to do better by forcing the institution(s) to wipe them. I'm thinking it takes a big room with a lot of outlets and a few techs to set things up, then let them run (if you're doing the encrypt/erase I described above). Again, maybe there's a better way Apple could make things easier like @Craig Andertonis talking about, but in the meantime, pressure needs to be put upstream on this process so these Macs aren't made dead weight, only to be ground up instead of reused. But hey, consider me informed. I haven't purchased a used Mac in a number of years (and my last new one was 2018), but if I do, I now know I need to make sure the computer is unlocked and fully accessible before I buy it.

Frankly, I think they're playing games with Apple like some other companies. I'm not saying Apple is perfect, here specifically on privacy and such, but I've seen them say things about Apple that I found to be hyperbolic. I wish I could find the article but I'm not seeing it now. If it works for you, then

Sorry, it doesn't. I was looking at it from the POV of the data. IOW, the reason for the T2 chip and locking down the computer is to secure the data on it. If I have a computer with the chip and an SSD and I want it to be reused instead of recycled, I don't want my data accessible but I need to unlock it so the next person can use it. This process would allow me to protect my data when I unlock the computer. I rarely go near Twitter anymore, but that's a whole 'nother topic, isn't it?

One thing that's been bugging me is that some shows seem like they think they have to have music going on everywhere. When I tried to start the second season of Discovery, I struggled because they were playing music all the time, like the music was necessary to set the scene instead of letting the actors and scene do it. At some point, I mostly got over it I guess because I did finally watch it. But compared to TOS, it was a huge difference. The Orville has been like that too, and it's even worse IMNSHO because sometimes the music takes a dramatic turn but then nothing really happens. Huh? Interesting observation about Andor. I will have to listen for that.

No, they didn't. They announced it, delayed it, then canceled it. I also wouldn't call it a backdoor, as if it would allow full access to the entire iPhone. I truly don't think Apple is trying to create waste. In fact, I think in the worst case, they would prefer to get the computer back so they could recycle the rare earth metals and aluminum to use in their new products! But the question is, which is more important to Apple - your security or being green? Security seems to have won in this case, but like you suggest Craig, there could be ways for them to fix the problem. I would like to see that happen myself. It was Very Dumb for whoever the source of the computers was to not unlock the computers, wipe them, and then pass them on. I don't know how much trouble it is to securely wipe an SSD. It's pretty common to remove a hard drive from a computer and physically destroy it so no one can get at the data that was on it. With these Macs that have the SSD integrated into the motherboard, it's not possible to remove and replace the drive like we used to do. That was quick and easy. [Does quick web search] https://www.macobserver.com/tips/how-to/securely-erase-macs-ssd/ There's a process that can be done. Basically you turn on File Vault, boot into Recovery Mode, unlock the SSD, and then erase it. This should leave the SSD with only encrypted data on it that's unreadable. But this process can take a long time. I'm not surprised they didn't do it.

I'm big on using disposable email addresses for places ranging from ones I buy stuff from to ones I don't trust. I had been primarily using one source that was pretty good and very powerful but they've had some issues lately, not the least of which is that some places are actually rejecting domains that are on a list of disposable accounts. Lately I've been using the "Hide My Email" feature Apple is providing. There's no way places are going to reject an iCloud.com address, even if the user looks like sparse01-sprockets@icloud.com or something like that. There are other places that provide disposable email addresses as well, but I keep forgetting the one other I have used!

In my life, I have many email accounts (domains) which I try to separate for business, personal, and others. I'm not sure what annoys me more, when people send to the wrong account, or when they send to multiple ones at the same time. That being said, after nearly two years of living in this house, we're still getting real mail for the previous owner.

I've been DDG for years, I guess. It's been rare that I've turned to another search engine for a broad web search. I have it set as the default on all my devices. I also dislike when people use "Google" as a verb and act like it's the only option, but I tend to be funny that way. The worst part for me is, one of Google's founders is a fellow Terp and I think he gives back to the university quite a bit. Normally I would support his company for doing that but I just can't.

I'm not sure how far Buc-ee's has spread outside of TX, so I'm not sure who here will get it. But at the rate they're spreading, they will soon enough.

I got a 1 TB Thunderbolt 3 SSD for my 2017 iMac 5K from OWC a few years ago and it has been my primary drive since then (I looked into replacing the internal Fusion Drive with an SSD but decided it just wasn't worth the effort) and it's pretty instantaneous. In fact, whenever I reboot from the Fusion Drive, I can't believe how slow that is. According to Disk Utility, it's an OWC Aura 1.0TB Mercury. I'm sure there are cheaper and faster options now. The only bad thing is it takes up one of my two Thunderbolt ports so I have to choose between my audio interface or the external second monitor.